Green Decluttering

When you are having a decluttering session make sure that whatever goes out of your house is going to the right place. There are lots of ways to ensure that you are not simply filling up a landfill site even more.

Of course, the simplest thing to do would be to dump it all in the household rubbish or take it to the tip or even hire a skip (depending on how much you are getting rid of). But with just a little planning your decluttering can be a lot greener and it might even make you some money in the process.

First of all, when you decide to get rid of something, decide whether it’s in good enough shape that somebody else might want it. Is it even good enough that someone might want to buy it?

• If you answer that last question with yes, you could either sell it on Ebay or a carboot sale. You could give your friends/family first refusal at a fair price.
• If you don’t think anyone would give you money for it, then you could donate it to a charity shop.
• If you don’t want to sell it for whatever reason and don’t want to give it to strangers, why not offer it to someone in your family or a friend who you know could use it.
• For women’s clothing, jewellery and accessories you could hold a Naked Ladies Party. No worries, nothing rude going on here. It’s a get-together of women who swap clothes they no longer want or that no longer fit. Check out http://www.getcrafty.com/home_nakedlady.php for more details.
• You can also post it on Freecycle. Check out  http://www.uk.freecycle.org/ to find your local group and once you post the item, whoever needs it will come and pick it up. It is a recycling scheme where people offer items free of charge to other people who might need it.

All of these options ensure that someone else could make use of it and it doesn’t have to go to waste.

If the item is past it, then find out whether it can be recycled, then either put it in the correct recycling bin or take it to your local recycling centre to be disposed of properly.

Only throw away items that can’t be sold on, given away or recycled. That way, decluttering will improve your home and you won’t have to worry so much about damaging the environment since you have done your best.