The October issue of Real Simple magazine reveals a grim statistic: 6,250 tons of landfill waste “could be avoided if half the kids in America traded Halloween costumes instead of buying new ones.†That the equivalent to the the weight of more than 3,000 mid-sized cars! Be sure and swap, sell or donate this year's costume. Did you know there's an official Halloween costume swap day? Of course it's already passed, but you can mark your calendar for next year's swap. … [Read more...]
I love Freecycle ~ Have you tried it yet?
I have three main methods of disposal when it come to rehousing my clutter. I donate most of my items to the thrift store. I have used the same thrift store since the beginning of my declutter mission and now I volunteer there as well. I sell items that I feel inclined to recoupe my losses on, by auctioning them on ebay. It is a love hate relationship but all in all I have done pretty well out of it. And then there is Freecycle.org This is my go to place for when I am trying to responsibly dispose of items that are not appropriate for the thrift store or that are too awkward to sell … [Read more...]
Simple Saturday ~ Operation Donate Recycle
I ran into a friend at the grocery store a week ago and we had a little chat. She was searching for some containers to hold clean and used plastic teaspoons that she washes and reuses in her work space. She works in a training environment and as usual coffee and tea is provided as refreshment. In order to do the right thing by the environment she encourages people to leave the plastic spoon to be washed and reused. Of course not everyone conforms to this ideal so the spoons constantly need restocking. I offered to find her some proper metal teaspoons at the thrift store where I volunteer … [Read more...]
Choosing the right home for your stuff
The intention for this post is to help you choose the best way to dispose of the objects you are decluttering. Some objects will be just trash but for others you will be endeavouring to find new homes either by donating to a charity, giving them to someone else or selling them. There are often emotions involved when it comes to clutter. Finding the right home for your things can make the decision to let go a lot easier. For example it feels easier to let go if you... Know that the procedes of donating your items to charity will help someone in need. Get a little money back by selling … [Read more...]
Get Involved ~ USA ~ Put a Cork in it
A request from The California Wine Club I'm reaching out to you on behalf of The California Wine Club and their "Put a Cork in it" collection drive. The CWC, in partnership with ReCORK.org, is hoping to collect, recycle and repurpose 20 million wine corks by September 30th. If our goal is reached, ReCORK will celebrate the accomplishment by planting 1,000 cork oak trees in the Mediterranean cork oak forest. CA Wine Club is giving away some great prizes as well! Wine Magnums, CA Wine Club memberships, and sandals from SOLE shoes (Made from recycled cork, of course)Â Enter the Sweepstakes on … [Read more...]
Ideealistin ~ An interview with Bea Johnson
Hi Readers, today I am featuring the first of two interviews that were very generously offered to me by Ideealistin, one of our regular readers and commenters here at 365 Less Things. When she isn't decluttering or reading my blog Ideealistin is a journalist and recently she conducted these two short email interview that she thought would be a nice fit with my blog. I was granted permission to publish these by the two interviewees today's being with Bee Johnson of The Zero Waste Home and the second interview with Dave Bruno from The 100 Things Challenge is scheduled for Thursday. Without … [Read more...]
Thoughts on the Use It Up Challenge
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom Colleen has issued a Use It Up Challenge several times. The most recent one I can find is in September. I've been thinking a lot about this challenge recently because we are finally coming to the end of it here at the Bogard household. Along the way, I consumed all the multiday vitamins and calcium I had in the cabinet, and we used all the various extra bottles shampoos and conditioners along with several toothpaste tubes that the girls had not squeezed down tho their last drops. Those items were quickly finished in comparison to the soap challenge. I had no idea we … [Read more...]
Reduce Reuse Recycle
One of my golden rules for decluttering is... Don't waste it just because you don't want it. There is no doubt that during the course of decluttering your home you are going to have to deal with what to do with all the items you are getting rid of. We have spoken quite a lot over the last thirteen months on how to go about rehousing items but it never hurts to refresh our minds of these details. On my page Give away-Throw away - Sell - Use up, I list what became of all the 365 items I decluttered from my home during 2010. I will use the info from that page here to explain what was … [Read more...]
New lease on life
Sometimes to declutter an item means to make it useful again. This pair of much loved Keens just needed a new lease on life. So I bought some Suede/Nubuck dye and revived them. At $90 a pair a person really wants to get as much use out of these as possible. … [Read more...]
Day 336 X-Mas Craft Declutter
Well the jolly fat man is due to arrive again but that isn't going to send me into a spin this year. I have let my family know that I will not be wanting any gifts and aren't planning on buying any for anyone else. I will be giving my children money and everyone else will be receiving one of my recycled Christmas cards which is what this post is about. I love simple Christmas I feel so much more relaxed this year. Every Christmas for the last few years I have been using the cards I received the year before to make the years supply of Christmas cards. Instead of sending generic cards I am … [Read more...]