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Susan's avatar

I tell myself, or anyone who will listen, that I don't want to buy ___ because then I'm responsible for it. I'm responsible for enough. I don't want to have to clean it, maintain it, store it or dispose of "it".

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Anne Marie Bonneau's avatar

So true! Thank you for sharing that insight.

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Emily GreenPurpleFireDragon's avatar

Here in Switzerland I *feel* the responsibility more strongly. Normal trash costs a lot, so that paper/cardboard/glass/metal/oil/battery recycling is free. There’s a saying here that you should expect to have to spend at least as much as the buying price to dispose of something.

I mostly feel good about getting good things at the thrift store. I see it as a sort of rental till I’m done with it. And then I can give it back. So my standard is: only get something of good enough quality that other people will want it.

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Kim Paymaster's avatar

Love love love this post. This is exactly where I am in life right now too - just trying to get rid of all the stuff that I unfortunately accumulated in my early life. After cleaning out my parents house last year, I became even more dedicated to not leaving so much stuff for someone else to have to deal with once I'm gone.

It's awesome that there are so many places to give/sell your things. I'm a big fan of Buy Nothing and the front stoop method. I also love Offer Up as another option.

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Anne Marie Bonneau's avatar

Thank you! I hope your quest is going well. It's such a big job Thank goodness for Buy Nothing!

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Reade Adams's avatar

Both my husband's parents and mine died within the last 10 years or so, and I still have a lot of their stuff to dispose of. Sentimental objects are the hardest to part with, although I'm getting better at it. Thanks for the list of organizations that accept used items. That will definitely help.

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Anne Marie Bonneau's avatar

I'm glad you found the list helpful. I think sentimental stuff is the most difficult category to sort through and give away.

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Zero Waste Ithaca's avatar

Gotta check out the series Swedish Death Cleaning 😄

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Anne Marie Bonneau's avatar

It looks pretty good :D

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Jacquelyn Ottman's avatar

Another great, practical and insightful article, Anne Marie. THANKS. I'm in the process of downsizing myself, and as a complement to what you've mostly described in here as "donating", there are a raft of web platforms that have sprung up to actually sell things. Among them, Facebook Marketplace (which seems to be the most popular for obvious reasons), but also Poshmark, The Real Real.com, OfferUpNow.com (that you mentioned), Mercari, and lots lots more -- in addition of course to Ebay and Craigslist, the old standbys. There are even people whom you can hire to help you sell the stuff who will work on a commission. Good news: There's more and more places to sell the stuff. AND PREDICTION: in the future, as a result of the existence of these re-sale places, more and more consumers might consider the 'resale' price of what we buy and accordingly, its quality.

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Anne Marie Bonneau's avatar

Thank you for these resources, Jacquie. I think your prediction will prove itself to be spot on. Considering the resale value is another great reason to buy quality.

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Jane's avatar

Love this. Thank you. Always inspiring and helpful practical tips.

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Anne Marie Bonneau's avatar

Thank you for the kind words.

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K_L_Elsayed's avatar

Thank you for this article. I've been racking my brain on what to do with things I don't want. Like you, I want to be kind to the environment. These ideas and links are a blessing. I really appreciate it 😊

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Anne Marie Bonneau's avatar

My pleasure! I'm glad you found it useful.

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Savannagal's avatar

I wish you were my neighbor! I’d much rather borrow, or pick up free or used. I don’t want to buy anything, especially things I need infrequently.

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Anne Marie Bonneau's avatar

We could share and trade stuff :)

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Sunny's avatar

Here is a link to find a center that has arts and crafts materials. I donate and buy from the one in Berkeley.

https://swoodsonsays.com/a-creative-reuse-center-near-me-map-resource/

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Anne Marie Bonneau's avatar

Thank you, thank you!

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Sirine's avatar

Hi Anne Marie. Love your stuff as always. Ridwell send plastic waste for "chemical recycling" pyrolysis at the Agylix plant in Oregon. More carbon-intensive than incineration and cancer-causing, and a key technology touted by Big Petchem to justify exponential plastic production. See Sharon Lerner's investigation: https://www.propublica.org/article/chevron-pascagoula-pollution-future-cancer-risk

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Anne Marie Bonneau's avatar

Hi Sirine. Ugh. I can't bring myself to hit the like button 😟 Thank you for sharing this article. Did you find out about the Oregon plant from Ridwell? It touts itself as transparent. As always, we need to focus on reducing first!

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Sirine's avatar

I found the info on their website at the time because I found it suspicious that they were taking EPS plastics that I know Agilyx was attempting to recover, and the stuff ended up in cement kilns (GAIA did an investigation about it). This was a few months back. I just checked again and it seems they now no longer list Agilyx as the destination for their EPS but still recommend it as a dropoff site here https://www.ridwell.com/styrofoam - so, a small improvement if it is accurate! My bad on the outdated alarm...

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Anne Marie Bonneau's avatar

Thank you very much!

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Rebecca's avatar

Great post!

I read the Swedish Art of Death Cleaning a few years ago and started thinking about what I would not want my daughter to have to deal with. It really spurred me into getting rid of some stuff (that and having had to clean out my mother’s house where she had lived for 40 years and had a lot of stuff).

Thank you so very much for the resources! I try to dispose of things in the best way possible and I appreciate information about how to do that. I recently moved halfway across the country and gave away a lot of things. I found Buy Nothing and Nextdoor to be very helpful. I got most of my moving boxes and packing materials off of Buy Nothing and have passed them along to others in my new community.

Thank you Anne Marie for another wonderful post.

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