7 Ways to Send Off Clutter for Home Organization

January 25th, 2012 Decluttering Home Organization Home Organization Blog

It can be so much easier to boot excess belonging out of your home if you feel like you know where it’s going and you feel good about where it’s going. I personally just want to get stuff we aren’t using out of my house and I’m good with any local donation truck that may be rolling through. But if you need to go a step further, consider these 7 options to send off clutter for home organization:

Donate to a charity that is near and dear to your heart. In our area, we have a thrift store that you can donate to who sells the items and uses it for a battered women’s shelter. Maybe you can’t donate money, but your belongings can still raise money-yeah!

Just being able to imagine the group of people you are helping, may be just enough to let your belongings go!

Pass down children’s items to younger children in your family, neighborhood or church. Clothing, toys and books in good condition can be so appreciated by young families. Just be sure to ask if they need them in case storing your items creates a burden in their home.

Pass down items to young people just starting out or starting over. Perhaps you know someone who is getting their first apartment or you’ve just read about a family in your area that suffered through a home fire. This is a great opportunity for you to go through your extra linens, dishes and small appliances to see what you can part with.

Join Freecycle in your area, a grassroots community dedicated to keeping items out of landfills by giving away items for FREE! I used to to get free play chips for our outdoor play area a few years ago.

Sell it: Sometimes it’s hard to just give away stuff that you’ve spent perfectly good money for. You have options such as consignment stores, antique malls, craigslist, eBay, an eBay trading assistant or a garage sale. Always remember, your time and energy to sell these items is valuable too, make sure it’s worth it to sell.

Recycle it: If you can keep items out of the garbage and thus the landfills, more power to you! Here in the northwest, we’re particularly fussy about this so be sure to recycle cardboard, paper, bottles, plastic bags, cell phones, batteries and whatever else you can recycle in your area. If you live in WA State: dial 1-800-Recycle

Shred it. If you’ve got sensitive documents lying around, you may feel better if you drop them off with a local shredding company to get them out of your house. Be wise with documents with bank account numbers, social security numbers, tax ID numbers and credit card numbers on them.

Whatever it takes to get it out, just let it go, you’ll love it and you have a chance to help someone else! For more ways to declutter your home, please read more here.