What to do with all that stuff that doesn’t “spark joy”
I, along with about 11 billion other humans on Planet Earth, recently embarked on the Konmari Method of de-cluttering and tidying up my home. (Not sure where to start? Here’s this.)
While haters are going to hate, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience decluttering and noticing the shift it’s had in how I go about my routine. So much so that I actually led a yoga workshop on the whole thing where me and some of my friends collectively re-evaluated our relationships with our “stuff.”
I went on to re-decorate my bedroom and create the kind of haven I’ve always dreamed of. (So all in all, not too bad for a $15 book.) I’d like to think I’m konverted, but I’m not perfect. Is there a box of photos from my trip to Australia in 2009 that “I’m going to scrapbook soon”? Yes. Do I still misplace my keys? Of course (less often though)! Do I thank my clothes at the end of every day? No. Actually…I have. But I always make it a point to feel weird about it after.
What Marie glosses over: Discarding
Anyway we’re not here to talk about tidying or decorating or conversations with inanimate objects. We’re here to talk about WTF you’re supposed to do with all the stuff you ‘discard’ when you go through this process. In the book, Marie doesn’t go into detail on logistics. She’s just like, “If you do not feel joy, discard!!” Well, discard how? Where? Can we make some ca$h? What about tax write-off’s? It makes it a lot harder to part with designer labels when you’re not getting anything from the deal. I learned the hard way that without a strategy for the discard phase, I merely re-located my joy-less crap from my bedroom into my hallway, into the dining room where it sat for months and my roommates had to stare at it (sorry, roommates). I also hurriedly threw away things I could have donated or gotten money for. Don’t make these same mistakes. Go in with a game plan. I got you.
A Game Plan for Discarding
I’ve broken this out into the Konmari decluttering stages, based on the options of: dispose, donate, sell and occasionally up-cycle.
Clothes. [Dispose →Sell →Donate, in that order]
Once you have your clothing discard pile, sort out anything that is ripped, falling apart, has shameful stains, is broken beyond reasonable repair or is just shambles from an old Halloween costume, and throw it in the trash. Next, separate out all designer labels for the sell pile. Here’s a good list of what brands to put in this pile. If it doesn’t fit any of those brands and it’s not something expensive, put it in the donate pile.
For the sell pile, you can go the online consignment route with sites like: Swap, Twice, ThredUp, Poshmark, or Snobswap (in order from least to most fancy.) If you’re in D.C. and you prefer working with your local consignment shop, you can try Frugalista, Buffalo Exchange, Crossroads or Secondi (again from least to most fancy.) Whatever they don’t want or you can’t sell goes in the donate pile.
With the donate pile, I took all of mine to Martha’s Outfitters (guidelines for what they love to get here, but they will take whatever you bring). Martha’s will give you a receipt for tax write-off purposes (just remember to file it away neatly!). You can also check out your local Goodwill/drop-off bin or arrange a pick-up.
Books [Donate; If you’re a poor student with a lot of time on your hands, sell NEW text books on Half.com or Amazon. For anything else, donate.]
I got rid of a LOT of books this past weekend. Almost fifty. For me, there’s nothing cooler than knowing a good book I enjoyed will go on to be read by someone else. Maybe someone going through a crappy time will be transported for a few moments or will learn how to manage their finances or will appreciate a new poem. I took all my books to this amazing place Books for America. I highly recommend bringing your books there (they also do pickups if you have 50+ books so maybe get some coworkers to join you on that and have them come to your office). But before you do just check that the donations meet this criteria (all of mine did). DC Books to Prisoners is another good option.
Papers [Dispose]
Shred them!!! For real. Protect your identity and shred shred shred. Your office might have a shredder so if that’s the case use it, but if it’s not, D.C. DPW actually offers free document shredding services, so you can take advantage of that as well.
Miscellany [Dispose, donate or sell, depending]
This is where things become more complex. Here we’re talking about kitchen stuff, media stuff, doo-dads and knick-knacks and basically everything. You’ve got to do the mental calculus for the effort that will go into selling something. For tech items that are worth some money, I’d recommend Ebay or Craigslist. I recently sold a pair of speakers and an old dSLR camera for decent cash on Craigslist, and it saved me the hassle of shipping. And for heaven’s sake, if you don’t know what the cord or remote goes to, just throw it away.
For like-new toys, baby gear, sports equipment you can try to sell on Swap. Otherwise, a lot of things can be donated, just check the guidelines of wherever you’re going. I accidentally ended up tossing a whole lot of old DVD’s that actually could have been donated to Books for America (sad-face). So be mindful of all your options.
Mementos [Dispose, sell, up-cycle or donate]
Mementos are the hardest. Probably you’ll just need to part with them. Maybe though, there’s a piece of jewelry you could sell (see consignment options above). Or possibly, you could recycle the clutter by up-cycling it. My sister took all the greeting cards she got for her little boy’s baby shower and cut them into strips and weaved them together to make a quilt-like collage that she framed up. This is a nice way to get rid of clutter and create a whole new joyful thing (that eventually you’ll need to discard…but one joyful baby step at a time…)
❤
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Author’s note: This post wasn’t really about Havenly but since I linked to them, I wanted to disclose they provided me with a free room make-over ($185 designer’s fee waived; I paid for all items). That said, I wouldn’t mention them if I didn’t recommend them. They’re great.
