I’m about to show you something embarrassing. This is your 3rd bedroom, in theory. In reality it has become our catch all room. Mac’s hockey gear, My sewing machine (because I haven’t found a good place in my office) and some household decorations that need to get sorted out… yeah its pretty bad.
(Panorama shot sorry so small.)
I’ve noticed, that the more I go through the stuff I already have, the less I want to buy new stuff. I don’t want anymore stuff to deal with, clean up or put away. This in effect is green, I drastically cut down on my consumption when I get organizing. Here are some more tips on how to make organizing your house more green.
- Use what you have, baskets, storage bins, and the like to organize your stuff.
- Craigslist or freecycle otherwise sell your unused items to get some cash and help someone out. Ebay is another good option to make some money but its less green with the shipping.
- Think about doing ‘lot sales’ like a tub of Christmas decorations or picture frames. You would be surprised what you can sell.
- Donate items that would be to hard to sell via these methods (clothes and the like.
- Remember Reuse is more green than recycle, can you use those small plastic kitchen containers to organize your drawers?
So I didn’t get the room done last night but I did get things sorted and that is a great start. See it already looks better.
Gooddonor.org is also a great site to use. On there you can choose a nonprofit to donate your items to and arrange for pickup. Friendship Ventures will be picking up my items next week (they work with the developmentally disabled).
All very good tips as usual 🙂 I just recently cleared out Ellie’s closet that was full of baby clothes from when she was first born. I gave pretty much all of them to my sister who is expecting a girl in April. We decided that when I have another child and if it’s also a girl, she will give them back to me otherwise we will donate it them. Likewise, if I end up having a boy, she’ll give me all of her son’s baby clothes. This way, neither of us have to spend more money on baby clothes and we can continue to reuse them until we can donate them to others 🙂
We have so much stuff to get rid of, it’s not even funny. I’m going to try to find a consignment shop for some of my daughter’s nicer clothes just so I don’t have to deal with the ebay madness. Or maybe I can get in on one of the local kiddy clothing markets.. It’s amazing how much stuff you just end up gathering. Our house is overflowing with junk but this year we’re definitely going to work on streamlining. It’s incredible how much better I feel when areas around us are clutter free and we can actually FIND things!
Good luck organizing. I wish I had those skills. I also can’t part with my stuff. 🙁 I’m working on it.
I’m your new follower (GFC krishackney) from the Green Mama Blog Hop, and I’d love for you to follow me back at my new blog (not Mama Needs a Nap) at Mamaswears.com! Thanks! 🙂