Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - The Full Circle Way!
If you weathered the first few months of the pandemic like we did, you probably ordered some things online and called your local shops to have items delivered or picked up curbside – which was great, helped to support the economy and local business, and helped even more with making home more hospitable at a time when we were forced indoors. What it also did was make us the proud new owners of, more stuff. Just when we had KonMari-ed our way to decluttered living!
The summer is coming to a close and we’re looking at being forced indoors again soon enough (though, not that soon – we’ll hang on as long as we can!). And while we plan to spend as much time outside in the fresh air as possible for the next month or two, we’re also going to prepare our homes for the time when we’re back inside. That is, we’re going to organize, declutter, and do it the green way.
Remember one of our three rules, the first two R’s are most important. And since we can’t reduce our consumption (that ship has sailed and docked in our living room), we must reuse and repurpose (an offshoot of reuse!) whatever we can. Here are four simple suggestions for reusing items in your home to help you with green organization. And one last idea to reduce the items coming into your home.
Egg cartons: how many do you have that you’ve collected over the months? They’re excellent for wrapping fairy lights and other cords around to keep them from being tangled.
Glass jars: When cleaning out the fridge (which we should probably do at the end of a pandemic summer), compost anything long-expired and clean and reuse any glass jars to organize those small odds and ends that wind up everywhere around the house like safety pins and coins.
Boxes: Any oversized boxes that arrived with large items during the online ordering binge can be used to store things long-term or maybe, to haul away any items that you’re keen to donate – again.
Metal cans: They make amazing planters outside and also are great for storing pens, markers, paintbrushes, etc. Just be sure to dull any sharp edges.
Mail: How many catalogs do you get two of? How many companies send you mail that you throw away each time? It’s tedious but a worthwhile task to spend a month stacking up the mail you’d normally toss in the recycling bin and then calling or emailing the companies and organizations to opt out and ask them to stop sending you mail.
Reuse, reduce, repeat.
The summer is coming to a close and we’re looking at being forced indoors again soon enough (though, not that soon – we’ll hang on as long as we can!). And while we plan to spend as much time outside in the fresh air as possible for the next month or two, we’re also going to prepare our homes for the time when we’re back inside. That is, we’re going to organize, declutter, and do it the green way.
Remember one of our three rules, the first two R’s are most important. And since we can’t reduce our consumption (that ship has sailed and docked in our living room), we must reuse and repurpose (an offshoot of reuse!) whatever we can. Here are four simple suggestions for reusing items in your home to help you with green organization. And one last idea to reduce the items coming into your home.
Egg cartons: how many do you have that you’ve collected over the months? They’re excellent for wrapping fairy lights and other cords around to keep them from being tangled.
Glass jars: When cleaning out the fridge (which we should probably do at the end of a pandemic summer), compost anything long-expired and clean and reuse any glass jars to organize those small odds and ends that wind up everywhere around the house like safety pins and coins.
Boxes: Any oversized boxes that arrived with large items during the online ordering binge can be used to store things long-term or maybe, to haul away any items that you’re keen to donate – again.
Metal cans: They make amazing planters outside and also are great for storing pens, markers, paintbrushes, etc. Just be sure to dull any sharp edges.
Mail: How many catalogs do you get two of? How many companies send you mail that you throw away each time? It’s tedious but a worthwhile task to spend a month stacking up the mail you’d normally toss in the recycling bin and then calling or emailing the companies and organizations to opt out and ask them to stop sending you mail.
Reuse, reduce, repeat.