Ideally I´d like 5 boxes: Keep, Recycle, Trash, Repair or Dilemma (aka the Guilt box).
However getting extra boxes would be clutter... i´m thinking of something that would fold flat. Any ideas ? I´ve been thinking blue IKEA bags (cheap, but floppy, would be hard to label) or washing hampers, but I´m sure there are better ideas out there.
What do you use ? What would you use ?
I use boxes from my hubby's job for things to keep and to donate to charity. That way the boxes are getting a second use, instead of them going right into the trash (his office doesn't recycle cardboard boxes, just white paper :p) Any "keep" items tend to go in the copy paper sized boxes, which stack neatly. As time goes on, I am finding I need less and less of them as I declutter my stuff. I don't want my house to be a junk bunker like my mother's was when she died recently. Her house was (and is) bad. :(
Recyclables go in a handy blue plastic bin provided by the county trash service, itself made of recycled plastics. Overflow recycling stuff goes in an extra cardboard box, if needed, and then it gets flattened and put in the proper bin at the recycle drop off point when I go. I try to go to the drop off once a week so that stuff won't pile up.
I don't feel a repair box to be unnecessary.. either fix it immediately or get rid of it IMO.. but if you feel you must, set a time limit. If an item in the "repair" box hasn't been repaired in, say, three months, it gets put in the trash immediately. If it's broken and can't be used as-is, it is trash, plain and simple. See above comment re junk bunkers. Someday is a day that never comes.
Trash IMO needs to be a big black contractor type trash bag that you cannot see through (and thus change your mind.) and needs to go out the door ASAP. So what if the bag isn't full. Get it gone.
I use tall, stackable laundry hampers. They hold a lot of stuff and they're easy enough to carry around, plus when I'm done I can just stack them and put them under my work table for the next round of sorting. These are my labels:
1) Unshopping. Holds everything that needs to be returned to the store for $$. I'm amazed at how much money I can make off this one.
2) Goodwill. If I can't use it but someone else can, this is the last stop before it's out of the house.
3) Mending. I should adopt hlg's rule for these items and set a time limit on repairs!
My trash goes straight to the trash can, and recyclables go to the recycle bin. Things I want to keep I either put away immediately or leave them sitting on my work table so I have to do something with them. This sometimes results in being moved to bin #2.
For the guilt items I try hard to take a picture and let the item go, or put it in the keep stack for the next round of decluttering.
I use a charity bag which they always put through the door just after you've made a trip to the charity shop, often it's clothes only they collect from the door and I usually have a mixture so I put them in my car boot when they're done. Then I usually use bin liners for rubbish and recycling, they go out the door as soon as they're full. 'Keep' you could just use a normal cardboard box or a laundry basket as you just need something to carry round with you to drop off to the objects' homes. Dilemmas I don't do, maybe an Ikea box with a lid. Cheap, folds up when not used and as it has a lid looks reasonably tidy and if it's out of sight is more likely to turn into a 'lose' rather than a dilemma.
Repair: I tend not to keep these any more as I don't get round to it. If it's that easy to repair, do it now! However, I have a lovely skirt which has a zip which has gone and I know it's been sitting in my sewing pile for about a year waiting for my to buy the right size zip. That is pretty inexcusable! I do love the skirt though, I will buy it a new zip next week now it's on my to-do list...
IMO, most of these don't warrant a permanent solution -- keeping 5 boxes or baskets or whatever around just for sorting your stuff during uncluttering projects sounds a little... well, cluttery. What I use/would use:
Trash -- a trash bag / bin liner (gets thrown out when full and/or when the decluttering project is done)
Recycle -- 2 recycling bins (one for paper and cardboard, one for metal and plastic) that live in my kitchen and are used on a daily basis, not only during uncluttering "sessions"
Keep -- I don't need a special box or bin since I'm usually cleaning out one drawer or shelf at a time, so everything that stays goes back in that space. If I'm picking up around the house and need to return things that have strayed from their homes, I just group them by room and make several trips if necessary. Walking an extra few feet isn't quite the end of the world, especially since my place is relatively small.
Donate -- blue IKEA bags. I have too many of these (keep forgetting to take them with me whenever I go to IKEA), so I always have one big one started as a donation bag. Whenever the bag is full, it gets donated along with the contents, and a new bag replaces it.
Repair -- anything that needs repairs or other special handling goes on a shelf beside my front door so I see it whenever I leave the house and I am reminded to take it with me to get it repaired. If it doesn't get repaired within a certain time frame, it gets tossed.
Dilemma -- to me, making decisions on dilemma/guilt items is part of the decluttering process, so I try not to have these. I think having a dedicated dilemma box is just an excuse to procrastinate having to make those decisions.
I use doubled paper grocery bags, the kind with handles (for a total of 4 handles). I reuse them until the handles fall off. Frugal and simple.
I love those bags, and we can't get them around here any more. The grocery stores all use cheap plastic bags, and encourage bringing your own cloth/canvas/whatever - give a five cent refund for each one used. If you want a paper bag, you have to ask, and they're about 1/3 shorter than when we used paper all the time. I only see the handle ones in places like office supply stores and Great Harvest Bread.
I use the plastic grocery bags (or those from other stores, too) for donations. I always seem to be able to start a new bag as soon as I take one to donate. Trash or recycle go directly to the appropriate container.
If I get "serious" about one room or area, I use banker's boxes or free boxes from retail establishments:
1. Toss (line box with trash bag so you can just toss filled bag when finished)
2. Keep but belong in a dif room/Undecided
3. Give away/Donate
hlg: my sympathies; I have walked in similar shoes. Thanks for the advice and the phrase "junk bunker", which I will add to my vocabulary. I am still coping with inherited items but it is much more manageable. Don't let anyone make you feel down on yourself.
we use a lot of big clear plastic bins in the workshop, so i just borrow some of those.
if i had to work from scratch though, i'd use things i've already got, like stainless steel buckets or wicker laundry baskets.
(Keep, Recycle, Trash, Repair or Dilemma)
I'm thinking that maybe you will use these containers while you work on major decluttering projects? If that is the case, here is what I would do.
Keep: As soon as you are finished decluttering for the day, bring everything that in the box in it's designated room, closet, etc. A cardboard box will do because eventually you will not need a specialized container for these items.
Recycle: Not sure what you mean. If it's things for the charity shop, then have a staging area for this or even use the trunk of your car for the staging area. Make a commitment to take these things to the shop on a regular basis. Cardboard boxes or bags work well for this purpose.
Repair: If it's clothing that needs repair, and can truely be repaired, then a small basket will do. A collapsible one would be nice for those times when you have nothing to repair. Make repairs often. If you don't, it becomes clutter.
Dilemma: I have a plastic bin with lid for these items, I keep it in the attic because it's mostly family heirloom type things. I cannot keep more than what will fit in the bin. This helps me make decisions on whether to keep or toss.
I like the "one bin only" rule for dilemma items. Though I have to admit we each have a bin, instead of one for the whole house (mine is full, mostly of stuff I really love but can't display right now; my partner's contains a tackle box of photos he inherited. Only one of us has a clutter issue, obviously).
Personally, I use paper bags for recycling and donating - you don't want a permanent thing for donation, because you're going to donate the whole thing usually. I use plastic bags - usually plastic shopping bags - for trash. When it's a bigger-item trash area (like our garage last summer) I used an actual trash bin with a liner in it.
Keeps go either in the room I'm in, or into a laundry basket that I put away all at once. Otherwise there's just a heap at the top and bottom of the stairs because I'm too lazy to schlep up and down all the time when I'm cleaning.
I use laundry baskets for Repair and "Keep but different room". I use trash bags for trash and either large shopping bags or cardboard boxes for Donate (Ikea bags would also work great for donations, hadn't thought of that).
OK, I'm going to play the role of "Ms. Tough Love" here. Good that you are doing this, and I support you in that, but I just need to say:
You are procrastinating. You are wasting time and energy figuring out the boxes or bins instead of just grabbing whatever you have in the house and getting down to business. You don't even need boxes--stacks in corners of rooms would be enough to get you to start moving on this. It's not about what you should be putting stuff in--it's just doing it. And do you really need to label the boxes/bins/whatever? You know what's what once things are separated--are there other family members who need to be taught what should go where, though? (PS: Most all boxes fold flat; shove them under a bed or sofa when you're done with them.)
You don't really need a special type of box. However, one of my favorite purchases was a pair of canvas laundry baskets that crush flat for storage. I keep them in the trunk of my car and use them for groceries, so I can carry many bags at once, but they're just as useful around the house. http://www.containerstore.com/shop?productId=10024258&N=&Ntt=canvas+laundry
I will admit that I haven't done a major "all at once" decluttering for a long time. I usually try to do it in smaller bits, so I don't end up with big piles that need to be dealt with all at once.
For trash and donation items, I use boxes or bags that I don't want to keep. It saves re-packing and avoids the opportunity to see something and change my mind. The trash goes to the trash bin as soon as I'm done for that session or it's full whichever is first. Donate items I put in the laundry room and when the shelf is full, to the car they go. I'm fortunate that the place I donate things to is only a few blocks out of my way to work. I will admit that sometimes they do ride in my car for a few days.
Keep items - I usually put them back in the proper place right away (at least the right room), sometimes I will use a box if I have a lot of items to go various places. I will say that except for the kitchen, I don't usually find to many items in "wrong" room. Items needing repair I put where it needs to go to be repaired - by the sewing machine or tool bench, whichever is appropriate. Since I don't go by the tool bench nearly as much as the sewing machine, I make a note to myself what is there & what parts are needed to get it fixed. And yes, if it sits there too long, I re-evaluate the need to repair.
We keep a box in the kitchen and basement to toss recycleables into on a day-to-day basis. When they are full, they get dumped into a big bin in the garage (it's one of DS's chores) and when that is full, it is taken to the recycle place and emptied.
Delimma items are the one category I could improve on. Right now they seem to get put in the sewing/craft room, basement, or garage. How long they ferment in those locations depends on how much they are in the way. If stuffed in the corner, they can ferment a loooonnnng time. Like the 3 little old TVs that haven'b been used in a few years. DH has finally realized they won't be used again and I can finally drop off to be recycled in a couple of days.
I am curious though - why do you want to use anything for trash or donations that you would need to re-bag or re-box, or wait until the donation place is open and then haul them back home?
i´d also like to encourage you to downsize the number of bins/cardboxes. take cardboxes (used cartons from a shop maybe) or plastic bags to put things in that will leave your house (recycle/trash/donate/etc). these boxes or bags don´t have to be nice, because they are made to leave the house as soon as possible.
i don´t think that you need a box for items to "keep". if you keep a thing, put it in a corner, as pammyfay said, and if you end your decluttering session- find a place for it.
i read an advice for dilemma-items: place them where you can see them everyday. and move them everyday. each of the items. move them from the shelf to the windowsill to the top of the wardrobe... if´they are not worth it, end of dilemma, trash them. :)
I use fold up reuseable cardboard boxes if I need to - these usually live in the loft and are used everytime we move - lasted quite a few moves so far. Sometime a charity bag comes through the dorr and I can just fill that up straight away
Hey, eternalvoyageur, have you started your decluttering project? What are you using now?
I have a stack of stuff to go to the thrift store later today - it's half cardboard boxes (holy cow did we get a lot of things in the mail the last few months) and half paper bags from the grocery store - since my recycling is only picked up every other week, I'm actually pretty stoked to get rid of the boxes so painlessly.
I use large, clear plastic bins from Walmart. They're easy to stack when empty, hold ~10 cu. ft. of junk and are nigh indestructible. Plus, they're watertight so they can be used for storage in an outdoor area. I've gradually increased my collection to 4 or 5 of these. When I move, I use them to pack, and when I'm stationary, they're my trunk clutter transport containers.
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