Let’s just say that you have decluttered your entire living space and have mercilessly purged your home of everything that had been unnecessarily occupying some valuable space. You heave a sigh of relief and feel proud to have accomplished what looked like a huge task only to realize that there’s now a huge pile of decluttered stuff that needs to be dealt with.
As important as it is to keep your home clutter-free, it isn’t actually decluttered until you have gotten rid of the unneeded stuff that’s left after decluttering. Long story short, the biggest decision that lies ahead of decluttering is sorting out the stuff into categories – donate/sell, trash, recycle – and accordingly getting rid of it. And that, my friend, is one of the most complicated parts of the decluttering process.
Standing there, looking at clothes that you couldn’t wear more than once because of weight loss isn’t easy at all. Getting rid of the duplicate kitchen cutlery that never got used isn’t as painless as people say it is. There’s overwhelm and guilt involved for having wasted your hard-earned money on things that you couldn’t fully use. Add to it the effort it takes to get rid of all this stuff and you’ll find yourself stuck.
But worrying about your problems can’t be a solution to them, can it?
So if you have decluttered your home and need a kick to deal with the decluttered items, here are some very actionable steps you can take to carry out the task with utmost ease:
1. Gadgets & Tech Items
With the ongoing technological revolution, it has become fairly common to find your home cluttered with old gadgets, chargers, cords and wires. While it isn’t too difficult to declutter tech-related items, disposing them is a task that needs a fair amount of thinking. Here are a few things you can do with these old gadgets and wires:
- If you’re planning to buy a new phone or a laptop, try opting for an exchange offer. Many companies offer a good discount on the list price of the new product if you are willing to give them your old product. Alternately, you can opt to sell the old gadget online or at a physical store if you’re not looking to buy a new one.
- Charity is always a good option for cell phones and laptops that are in a usable condition. If you’re planning to replace your old device for a new one, there are many organizations that will accept take the old one and hand it over to a less fortunate person who may need it. This is something that our family has been doing for years. My father, instead of letting us trash our old gadgets, gives them away to someone who works at his office and is economically weaker to buy one for themselves.
- For gadgets and devices that are not in a usable condition, you can give them away to recycling centres or electronic stores near your home.
2. Books
Earlier this year, I realized that my book shelf was overloaded with books that hadn’t been opened for years because I had either already read them or they were gifts that didn’t interest me. I knew they needed to be cleared out to make space for more books that I actually wanted to read.
Dealing with the decluttered books isn’t as cumbersome a process as dealing with stuff like old gadgets and boxes. Most of your books can be dropped off to the nearest public library if you want them to become useful to others. Sometimes, I gift my old books to friends and family who love collecting them. Old academic books can be given away to those who are less fortunate and can’t afford them. And for notebooks and reading material that can’t be donated or given away, I usually sell them off to a scrap store who then passes them on to a recycling centre.
3. Toys and Stationery Items
If you have decluttered your children’s old toys, colours, pencils and other stationery, you might be looking for places to dispose them off. Kids’ toys are easier to get rid of as there’s always someone who would happily take them. A lot of people I know hand over these toys to the needy or to the kids of their maids/domestic workers. If your kids have outgrown their toys, you can also pass it down to other kids in your family. For toys that are broken and can’t be donated, you have no option but to trash them or drop them off to a recycling centre.
4. Clothing
We all have clothes that haven’t been touched for years because we have either outgrown them or have stopped liking them or they are just too shabby to be worn again. Clothes and shoes that are wearable can be dropped off at a donation centre who will then give it away to those in need. We give away a lot of our old clothes to a shelter home or to people working at a nearby construction site. If there are clothes you don’t like but they are as good as new, ask a friend or a family member who may like to wear them.
Clothes that are torn or are unwearable can be used as a cleaning rag for your home/car.
5. Run A Garage Sale
Many people these days choose to run a garage sale for old household items and equipment. If you have a pile of decluttered items that needs to be taken care of, organizing a garage sale can help free up some space in your house besides making you a few bucks. Here are a few items that can go on display if you have made up your mind to run a garage sale:
– Kitchen appliances like mixer grinder, electric toaster, hand blender, etc.
– Tripod, video/audio equipment
– Baby clothes, baby toys and furniture (that your kid has outgrown)
– Kitchen jars, Tupperware, bottles and plastic containers
– Old books, CDs, DVDs, etc.
6. Plastic Boxes And Other Storage
There might be a few lidless containers (and lids without containers) lying in the pile of decluttered storage items. If possible, try using these lidless containers to store things like hair accessories, skincare bottles, mail and bills. For lids that have lost their containers, you have no option but to trash them.
Having said that, it’s also important to not be too harsh on yourself while getting rid of the decluttered stuff. If there’s anything that you can’t bring yourself to let go of, put it off for a few days to give yourself some time to think.
Dealing with decluttered items is only as difficult as you make it. Remember that the goal of decluttering is to spark inner joy by making way for stuff that really matters.
Keep decluttering!