Clearing the Clutter - What about Our Planet?

What About Our Planet?

Clearing the Clutter

What about Our Planet?

By: Lori Peniston

Have you considered how clearing out the clutter is beneficial for you and your family?  Studies have proven that being more organized and clearing the clutter out of your life has a huge impact on our mental, physical and professional life. Making the decision to become more organized and stay that way brings a sense of calm into our lives. Professional Organizers can help implement a plan for this to happen.

 Have you also considered what over-consumption is doing to our environment?  As a society, our habits of gaining instant gratification from a purchase can inevitably lead to over-consumption.  As a professional, we educate our clients to be mindful of their purchases, and to promote a stronger system of recycling, all to help balance the effects on our planet.

I have discovered that my clients really do care,  but don't know the statistics related to the effects our "stuff" has on this Earth.  Clothing alone can take years to degrade. Nylon takes about 30-40 years to degrade, leather takes 25-40 years,  and cotton about 1-7 months. When we’re working with clients, we inform them on alternatives to throwing goods in the trash. We encourage people to buy locally and donate items to local shelters or churches to be given to families in need. (I once learned from a successful mentor that if we lead our lives with generosity,  this will bring us a full sense of purpose,)     A clothing swap party is a fun and environmentally friendly way to re-purpose unwanted clothing. Reselling is a great way to re-purpose an abundance of items that the client no longer wants and can also help a client to  make some money in the process. I have also worked with a professional online auctioneer.   My experience as a Professional Organizer helps clients to have positive results with the reselling of all types of unwanted items.

But recycling and reselling alone are not enough. How about we skip the first step of this problem and only buy what is needed in the first place?  This is easier said than done; most of us are guilty of buying things we really don’t need!   Disaster 2 Design encourages clients to think about where their goods are being made and the energy output it takes to get those goods to the store or to their front door. Environmental scientists have just issued a warning that we have only 12 years to get our carbon emissions under control. Otherwise, humanity will cross the 1.5-degree threshold and our natural cycles that have sustained the earth for eons will be dramatically affected. The climate could take thousands of years to recover; or it may be that recovery is not possible at all. This is an unambiguous warning and we must change the way we live. Use less, buy less, be happier, save money and help save the environment!

Less clutter and less consumption go hand-in- hand. Disaster2design.com is doing its part in clearing the clutter while teaching clients sustainable values and ecological recommendations to give some love to our beautiful planet.