In recent years, it has become very trendy to throw away, throw away, throw away everything according to methods or to "death clean" and throw away everything so that it should feel clean and fresh AND there is room to BUY NEW!
This is not climate-smart in any way! I understand that it can give peace of mind, but you know what?! Producing new things is always worse than using what you already have.
Of course, trash like old newspapers and envelopes is nothing you will use again, so such things can be thoroughly cleaned out AND sorted for recycling. That's another thing!
But to thoroughly clean and empty the kitchen cabinets so that they are empty of glass boxes and other jars is not good for the climate. Use your empty glass jars to freeze leftovers, when you make large batches of food, and to store bread and pastries in. It is more climate-smart than running out and buying new jars to be able to freeze that leftover meat soup.
In sparsely populated areas, we have never had the opportunity or the luxury of just being able to run out and buy what you want at the moment. Here, planning has always been important. We have 25 kilometers to the town of Vilhelmina, and you don't go there an extra time because you want an ice cream right NOW, or because you forgot to buy milk.
The same applies to everything else, here it is important to work with what you have, to be a little frugal and inventive. This was even more important in the past, but it still applies today.
To then throw away everything you have just to get peace of mind is pure madness.
No, instead of a modern happiness method, I want to recommend the sparsely populated areas method. Work with what you have. Repair, wash and reuse.
Glass jars are not pretty, but they work just as well in the freezer for that, old pillowcases and scraps of fabric are easy to turn into cloth bags/totes, and it's actually amazing what a little paint can do - an old piece of furniture may not need to be replaced with a new one, it may be possible to paint it, and maybe your kitchen looks terrible and needs to be renovated, but you know what?! It may be enough to repaint the doors and replace the tiles, everything may not need to be torn out. It's cheaper and it's much better for the climate.
Here I have reused an old chair.
It "costs" the planet the most to produce new things. Did you know that often the production of a new item, clothes, food or things, accounts for the largest share of emissions and requires the most resources, not the transport. Even if products are air-freighted, often the production of new is what requires the most and emits the most.
That is why we at Västerbottenssåpa are so proud and happy that our business idea is circular and that we recycle raw materials for our soaps. We all have to try to think more circularly if we are to be able to save our planet.