How to declutter responsibly

Watch the Hartiverse decluttering video here: https://youtu.be/BOnRQzel6Mg
Learn some useful tips for making more space in your own home and feeling good about it in the process. For more resources, follow these Amazon affiliate links:
Start a Creative Recycling Side Hustle: 101 Ideas for Making Money from Sustainable Crafts Consumers Crave
RE–USA: 20 American Stories of Adaptive Reuse: A Toolkit for Post-Industrial Cities
Renovation Nation: Recycle, Reuse and Reclaim

If you’re like most people, when you have things that are no longer being used, you end up throwing them away, without realizing that there are alternatives to adding more waste to our landfills. Instead of throwing everything away, donate or sell items that no longer deserve space in your home.

One obstacle to decluttering is deciding on what to get rid of. It’s easy to form emotional attachments to stuff and just keep it, or feel guilty for throwing it away. Stuffing something in the trash can feel cathartic, because it fits the old saying, “Out of sight, out of mind.” Yet, it also seems so unfulfilling to just throw it all out with the trash, like you’re doing something wrong. Answer that little voice or twinge of guilt by donating or selling your items instead.

It reduces the amount of waste in landfills and it creates a sense that you’ve “paid it forward” to someone who will really enjoy what you just can’t hold onto any longer.

So, how do you know if you can still sell or donate your clutter? Everyone has their own sense of identifying what can be donated, but there are some rules of thumb to follow. First, pick a charity that has a nearby donation center, such as Goodwill or the Salvation Army. They accept almost anything as long as it follows these five common sense principles:

Your items still look appealing. For example, nothing rusty or tattered.
It is still in proper working condition, with no need for any repair, or something a person could fix on their own.
It most likely qualifies for donation. Don’t expect to donate junk. Those items really do belong in the trash or the recycling bin.
It is in good condition. Someone is going to buy your item from the thrift store after you donate it. Make sure there is still some value left in it.
It can still be sold but you cannot bring yourself to sell it. This is my own issue. I could sell my stuff, but it’s easier just to donate it. You may find the same is true for your stuff.

Alternatively, you can sell your stuff, and there are some handy ways to do it besides Craigslist. Of course, Craigslist is good for large items that require in-person pickup for someone to buy it from you.

When you decide to declutter by selling items, there are two things to consider:

It is worth more than how much it would cost you to sell it. Places like Facebook Marketplace or eBay will allow you to sell most items for no cost upfront, but you have to decide if it’s worth your time to pack and ship it. If so, then start your listing. If not, then consider donating it instead.
You have the time to create the listing and sell it. Sometimes, it’s just plain easier to donate than to sell, particularly if you have a busy schedule that leaves no time remaining for packing and shipping, which can quickly feel like a job instead of easy decluttering.

Another way to declutter that is easy to overlook is to use reusable bags. If you’re like me, you have a bag somewhere in your home that is stuffed with other bags. This is because I try to repurpose those bags to prevent them from ending up in the landfill, such as stuffing them with old clothes I’m going to donate. I’ve also started using reusable bags at the grocery store, so I follow my own advice.

At the start of the pandemic, most stores began refusing the use of reusable bags for sanitary reasons, but a lot of stores have eased up on this restriction and you can use your reusable bags again. Any cloth tote will do. If you don’t have one, many stores sell house-branded cloth or vinyl bags for reasonably cheap prices. The advantage to using a reusable bag is that it’s stronger than single-use plastic, and it doesn’t create more landfill or ocean waste like it does when you throw away a plastic bag.

The typical store-provided plastic bag can take a thousand years to break down in the landfill, which might as well be forever. During those years of slowly breaking down, these plastic bags will little by little separate into very small pieces of toxic particles which can contaminate both the soil and water that can then affect all the other living creatures, including yourself. A lot of sea creatures are showing up with bits of plastic in their systems from ocean dumping of landfill waste.

Some reasons to switch to reusable bags include:

Reusable bags reduce plastic production. Petroleum and sometimes natural gas are required for producing plastic bags and these resources are non-renewable.
Reusable bags reduce landfill size. Plastic bags do not biodegrade. They photodegrade. And since many landfills are covered with large sheets of more plastic or buried under tons of fill dirt, the bags lack exposure to sunlight and may never break down unless they are dumped in the ocean, which is a topic all to itself. The point is that the bigger landfills get, the more they destroy the environment. They create odor problems for their nearby communities, and waste seepage into the ground water can contaminate wells and public water supplies, sickening nearby residents.

To return to our starting point, the first thing to do is to release your attachment to things that have outlived their purpose. Sometimes it helps to have someone else come in and help pick out things to get rid of. Take them to your local donation center or if there’s enough value, try selling them on one of the online marketplaces. And finally, reduce plastic consumption by using reusable bags. If we all do a little, we can do a lot.

Cleaning out your home of useless stuff will also make more room in your house, so that it seems larger than it is. This can improve your enjoyment of your space and the few items that are most meaningful to you that you’ve decided to hold onto. Donating items to nonprofits usually results in a receipt that can be used as a tax write-off. (Discuss it with your accountant.) So there are potential financial rewards for giving stuff away. Selling stuff online can help recoup at least a little of the original cost of an item, especially if it’s in good shape.

Hopefully you got inspired to declutter with some actionable ideas from this video. Please click like and subscribe. It really helps me out and inspires me to make more videos for your enjoyment. Thank you and see you next time!