All those seemingly useless items in your cellar or garage might be useful to somebody else. Don’t chuck them in a bin, give them away instead.

 Neighbourly decluttering

 Even the most dedicated declutterers sometimes have areas of their homes which could do with a bit of attention. Mine is no exception. My ‘problem’ area is our cellar. Naturally, I put this down to my partner’s keenness to hold on to things that ‘might come in handy one day’ but the fact is we do need to declutter this space from time to time and as Spring is in the air I thought this was the perfect week to get cracking.

Whilst unwanted books, CDs, clothing and knickknacks are perfect things to take to a charity shop, it is much more difficult to find somewhere for boxes of tiles left by the builders after various projects or bits of technical equipment. Frankly, my local charity shop wouldn’t thank me for the tiles, even if I did have an extra strong trolley to get them there. So, I decided to try a new approach: giving things away through a neighbourhood website.

Thus it was, that at dusk one evening this week I found myself loitering outside our gate, meeting a total stranger and passing her a small parcel containing a set of new casters. Similarly, at dawn the following morning, I went through the same routine, this time meeting a young photographer who declared himself delighted with the two spare bulbs we’d rather randomly kept since selling a studio light several years ago. As for the tiles, four sets of left over tiles have now gone to new homes.

So, what were the benefits of this new approach?

• Much more room in our cellar
• Avoiding things going to landfill
• Some happy people with useful things they didn’t need to pay for
• And, the icing on the cake, meeting lovely new neighbours

It has been a good experience; one I will enjoy repeating and one I recommend to clients. Happy sorting!

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Originally published on LinkedIn on 10^th March 2017.