Simply Living Part 2: Environmental Impact

Shannon Buck - Columnist
Posted on Wednesday 16th December 2009

Simply Living Part 1: Previously I discussed my preparations for a big moving day. In part 2, I lay out how I intend to pull off the process of simplifying without being wasteful.

An important part of my simplifying efforts is consideration for the environment. I do not want to send all of my old or unwanted possessions into a landfill somewhere. There is still life in everything that I own. I want them to be reused as much as possible, even after I move.

Here are the steps that I will take to rid my home of the items that I decide not to keep:

Step1: Considerations
It is important to consider where all of these unwanted items will end up. I do not want to add anything unnecessary to a landfill. I have considered what I will do with all of my stuff as I am clearing each room: Giving things away to friends and family, to charity, and in other ways.

Step 2: Children
My two daughters Zowie and Skye are each at different stages in life and may have need of some of my possessions. Zowie will start college next year and I will need to consider her dorm room effects before tossing things. If she has no need of them, however, I then consider Skye could use it in the future. She is 20 and will someday have her own home.

Step 3: Who else?
I will let friends and other family members know when I have items that Zowie and Skye will not be able to use. I will do this by word of mouth and by posting to MySpace and FaceBook. They can pick up anything that they want when they have a chance.

Step 4: Free
Once everyone has what they want, I will place the rest of the items on my front lawn with a big free sign. This works very well in my neighborhood. If there are items that are not picked up, I will list them on Freecycle.org for pick-up.

Step 5: Donate
This is the last step because I do not want to cart too much away. I will hopefully only have to make one trip into town to deliver leftover items to the Goodwill or another thrift store. Then I will be rid of everything.

Step 6: Storage Room I am storing items for Skye's first home in this room. I have spoken to her so that she knows that she will have to move these items. She is making plans to move everything to my sisters' garage until she can move them into her own place.

There you have it. The recycling method of clearing my home of unwanted items. Spending a day or two in each room will be enough. In part three of this series, I will discuss how I will pack in as environmentally friendly manner as is possible, while avoiding packing styrafoam and other wasteful products..

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