Three Methods to Declutter for a Less Wasteful Life
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For many sorting through clothing can take the most amount of time, so no matter what method of decluttering you use it can be helpful to break clothing up by season or type while organizing.
Getting rid of items can seem counteractive to living a zero-waste lifestyle, but consciously decluttering lets you be more aware of your behaviors and have a better sense of your surrounding at home. When you purposefully rehome items, you can help also redistribute the resources used to make each item appropriately. By carefully donating or selling items we can save resources by allowing people to reuse items that are now useful to them and no longer useful for us. Reorganizing our homes lets us set the path for a more intentional life. When choosing what items to keep it can help to ask yourself the following questions, “Is the item useful? Is it sentimental? Does someone in my family truly love it?”
Zones Challenge Method:
The zones challenge decluttering method lets you focus in on specific areas to declutter at one time. It can be useful if you like to by hyper-focused. Rooms, especially ones where clutter tends to accumulate such as the kitchen, closet, or bathroom or smaller zones that can get overfilled through daily life. Smaller zones may be your kitchen junk drawer, one dresser drawer, or under your bed. Zone decluttering can be a great way to feel a sense of accomplishment and peace because it leads to an entire area you can use and look at that is organized and decluttered.
Item Based Method:
If decluttering by areas doesn’t feel like it will work for you, it may work better to go by types of items. Declutter based on specific sets of items. You may have accidently created collections in your home filled with items that are no longer useful for you. Some sets of items may be your toiletries, arts and crafts supplies, or board games. You can start with your largest groupings first to make the biggest dent or your smallest and work your way up. You can even choose based off when would make sense by decluttering clothing at the end of each season or mail after must of your bills for the month are paid. This method can be great if you tend to purchase duplicates or if certain types of items are overflowing out of the space you have them.
Counting Method:
If you love challenges or games the counting method may be for you. The counting method requires you to choose an amount to declutter in a certain time period. For some, it will work better to choose small amounts such as ten. The smaller amount is useful if you need to be more thoughtful about what you get rid of or if you get tired quickly. For some a large amount such as one to five items a day or 50 items total can help if you enjoy marathon decluttering or feel that the amount of clutter you have is insurmountable.
Once you have the items you need to rehome it helps keep those items out of the landfill by carefully choosing where the items should be headed. Clothing can go to places like ThredUp if you prefer to mail them, a local shelter or crisis center, or even the Dalton State’s Career Closet if you are getting rid of business clothing. Toys, furniture, and more may be able to be donated to the Habitat for Humanity Restore, local thrift stores, or put on Facebook Marketplace. You may even be able to give friends certain items that they could use or host a large yard sale with a group of friends. Items that can be recycled should be recycled and if you are able to fix an item it can help you save money and keep that item out of the landfill.