A Discarding Journey
There are many ways to discard during a decluttering project, ranging from re-homing every single item to tossing everything in the dumpster. Here’s a behind the scenes peek into the discarding from a recent project.
The project was converting a storage space/ office into just an office, which meant that the items to be discarded ranged across multiple categories. The plan was to discard with as much re-homing and as little landfill use as possible.
Join me! As I drive around and re-home these items.
First stop: returning borrowed items to their owners at My Garden Floral.
Second stop: Construction Junction, where they are delighted to take scrap metal, building materials, retail display supplies, furniture, etc.
Third stop: Pittsburgh Center for Creative Re-Use. They are delighted to accept art supplies, art/craft organizers, and quite a few unexpected things like trophies and jars.
Fourth stop: Red, White, and Blue Thrift Store. Bummer! Their donation area had closed early this day. Onward!
Fifth stop: Half Price Books. They accept books, DVDs, and CDs. It’s getting cold and dark out!
Sixth stop: The Goodwill Store accepts clothing, some furniture, and home goods, including decor items.
Seventh Stop: North Hills Community Outreach, where they accept food pantry donations, and unopened toiletries, feminine hygiene products, and cleaning products. I can’t recommend them highly enough. Every person I’ve spoken with from NHCO has been lovely, and the donations they take directly benefit people in our area.
While the google map says that this trip takes 1 hour and 13 minutes, that didn’t include the human element of the process. It takes time to load the car, drop off donations, sit in traffic, and stop for food and bathroom breaks. I started this trip in the middle of an afternoon. I continued on through evening, and I finished the next morning. Not everyone has the time, the resources, or the energy to do this, and that’s why you won’t hear any judgement from me if you decide to go the dumpster route instead of the donation route while you are downsizing.
From my perspective, there is no right or wrong way to discard.
The way I recommend?
Whichever way is do-able for you.
From what I’ve seen with tidying so far, decluttering -however you do it- is one of the most effective ways to reduce your environmental impact in the long term. But that’s a story for another blog.
