Sorry for the blog interruption this morning. Host stuff. Glad to be back. 
Getting rid of extra, unused, unnecessary stuff is difficult. How is it that accumulating things is so easy?
I’ve been spring cleaning. (Is it still spring? Am I a little late?) Some may think I am nesting. Others may think I have reverted to my frenetic, anxiety-ridden, organized ways. As I see it, when we move to a less congested part of the country, I don’t want to bring all this STUFF with us. I only want to take the stuff that is useful and the stuff that we love. So, shouldn’t that imply we need to get rid of the rest?
Or, putting it differently, we are finding a better afterlife for those items we once loved, (or just never loved) or don’t need anymore (like those baking cookbooks.)
We could certainly fill trash bags with unwanted pillow covers, costume jewelry, and plastic candle holders and set them out by the curb for the trash pick up. Or we could be a little green and find these usable items a new home that is not a landfill.
Post It
Post your unwanted stuff on Craig’s List, Freecycle, ebay (though I have never done this), community classified ads, or yard sale it. If you have an item and want to work to get a bit of cash for it, besides Freecycle, these are all great ways to get rid of your unwanted stuff. But when I mean “work” to earn that cash, I mean sifting through tens of e-mail inquiries, meeting up with your prospective buyer, or shipping your item, and then being prepared for a no-payment deal. But, hey, you are keeping things out of the landfills and getting the item out of your home.
Donate It to Charity :: 501(c) (3)s and beyond…
Give your unwanteds to the Salvation Army, Good Will, Purple Heart, thrift stores, consignment stores, doctors’ and dentists’ offices, libraries, churches, schools, crisis shelters, food banks, and community centers. There are probably a huge number more charities you can think of I haven’t listed here. I volunteered to teach inner-city adults basic computer skills and the charity ByteBack did accept computer donations way back then. Take a gander and look at idealist.org for a good cause near you.
Oh, call or e-mail your prospective charity before dropping by with your next donation, just to make sure they are still accepting “stuff.”
Recycle It
Recycling can be confusing sometimes. Well it is confusing for me a lot of the time. What can you recycle, what can’t you recycle? And where do you recycle any of it?
First go to your municipal website and look at trash collection, recycling, solid waste, and waste management. My county site says what can be recycled, what needs to be tossed in the trash, and where to go to recycle special items like motor oil, appliances, and hazardous waste.
Also, remember to query the company where you purchased your now-broken-camera-lens or no-longer-working-VCR, and see if they are accepting old items to be refurbished, or dismantled for parts.
Keep on the look out for recycling bins at grocery stores for those #5 plastic containers and #4 grocery bags. And be keen for other recycling or up-cycling opportunities.
Finding new homes for our unwanted stuff takes time and energy. But we feel a little greener not tossing everything in the landfill. Do you have any other ways you give your extras a second life?
that is a fantastic idea! And with the metal frame, what a great outdoor addition. Oh, my longing for some full-sun, southern exposure is great! Thank you for the inspiration! Hopefully in a new home, we’d have some prime growing space, and a new location for our metal shelf!
We try to think of new uses for old things. For example, we recently removed a metal etagere (shelf that sits over the toilet) from our bathroom. Before tossing it, I thought about whether or not it had another purpose. My fiance was able to remove the long legs, I hit it with a coat of spray paint and now it’s a great shelf for my potted herbs on the porch.