How To Work With The Urge To Purge With Respect To Mother Earth
The month of April is Earth Month. Earth Day is itself on April 22. I’ve been thinking a lot about taking care of the Earth lately—and taking care of the people on the Earth as well.
Right now, we are at the height of spring cleaning season.
What do you do when you spring clean? You go through things. You sort things. You organize things. You purge things you don’t need.
When doing a deep clean like spring cleaning, we are usually told to create three piles or use three boxes labeled with titles such as throw away, recycle, donate. I also have a pile/box I label to be fixed. I do not label a box to keep unless I am swapping out a winter wardrobe for a summer wardrobe or something like that.
This year is a little different.
I want to be sure I am being responsible with my purchases with respect to not leaving a huge carbon footprint on my environment. I do not like to donate things that need to be fixed, but I am starting to review that idea, only if it is a simple fix. If I have a pair of jeans, for example, and the entire seat of the jeans has been ripped out, I am not going to donate them. That is not a simple fix.
Small tears in a seam? I can donate it.
Needs a button? I can donate it.
Needs a new zipper? I have to stop and think about it. I won’t buy a pair of pants if it needs a zipper because I am not a fan of fighting to get a new zipper in. Usually, if something I have needs a new zipper it’s a pair of jeans. I typically cut the jeans down and use them for scrap fabric rather than donating them.
How do I make my donations Earth-friendly?
I pay attention to where I donate.
Clothing goes to the Vietnam Veterans donation pick-up.
Towels, rags, blankets, those go to animal shelters.
Anything having to do with animals goes to animal shelters. Animal carriers that still work that we no longer need, animal bedding, or treats our animals don’t want or don’t like. Even if we have medications, ones from over the counter, we donate so long as they are not expired. I will also donate cleaning products we no longer use or have too much of as well.
Books are a different thing. These we normally take to the local bookstore to see if we can sell them. Usually, we end up donating everything they don’t buy to their reading program anyway, so at least we know they are going somewhere where they can be of use.
This goes for movies and games as well.
Toys I donate to the Vietnam Veterans, as long as they are in good condition.
Now, there are a lot of other things that can be donated. Furniture. Kitchen items. Whatever.
If it is in good condition, furniture can be donated to the Habitat For Humanity storefronts. If it isn’t in good condition, we have it taken away by trash for whatever program they use for large household items.
If whatever I am getting rid of is not something that can be donated, what do you do with it?
Old papers, old printouts, things of that nature, I put out in the recycling.
I have a lot of weird stuff from my art sojourns. Mixed media art, junk journals, hand-sewing, paper bead making. What if I have things of this nature that I want to donate?
I do the same thing. Is it usable? Does it work? I do not donate dried-out paint, even if it has just started to dry out. I usually offer this to someone else I know, usually online. If they don’t want it, I donate it to the Vietnam Veterans.
Right now, I am in a death-cleaning mode of clearing out the house.
I have a ton of stuff I have gathered up, squirreled away in boxes “for later”.
Why I seem to think I will have hundreds of uninterrupted hours at some point in my life I have no idea.
One day, I will make a large library of hand-made hand-bound books, art journals, and junk journals.
One day I will sew up a bunch of journal covers and bags to carry your books and other bits in.
One day I will knit myself a whole wardrobe.
One day I will knit every child their own blanket. No. I really will not because crocheting a blanket is so much faster and easier than knitting it.
One day I will fill up all of my art journals. I will finish and fill up all of my canvases.
One day I will embroider all the shirts, bags, and pillowcases I have written on my to-do one-day list.
One day I will knit and crochet all the Christmas decorations for our trees for the holidays.
Yada yada yada.
But, all of the little bits and pieces that I have gathered from thrift stores, all the random books and artifacts I have hoarded to put into books and journals, all the bits of fabric and clothing that I mean to break down into fabric, I cannot hold on to these things forever and ever.
Honestly, for me, where I am right now, I am more ready and more willing to simply let go of all this detritus that clutters and clogs the energetics of my household than to hold on to them and hoard them like a dragon guarding her treasure.
I do have other things that I am selling, not donating. For example, the spinning wheel I bought before we moved in with my now husband. It has never been used. It’s been stored in the basement waiting for me to decide I want to spin yarn again.
I do not wish to spin my own yarn any longer. I prefer to simply buy yarn.
Things like that, those I will sell.
My biggest issue right now with wanting to clean things out and let go of everything I have been holding on to that I haven’t used in I don’t know how long, if ever, is I want to release all this pent-up energy, clear out all of this stagnant energy. I want there to be more open space. I want to bring in new energies, energies that will move freely throughout the house, bringing fresh ideas, fresh motivation, and just keeping the household in flow, instead of stuck and trying to figure out what to do to free up the blockages.
What are your spring cleaning plans?
How do you go about cleaning and clearing things out?
Are you interested in how your clearing things out impacts your carbon footprints?