While people tend to get their homes organized and purged at this time of year, a new tidying trend has been emerging thanks to a Netflix show called ‘Tidying Up with Marie Kondo’. From better ways to fold clothing and store toys to literally thanking out-going items for their service, Kondo’s methods are being attempted in many homes across Canada.

For those doing the ‘Kon-Marie Method’ in the Weyburn area, there are ways to remove unwanted items from the home without having to throw them away.

Items that are in excellent used condition, such as new in package, new with tags on, or high-quality items kept in pristine condition, are often easy to sell through a local garage sale site such as Hello Good Buy or even through an online specialty site. Weyburn, in fact, has plenty of local marketplace pages as well as garage sale groups on Facebook.

Anyone wishing to simply donate the item to a local charity or resale business can do so easily. However, some may wish to pay the item forward to a local free site so they can see it get to a new home. For this reason, just in time for the Christmas season, Tiffany Bohn of Weyburn started a group on Facebook called, ‘The Gifting Project’.

“It's always been something I felt strongly about, having a place where people who are struggling financially can ‘shop’ for new or well taken care of items, without the financial burden,” said Bohn.

While the group was originally meant to be used pre-Christmas season only, Bohn has since decided to continue to keep it going.

“There was a lot of participation over Christmas and quite a few people asked that it continue on throughout the year,” she said.

While there are a number of free giveaway sites online, some prefer to get the items out of their homes as soon as possible.

“We find a lot of people don’t want to be hassled with putting it online because people don’t show up and it’s wasting more time,” said Rose Anne McInnes, Owner / Operator of Blue Earth Environmental & Consulting. She said their two thrift stores, one dedicated to furniture items, receive donations directly during business hours. They also offer a pickup with certain parameters at their Souris Avenue furniture store and at their Third Street location.

“We do pickups of large loads. So even if they’re not a blue bin customer, if they’ve got a lot of stuff, we say at least 20 boxes or if they’ve got bigger furniture, then we can come out free of charge and pick it up,” said McInnes.

She said some items are only suitable for upcycling.

“Let’s say it’s a wooden dresser. One of the drawers is broken,” she said. “We have a lot of upcyclers who could take the dresser and refurbish it. To most people, it’s garbage, but to some, it’s not.”

Most broken household items made of glass, as well as electronics, can go to SARCAN and metal items can go to Mryglods for recycling, but some items can’t be upcycled, such as tube TVs and the entertainment centres made for the tube TVs, which are mostly pressboard. McInnes said they tell people to bust it down and take it to the landfill. Another item they say they can’t take is worn or torn furniture, as well as organs or pianos.

For those who wish to donate clothing items at their convenience, there are clothing donation bins for the Canadian Diabetes Association and Community Living throughout Weyburn. Children's clothing and maternity wear can be dropped off to the Family Place, where their Clothing Closet makes the items available free of charge to the community. The Salvation Army Thrift Store also accepts clothing items, jackets, linens, towels, shoes, household items, books and hobby supplies.

Jennifer Lorinczy is Community Ministries Co-ordinator for the Salvation Army Weyburn. She said there are protocols for donations the Thrift Store is able to receive during their business hours Monday to Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

“We prefer that you drop off donations during those hours, in the back, just open the back door. Someone is usually there, it’s usually open as long as our store is open,” she explained. “If we are not there, or you’re coming after hours or whatever, there is a drop bin. It is attached to the building and it goes inside the building, and we ask that you put clothing in there, or bedding, as long as it’s bagged and not breakable.”

Lorinczy noted there are a few items that just can’t be donated to their organization for the time being.

“Right now, in our Thrift Store, until we move buildings, we don’t have space for furniture,” said Lorinczy. “Like, we can’t accept a couch, we can’t accept a bed, we can’t accept large armchairs. We can maybe accept maybe smaller dressers and smaller end tables and things like that, but we just don’t have the space or the manpower right now to accept anything larger.”

Lorinczy added that, even if they did have space, any furniture that is left outside is not then able to be sold, and therefore dumping any furniture behind the Salvation Army Thrift Store puts the burden of its removal on the Salvation Army.

You can find more information on what items can be recycled HERE.

You can borrow Marie Kondo's books by placing a request through Saskatchewan's inter-library loaning system.

Whether you're tidying up after your home becomes an empty nest, or your kids no longer play with their toys, or you're just learning how to get a handle on running a household, there are resources available, throughout the community and beyond, to help streamline the process and spark more joy in your life.