Are you looking to move, renovate or downsize your home? What about simply declutter your living space? These can be overwhelming tasks, but there are several considerations that can help you keep stress at bay while undergoing a major home renovation or move. Read on to learn how you can make your moving, renovating or downsizing process as easy as possible, while contributing to local nonprofits and helping the environment at the same time.
1. Take stock of what needs to be done
It’s easy to feel stressed when you walk around your home and wonder how you’ll ever pack up all of your belongings. One simple solution is to write a list of everything that you need to do. Sort through your house room-by-room, and evaluate what needs to be done in each room. An important aspect of this is to decide which furniture items you want to keep, and which ones you no longer need. By doing this early on in your moving process, you can save yourself from the hassle of trying to figure out what to keep and donate later along the line.
Going through your house room-by-room can also prevent you from forgetting about any room, since you’re seeing all of them. For example, you might think you’ve thought of everything — but did you remember your garage? What about your backyard, or basement? There are items in all of these places that you might not want to carry with you as you move.
Check out Habitat’s blog post about decluttering your house for a room-by-room guide of what to donate, where you can give in the GTA and what to consider when donating used items from your house. You may not even be aware of some of the items you can donate!
2. Donate used furniture instead of throwing it out
Once you’ve made sure you know exactly what you need to do, you can start taking action to clean and declutter. You probably don’t want to keep every single item in your current house; and chances are, some of the items you don’t want to keep are furniture, whether they’re used chairs, tables, desks or shelves. Although you might not want these items anymore, they might still be in great condition. So, instead of throwing them out and increasing the waste in a landfill, why not donate your used furniture to a local nonprofit?
There are several charitable organizations in the GTA which accept donations of used furniture. Check out Habitat’s blog post about where to donate used furniture in the GTA to find out more, or visit our website to learn about our free used furniture home pickup program. If you’re not looking to donate your used furniture but you’re not sure what else to do with it, check out our blog post about five things you can do with used furniture, including details on how to recycle used furniture items through your region, upcycle furniture or sell furniture online.
3. Whenever possible, donate instead of trashing items
Furniture is far from the only thing you can donate to a local nonprofit. There are a plethora of organizations in the GTA who accept everything from used appliances to used clothing, and even your electronic waste like old cell phones and charges. You can check out Habitat’s “Where to Donate” series to read our posts about all of the items you can donate to charities in your area.
Donating items doesn’t just help nonprofits gather materials to sell to raise funds for their missions to do good work in your community. When you donate instead of trashing an item, you prevent waste from unnecessarily ending up in a landfill. It might not seem like a big deal to donate one chair instead of throwing it out, but it all adds up. You’d be surprised to know the environmental impact of your donation to a charity like Habitat!
4. Make it a group effort
As the expression goes, “The more, the merrier!” As you’re going about your moving, downsizing or renovating project, why not ask some friends or family to join in and help you out? Moving doesn’t have to be stressful when you invite friends to help you out. You can assign everyone a different room, or let people help in the way that they feel most comfortable. You can even make it a fun experience by curating a special playlist, or arranging a potluck lunch for one of your packing or moving days!
If you need help lifting heavy items you wish to donate, services such as Habitat’s free furniture home pickup program make it easy for you to get help doing this. Learn more and arrange your pickup today on our website.
5. Get creative
As you’re planning your new space, consider adding a DIY touch with upcycled or reused materials. You can add a personalized flair to your new room or home, while also having the chance to reuse some items that you might otherwise be throwing out. Check out Habitat’s blog post about summer DIYs for your backyard to get an idea of some of the cool projects you can work on! The post also walks you through some general DIY tips, as well as places in the GTA to locate materials for your projects.
Upcycling furniture is a great way to give used items a new life in your home. Your items might look completely different from what they were originally — and that’s a great way to signify a new beginning in your new space. For more DIY inspiration, check out Habitat’s ReVive website website to learn about the creative projects that go on in our exclusive upcycling centre!
Check out more information on Habitat’s website
For more information about where you can donate used furniture when moving, follow this link to Habitat’s blog post about downsizing. You can also visit Habitat for Humanity Halton-Mississauga’s website to learn more about how to donate and the work we’re doing in your community to bring safe, decent and affordable homes for low-income families.