New Year’s resolutions are an annual tradition. We pledge to improve ourselves, do better, break bad habits, and to work hard toward certain goals. For example, we may pledge to make more effort to recycle more and put less in our rubbish removal bin. We each make our list, compare notes, and then promise ourselves that this year we’ll actually stick to our resolutions hell or high water! Then, every year, another annual tradition for most of us is to whine about how we’ve already broken our New Year’s resolutions by the second week in January! Below are ideas on how to keep popular resolutions and reduce your rubbish removal.
Save Money By Reducing Your Rubbish Removal
According to Nielsen, one of the top ten New Year’s resolutions people make is to save money! While this is a great resolution, it’s a darn hard one to keep because it’s so nebulous. There really isn’t a clearly defined goal and there isn’t a clear way to hold yourself accountable. So, we are going to suggest a few excellent ways you can save a lot of money by reducing your rubbish removal. These are specific resolutions with a specific plan in mind!
Avoid Buying New Clothes
You may not realize this but clothes are one of biggest problems at our landfills. According to a statistic put out by WRAP (The Waste and Resources Action Programme), a UK charity, the United Kingdom bins approximately 300,000 tonnes of clothes yearly. If you let the local council bin men pick these up, invariably your old clothes will end up in the landfill rotting away and producing copious amounts of greenhouse gases.
Binning clothes in your rubbish removal directly affect your pocketbook too! According to Statistica, UK citizens spent £68.1 billion pounds on clothes (and footwear) in 2016 out of a total domestic expenditure of £1.18 trillion pounds. What does this mean to you and your family? You can save a bunch of money if you make a resolution to not buy any new clothes for an entire year! This is a specific goal and it is doable (see below).
If you need a new outfit, shop at charity shops, car boot sales, resale shops, or perhaps even barter with a friend who has an outfit you particularly like. Look for giveaways or clothing swaps on Freegle, Freecycle, vSkips, Big Wardrobe, WhatsMineIsYours, and similar sites. You can also commit to taking better care of the clothes you have so there’s less need so buy new clothes. Going a year without buying new clothes shouldn’t really be that hard to do and you save a lot of money.
If you do need to clear out old clothing, try to find a good new home for it rather than putting it in your rubbish removal bin. If you struggle with this, call Clearabee for a booking and they’ll make their best effort to take your old clothing to places where it will end up in resale shops or it will be recycled. They have a 90 percent success rate on this, which far exceeds other rubbish removal services, including those by local councils.
Start a Garden, a Compost Pile, and Cook More at Home
One the best ways to reduce your rubbish removal, and save a lot of money in the process, is to stop buying processed foods and pre-made foods. This means you’ll be bringing home a lot less cardboard and plastic packaging that you might be tempted to put in your rubbish removal bin rather than your recycling bin.
Okay, what are the easiest ways to go about this?
First, plant a simple garden. It’s really easy and fun. Do you buy bags of lettuces, kale, and other greens in plastic bags or boxes that get tipped? Do you buy bundles of herbs in plastic packaging? Get yourself some seed packets and sow them in the ground or put them in containers salvaged from the rubbish removal bin. Greens grow well even for those of us with a “black thumb.” If all the gardening space you have is a balcony, you can still grow all the greens and herbs you’ll need and then some by growing them in containers. If you have a garden, you can also start your own compost pile.
By gardening and composting, you’ll not only lower your rubbish removal by a lot, you’ll also ensure you save money all year long and keep your New Year’s Resolution. You can dry your herbs and move some inside in small pots during the winter. You can also put away vegetables for the winter by canning and freezing. This way, you’ll have ready-made food with no disposable packaging involved. Also, cooking at home, instead of using deli takeout, or going out to eat so often, will save you a lot of money too. You’ll be more likely to do so, if you have beautiful fresh ingredients waiting for you at home.
Get Organized and Feel Better
Another top ten New Year’s resolution reported by Nielsen is getting organized. For many people, that means going out and buying new cheap plastic organizers. We’d like to make alternative suggestions that will save you money and get you better organized at the same time.
Rescue Organizers Out of the Rubbish Removal Bins
Honestly folks, there’s “gold” in rubbish removal bins. In fact, it’s like a treasure hunt looking in bins (or around them) sometimes. You’ll find stuff that is much cooler than anything you could purchase at the store, and in fact, these binned items may even inspire you to organize a different way than you had originally planned.
Create Organizers Out of Recycled Boxes
Boxes are strong and can be placed together to form modular storage units that will fit in any space. You can reinforce boxes with extra cardboard and paint them or cover them to make them pretty and fit your style. This too will save you money, get you organized, and reduce your rubbish removal!
Declutter and Call Clearabee
One of the primary reasons people feel disorganized if they simply have too much stuff! Think about going through all that stuff and giving away what you don’t really use or need. You can offer it to friends, give it to charities, or you can call Clearabee and let them take care of it for you. Again, with Clearabee’s 90 percent recycle and reuse rate, scheduling a booking with them will give your conscience a rest because you’ll know, whenever possible, your stuff isn’t headed to the landfill!
Happy New Year To All and Keep Those Amazing New Year’s Resolutions!
