Decluttering Ornamental Potted Plants and Recyclable Waste: A Handbook for Analyzing Items You Can't Throw Away (Part Three)

Getting rid of unwanted items is a very important step in the organizing process.

Broken items, expired food, worn-out clothes and shoes, appliances that can't be repaired - these things with no use value at all are easy to throw away. So what is it that's not so easy to throw away?

Below, take a look at the top ten items Chinese people can't throw away at home (ranked by approximate floor space occupied):

1. Neither-here-nor-there furniture

2. Neither-here-nor-there home appliances

3. Ornamental potted plants

4. Recyclable waste

5. Food

6. Children's toys (households with kids)

7. Bedding

8. Books

9. Cleaning equipment

10. Pots, pans, bowls and dishes

The first article covered neither-here-nor-there furniture, and the second covered neither-here-nor-there home appliances.

Now the third article: ornamental potted plants and recyclable waste

Ornamental potted plants

Chinese homes generally have one or two balconies, and the items that occupy the balcony long-term are either recyclable waste or plants and flowers, or both.

Regarding ornamental potted plants, actually I think it's enough to go back and look at what was planted on the balcony of the minimalist organizer's home in that earlier article.

Plants and flowers really can create a good atmosphere at home, but it's not advisable to grow too many.

One: They take a lot of time to care for

I've seen households that grow lots of flowers on the balcony - just watering takes seven or eight watering cans, so chances are you'll be lugging a big watering can back and forth seven or eight times. Add pruning and trimming, and a full hour every day is a given. I've said before that good looks that add more housework to your life are just a painted skin. Based on your home's size, just a few pots as an accent is fine; average daily maintenance time is best kept under ten minutes.

Two: They take up a large area of space

Actually, no need to say much. The main subject of a home is people, not plants. Does a balcony that could hold a tea table and a rocking chair, or a fitness machine and treadmill, really all have to be given over to potted plants? A good approach is not to spread them all out on the floor, but to use a vertical plant stand, making use of the upper space and arranging them densely. For example, as in the picture below.

Remember to measure the dimensions before buying a plant stand, and factor in the height of the plants, so you don't block the window from opening.

If your home is small, try not to keep large floor-standing potted plants, which at the drop of a hat occupy one or two square meters of space that originally belonged to people.

Three: Plants and flowers that can't be saved

Who hasn't had a few potted plants die at home?

Once you're sure they can't be saved, deal with them right away, pot and all.

Trust me, even if you wait a month, it won't come back from the dead. A dead potted plant directly affects the overall beauty of your plants and flowers, directly affects your mood every time you see it, and once it rots it will directly affect the air in your home. And from a feng shui perspective, it's not appropriate to keep dead potted plants at home.

Recyclable waste

Waste mainly includes: all kinds of packaging cardboard boxes, delivery cardboard boxes, old paper and books, empty plastic bottles and cans, even tin sheets and screws.

Quite a few households, especially elderly people, like to hoard waste that can be sold for a little money at the recycling station, storing it at home. Maybe they wait one or two months or half a year, until they've saved up enough, and sell it all at once.

If, beyond my expectations, you're actually hoarding waste, then put down your phone and go briskly escort that waste out of your home. No need to say much about the reasons: the floor space the waste occupies, the terrible smell it brings to the home, the dreadful impact it has on the environment, the large area of sunlight it blocks, the bad fortune it brings to the home... the combined value of these negative effects is certainly already far more than a hundred times the price it fetches when recycled.

From another angle, if you're not so hard up that you must make a living by picking through trash and selling waste, it's better to sort your household waste each day and place it beside the trash bin, letting people who make a living collecting waste take it away - that counts as an act of kindness too.

Actually, what I mainly want to talk about is the following: you may have a family member who likes to hoard waste, especially an elderly person, and you don't know how to change him or her.

You could try this:

One: Reason with them, move them with emotion

You insist that the waste must be thrown out promptly, while they insist that it must be saved up to sell for money later, and that's how the conflict happens. But don't let the conflict expand and drag on.

Reason with them: I admit the waste does have value, but it blocks most of the sunlight in our home and blocks the feng shui too. And when friends come over to visit, it doesn't look good either. Too much waste means lots of dust and a strange odor, the air gets bad, and it's a health risk for the kids, easily causing skin problems or bronchitis.

Move them with emotion: I work hard all day long, and when I come home I'm not asking for a big house or fancy renovations, nor for a hot meal - I just hope to come back to a space that's bright and spacious where I can breathe freely. I don't spend much time at home each day, and I want everywhere I look to feel comfortable, so I'll be in a good mood, and everyone in the family will be in a good mood.

Appropriate inducement: Haven't you always wanted a rocking chair / plant stand /? Or haven't you always lacked a place to dry goods? You see, once all the waste is escorted out of the home, this space that frees up is just right for you to put it there.

Two: Ask property management staff for help

For a stubborn elderly person, nothing the family says may work. But if it's an unfamiliar staff member, such as property management staff, or a fire safety inspector, who posts a notice on the door: excessive waste accumulation visible from outside your home, fire risk, must be cleared as soon as possible - maybe that one slip of paper solves it.

Three: Understand and be tolerant

Having lived through a different era or background, perhaps the turbulent times and material scarcity of his childhood left him with an attachment to material things. In adulthood he has self-control and maintains an outwardly calm appearance; as he ages and self-control declines, this attachment to material things shows through. You don't know what happened to him between the ages of 2 and 7, so don't rashly pass judgment on his behavior.

If he doesn't hoard very much and disposes of it frequently, then for now just designate a space for him and let him be.

Four: Pay attention to their mental health

When many elderly people start hoarding, it marks the beginning of a mental abnormality. Some elderly people's waste-collecting behavior appears after their children grow up and leave home or after their spouse passes away, which can be understood as a reaction to emotional deprivation.

We need to understand some basic psychology, guide them slowly, and give them deep care so they feel secure, replacing the loneliness of feeling abandoned by the times and by their children. Even if the children aren't by their side, let them know you will never leave them.

When persuasion fails with a family member who hoards waste, you should first help them disinfect and organize the waste. After that, it's best to get them to regularly take part in outdoor recreational activities with people their own age, or to develop beneficial hobbies, which can give their mind something to rely on and thereby reduce the hoarding behavior. The worst outcome may be a lesion or decline in the brain, or a precursor to Alzheimer's disease, or a mental disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder. In that case, go to a proper hospital as soon as possible for tests of cognitive function, conversational function and motor ability, to further resolve the problem.

Five: Start with the small things yourself

If you don't live with the elderly person, don't take old things you consider useless back to your hometown for the elderly to use, unless you're sure they need them.

When visiting the elderly, remove the outer packaging from gifts as much as possible, reducing their opportunities to judge whether the waste should stay or go, so as not to add to their troubles.

As for the waste they've collected, you can pretend you need it yourself, or that a charity needs it, or that a friend happens to want to use it, and use that as an opportunity to take it away and dispose of it.