Food waste contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and wastes the water and other resources it takes to grow the food. While the average consumer is not a major environmental polluter in comparison to large corporations, finding ways to minimise food waste throughout the day will help to prevent you from contributing to the problem.

At a household level, there are a multitude of reasons for food being wasted, from bad shopping behaviours to preparing too much food, and even a lack of knowledge about the detrimental impacts of food waste. 

So, what can you do to tackle this issue? In this guide, we’re sharing some tips on how you can reduce food waste. 

1. Plan your meals

A little planning, prep will have a big impact on reducing your food waste. Before going shopping, think of the meals you want to prepare for the following week. Check what items you’ve got already, then make a list of items you still need. Once you are in the shop, stick to the list.  

2. Grow your own

Growing your own herbs or vegetables isn’t as daunting as you think. Start small with basil or chillies if you like, and get a feel for it. There are plenty of things you can grow on your windowsill, or with only a small amount of space. Tomatoes don’t take up much room, or you can even grow strawberries in a hanging basket. 

Growing and tending your own food tends to give you more of an appreciation of the time and effort farmers put into getting crops to your table – and it saves money.

3. Create some compost

There are clearly some bits of food that you can’t or don’t want to eat, such as some vegetable peelings, core, pips or stalks. Compositing is a fantastic way to keep food out of landfill – disposing of London’s food waste costs waste authorities over £50 million each year). You can invest in a countertop compost bin and a small scale composter. 

4. Discover food waste apps

Food sharing apps are growing. These match people with food to give away to people who want it. Imagine you’ve got food leftover after a dinner party and are off on holiday and won’t get through everything. 

Instead of throwing the food away, you can offer it on an app like Olio, and someone will collect it. Too Good To Go connects hungry diners with cafes and restaurants that have food leftover at the end of the day. They sell all their food, and you get great food at a discounted price. What’s more, not only do these apps reduce waste, they also help rebuild communities too. 

Every day UK households throw away approximately:

20 million slices of bread

4.4 million potatoes

0.9 million bananas

1.2 million tomatoes

0.7 million oranges

0.8 million apples

2.7 million carrots

1 million onions

86,000 lettuces

3.1 illion glasses worth of milk

Source

5. Understand date labels

Many people throw away food that has reached its best before date, but this can lead to unnecessary waste. The only date you need to adhere to for safety reasons is the use-by date. You’ll see the use-by date on some meat products and ready-prepared salads.

The best before date is simply a guideline and is not related to safety. All it means is that after that date, the food may change colour, taste or texture, but it is perfectly safe to eat.

6. Revive food that’s on its way out

In many cases, you can revive or use food that is on its way out or starting to spoil. Those brown bananas? Peel them and put them in the freezer for smoothies. Wilted lettuce? Try putting it in a bowl of cold water until it gets crisp again.

7. Freeze it

When it comes to food waste, your freezer is a very effective tool. Not only can you freeze leftovers for another day, you can also freeze food that you might not use up in time to give them a new lease of life! 

8. Track your trash

We recommended keeping a notebook in the kitchen and writing down items that go bad and are thrown away. You might be shocked after a few weeks when you see trends that you can start to address and correct. If that bunch of bananas is spoiling every week and getting thrown in the garbage by the end of the week, consider buying less when you shop, or slicing those bananas and freezing them for smoothies before they spoil. 

9. Store your food properly 

If food is not stored or handled properly, food spoilage can occur much faster. The easiest way to avoid food waste is to store your produce in ways that can preserve freshness. 

If you have extra fruits and veggies, freeze or preserve them so you can savour them for weeks and months to come. If you only eat a small amount of bread, freeze the loaf when you get home from the store and take out a few slices a couple of hours before you need them. 

Always store bananas, apples and tomatoes by themselves, since these items emit natural gases that can spoil any produce around them. Foods like broccoli, cauliflower and celery stalks should be eaten first. For items like berries, wait to wash them until right before you eat them to prevent mould. 

10. Donate a plate

Donate what you know you won’t eat. You can take items like tinned foods to your nearest food bank.

For help removing your waste removal – from domestic household waste to WEEE or rubble, get in touch.

Feature image photo by simon peel on Unsplash.

The post How To Reduce Food Waste first appeared on RecycleZone.

This includes transporting waste, as well as buying, selling and disposing of waste, whether that is yourself or arranging it on behalf of someone else. 

You can be fined up to £5,000 if you do not register, so click here to start the application process. 

Registration is normally free if you transport waste that you have produced yourself; otherwise, it will cost you £154. 

What do I need to register for a waste carriers licence? 

In order to register, you will need:

• Names and dates of births of the organisation’s owners, executives, partners and/or directors 
• Any environmental offences they have committed 
• An appropriate payment method (debit or credit card)

Once registered, you will appear on the official list of registered waste carriers, brokers and dealers. Your customers can then check that you have the correct licences in place. 

Renewing your waste carrier licence

As part of the registration process, you will be told whether your application is upper tier or lower tier. 

Your application will be considered lower tier if you:

• Carry waste that you have produced unless it is construction or demolition waste
• Carry, arrange or deal in animal by-products, waste from mines and quarries or agricultural processes
• Are a charity or volunteer organisation 

Lower tier organisations may also refer to a waste collection, disposal or regulation authority. 

If you do not meet any of the above criteria, then the chances are, your application will be considered an upper tier one. 

This will also include examples, such as:

• Transporting other people’s waste (e.g. a skip company)
• Carrying construction and/or demolition waste 
• Acting as a broker (i.e. arranging for waste for other businesses to be recovered, transported and/or disposed of)
• Working as a dealer (i.e. buying and selling waste, either yourself or through an agency)

If you or your business is upper tier, then you will need to renew your application every three years, at a cost of £105. 

If you or your business is lower tier, there is no requirement to renew your registration. 

How much does it cost to change your details on a waste carrier licence?

If any of the following details change, then you must inform the Environment Agency within 28 days of the changes: 

• Contact details (i.e. phone number(s), postal and email address(es))
• Management 
• Someone in your organisation is convicted of an environmental offence 
• Your organisation changes the type of work they do (i.e. you are a registered carrier, but then you become a broker and/or a dealer). 

It will cost you £40 to make any changes to your registration. 

Can I be required to make a new registration? 

You are legally required to make a new registration application if any of the following occur:

• Your business type legally changes (e.g. from a sole trader to a limited company)
• You change tier (i.e. from upper to lower or visa versa)

It will cost you £154 to make a new application. 

If you are unsure of what to do or have any questions, you should contact the Environment Agency. You will need to quote your registration number, which you can find on your registration letter or email, and will start with ‘CB’. 

Hire a professional company

If this sounds like a lot of hassle and additional stress, we have the solution for you. 

Here at RecycleZone, we are one of the largest rubbish removal companies in the UK and have a full waste carrier certified licence. Our fully vetted and trusted teams of professionals up and down the country are on hand to remove all kinds of junk, from heavy, unwanted appliances, to garden and domestic waste.  

No matter how big or small the job is, our team of experts are available at times to suit your convenience and budget at a time that suits you. We are available seven days a week for one-off rubbish collections as well as recurring waste collection services. 

To find out more about the services we can offer you, get in touch. We’ll be able to offer you a free no-obligation quote. 

Feature image photo by Jilbert Ebrahimi on Unsplash.

The post How Much Is A Waste Carriers Licence? first appeared on RecycleZone.

This applies to the transportation, disposal, buying and/or selling of waste, whether it is for yourself or on behalf of someone else. 

Once you have registered for your licence, your application and information will be made publicly available so that your customers can check your credentials before contacting you for waste removal services. 

Here at RecycleZone, we are full waste carrier licence certified, offering a high-quality rubbish removal service across the UK. Our dedicated team of professionals are on hand to collect your rubbish, whether it is domestic, office clearance or garden waste. 

What is a waste carrier licence? 

Over recent years, there has been an increase in tradespeople being fined for not having the appropriate licences when carrying and discarding rubbish. 

A waste carrier licence is a legal document required by the Environment Agency as an effort to reduce the environmental impact of waste, by ensuring that all businesses are authorised to transport and dispose of waste appropriately. 

If not appropriately disposed of, rubbish can harm the surrounding environment and human health. In order to discourage fly-tipping and poor waste management, people and companies who deal in waste are required to obtain a waste carrier licence. 

This applies to companies and to all commercial vehicles that transport, collect and dispose of rubbish of any kind, regardless of the amount or type. 

A waste carrier licence will contain the following information:

1. Your name/the name of your company 
2. What type of company you are registered as (carrier, dealer, broker) and whether you have an upper or lower tier licence
3. Your registration number 
4. Your registered address 
5. Your contact telephone number 
6. The date you registered for the licence 
7. The expiry date of your registration

What are the different types of waste carrier licences?

There are two tiers under the waste carrier licence (upper or lower tier), depending on the type of waste you are handling and dealing with. This can also impact the cost of obtaining a waste carrier licence.

Your application will be considered upper tier if you:

• Transport waste for other people 
• Deal with demolition or construction waste 
• Are a broker and arrange waste collection on behalf of a third party
• Buy and sell waste as a dealer 

Your application to be considered lower tier if you:

• Transport your own waste (providing it is not demolition or construction waste)
• Deal in animal by-products, mining waste or agricultural waste 
• Are a registered charity or voluntary organisation 

This may also apply if you are a waste collection, disposal or regulation authority. 

If you do not meet any of the above criteria, your application will likely be considered “upper tier”. 

The post What Does A Waste Carrier Licence Look Like? first appeared on RecycleZone.

However, even though the condition is very common amongst people who live alone, it is still somewhat of a taboo subject. Throughout this post we will tell you what exactly junk hoarding is and how you can beat it.

What is junk hoarding? 

We can all be prone to keeping things we don’t need, usually out of sentimentality. We often attach personal memories or emotions to objects which then makes it difficult to get rid of them. 

However, when this mindset transitions over to storing all sorts of junk around your household, it can become a problem. What started out as a general unwillingness to sort out through the rubbish can turn into a full-blown hoarding problem. 

Some people will see their homes turning into a dumping ground of rubbish and usual items which can inhibit their ability to live comfortably and happily in there. The job builds and builds until they can’t face sorting it out themselves, and then the sequence  just repeats itself. 

Junk hoarding can become a massive problem when the individual finds it is causing a negative impact on their living situation or health, results in stress or impacts their quality of life. But it is important to know that there is help available and they do not have to continue living in discomfort. 

Hoarding disorder

The NHS describes a hoarding disorder as storing an excessive amount of items and keeping them in a chaotic manner. This will usually result in the individual living amongst a large amount of clutter that is filled with goods that have little to no monetary value. 

A hoarding disorder is a very serious thing and can be hard to treat, mainly because those who suffer from it are too embarrassed and unwilling to seek help. However, it is important to find support as without any treatment, it is a problem unlikely to go away on its own. 

Why do some people hoard junk? 

– Physical health 

There are numerous reasons why somebody may start to hoard junk. Physical difficulties such as reduced mobility and old age will contribute to the problem, as it will make it hard to move around. 

When people find they can’t move as freely as they could before, it becomes tough to deal with the increasing amount of junk in their homes. Without any assistance, they won’t be able to tackle the piles of rubbish and so the cycle continues. 

– Mental health

One of the main reasons though is problems with mental health like severe depression and schizophrenia. Mental health charity, Mind, also outlines that hoarding can result from difficult experiences and memories which people find hard to express. 

Although it may not seem like it, hoarding can stem from perfectionism too. Individuals who hoard feel scared about making decisions or mistakes and so find it hard to plan ahead and get rid of their excess junk. 

– Learned habits 

Another reason for hoarding is the simple belief that it is normal. If you see your parents and other members of your family with houses that are full of junk, then it is nothing out of the ordinary for you. 

When people grow up in households with other hoarders, they are more likely to hoard junk themselves. It is a learned habit and one that can be hard to break. Studies have even been carried out that suggest shared genes that could contribute to hoarding. 

– How to beat junk hoarding 

If your junk hoarding is a result of a mental condition, then the first step to getting help is seeing your GP. A growing number of professionals are aware of the condition and will know the right treatment you need in order to overcome it. 

However, if the excess clutter in your home is due to decreased mobility or a recent injury that made it hard to clear up, there are simple ways to get your house clean and tidy. 

– Ask your friends and family for help

When it is difficult to tackle the junk by yourself, you could enlist the help of your friends and family. There’s a good chance that they would be willing to assist you in getting rid of the excess rubbish. 

– Hire a professional clearance team 

If you want to take away the stress of having to sort through the masses of junk yourself, then it is a great idea to hire a professional waste removal team. They will only take away what you tell them to so you don’t need to worry about other precious items going as well. 

They will carry out the service in an efficient and respectful manner and leave you with a tidy, comfortable and livable space.

Feature image credit: trekandshoot / Shutterstock

The post What Is Junk Hoarding and How to Beat it first appeared on RecycleZone.

1. Plan Ahead

Being prepared for a major clearance project is among the best ways to make your large clearance less stressful, since there is little more stressful than leaving a big clearance to the last minute.

When trying to prepare for your large clearance, we recommend planning ahead by going the following:

• Keep your ideal clearance date pencilled into your diary and plan realistic goals for decluttering and organising your waste.
• Take time to research waste management companies, the packages they offer and the price differences to determine the cheapest and most convenient option for you, if you do choose to use a clearance company. 
• Make others in the house or property aware that you are planning a clearance so that they can prepare either to help or to organise their own space in preparation. 

2. Be Ruthless

Clearances are demanding at the best of times, but it can often be difficult saying goodbye to items, no matter how little we use them or how large our clearance needs to be. More often than not, we hoard things in the hope to get enough use from them later, which is often not the case. If you are looking to complete a large clearance successfully, it might be time to become ruthless when deciding what to get rid of in your home. 

Some general rules to deciding what waste is worth keeping and which waste is destined for clearance are as follows: 

• Ask yourself, have you used it in the last month, or will you need it within the next few months?
• Consider whether somebody might make better use of your clutter than you are, or if they might need it more. 
• Follow the rule that if it doesn’t have a home or somewhere where it can be stored out of sight, it can create clutter.
• If you are hoarding photos, drawings and physical memories, it is worth considering transferring these to digital storage instead. 
• Remind yourself of the goals behind your large clearance. For example, if you are renovating and investing in new decor, then it might be worth considering what decor or furniture might become redundant. Alternatively, if you are moving out, you will need to only take the essentials that can be moved into a new property. Use these goals to guide your waste clearance. 

3. Approach One Room At A Time 

Most stress that arises during large clearances comes from trying to manage too many tasks at once. For that reason, we recommend that you approach your property one room at a time when preparing for a large clearance. Not only does this allow you to keep on track of your progress in each room, but it also means fewer things go missing and additional space to store waste until it is collected and cleared, therefore making the process less stressful.

We recommend starting with the room that feels most daunting, since getting the hardest part out of the way will motivate you to complete the other rooms knowing that they will be less work. This doesn’t necessarily have to be the biggest room, but it might be the room which harbours the most clutter, is used most frequently and is most impactful to your life or project. Typically these are the areas we spend most time living in, such as the kitchen, bedroom or office. 

4. Choose The Optimal Timing

One of the biggest mistakes people make is leaving a large clearance to the last minute and choosing a bad time as a result. Homes and workplaces are typically busy, so completing a large clearance can become complicated, disruptive and stressful when done at the wrong time. Part of being more organised is choosing optimal timing for your large clearance. 

For example, we recommend choosing a day where your family can either help, or are working or at school. Likewise, we recommend approaching your large clearance during evenings or weekends if you are clearing a busy office since office hours are far from ideal. That way, you can move things around and clear the space without being disruptive or getting distracted! 

5. Use The 3 Box Method 

Deciding what to do with your waste can also be fairly stressful, particularly for those of us that are indecisive. To alleviate this stress, we recommend using the three box solution whereby you get three boxes or bags and label each of them with the following labels:

1. To throw away
2. To donate
3. To keep 

By doing this you can quickly decide and visualise what you are keeping and what you are clearing. What’s more, once the waste and clutter is in boxes or bags, you are far less likely to rummage through to retrieve things! This tip is particularly helpful if, like many, you have a hard time getting rid of things. 

6. Book A Clearance Company

Above all else, making numerous trips to the tip or between properties can become both tedious and time consuming. This is particularly true because often your vehicle isn’t large enough to contain all of the necessary waste in one run, or because you are struggling to find somewhere to dispose of your waste during a clearance altogether. 

For this reason, the best way to minimise stress on your next large clearance is to contact a waste removal company to do all of the heavy lifting for you. From collecting and clearing your waste to finding the most eco-friendly and ethical disposal route for your waste, reputable clearance companies take on all of the challenging stuff for you, meaning you can cut most of the stress out of your large clearance. 

You may also like: How To Save Money On Large Rubbish Removal Projects

If you are looking to take the stress out of your next big clearance, contact our friendly team today who will be happy to assist you with all of your rubbish clearance needs.

Feature image credit: Charlie Goodall / Shutterstock

The post How to Minimise Stress on a Large Clearance Project first appeared on RecycleZone.

With many seeking advice on how to declutter a home office and commercial spaces, we’ve compiled a useful list of tips on how to declutter your office. 

Move Documents Online 

One of the most effective ways to declutter your office is by digitising most documents and opting for a paper-free workspace. There are countless benefits of this, from saving time otherwise spent organising, filing and trawling through heaps of paper, to saving space and helping to declutter your office space. More often than not, our offices are cluttered with a combination of old paperwork, lost paperwork and important paperwork – all of which can be easily minimised simply by digitising these documents instead of keeping physical copies. 

To do this we recommend digitising your files either on a premise server if you are commercially-based, or on the cloud for those of us looking to declutter a home office. What’s more, digitising your workspace and workload will also save you money in the long run! By keeping all information and work recorded online, it is not only accessible but it also eradicates the additional costs incurred on things like paper, printing and postage as all of this can be managed free of charge through a digital platform instead. 

Just imagine how much more productive you could be if you took the leap and moved to digital and became clutter free! 

Find A Home For Everything

Another essential way to get your office tidy and organised is to find a home for everything, and if you can’t… get rid! Often both commercial and home offices amass tons of paper, excessive decor and stationery. 

One of the biggest benefits of finding a home for everything in the room is that it will encourage a more regular office tidy up. With a home for everything that needs one, there is little excuse for clutter in the workplace. What’s more, this tip will also help you evaluate what you need and don’t, as you will be expected to be brutal when finding a home for every piece of clutter, when there simply isn’t one! 

Our biggest piece of advice for this tip is to ensure each and every home is accessible and maintainable. For example, ensure you can reach your equipment quickly and easily when you need it and ensure there is enough space for your clutter by accounting for whether this will fit over time if the amount of clutter increases, and planning where you can put things or what would have to go if it did. Failing to do this early on might mean that you become lazy or unable to put everything away during office tidy up time. 

Another useful way to encourage that items by returning to their original home is by labelling and categorising storage spaces, particularly in a commercial office space as it ensures people know where things belong. 

Get Rid Of Old and Broken Technology

Particularly within commercial workplaces, there is a temptation to store and stockpile old hard drives and technology so that it remains secure. However that is not the most effective way to reduce clutter in the office, since it means accumulating years worth of void technology which just collects dust and takes up room. 

Instead, we recommend using the one in, one out rule whereby for every replacement piece of technology that enters the office, the old version is disposed of securely – so long as it isn’t used! Fortunately, many services, including our own, offer secure destruction services whereby all hard drives and equipment is destructed responsibly, ethically and legally to avoid future data breaches and attacks. 

Always End Day With A Tidy Desk

Most people wondering how to clear clutter should also consider how to keep clutter out of the office and how to make a decluttered office a long-term and sustainable goal. Regardless of where you work, it is a good idea to always end the day with a tidy desk. 

For those with a home office, clearing the desk and workload away at the end of a day is one good way to reduce stress, improve your mood and make the next workday far more efficient. By doing this, your mind is more likely to disengage from work, allowing you to switch off. 

Most company offices keep their workplaces decluttered by implementing a “clean desk policy” whereby all employees are required to clear and declutter their work stations at the end of the working day. There are many cited benefits to this practice, with the prevention of data loss and theft being one of the leading reasons behind not leaving documents to clutter your desk. What’s more, every work day will also begin with a tidy office, which is rumoured to improve your mood and productivity. 

Get Better Storage Solutions

The next tip involves investing in more efficient and effective storage solutions in the office. Keeping clutter behind closed doors is perhaps the most aesthetic way to incorporate storage, with drawers, cupboards and files all acting as perfect tools to collate your clutter in a neat way. 

For those that are struggling for space in a small office, it is a good idea to look into custom fit storage stations, depending on their affordability. You might also want to optimise your space by opting for under-desk storage which tucks away tidily and out of sight, especially if you have a home office. 

Implement The Arm’s Length Rule 

Implementing the ‘Arm’s Length’ rule is also a great way to manage your clutter. Essentially, you should look to only have what you need frequently and quickly in your arms reach. This means eradicating anything unnecessary from the desk surface, such as paper stacks, excess stationery and used tupperware. 

To give a better idea of what is necessary, anything which is used throughout the entire day and often warrants a space on the desk. All other clutter should be housed elsewhere and returned after use. Doing this enables you to be stricter about your clutter and eliminate any distracting and wasteful clutter. This is potentially the most important tip when looking to declutter your office space. 

Call In The Experts

If you’re still struggling to manage your clutter, even after this blog, then we recommend getting in touch with a clearance specialist, like Recyclezone who are experienced in clutter organisation, removal and collections. Find out more about our professional office clearance services today by getting in touch with our team.

If you found this post useful, you may like to read our 10 home decluttering tips.

Feature image credit: thodonal88 / Shutterstock

The post Top Tips To Declutter Your Office Space first appeared on RecycleZone.

So, whether you are moving home, renovating, or simply trying to reduce anxiety and stress, Recyclezone’s useful guide to decluttering your home is here to help!

1. Follow The 80/20 Rule

Our first tip is firmly established within the world of minimalism and comes from the renowned economist Pareto. Historically, Pareto discovered that 80% of Italian land was owned by just 20% of the population. Ever since, his calculations have been deemed applicable to everyday life.

Remarkably, it is found that we use only 20% of our belongings 80% of the time, leaving many objects sitting collecting dust. As a result, the remaining and redundant 80% of belongings ought to be the first to go. Once you have separated your 20% most worn clothes or used objects, you should be able to dispose of the other 80% without the fear of truly missing it.

Albeit brutal, Recyclezone recommends this principle for almost all areas of the home for the most quick and effective decluttering decisions. Following this tip will logically help you downsize your junk and upsize your living space by up to 80% in mere hours!

2. Set Yourself Realistic Goals

How long it takes to declutter your home depends on the size of your home and the amount of clutter it carries. Therefore, it is important to be realistic with your timing, and understand that decluttering will likely not be a one-day job. Recognising this early on will stop you becoming disheartened when the day comes to a close and there is still more to be done.

Experts tend to advise that you pencil aside a few days in your diary so that you can truly finish decluttering your home. As a rough guide we recommend allowing a day or two per room. By doing this, you should be able to finish each task or room completely before starting a new day. It also keeps you motivated to see what you have achieved and what is left!

3. Approach Room By Room

A large part of setting yourself realistic goals involves approaching decluttering on a room by room basis, rather than mixing between. This is proven to be far more effective, with less distractions. Since starting is the hardest part, once you see progress being made in each room and can visualise your space even more, you will find the motivation to continue.

Choosing where to start is one of the biggest challenges. However, we have uncovered two useful approaches:

1. Begin with the places that are relatively easy to find clutter to dispose of since they are hubs for home hoarding. For example, begin by decluttering an attic or a bedroom where you have been unnecessarily storing your junk for years.
2. Alternatively, we recommend beginning with the cluttered spaces that bother you the most, simply because doing so will improve your health and well-being faster. Often these are the places which affect your daily life and tasks, such as bedrooms, offices and living rooms where we spend most of our time.

A Recyclezone top tip is to work from the outside in, leaving most junk in the centre of the room. This is most effective because it not only gives you more space to move around, but it also also allows you to get to all of the edges of the room and trace your progress – making sure the de-clutter is done properly!

4. Donate To Charity

We understand the guilt felt by looking at junk you have bought and used once or the gifts you just put to the back of the cupboard. However, it is worth considering that one man’s trash could well be another man’s treasure and that donating to charity would be the perfect way to allow your junk to continue its journey elsewhere.

If you are struggling to part with your belongings due to feelings of guilt, it is worth reminding yourself how much someone else might value and utilise something that you no longer do. By donating your junk to charity you are being charitable and supporting the environment by reusing and recycling opposed to dumping your rubbish in landfills.

If you’ve looked after your junk well enough to give away, here are a few of the ways you can donate them:

• At RecycleZone we can collect your excess clutter and donate it directly due to our partnership with local pick up charities such as Sue Ryder and Debra.
• You can organise collection or drop off for other local charities such as the British Heart Foundation and Age UK.
• You can find your belongings in new homes using Facebook selling pages and groups.

If it is in good enough condition and there is strong demand for it, you might also want to consider selling your worthy clutter on sites such as Ebay, Depop or Shpock.

5. Reflect on The Current You

Separating what you do want from what you did want is a hard task. You want to distinguish what you want to keep based on what best reflects the current and best version of yourself. Since it begins with the mind, it is one of the hardest tasks.

 Often there is a sense of guilt at money wasted or gifts given because we don’t want to think of these things as rubbish or disposable. However, in reality we have to determine whether they are really getting their worth or simply collecting dust.

Recyclezone have compiled some useful questions to ask yourself when deciding whether your belongings and junk really reflects the current you:

• When was the last time I wore that dress?
• Can you imagine yourself going to yoga again within the next few months?
• I once loved baking – but do I still want to bake now?
• Do I really have time to play Tennis anymore?

If you don’t find yourself answering these questions positively – then you should get rid of the junk. It is also useful to put timeframes on these things. For example, have I worn this dress in the past two months? Or will I bake again within the next 6 months?

6. Use The Four Box Method

We also advise using the renowned ‘Four Box Method’ whereby you separate your clutter into four boxes, each labelled:

• Things you want to keep and store away
• Things you don’t want and will sell or donate
• Rubbish to be recycled
• Rubbish for the bin

Separating and collating our belongings into this is really useful for giving a tidier and organised appearance in the process of decluttering. It is also really useful as a deterrent from hoarding since once boxed, it is harder to contemplate keeping something that you were happy to give away forever five minutes ago.

This tip is even more beneficial if you act quickly on completed boxes. Boxing and dealing with clutter once rapidly will support you in resisting the temptation to unpack and re-clutter your home. This can be achieved through same day waste collection and disposal.

7. Opt For Online Storage

Making things digital is a controversial but effective method of getting rid of clutter. Often we find old birthday cards or photographs that we cannot bear the thought of parting with yet simply don’t have room for. Fortunately, those of us with access to printers and scanners can simply scan birthday cards and photos to keep stored digitally. Not only does this eradicate the physical clutter, but it also makes special memories far easier to access and organise from anywhere at any time.

8. Out First; Then In

One of the most common errors made by people when decluttering is that they bring their new clutter in before they have disposed of and organised their old clutter. This not only leaves you with very minimal space to work around, but it also confuses the process even further. More often than not, we find that we have purchased unnecessarily and re-clutter.

Instead we advise that you declutter before purchasing replacements. An emptier home is often easier to visualise new things in and you might just find that your old waste could be repurposed instead – even better for the environment!

9. Introduce New Storage Solutions

There will inevitably be quite a few things that you do use regularly or simply cannot bring yourself to give away. However, these don’t need to become clutter. By introducing new and methodical storage solutions into your home these can be ready for use and tucked away later.

In particular, we recommend using ottomans, stackable boxes and under-bed storage for these as they are easy to access and blend neatly within the home. We also recommend sourcing some cable ties to group together all of those spare wires!

10. Continue Good Habits

This final rule is perhaps the most important of all. Once you have braved the big declutter, ensuring that you incorporate these tips into your daily routine will reduce the need for a big declutter in near future.

You may also like: Top Tips To Declutter Your Office Space

Feature image credit: bfk / Shutterstock

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