It breaks my heart when I hear someone tell me that they emptied the contents of a home to save on costs and time and brought most items to the landfill.
It’s true that downsizing can be an intimidating process for seniors, executors, and their families. But there are so many strategies that allow the downsize and move to occur in an eco-friendly manner.
#1. Prioritize items that will be kept during the relocation first. This ensures that essential possessions make it into the new home.
#2. Donate or sell unwanted items instead of disposing of the to the landfill. This helps to provide a source of income to the owners to alleviate some of the costs of the downsize and move.
#3. A storage facility is an option but not one that I would typically recommend. Try not to move your clutter or store your clutter. But it can be a helpful temporary solution if you are making a move with a tight timeline.
#4. Reusing and recycling preowned materials whenever possible can further impact to the environment during this transition. This also helps reduce waste while cutting down the costs associated with moving.
#5. Let go of pre-conceived ideas of what items are worth as in today’s market they do not align. So many of the same items are on the resale market and so processing this first will go a long way in understanding how to move through this transition easily.
Most move managers, transition support advisors, professional organizers, or estate or auction sale companies are well-connected to their communities and know who is looking for what at any time. They are also very aware of what sells and does not sell and have multiple selling strategies to use to assist with moving items from a home.
At this time when costs such as food are so expensive, rehoming items is a great way to help others save money on items that you no longer need or want.
Reduce your carbon footprint, repurpose items, resell as much as possible, and minimize what ends up in the landfill.
