Eco-Friendly Decluttering Hacks that Your Family Will Love

Eco-friendly living is a great way to lower your carbon footprint and help the environment. One way to achieve this is by practicing minimalism. However, sometimes the only path to minimalism is to get rid of things that you no longer need.

Alexis Blue from the University of Arizona has talked about the benefits of decluttering. There are a lot of ways that you can help the planet by getting rid of junk. But your whole family needs to be on board. This can be a challenge.

In most homes, there is usually only one person who attempts to decluttering on their own. This disagreement typically either leads to a slanging match to get everyone else to do their “chores” or they put in 95% plus of the effort and do it all themselves. This article explores how to involve the whole family. With a little bit of thought and effort everyone from the youngest to the oldest can contribute towards making their home the place where they can relax, play, and strengthen the ties that bind them. 

Even The Youngest Can Take Part

Every age has a rite of passage, but all too often homes become overfilled with the presents given to celebrate the arrival of a new live, the annual celebration of that day and all the other life events. As a parent, helping children develop healthy attitudes to caring for items, and passing them on to others to enjoy when they have outgrown will establish healthy lifelong habits.

Decluttering can be a contract to give away the things they no longer use or play with at all. Rather than sneaking it out of the house, why not go through the stuff together, and then give a week’s grace to change the decision. There will always be room for a small box of treasures which will invoke happy childhood memories to go with each of us.

Helping children let go and praising the passing on of the things they have outgrown is a good way to introduce them to upcycling and recycling. If possible, bring the kids with you when you pass it on to those that need it, or make them responsible for putting it out to be collected by the trash collector.

Spring Clean To An Agenda

With everyone in the house, spring cleaning may be difficult. To get on top of it, simply change the parameters each week to get ahead of the clutter. As we move from winter and spring chills into warmer summer weather, perhaps you should tackle clothes one week, books, magazines, DVDs and CDs another week.

With everyone involved in the decluttering process, it will take a concentrated effort to make spring cleaning a reality. As an alternative, why not get them to take part by separating out the to be junk from things that can be donated or upcycled. Having extra hands to help clear out to transform a room or space quickly pays for itself many times over, particularly when they can make sure it is recycled properly.

Time And Place For Everyone’s Space 

It is hard at home, especially during lockdown, when rooms have to fulfil double duties, the dining room becoming the study without working office, et cetera. Just as in many offices, using inexpensive whiteboards to book rooms out in advance might be a good way to keep the family working together. That office meeting room rule to leave the room as you would like to find it will help establish decluttering habits too. 

Decluttering is more than just putting things out of sight. That said, portable covered-top stacking cubes are very handy so that everyone has a place to put and protect their “stuff”, and if need be take it with them in a hurry. They are also useful to organize commonly used items, from art supplies to pet toys, as well as the proliferation of spare cables and leads, old phones and other computer supplies.

Covered boxes are a great way to keep spaces tidy and are also very useful to move out of the room if someone needs it to be on an important video call quickly with family, friends, and for work too. Why not get different colored cubes for different purposes and either label them or release everyone’s inner artist by completely redecorating them to claim ownership? It’s not a competition for perfection, rather it is a time to strengthen bonds.

Magpie To Minimalist In Five Minutes A Day

A quick kitchen and sitting room tidy up for five minutes a day can establish a family routine and an expectation that everyone participates. Taking before and after photos helps it become more than just another boring routine. Followed by praise of doing a good job and a treat to watch a movie together as a family helps to reinforce accomplishments.

Calling time on the compulsion to collect and hoard is far healthier for the whole family – whatever the compulsion is.  Waste not, want not does not mean buying everything, only simply to use resources carefully and without extravagance, so that you are never in need.

Part of that moderation is to simply stop acquiring, or perhaps for each new acquisition, to let one go. Doing this as a family can be carried through to each room in the house and lay the foundations for a better way forward. 

You and your loved ones may never become radical minimalists. On the journey, remember to notice how much less time is needed to clean and take care of all the stuff you no longer needed. Using that time to make memories with those you care about can be the biggest dividend of all.

Decluttering Can Help the Environment

There are a lot of ways that you can help the environment. One option is to focus on decluttering. Unfortunately, decluttering won’t work if the whole family isn’t on the same page. You need to have a sincere discussion and make it work.