We were awoken this morning to a "second notice that the factory warranty on our vehicle has expired," for the seventh or so time. We've simply hung up the phone in the past and gone back to sleep, but this morning, on our day off, we decided that there is more clutter in our home than we can see. With the time and effort we spend eliminating needless items from our space to keep a serene, simple environment, it's time we turned to some less expected sources of clutter! Here are a few steps we're taking to declutter not just our home, but our life...
Spring Cleaning: Decluttering Your Life
Our morning alarm prompted us to add our telephone number to the National Do Not Call Registry. Managed by the FTC, this registry prevents you from being solicited by telemarketers. You can register up to three numbers at a time, and it takes all of 2 minutes to complete. We're hoping we won't get an eighth "second notice" about our factory warranty...
Junk mail is another unnecessary cause of clutter in our home. Even though we promptly toss it in the recycling (although much of it does not get recycled, depending on the contents of the envelope and type of paper) we feel the impact of the clutter, even just by receiving it--not to mention the toll that it takes on the environment. There are many services that claim to eliminate much of your junk mail, like the non-profit organization 41pounds.org (referring to the average amount of junk mail an adult receives in one year). Privacyrights.org offers many ways to start eliminating junk mail on your own. Registering for the Mail Preference Service with the Direct Marketing Association is a good start, and costs only $1. The DMA is the source of many national mailing lists. Privacyrights.org has many other tips on cutting down on the junk mail clutter.
Catalog Choice is a great free service that allows you to customize your catalog delivery preferences. Many of us have signed up for catalogs with our favorite stores (hello, CB2 and IKEA!) but have later realized that the online resource is enough for us. You can manage which catalogs get delivered to you with this website. This allows you to continue receiving catalogs you still want, but eliminate the others--including catalogs that may come to your home from a previous resident. This is golden; I once lived in an apartment where I received monthly knife collecting catalogs...such a waste and kind of creepy, too!
Phone books. Perhaps the most obvious symbol of wasted paper in our home, we immediately recycle our books upon delivery. If you are in an area that does not have recycling pickup, visit here to find out how to recycle your phone books. More than recycling, we would like to prevent the delivery all together. Eco Yellow Pages has a step-by-step guide on how to remove yourself from the delivery recipients list with multiple yellow pages providers. They also have a link to a form where you can join the fight to make unsolicited phone book distribution illegal.
We know that plastic, and even paper shopping bag waste is a hot topic of late. We loved this article on Treehugger.com about crafty DIY uses for old plastic shoppers. The Safeway bag dress is amazing, and if we were a bit more adept with a sewing machine, we'd have to try it! But any use for the old plastic bags is welcome.
We'll admit that we are getting much better at using our canvas shoppers, but often stop at the store on the way home from work on an unplanned trip, and haven't brought our reusable shopper with us. Other times, we don't have enough room in the two bags we normally need, and end up needing extra from the store. That's why we love these bags, posted by Apartment Therapy a while ago here. We love that if you buy five, you get a pouch in which to store them in for a set that fits nicely in the bottom of your purse. We're going this route so that they're easily carried in our purse at all times, and with five we're pretty sure we'll always have enough room for even the largest shopping trip. They'll set you back about $40 for all five--not too bad.
We've been trying to keep it simple and get rid of distracting clutter in all formats. Any other ideas on ways to eliminate more unnecessary mess this spring?
Comments (25)
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Arrgh! The factory warranty biz is the WORST- and they come from random numbers all over the country, hope this works and thanks, as always for all the very useful info!
view SBDesigno's profile
Where did that chair and table come from? Gorgeous!
view psychobabble's profile
I am in love with that floor under the desk and chair....oh my, its stunning, want it all over my house.....
view bagelpower's profile
Nice. I was just lamenting that I hated getting phone books, so hopefully I'll be able to opt out of delivery. And I just started getting those factory warrenty robocalls... don't know if the do not call list will work, but here's hoping!
view dinosara's profile
Chair and table are West Elm.
view strauth's profile
Green Dimes is amazing, we only get actual mail, best $20 I have ever spent.
view strauth's profile
need to call my dredit card companies and get them to stop sending me those damn checks to use my credit line. They're nothing but junk and they can probably be used for identity theft.
Also, woe is you if you have Time Warner cable or have a Disney Annual Pass. I get something from both TW and Dis weekly, for crap I don't need.
view chusmabilly's profile
Hate the factory warranty calls, especially since I don't even own a car!
view slowdown's profile
I'm registered on Do Not Call but I *still* get automated messages that claim to be 'concerning my current credit card account' (I don't have any), apparently marketing that's trying to slip under the radar. Not sure what to do about them or how to find out who they are to report them... or if it's worth the time.
And yes, I like that pebbly floor too.
view whytephoenix's profile
Great post, thanks for the inspiration! I just spent five minutes registering at Catalog Choice and got rid of all the catalogs I could think of. West Elm and Anthropologie were painful...but I NEVER buy from catalogs and I'm on many of the websites all the time anyhow.
Now if I can banish credit card offers and grocery store circulars we'll be in business.
view CassieB's profile
chusmabilly, I have a Disney Annual Pass and I don't get anything from them. There must be a way to opt out on their website.
view sparkle's profile
How's this for sad - I still get mail for my aunt who never lived at my address and died at least 20 or more years ago! How did they find me? hmmm...
Also, I would like to ban the dropoff flyers that get attached to door handles, windshield, shoved into the screen door, etc.
view mmepatty's profile
Grammar Police! Didn't anyone else notice?! "We were awoken this morning..."?! How about, "We were awakened this morning..."? Ah, much better. Don't you guys have editors there?
view chartreuse's profile
Great post with lots of great advice - thank you. When I am designing for my clients I almost always use feng shui - I'm a great believer in de-cluttering spaces.... I think too much clutter in the home leads to way too much clutter in the mind.
Thanks again.
Val Wills of Valerie Wills Interiors
San Francisco
view Valerie Wills Interiors's profile
I'm a bit of a reusable bag lover and my current favorite is the flip and tumble (flipandtumble.com). While I'd been meaning to get one for ages since I'd been following them since pre-production, when I finally did, I was pleasantly surprised. I really like the colors and wrinkliness of it (my baby boomer mother does not) and the way that i can use it across the body. The only complaint I have is that it's made in China and I'm trying to avoid purchasing things made there for human rights reasons.
view happify's profile
Great post...enjoyed reading it. BUT what stopped me was the beautiful colored desk and chair...GOOD GOING!
Jen Ramos
'Cards & Prints You'll Love...'
www.madebygirl.com
madebygirl.blogspot.com
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view jenniferramos's profile
All good points indeed and i'm on the do not call list and that usually works but some things slip through the radar and the DNC list actually says some things will not be affected due to their nature and I still get the occasional robocalls. Ugh.
As for factory warranties, I got one I think a couple of months ago and my truck is nearly 18 Y.O! LOL.
I do find that if you can, get the small phone book and have it handy for on occasions I've had to go into it when the PC is not handy or because the online version isn't giving me the name of the company (yes, has happened before) and there have been times when the phone book had it listed. QwestDex does not get everything and I've found the Superpages can find things that the online DEX directory doesn't and when both fail, the local phone book may well have it, especially if it's not more than a couple of years old so for that reason only it's why I keep a phone book around.
Very little junk mail actually makes it into my apartment as there are recycling bins for such things by the mail slots in the lobby and what I DO bring up are for credit card offers and the like that are best shredded.
view ciddyguy's profile
I don't mind getting junk mail just as long as it doesn't find it's way into my house. I throw it away immediately while walking out of the mail room.
view baileyb's profile
I use reusable bags when toting my groceries so I'm not knocking the concept, but $40 for 5? They're definitely cute, but that's like a whole week's worth of groceries for me!
view thirtyeight20's profile
moving is a great way to de-clutter. you really reflect on all the things you've bought that you don't use and vow to try to be better next time around.
view Rouncewell's profile
I can't find the table and chairs in this color at West Elm. Any ideas?
view psychobabble's profile
At a recent convention I picked up all the free canvas/reusable bags I could find and now keep one or two in my car and my boyfriend's for quick trips, and keep the rest at home for big store trips. We're currently re-using all plastic bags for small trash bins and dog cleanups. Seems like paper bags dont exist in VA...so much more practical, they carry a lot more.
view COSwede's profile
I recently called several of the not-for-profit organizations to which I contribute and asked them to a) stop calling me for more money, and b) stop sending mail solicitations.
It seems ridiculous that the more you give, the more crap you receive.
view heather77's profile
GREAT post! I have been meaning to look up several of the links you provided; thanks so much for making it easier to make my life easier! Haha.
view lostinfound's profile
I think that those guys who leave menu's or flyers that they leave in door handles or outside railings should be banned. Oddly enough I never seem to catch these guys in the act..they are quite sneaky that way.
view suzy8track's profile