How to recycle a wagon (and give away not-perfect t-shirts)
When I declutter, it's super important to me to dispose of my things is a not-trash-producing way. Some stuff does need to be thrown away, of course, but a surprising amount can be disposed of somewhere other than the landfill.
I've gotten rid of SO MUCH STUFF this summer, and happily, I've hardly had to throw anything away. It takes a little longer to give away/sell/donate stuff, but the satisfaction of knowing my stuff is being used makes the effort totally worth it to me.
(Here's how I declutter without creating trash.)
Recently I got rid of some things that needed something other than my freecycle/hand-me-down route, so I thought I'd share 'em here in case these ideas could help you.
The Wagon (+ random metal stuff)
We got this metal wagon years ago as a hand-me-down from Mr. FG's cousins, and it's been through years of play at our house.
Remember how we used the wagon for picnics at the pier??
Anyway, somehow, the wagon got run over and the back half was bent beyond repair.
The wagon was too big to put out with curbside recycling, so I found a metal recycling company in the area and dropped the wagon off, along with some other random metal stuff I'd been saving (like old hinges, and the peeled Schlage front door handle that I replaced for free).
This company does pay for metal, but it's only $0.02/pound and I had 19 pounds.
$0.38 was most certainly not worth the paperwork, so I left without compensation, which was fine. I just wanted my stuff to get recycled!
Imperfect T-shirts
When I cleaned out Mr. FG's tshirt drawer, I found quite a few that were maybe not fabulous enough for Goodwill to sell, but which still had plenty of life left in them.
I know you can donate things like that to Goodwill and they can always turn unsold items into rags, but it's more awesome if people can actually wear the clothes, you know?
So, I dropped a bag of them off at a local establishment that provides emergency, transitional, and permanent housing for people in need. Since they give away their donated clothes for free, I have good reason to believe that they'll be worn and not discarded, so, yay!
(By the way, I do cut up old tshirts to use as rags, but I can only use so many rags, and I try to use only the most worn/dated items for rags...kind of a last resort.)
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What's your favorite way to declutter without throwing your stuff away?
I love to use places like Amvets or freecycle to get rid of clutter without throwing them out.
I give small things and clothes to salvation army or the like, I put books in a free pile (mobile library), I try to sell the bigger stuff and if it does not sell I put it at the curb with a "free" sign. I do throw out the worned out clothes, not knowing what to do with it... But I rarely throw out stuff, I always try to sell it or give it first, or recycle it at worst.
When we lived in a multi-family bldg., the service elevator room on our floor was magic at making unwanted items disappear. One man's trash...
Now I use the curbside: people actually come by each week to see if there is anything of use. It makes me glad, even if they sell it.
Hand-me-downs, of course, are still a favorite. And making doll clothes of old kids' stuff from time to time works.
We have two great Goodwill stores that are glad for our old things and make my husband happy with their receipts.
Our dump also has about 10 different ways to recycle stuff (electronics, chemicals, textiles, paper, glass, metal, plastic, lawn trash, etc), so it's worth looking into your local waste disposal area.
But my favorite is giving old towels and sheets that aren't Goodwill quality to animal shelters, they are always in need and willing to take stained and torn linens to line cages.
I Freecycle, donate to Goodwill (even worn-out clothes, which they make into rags), put books in little libraries around here, and sell better books and items on Amazon and on a local garage-sale Facebook site.
I'm often decluttering craft supplies from good intentions too many years ago, and we have a great store here in Indianapolis called Indy Upcycle. They take donations of craft items, sort them, and then sell them to customers at "pay what you think is fair" prices, which are always really low. I never know how to price items when I purchase there, so just let the owner give me guidance about what to pay, and the prices are always so low. I've gotten great fabric for $1 to $3 a yard, craft items for the kids (including a knitting machine for $7), and specific items like stamps or quilting patterns. I always feel good donating there, knowing I'm keeping these things out of the landfill and am enabling (in every sense of the word!) another crafter to make something at a very reasonable price.
You might be able to get rid of t-shirts with holes at a place like this. I take those old t-shirts and cut them into a sort of "yarn" to crochet rugs. Or I use the strips to tie up tomatoes.
My brother is a big fan of scrapping metal for cash though it can get a bit out of hand at times. What I am surprised is, that there was no market for the wheels. Wheels are like springs and bubble wrap: you never realize how expensive they are until you go to buy them.
Right now I have a large box of stuff to get rid of. My wife wants to do a garage sale though I really don't want to at all.
Once in a great while we may go in with someone who is having a yard sale, but usually we just donate. I prefer to donate to someone specific if I know they want/need/can use the item. (I donated a large amount of stickers/blank cards/scrapbooking supplies to a local assisted living center, and got a lovely hand-made thank-you card in return.) If I don't know anyone who can use the items, then we donate either to a small community thrift store nearby or Goodwill. On occasion for larger items that we might have a hard time hauling somewhere, we just put it on the curb with a FREE sign and it is gone within an hour.
I always try to see if something can be reused around here first in another way.
I've taken a few things to work.
Craft supplies I've donated to a girl scout group. Fabric went to a quilt group. And I just filled a big box with craft tools and supplies when a niece showed interest. That is how I became crafty, it was passed on by my aunts.
I also sent 3 computers and an old printer to best buy for recycling. Boy was I happy with that cleared out space.
The biggest things is not to bring in to much. With only two adults here its not hard to limit shopping. I don't even do thirft shops anymore, not much that we need.
Just an FYI, if you have old dish towels, regular towels, newspaper or regular paper (shredded or unshredded) contact your local animal shelter. They need these things!!!!
Oh, right! I always forget about this.
I too hate to throw anything away. I list a lot of items on freecycle. Sometimes we put things at the curb for FREE. I ask people I know if I have things I think they might want. If our community has a yard sale we put items out with a sign that says "Everything is free". I have connected with someone in the community (via freecycle) that will take items for homeless missions. And occasionally we donate to Goodwill.
Our local landfill just started taking clothing and footwear for recycling - I am so happy! I've been able to clean out my closets much more thoroughly, knowing that those things which are torn or stained, no longer fit or are wanted, and are not good enough to consign or donate, will be used after all.
And I also use clean but unwearable clothing, cut into pieces, as stuffing for draft blockers (make a long tube of cloth, open at one end, stuff, sew up or tie the other end) - good for keeping out drafts under doors in the winter. I actually sew these to sell at a craft fair and have had reasonable success. T-shirt material is ideal for this as it's heavy enough to keep the draft blocker in place, and is not attractive to critters like rice is, nor too heavy to move like sand is.
I also make bags (purses/totes/etc) from the top parts of jeans or skirts and line them with lighter fabrics from shirts or similar clothing. And I always keep the buttons and zippers or other hardware from clothing and purses to use in making zippered pouches, button snowmen Christmas ornaments, or other crafts for sale. It's amazing what you can upcycle - do a Google search (or your search engine of choice) and see what comes up. Old clothing is a gold mine of fabric for small projects - or even larger ones like quilts.
The area we live in has a lot of "Gaia Movement" clothing drop off boxes. They take clothes and shoes and recycle them either by sending them where they can be worn, or recycling them down to base materials if they are no longer usable. When we have clothing that isn't good enough for resale, I drop them off there.
I try to reuse as much as I can. One of my favorite projects was making outgrown flannel pj's and shirts from my two sons into matching quilts. I used their old Radio Flyer wagon in my flower bed until it totally rotted through (still missing it). Old towels and t-shirts are great for cleaning, art projects, wrapping pottery in for transport (one son grew up to be an artist), shop rags, and washing the dog, etc. The junk drawer came in very handy for college art projects - he even used some small kitchen appliances that were no longer being used to build robots. I've made curtains from the flat sheet after the fitted sheet wore out. Vintage floral pillow cases make the loveliest covers on the seats of my wicker furniture set (for the loveseat I used two of them, overlapping the top one - I added some red buttons in the center of the flowers along the edge to make it more attractive)...plus they are so easy to wash and put back on. I used more pillow cases to cover the throw pillows - it looks very shabby chic with the variety of florals and soft colors.
That wagon would have made a cute planter
Hi Kristen,
About a year ago (maybe more) you posted an entry about a white curtain you made for your bathroom. I am finally ready to make that curtain! 🙂 Could you possibly send me a link to that?
Anna
Hmm...I wonder if maybe you saw that on another blog? One of my bathrooms is windowless and the other's only window is actually IN the shower, which means it doesn't have a curtain.