Three Ways Your Recycling Center Can Help You Declutter Your House
Recycling and decluttering your house can go hand in hand, but you'll need to know which items can be recycled before you begin cleaning out your closets. As you start going through your items to see which ones you want to keep, donate or throw away, remember to look for items that can be recycled. This helps lower your impact on the environment while freeing up valuable space in your home. Here are just a few ways to use recycling to declutter your home.
Consolidate Your DVDs And CDs
If you still have a collection of DVDs and CDs, you probably have a bookcase or a few boxes devoted to holding all of these items. You can save space by organizing all of your discs in travel cases and ditching the plastic containers they came in. Be sure to take the cover out of the case for each item and place it in the sleeves of the travel cases for easy identification. The plastic trays and cases can then be recycled at your local recycling center or through your curbside recycling program. You can then repurpose your DVD/CD shelving area to hold books or other items, or you can send the shelving system to the recycling center to free up even more space in your home.
Shred Old Paperwork
There's no need to keep old paperwork in file cabinets and boxes. For most items, scanning the documents and saving them onto your computer's hard drive or onto an external hard drive is all you need to keep essential tax documents and check stubs on hand. Once you've scanned your paperwork, shred the old documents and send the paper to the recycling center for disposal. You'll be able to eliminate years of paperwork, freeing up extra room in your study or home office. For items you must keep in paper form, such as your lease/deed to your home, birth certificates and marriage certificate, place these items in a household safe.
Clean Out Your Cupboards
If you have chipped glassware or dinnerware, or if you have too many souvenir mugs in your kitchen cabinets, consider sending these items to your local recycling center. Glasses and mugs tend to accumulate over time, and they can end up engulfing your cabinets. Once you've cleared out the old items, you may find that you have more cabinet space than you realized. You can also do the same with old baking sheets and cookware. Some recycling centers may even pay for the glass or metal items, which puts a bit of extra cash in your pocket while helping to make extra room in your kitchen.
Decluttering your home is easy when you come up with great ways to get rid of your old items. For things that you can't find a new use for, or for items that may be difficult to sell at a yard sale, consider taking them to your local recycling center. You'll feel good about your impact on the environment, and you'll feel great that your house is clean and free from clutter.
Share
