One of the “hot topics” in the professional organizing industry today is how to declutter in a planet-friendly manner. I’m pleased to say that professional organizers (and many junk haulers, for that matter) are focused on doing what we can to minimize the number of items going into landfills by providing alternatives for recycling, upcycling, and otherwise reusing. Today I’d like to offer one specific idea for reducing the amount of clutter in your home that is both free and green. Specifically, I am encouraging you to “use it up.”
By “use it up” I simply mean squeezing out the remaining portion of usefulness of items you own until they no longer have value. Exactly how this is done will depend on the item, but it many cases, doing so will have two benefits:
It will ease any guilt you might have about letting go because the item will no longer have purpose and/or worth.
There will be physically less of the item to dispose of, minimizing the impact of its disposal.
You may think that there are few items in your space which might qualify for this approach, but I imagine there are more than quickly come to mind. Here is a list of candidates in your space that you might be able to “use up.”