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On World's Greenest Homes, interior flourishes like custom cabinetry keep eco-smart domiciles picture-perfect and clutter-free. You can keep your house looking sleek, while helping the planet, with some easy and eco-smart de-cluttering. In addition to the fact that actions like green-busting your junk mail have tangible benefits for the planet, they can also help you adjust to a more eco-friendly lifestyle on the whole by changing your relationship to your stuff.
Stopping the build-up of paper trash before it starts will save trees and other natural resources. Opt out of automatic phone book delivery, and curb incoming junk mail by stopping the flow of catalogs. Consider breaking the constant tree-to-mailbox stream of newspapers and magazines by switching to reading the online versions of your favorite publications. If you don't want to give up the ritual of flipping through the daily paper with your morning coffee, think about whether you and a neighbor might be able to share. If you head to work at six am, but the lucky guy in the apartment downstairs doesn't hit the road until nine, offer to drop your newspaper on his doorstep on your way out. That way, it's off your countertop as soon as you're done, and he can cancel his own daily subscription, so it's a real win-win scenario for you, him, and the planet.
Although books, music, and other media artifacts make up the core of the life of the mind, there's a pretty good chance a lot of yours are ready for new homes. The more people read a book, the fewer books need to be produced and the same goes for CDs and DVDs, so sell your extras, or just wrap up anything you don't need and give it all away as a flurry of surprise presents. After your initial whirlwind of paying-it-forward, nip future accumulations in the bud by seeing what you can borrow from public libraries, or start a private one with friends or enemies. You can also swap your stuff through the mail or through meet-ups with other green-minded folks. When you can't get something for free, try to buy used and support the secondhand goods economy that keeps viable items out of landfills, and then move your items along as soon as you're done. Follow the same template for clothes, furniture, spoons, or whatever else you've got too much of: pass your extras on, try to keep new purchases to a minimum, and put your items into circulation again when you no longer need them.
Once you get a taste of a clutter-free home, you just might want to keep it that way, which means you'll buy less objects and reduce your consumer footprint. The less "this and that and the other thing" you've got laying around in your house, the more peaceful your home will feel, and the less time you spend wrangling objects, the more time you'll have for eco-friendly fun. Then again, even if you don't decide to go Spartan, getting control over all your material possessions can help you figure out exactly what kind of objects you really want or need in your life, so that even though you'll have less stuff, you'll actually cherish and appreciate the things you do have more.
This post was inspired by Planet Green's show, World's Greenest Homes.
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