Creatrope

Build a Godzilla Halloween Costume from recycled cardboard & packing material!

Convert your clutter into something useful! Instead of accumulating those boxes, plastic, and blinky lights,
why not build a robot halloween costume?

Decluttering can be creative!

I discovered this one by accident. I think, with some extra planning, it’s a handy decluttering trick to keep up your sleeve.

I’ve used Craigslist successfully to clear out some items over time. I realized that by bundling a semi-desirable item for free or perhaps a little lower than ‘market’ with a more awkward also free less desirable item, I could impose upon the person who was picking up the desirable item to take all the items, effectively acting as a ‘haul-away’ service. They may have more patience to actually restore or sell the additional item, or they may end up ultimately discarding it, but in all cases I am rid of the items.

In my case I was able to combine the haul-away of a broken but still sort-of-cool free lawn fixture with some older lawn furniture – with the caveat the the person availing themselves of it had to take it all.

Similarly I sold a playset at a reasonable price, with the caveat they had to take some additional space-gulping less desirable (for me at least) items at the same time.

I was upfront about it in both cases, and was dealing with reasonable folks (so I pretty confident they weren’t going to drive a block away and dump it) and in both cases they felt pretty good about the whole transaction (obviously they were focused on the better part). It was a win-win-win (because I was certainly on the path of discarding the less desirable item – this way these was a t least a chance of it being reused).

It’s possible that in both cases I subsidized the haul-away a bit by underpricing the desirable item, but even so, I prefer this over actually paying someone to haul-away stuff.

It’s cheaper and better karma.

Do some clearing!