Beyond Marie Kondo – After Decluttering

I love Marie Kondo. I like her principles on dealing with stuff. For me, it is distilled down to: not to get too attached to material things, clutter doesn’t calm the mind so do want you need to reduce it. Simple enough.

I have read her book, seen the show, read long analysis of her ways of working and so on and have appreciated it. So take it from me – I am a fan. But one thing about her philosophy that has always bothered me is the total lack of discussion about waste and the environment. This aspect of her philosophy really gnaws at me and personally for me, makes her philosophy incomplete. How can you not take into account the environment is almost everything you do in the times that we live in?

I never hear Marie Kondo discussing what happens to the stuff she helps people chuck out. Even in her Netflix show there is never a conversation about how to dispose off the items you declutter. I think in one episode there is a vague comment about donating the clothes that are tossed out but no further investigation into this donation. So in this post I wanted to focus a little more on how to declutter responsibly and what comes after decluttering.

I think the aim of decluttering should include the goal of getting rid of the items you declutter in a responsible manner. Chucking everything into a bin is a horrifying waste of resources and no one should be doing this. I also think if we took our job of getting rid of items more seriously, we would reconsider when buying and adding more items to our lives.

Donation

I personally don’t like donating to charity shops. Most charity shops around me are cluttered with items they wont be able to sell and make money from. So the only thing donating to them achieves is transferring the burden of disposing off the item from you to the charity shops which are already short-staffed.

So I always suggest before donating items to a charity shop, ask if they have space and the kind of items they are specifically interested in. If they welcome your donations feel free to do so.

Olio, Freecycle and other free market places

I love Olio! Olio’s tagline could well be ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’. I have managed to give away the strangest, oddest and most obscure items on Olio – all of which have been very gratefully received. Trust me when I tell you however odd you might think the item you have is, someone in Olio will have use for it. Random covers for pots and pans I don’t have – someone else has pots that word for them, chipped bowls – someone has used them for their art project, assorted rubber bands – someone has a parcels they secure with them and would otherwise have to buy more.

Of course, you can use the Freecycle website as well or just ask neighbours and friends if they want any items you are considering removing from your life.

Selling items

Now I have heard the argument that its better to donate to charity shops for free or on Olio than to sell old items. I absolutely disagree with that.

Personally I feel, the chances of the item being put to use is greatest if its sold on for a nominal amount to someone else. It is human nature – we value items we pay for, and the more we pay the more we value them. Anything we get for free, we usually do not value as much. I always advise in the first instance, sell old items which still have life left in them. Its the best way to make sure the items you have no use of are still used and don’t end up in the landfill.

Recycle

Once you have tried everything else, go to recycling. I usually recycle torn clothing which is beyond repair and can’t be used as kitchen towels. I usually drop clothing for recycling in the fast fashion stores which provide bins for this like Zara, H&M and Uniqlo.

Hope this post was a little useful and gave some food for thought. My learning and thoughts are continuously evolving as well so I am always keen to hear from others on their views. What experiences have you had at your local charity store? Do you sell items you no longer have any use for? How did that go?

See you next week!

– Anisha