unclutter | Entries tagged with unclutter 2014

As previously noted, I'm doing Unclutter 2014, which involves getting rid of 1 thing per day in 2014, plus an extra thing for every thing that comes into the house. I thought I'd also keep track of where the things go (landfill, charity shop, recycling, etc). I'm planning to post once every ten days, giving a summary of how I'm doing.

Days 1-50: 175 out (32 landfill, 87 recycled, 38 charity shop, 7 gifts, 3 Freegle, 2 used up, 6 archived), 31 in, net total out: 144.

Day 51: Nothing in, nothing out.

Day 52: 1 out: book used to pay for lesson at Trade School.

Day 53: 1 out: travel-size shampoo bottle that had been hanging around for ages (used up, recycled bottle, counting as 1 used up).

Days 54-56: Nothing in, nothing out.

Day 57: 19 out: 8 pieces of trash that had been hanging around in the shed for ages (landfill), 4 containers of takeaway food that had been in the freezer for ages (food in food waste, foil containers recycled, counting as 4 food waste), some pickled garlic, chicken fat, and tinned anchovies that had been in the fridge for ages (food waste), an empty wasabi tube (recycled), 2 empty packets (landfill) and an instruction leaflet (recycled) from kitchen drawer.

Day 58: Nothing in, nothing out.

Day 59: 1 out: a ginger teabag that had been sitting on its own at the bottom of a tin for months (made tea, drank it, used the tin to consolidate another clutter).

Day 60: Nothing in, nothing out.

Total out so far: 197 (42 landfill, 89 recycled, 38 charity shop, 7 gifts, 3 Freegle, 1 bartered, 4 used up, 7 food waste, 6 archived)
Total in so far: 31
Net total out at day 60: 166

nou

Days 1-10: 32 out (6 landfill, 3 recycled, 19 charity shop, 2 gifts, 1 Freegle, 1 used up), 8 in, net total out: 24.

Days 11–20: 28 out (12 landfill, 6 recycled, 8 charity shop, 1 Freegle, 1 used up), 15 in, net total out: 13.

Days 21–30: 29 out (6 landfill, 11 recycled, 5 charity shop, 1 Freegle, 6 archived), 3 in, net total out: 26.

Days 31–40: 58 out (5 landfill, 53 recycled), 0 in, net total out: 58.

Day 41: Nothing in, nothing out.

Day 42: 4 in: Three new microfibre cloths and a new cloth apron.

Day 43: 4 out: 2 plastic bottles now surplus to requirements (recycled), 1 box that didn't have anything in it (recycled), 1 piece of blender that got broken ages ago (landfill).

Day 44: 2 out: half-empty bottle of conditioner that we moved house with over two years ago - the bottle had somehow gone mouldy (bottle recycled), plastic bag randomly hanging around in bathroom (recycled).

Day 45: 6 out: 6 books taken to charity shop.

Day 46: Nothing in, nothing out.

Day 47: 1 in: bob bought a set of Trivial Pursuit questions.

Day 48: 14 out: 2 books, 1 measuring cylinder, 1 pair of shoelaces all given to a friend; 1 bottle chilli sauce given to another friend; 1 card, 3 receipts, 1 packet, 2 envelopes, 2 letters all recycled.

Day 49: Nothing in, nothing out.

Day 50: 2 out: 1 broken button that's been hanging around for ages (landfill), 1 broken bowl (landfill).

Total out so far: 175 (32 landfill, 87 recycled, 38 charity shop, 7 gifts, 3 Freegle, 2 used up, 6 archived)
Total in so far: 31
Net total out at day 50: 144

nou

Days 1-10: 32 out (6 landfill, 3 recycled, 19 charity shop, 2 gifts, 1 Freegle, 1 used up), 8 in, net total out: 24.

Days 11–20: 28 out (12 landfill, 6 recycled, 8 charity shop, 1 Freegle, 1 used up), 15 in, net total out: 13.

Days 21–30: 29 out (6 landfill, 11 recycled, 5 charity shop, 1 Freegle, 6 archived), 3 in, net total out: 26.

Days 31–32: Nothing in, nothing out.

Day 33: 2 out: handful of old receipts (recycling), broken key fob (landfill).

Day 34: Nothing in, nothing out.

Day 35: 50 out: plastic tub collection winnowed through, everything we don't use regularly put into recycling.

Day 36: 5 out: 2 boxes of old earplugs (landfill), 1 sliver of ancient soap (landfill), 1 surplus-to-requirements tube of medicated cream (landfill), 1 no-longer-needed instruction leaflet (recycled).

Days 37–39: Nothing in, nothing out.

Day 40: 1 out: old bottle of mouthwash, dregs tipped down sink and bottle put into recycling.

Total out so far: 147 (29 landfill, 73 recycled, 32 charity shop, 2 gifts, 3 Freegle, 2 used up, 6 archived)
Total in so far: 26
Net total out at day 40: 121

I had to think carefully about the plastic tub collection on day 35. None of it was bought - all of it was left over from takeaways and other food purchases - but it was all saved purposefully for reuse, in some cases for years. Although some of it was unusable due to incompatible lids/tubs, some of it could have been reused if I'd taken the time to offer it on Freegle. I decided against this because I already have several outstanding offers on Freegle and I'm running out of the time/energy to keep up with it - but in an ideal world, I would have tried to find these tubs a new home with someone else. Putting plastic in the recycling is better than putting it directly in landfill, but there's no guarantee that it won't eventually end up in landfill anyway.

nou

Days 1-10: 32 out (6 landfill, 3 recycled, 19 charity shop, 2 gifts, 1 Freegle, 1 used up), 8 in, net total out: 24.

Days 11–20: 28 out (12 landfill, 6 recycled, 8 charity shop, 1 Freegle, 1 used up), 15 in, net total out: 13.

Day 21: Nothing in, nothing out.

Day 22: 2 in, 19 out: DVD and card arrived from a friend; did a drawer cleanout yielding handful of old receipts (recycled), old circular (envelope recycled, circular put in local history archive, counting as one recycled), five flyers/leaflets (archive), old medical notification (shredded, composted, counting as recycled), wrapper from a cereal bar (landfill), specimen tube surplus to requirements (recycled), two old map printouts (recycled), expired membership card for local shared workspace (archive), handful of old Boggle word sheets (recycled), old takeaway menu (recycled), list of who got what meat from a pig slaughtered a couple of years ago (recycled), crochet cotton label (recycled), old copy of London Drinker magazine (recycled), greasy paper bag (shredded, composted, counting as recycled).

Day 23: 1 in, 10 out: Copy of Interzone arrived; took 5 boxes of expired medication to pharmacy for disposal (counting as landfill), took a lemon zester, corkscrew, bottle-opener, plastic mat, and pocket-sized mirror to charity shop.

Day 24: 1 out: tin of candle wax collected by a Freegler.

Days 25-30: Nothing in, nothing out.

Total out so far: 89 (24 landfill, 20 recycled, 32 charity shop, 2 gifts, 3 Freegle, 2 used up, 6 archived)
Total in so far: 26
Net total out at day 30: 63

NB I'm counting stuff put into my local history archive as uncluttered, because this involves filing things properly (rather than having them scattered around) and I'm counting new folders as "in"s. I'm not counting future things in and out though, as long as they get filed promptly, which they usually do. (Hopefully in the long run this will be merged into the existing collection at the council-run local archives service, but this depends on resources and budget cuts. We've agreed that the best course is for it to stay with me for now.)

nou

Days 1-10: 32 out (6 landfill, 3 recycled, 19 charity shop, 2 gifts, 1 Freegle, 1 used up), 8 in, net total out: 24.

Day 11: 5 in, 12 out: A box of candles and 4 boxes of matches in. Outs were: 1 half-empty bottle of "friendly bacteria" tablets (old, not been kept in fridge as advised on label, no longer needed anyway - tablets in landfill, bottle in recycling, counting as 1 in recycling), 1 collection ticket (2 pieces of A4 paper, recycled) for a duvet I already collected months ago, 8 non-working disposable pens (landfill), 2 obsolete connectors (landfill).

Day 12: 3 out: bag of scrap material collected by a Freegler, old Clas Ohlson catalogue found in a drawer and recycled, old edition of What's Brewing ditto.

Day 13: 10 in, 2 out: Bought 10 wallet folders (needed for filing historical research), took a pair of baby slippers (wrong size) and a baby bib (wrong type) to the charity shop.

Days 14-17: Nothing in, nothing out.

Day 18: 5 out: a few stickers that have been hanging around for a while (stuck them to stuff), handful of dead hairbands (landfill), plastic bottle surplus to requirements (recycling), handful of no-longer-needed instruction leaflets found in kitchen drawer (recycling), plastic packaging with nothing inside, also found in kitchen drawer (landfill).

Day 19: 6 out: 5 items of jewellery and a 2014 calendar taken to the charity shop.

Day 20: Nothing in, nothing out.

Total out so far: 60 (18 landfill, 9 recycled, 27 charity shop, 2 gifts, 2 Freegle, 2 used up)
Total in so far: 23
Net total out at day 20: 37

(Update, 31 Jan: corrected figures — I'd miscounted my "out"s and actually had one more than I thought, though my net total out was correct.)

nou

Day 1: 1 out: Fabric decorative thing from a wine bottle - been trying to think of something to do with it, but no joy, so in the bin.

Day 2: 5 in, 13 out: Baby's First Mythos and 4 associated postcards (mail order purchase by bob) arrived today; 12 books and 1 puppet taken to charity shop.

Day 3: 0 in, 0 out

Day 4: 1 out: one of the postcards from day 2, posted to a friend.

Day 5: 3 in, 3 out: Roku box, remote control, and instruction book (mail order purchase by bob) arrived today; large pile of plastic bits from a compost bin that got irreparably broken last year went into landfill (3 bin bags, but counting as 1 out), 1 large cardboard box that's been hanging around for months broken up and put into recycling, 1 mostly-empty dried-out packet of baby wipes that's also been hanging around for months put into compost (wipes) and landfill (packet) (counting this as 1 into landfill).

Day 6: 1 out: a 2-litre bottle of sparkling water that's been hanging around in our fridge for at least 2 years. Counting this because it's been here so long and I only drank it to get rid of it (I don't generally like sparkling water and usually just drink tap).

Day 7: 1 out: another of the postcards from day 2, given to my sister.

Day 8: 0 in, 0 out

Day 9: 5 out: bag of plastic cutlery collected by a Freegler, pair of small glass candle holders donated to Scope, "charity" clothes collection plastic bag discovered going dusty on a shelf (put into plastic bag recycling), 2 of bob's old toothbrushes (landfill).

Day 10: 7 out: dead USB stick drive (bob tried to fix it, no joy, into landfill), bag of dead batteries (taken to Maplin for recycling), 5 books (taken to charity shop).