When you think of decluttering and organizing, it seems like it should be a solo journey. You want to make decisions about your items, cherish and remember items from the past, and make your space into a serene haven for living and relaxing.

But what about bringing in the community?

I don’t mean literally bring a community of people into your home during the process, but maybe that would work too!

Photo by Erin Watt from Erin Watt Photography

Assistance:

It is ok to ask for help! To the contrary of what most women have been told their whole lives, organizing is not some innate ability that is engrained in us. Not everyone is good at it, and a lot of people get exhausted by the prospect of it.

Friends and family members can be very helpful during the decluttering and organizing process: to lend a physical hand, a vehicle for transporting items, or to take your unwanted items so you know they will get used. But sometimes that relationship is too close, and can cause a lot of strife, which makes the process harder. You know who you have in your life, and can choose those people accordingly! Or you can bring in a professional to help to keep the peace and keep everyone on track.

Even outside the decluttering and organizing process, you can forge relationships with people who you can borrow, trade and barter with! Trade physical items for consumables, physical items for acts of service, or whatever is mutually beneficial. Create a community within your neighbourhood of resources that can be shared!

Borrowing:

In relation to a community within your neighbourhood, borrowing things when you need them is such a fabulous way to limit the physical items that are stored in your home, but that gives you access to things that you need infrequently. Maybe you loan out tools to people, and someone else has a large collection of kitchen appliances to lend! Only keep what you use and need often, and let others store items they use frequently.

There are places in the community that you can borrow items as well.

The Peterborough Tool Library is located at the Habitat for Humanity North location, where you pay an annual membership fee and get unlimited access to all of the tools in their inventory.You no longer need to store those tools you only need for random projects.

The public library is also a fantastic resource to borrow books as well as other items for FREE! I am always blown away when I hear about someone who doesn’t use the library on a regular basis. In addition to any book you could want to read (they can typically order ones in if they don’t have them in their regular inventory), the Peterborough Library also has DVDs, CDs, magazines, radon detectors, birdwatching kits, carbon monoxide detectors, Ontario Provincial Park passes, disc golf kits, and watt readers to measure the electricity use of your appliances. And I repeat: FOR FREE!

The Peterborough Child & Family Centre has a toy, book, and game lending library for children, as well as parenting books and resources.

There are also Little Free Libraries all over town, and I’ve also heard tales of a Puzzle Lending Library near King/Boswell!

Just imagine how many hands have touched those “borrowable” objects, because they are accessible to everyone in the community. Think of how much money was saved, how much space was saved from storage! It’s pretty incredible to think about.

Donations:

A big part of decluttering and is passing on your items to someone else, so that they do not end up in the landfill. At least, that’s my approach when decluttering with my clients!

When you pass things along to others, you are benefiting those in your community, whether by giving the items directly to them or by donating items to causes that help those in need.

I like to post things online for free, where I know there are always people looking for things to make their lives easier. By giving the items directly to someone, you know where it ends up, and you know that you are not dumping an excessive amount of stuff to a single donation centre. And you know that a free item fits into anyone’s budget!

There are some amazing resources within Peterborough where you can take your unwanted items. Large donation centres like Habitat for Humanity and Vinnies will take a wide variety of items, but there are some less visible places too.

One City accepts survival gear, food, hygiene products (and more!), and directly gives their donations to folks that are sleeping outside.

Good Neighbours Peterborough accepts food and clothing, and disperses them all for free to members of the community.

EFRY accepts food, clothing, hygiene items, survival gear and household items and gives them directly to those in the community who have been, or are at risk of being, criminalized.

How can someone not feel good about bringing their donations to places that directly support members of the community? We are benefiting others, all while taking back our own space.

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Whether we think about it directly or not, decluttering your space can be a community-serving action. Take back your space while connecting with others!

If you do need help on your decluttering journey, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

And if you want a resource of where to take your unwanted items, check out my list here!