My love of wicker hampers

As you can imagine, with all my car boot sale finds I need some storage to put my things into so that my home does not look too cluttered. This is where my love of wicker hampers and baskets comes in. I have all shapes and sizes and have them in the kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms.

My favourite ones are from Fortnum & Mason. Clearly I have never bought a hamper from them directly as they are a little too pricey for me, but I have bought them when empty from car boot sales and from charity shops. I have 4 of them in the kitchen and use them to store a variety of things. The smaller ones kept on the shelves act as first aid boxes and hold aspirin, paracetamol, plasters etc.  The two larger hampers hold cook books and occasional naughty treats such as boxes of chocolates and biscuits.

I have a few hampers in our bedroom. The bottom one stores a selection of toiletries which I have bought at car boat sales and which are waiting to be used. There is an element of stockpiling during the summer months as car boot sales only last for a few months of year. I have to buy enough to last me through the year in a 4 to 5 month window and I always like to buy a few things extra if I think they are real value for money. I have been buying quite a lot of shampoos and conditioners from one lady as they are only 50p each. She has been on the Cheshire car boot sale for a few weeks off and on and so I have bought a couple of bottles each time I have seen her. She is clearly a trader and there are quite a few regular traders on the car boot sale but if the price is right then I am buying from them and 50p is cheap enough for me.

The top one stores all my bits and pieces of paperwork and the like. I have them all stored in separate folders and within easy reach. I spend all day and every weekday in an office environment so do not want to have to deal with my home paperwork in a similar office environment at home. I find a wicker hamper very different to work storage so I am happy to store everything in this one place.

I do not have any large sets of drawers at home so use other storage boxes mixed in with the hampers. I have three cloth storage boxes with leather trim that have originally come from Marks & Spencer. I bought two of them in the sales at M&S and a couple of years later I found a matching one from the Cheshire car boot sale. This only cost £1 and I think looks good on top of my hampers.