Moving house in a way that’s good for the planet
Not to mention your own mental health and stress levels!
Experiences
Moving house can be an incredibly stressful experience. The stress levels increase exponentially the more people and stuff you have to move. This doesn’t even take into account how far you’re moving, or to what kind of home, or crucially, what your disposable income is. It’s safe to say, moving is a pain for almost everyone. Unfortunately, living as we are in Generation Rent, young people are moving more frequently than ever. In fact a 2022 survey by SpareRoom found 25% of young people surveyed had already moved house 10 times since leaving their parental homes.
Unfortunately, this does not always lead to people buying less stuff, thought it does seem to lead to them buying less expensive home stuff. The growth in fast fashion and cheap furniture is the best example of this.
What happens when younger people move house? Here’s a breakdown based on a lived experience of a recent move, anecdotal information from friends and neighbours and some statistics.
Food items usually go to the trash. As these items are sometimes bulky and might be open or half used, they usually get thrown away. A fair few people try to donate them to food banks or shelters, but often find that the opened food and food past its Best By date is not accepted.
Clothing items are usually taken along. If there is a space/weight restriction (e.g. moving abroad) older clothing items are thrown away. Sometimes they are recycled as textiles and in some places (like the UK) they can be donated to charity shops, where the usable pieces will be sold to raise money for a specific cause.
Furniture is usually taken along if possible, or left out in the street as junk if not needed. Several people do try to sell bigger items before moving, a process that’s become easier with hyper local marketplace apps.
Small electronics are the bane of most millennial households. How we manage to acquire so many electronics with their associated myriad cables and chargers is beyond me. These are usually carted along during the move for later inspection (which never happens) or dumped in the trash.
Toys and souvenirs are some of the most awkward things to deal with. These usually end up in shoe boxes or packing boxes ‘just in case’ you or your kids want them later. They have sentimental value after all.
Finally, documents are usually piled into a box (filed or at random, depending on the kind of person you are) and taken along. There’s bound to be something important in there you may need.
In summary, a lot goes to waste that shouldn’t. The main reason for this is the lack of time to sort through everything brought about by the sheer volume of stuff we have amassed. That’s certainly what happened to me. Another week, I thought to myself at the time, and most of the stuff we ended up throwing away could have found a better home than the anonymity of the inner depths of a trash can. Every bag of trash I threw out came with equal measures of shame, guilt and relief. Every piece of clothing or furniture that found a new home brought happiness, as well as relief.
Lessons
How can we take things we learn during a move to make improvements to our life before we even consider moving? Here are a few things I hope I will do from now on to live a more lean and satisfied life.
Every month I will…
…review my pantry and the food items I have and identify anything that’s approaching its expiry or best before date. These I will move to the front or into my eye line. The same goes for opened stuff in the fridge that has a limited shelf life. If at that point I feel like I won’t be able to use it all up, I will organise to donate it to a shelter. Giving away stuff that’s within its expected shelf life is a great help. We must be realistic, not greedy about what we can consume. Food waste is particularly bad considering the emissions, water and land that go into making the food.
Every three months I will…
…look through my list of documents. That includes post, bills, receipts etc. I will destroy and recycle everything that I don’t need anymore. If there is a little doubt, I will take a photo of the document and recycle it anyway. This might work better in some countries than others, depending on the obsession with paper documents your administration services have. Where possible, I will opt for electronic receipts and invoices, because nowadays I can access them whenever and wherever I need them. This decluttering will not only help save space but also help me stay on top of things, ensuring I don’t miss anything important because of the mass pileup of useless paper.
PS: You should also do this for things like paper bags, gift boxes and packaging boxes you may have and not need anymore.
Every six months I will…
…tackle that drawer of doom that houses the electronics and their chargers and cables. Everyone has one. Let’s be realistic, I will only ever need two or three cables of each type or configuration (and soon hopefully, the different configurations will reduce, at least in Europe). The rest should go into the electronics recycling pile along with any other piece of electronics I haven’t used in the last year or so. Then I’ll take these items to a place that recycles electronics (most cities have these — they could be either private or public). This will not only help declutter my house where they were living uselessly and rent-free, but it will also help ensure that the useful rare earth metals in these electronics can be reused or recycled. It also has the significant effect of ensuring these items don’t end up in landfills, where toxic materials in them could seep into the soil over time.
Every year I will…
…take stock of the clothes I own. If I haven’t used them in the last year more than once or twice, it’s unlikely I will use them in the year or years to come. There are exceptions of course, but be realistic about these. To these I will add clothes that I’ve worn too much, are damaged or I’ve outgrown (physically or spiritually). I plan to take the clothes I’ve separated in this way and do one of three things with them. I will sell those that I’ve barely used or used lightly for one reason or another. I’ll donate those that are in good condition and could be used by the less fortunate — especially things like mens formal clothes, warm winter clothing and good quality baby/infant clothing. The rest will go into textile recycling, where they can be reused for all manner of things. Over the next few years, all these clothes will have adventures they could never have dreamed of sitting in my closet or storage room, helping others and helping me!
…review toys, games and souvenirs I have acquired over time. This might be a lot or very few depending on whether you have kids, or are prone to collecting things like board games or action figures. Here you can use the method of seeing whether the items bring you joy and if not, or not as much as before, it might be time to part ways with them. Donating them, selling them on or giving them away will make someone else very happy and give you a LOT fewer odd-shaped things to fit into boxes the next time you have to move.
Every time I plan to move I will…
…look at the furniture I own and ask myself three questions
1 — Do I still like it?
2 — Does it still work the way I wanted it to?
3 — Will it fit (physically or spiritually) in my new home?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, it’s time to let go. Furniture has a long life and second hand furniture, especially from well known brands like Ikea are in high demand in second-hand marketplaces. And of course, when you do redecorate your new place, look first at second hand marketplaces.
Keeping these affirmations is hard but with a little planning and a lot of willpower, I hope I will be able to do just that, so that the next time I move, the process might be just a little less overwhelming.
