It’s the start of the year and the best time to start things fresh. This includes cleaning up your home to start of the year clutter-free.
What you might not have realized though is that cleaning up your house will not only make life a tad more pleasant for everyone living in your place (or a lot more if your place is really messy), but can also help you lessen your carbon footprint.
One of the indirect advantages to the environment that cleaning up your home brings is in helping lower your energy consumption. This is a result of cleaning up and oiling electronic equipment like your refrigerator, light bulbs, electric fans, etc. By cleaning up your the appliances and other electronics in your house, they can run more efficiently, reducing power consumption.
Another advantage to cleaning up is that this is the time you usually find items that you have given up for lost. This means not having to buy stuff that you already have. Obviously, the less things you buy, the better.
General cleaning to me also means giving away the stuff I don’t use, which mostly means clothes and bags. While giving away clothes and other items you no longer might not seem something good for the environment, what you should realize is that this it is a perfect example of “reusing” stuff. Whether you give away your stuff to friends or to charity, the point is that they don’t get stuck too long in the house to the point that they end up unusable. Give your stuff away instead of throwing them in the bin. Not only will you end up with less clutter in your home, but you’ll also end up feeling good about it while helping the environment.
De-clutter Mind Map by Paul Foreman via Mind Map Inspiration