Ocean Protection Through Plastic-Free Living
Hopefully, you neither have a palette of toilet paper in the garage or are down to your last sheet with no rolls in sight. If you’re somewhere in the middle and want to reduce your plastic waste, here are some options.
With COVID-19 many of the grocery store bulk bin or refill store options are no longer available. But there are still ways to get bulk items and refills online without all the extra packaging and waste. Here are a few great options.
I’ve mentioned many many times that I’m a minimalist. Minimalism has shaped my life and made plastic-free living much easier. In trying to maintain my minimalist lifestyle, each purchase of a permanent item is carefully thought over.
Kathryn Kellogg of Going Zero Waste, introduced me to the idea of waiting 30 days before buying something permanent. While I don’t take it that far, I will usually wait until the next month to see if I really do want it.
Along the same lines of thinking, I try to conserve the total amount of things I have by implementing a “one in, one out” rule. If I buy a dress, then one has to leave my closet. This makes me think really hard about buying new items.
But to get to this point, I had to some serious eliminating. Since you’re already at home and it is Spring, now is the perfect time to get your house in order. While it might be nice to sip some wine and watch Netflix, the peace of mind you’ll have after you’ve decluttered your house is well worth it!
So, Netflix can wait, here are my 5 tips for Spring Decluttering:
So, where to start? Being Type-A, I like to start with a plan. Figure out what’s the one room or area that you want to make sure gets done. Maybe that’s organizing your home office so you can be more productive while working from home. Or maybe it’s getting your kids to finally declutter their room. Whatever it is, make sure you set a priority just in case you run out of steam and that glass of wine and Netflix are calling your name.
After you’ve identified the top priority, make a mental list of the other areas you’d like to conquer. If entire rooms seem too daunting, then start with the junk drawer. Every house has a junk drawer with miscellaneous items. Once you’ve conquered that drawer, it will give you the momentum to tackle the rest of the house.
Before you start, designate three bags or buckets: find-a-friend, sell, and donate. Then go to your priority room and start with items that are already out of their resting place. Before returning that item to where it belongs, ask yourself if it serves a purpose. If that answer is yes, then put it back where it belongs. If that answer is no, then can you think of a friend that might want it? Can it be sold or donated? If none of those are a yes, then it belongs in the trash.
After you’ve put items back to where they belong. Next clear the surfaces. Look at all the items on counter tops and desktops, if it’s not decorative then pull it off the surface and put it away. Even if it is decorative, are there too many items on the surface? Maybe you can have one less cat figurine on that desktop? One less item to move while dusting, right?
Clear tabletops and counters are more relaxing and appealing to the eye. Have you ever been to someone’s house who had every collection on display. While the collection seemed cool, it probably also felt really cluttered. Give your eyes a break and keep your surfaces cleared.
Now that the surfaces are cleared, it’s easier to clean them. I talk about how I use only vinegar, Castile soap, and baking soda to clean my whole house in Plastic-Free Cleaning.
As you’re reviewing your items, be realistic. We hold onto a lot of what-ifs and maybe-one-days in our homes. Just like our things do not define who we are, our things also won’t make us into the people we wish. Maybe you bought a bow-and-arrow during the Hunger Games rush thinking you’d be the next Katniss Everdeen, but really only shot it once. Or watching Ron Burgundy play the jazz flute really inspired you, but you stopped trying to figure out how to read music after a week. Let those dreams go and let the goods find a new and loving home.
Maybe your examples aren’t so colorful and are more common. Let go of the skinny jeans you’re hoping to fit into again one day. You don’t need a constant reminder that you’re not the person you want to be. And if the day comes where you can fit into them again…the style will probably be out of date. Just let it go.
Be realistic, be ruthless, and leave the dreams for goal setting, not for decluttering.
As you’re going through your belongings and decluttering, have your kids do the same. This is a great opportunity to teach them about consumerism and being happy with enough.
I hear parents talking about the overflowing amount of art their kids bring home all the time. I’ve implemented a system with my older child where she has a photo box and she can keep whatever art she wants, as long as it fits in the photo box.
Every once and a while when I see the box starting to overflow or we bring home a new pile, I sit down with her, pull out all of the art work and ask her to make a pile to keep and one to recycle.
As for toys, my kids are pretty happy with the minimal amount of toys in our house. Parents always leave my house saying “we have way too many toys at home.” I don’t shame or judge those parents. It took serious effort on my part to limit the amount of toys my kids have. As I mentioned in Plastic-Free Birthday Parties for Kids, at my older child’s last birthday, I requested that guest bring no gifts, and if they wished they could bring a few dollars to contribute to one large toy of my daughter’s choosing. That eliminated the potentially 15 extra toys should would have received. Instead, she picked out a beautiful Elsa dress from the Disney store and got one toy from my husband and I and one from each set of grandparents.
During Christmas we limit gifts to just us and the grandparents for a total of three and a few treats in the stocking. This might seem like we’re depriving our kids, but they are super excited and end up continually playing with the few toys they have, instead of playing with it for a few days and having it lost in a pile.
Other techniques I’ve heard from parents include a toy rotation where you put away a set of their toys, and after a set span of time, you bring those back out and then put away another set. This keeps their entertainment fresh and novel. And the last technique I’ve heard of was more for cleaning purposes, a toy fairy. If any toys were left out overnight then the toy fairy picks it up and either hides it for a week or it gets donated. I’ve heard this only needs to happen once before your kids start putting away all their toys.
Once you have your buckets filled, keep them in your car. Since you can’t see your friends and most donation places are closed, it will be at least another few weeks before you can offload your goods. By keeping the items in your car, you can give yourself time to think about the items you’ve set aside. If in the next few weeks you don’t go back and look for them, you’ll know you’ve made the right decision.
What do you think? Can you use some of these tips to do some Spring decluttering? What are some of the tactics you use to keep your house clutter-free? Tell me in the comments!
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