How to Recycle or Reuse Anything

I agree, Power, decluttering is NOT an easy task. 6 years ago, my husband and I not only decluttered, we sold the big house that we raised our children in and bought a much smaller condo. We had been living in the bigger home for about 14 years - a record for us - we used to move a lot. After the kids were gone, we were rattling around the house, yelling up and down stairwells to locate each other - a ridiculous waste of time, space, and money. We gave rooms of furniture to a daughter just starting a home of her own, had a gigantic garage sale (what a pain!) and then had Goodwill send a big truck over that we filled up - nothing from the garage sale was allowed to return to the house. What amazed me the most was how much we managed to accumulate over those 14 years. We even had boxes of stuff that had never been opened from two moves prior to this! (These boxes were disgarded without even opening them - God knows, we hadn't missed whatever they contained!) When we moved into our brand new place, we got to buy a few new "adult" pieces of furniture that we no longer had to fear destruction of by kids or teens, and we actually had the same wonderful free closet space and kitchen cabinets that you describe. All I can say is that it was a wonderful, cleansing experience.

The other day I was watching one of those shows on television where they go into some serious pack rat's home and clean it out for them. I got to looking at my own closets and kitchen cabinets and realized that they were, again, crammed with junk I never used, and clothes I'll never wear - after only 6 years. So, when I saw your article, I decided to make a plan to clean up my act again and make the same pact with myself as you did, Power. I'm going to try to never allow something to come in without something else leaving, and I'm going to get after my husband, who, like you, is a paper accumulator. We fortunately live in a city where recycling is a way of life. We put out far more recycling than garbage each week, but, somehow that paper seems to pile up everywhere. It breeds like bunnies!

Thank you for the inspiration, PowerisKnowledge. Good and practical seed.

I lived in a larger house in suburb that had recycling pick-up every week. With regular donations and a compost bin my trash can went to the curb once a month and only half full. Now I'm in the country with no trash service, no recycling. I can take certain recycle items to a town about 25 miles away so I save up for a day I have to go that direction. A pickup load goes to the dump once a year. Part of that is cleaning an old dump site on the property.

It's harder to do and I can't do as much as I want but I do what I can to recycle. As for clutter, every time I go to the thrift store, little pretties come home with me. They just can't help it.

After cleaning out my girls' room to prepare to paint it, I've decided we need to do even more de-cluttering around here. We spent the better part of a full day cleaning, with me tossing and them trying to rescue things. I insisted they fill boxes with things they no longer play with that are in good enough shape to donate or sell. Our neighborhood will have a giant yard sale later in the spring, and the girls and I made a pact to have a lot of stuff to put out for the sale. Our next project, after we get their bedroom done, will be to tackle the old playroom that they rarely even enter anymore. We're going to start gathering boxes now and stack them in the playroom so we'll be prepared to clear it out. It's so bad I thought about just parking a dumpster under the open window and tossing everything in the room! At least if we do a yard sale it'll bring in a little cash!