Who’s Talking in Today’s Podcast?

I (Angie) am sitting down with Allison Hoxie, someone I met through the Cozy Minimalism community on facebook. I saw how amazingly smart she was so I offered her a position working right beside me on Cozy Minimalism last year for a bit. We quickly became friends and I just love picking her brain and she always has the best suggestions.

Allison is a military wife and mom of two kiddos currently living in Minnesota. Her family has moved around a lot, so minimalism has helped so much, especially with the last move. She got a taste of minimalism when a lot of their stuff was put in storage to help sell their last home, and she was hooked from there on in.

I saw this often with my Real Estate staging clients when I would do consultations to help them prep their homes for sale. The simple act of, even temporarily, living with less was so impactful on their day to day life at home that they ended up asking me back to continue with the process in their new home.

The Issue Right Now

Right now, people are struggling because they want to declutter but they can’t find a way to get rid of their stuff because their regular donation centers are not open. We have come up with a list of ideas to try to keep your forward momentum going.

Keep in mind, we are all in different locations that have different restrictions, and these may not all work for your area. If you are in an area that is extra restrictive for travel, then a lot of these suggestions won’t work for you. But we do have a suggestion for that at the end.

The Suggestions

1. Post to local friends and family on your personal facebook.
2. Shift your focus. Instead of donations, look for garbage or items to sell.
3. Call around. Find out if your local donation center is actually closed. If it is closed, call around to community social welfare programs that are still offering services and still really needing items.
4. Create or participate in a Kick it to the Curb event.
5. Post your free stuff online. Facebook Marketplace, Facebook groups (buy nothing, free everything, buy and sells etc.) Kijiji/craigslist, and freecycle.org
6. Upcycle, reuse, recycle or update the stuff to make it work for you. The old saying “Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without”
7. Create a donation stash for when donation centers open again.