Here we are in 2014. With spring only a few months away, some people might be turning their attention to the annual tradition of spring cleaning… But does anyone ever actually do it? At this time or even at all?
I imagine it’s like a friend of mine said recently, with regards to people who set a date for beginning their diet… That date soon passes and they haven’t even begun to alter their daily food intake. How many of us set New Year’s resolutions that we fail to follow through with?
Setting dates for doing things we don’t particularly want to do is, in my opinion, another form of procrastination.
But moving house has prompted me to look at what I’m living with and to gradually put the non-essential items to one side. Within my first week in this flat, I came up with a box-full of recyclable items that I can live without. You can see those in the photo above.
This box includes items that I have previous tried to sell on eBay, without success. I even struggled to find takers on my local Freecycle page and I’d only held on to them for this long because I didn’t like the thought of throwing them in the bin.
It was while renewing my annual membership to The Ramblers and browsing their website, that I came across a link for their Recycling Appeal. They took my old, broken mobile phone; nearly a dozen cheap printer ink cartridges that were a year past their expiry date; the Fuji digital camera that hit my workshop floor two times too many and a selection of old PC games… Who in their right mind would have bought those?!
(I might’ve been able to make some money for the sale of my camera if I’d have listed it as for ‘spares and repair only’ but I really didn’t feel like it was going to be worth the hassle and effort.)
What’s great about this system is that it doesn’t have to cost you anything other than your time. They’ll supply you with a Freepost envelope (or label, if you have a printer) for your goods and if you happen to have more than 10 items, they can arrange for a free courier collection (provided you have a box to securely place them in).
My only problems came with the fact that there is no doorbell to my flat and that we had to arrange a specific date for when I should be home to ensure the collection went through.
I’ve since collected other items to recycle (along with the CDs above) but I think I’ll stick to sending them off in smaller quantities (I am a hoarder of used jiffy bags…). That way, I don’t have to worry about sitting indoors all day or missing the courier. Actually, this is a gripe I have with all courier collections and deliveries but I’ve recently discovered the Collect+ service, where you can drop parcels off to your local co-operating store at your own leisure and convenience (for example, my nearest store is open until 8pm).
Thanks for reading. Happy New Year to you all and happy decluttering!!
PS. I haven’t set myself a single resolution for 2014 but I fully intend to keep on clearing the clutter and living with less.
