Lessen Your Rubbish Clearance and Take a Fun Free Holiday
According to Evolution Money, a two week holiday will cost an average of £4792 English pounds for a family of four living in the UK. For readers on the other side of the pond, that’s about $6365 American dollars. What if we told you there’s a way to take a really fun holiday for FREE and lessen your rubbish clearance at the same time? All budget minded savvy mums and dads would jump at this opportunity, right? Well, we’re going to tell you exactly how to do this! Clearabee is always happy to share motivating ideas on how to clear less rubbish.
You can turn this into a family with your children. Involve every member of the household, young and old, so everyone will get on board and you can all have fun with it. Plus, this may be one of the most valuable lessons you ever teach your children. They’ll learn about the economics of rubbish clearance, how to budget, how to save money, practical mathematics, recycling, restoration, upcycling, how to plan a project, and the moral importance of keeping items out of our landfills.
Here’s the Idea In a Nutshell
The basic idea is save money by recycling, reusing, restoration, and upcycling and then use the money you save to take a fun holiday for the whole family. In this way, you get royally rewarded for doing things that are highly ethical!
Take the First Step and Plan the Holiday Options
To get everyone super motivated, it’s best to start by planning the holiday options. You may want to visit some travel agencies and pick up some brochures to get an idea of what appeals most to everyone. Next, go to the library and borrow some travel books and maps of some of your favorite options. You may want to plan both a small holiday and a more grand holiday for later. In this way, the first goal will be more easily obtained and will prove to everyone how to make money for the grander holiday you have in mind.
Make a List of What You See In the Rubbish Clearance In Your Neighborhood
Ask the kids what they see in rubbish clearance. You may even want to walk or drive the neighborhood the evening before rubbish is cleared. You should definitely find common items like food packaging, plastic beverage bottles, old clothes, old furniture, broken appliances, electronics, and discarded household items like rugs, curtains, dishes, pots, tools, and window shades. You may even find more unusual items like an old dog house, a cat tree, or Christmas decorations.
Make a List of How You Can Save Money
Hold a family meeting and brainstorm on how you can recycle, reuse, restore, and upcycle in order to save money to put into the holiday fund. Let the kids suggest ideas all on their own but you can also prompt them by asking questions like, “How could we save money on clothes?” and “How could be save money by not buying food in food wrappers?” or how can we save money by not buying beverages in plastic bottles?” or “Is there something we could fix up instead of buying it new?” You may be able to get the kids interested in buying used clothes or learning sewing techniques to make their old clothes new again. You can talk about how taking a thermos of homemade tea is cheaper, and more sustainable, than purchasing pre-made tea in plastic bottles — or how about re-filling plastic bottles with tea made at home over and over again? If you’ve been thinking about buying a new appliance, you can teach the kids how to find a good repair person or learn how to do the repair yourself. The same goes for old furniture. Maybe you and the kids can just re-cover a couch or chair instead of buying a new one. You’ll be teaching them a good life skill while saving money too.
Make a List On How You Can Make Money With Items From Rubbish Clearance
You can also talk with the kids about how to remove items from rubbish clearance and make extra money with these items. Is there discarded furniture you can sand down and paint or stain? Can you add new knobs or door handles for next to nothing? Can you add decals to make the old furniture more attractive and desirable? You may be able to sell the furniture you found for free for a nice tidy profit! How about collecting usable items, making small repairs where necessary, and then selling these items at a car boot sale? Maybe you could fix up all an old discarded bike or repair an old radio and then sell it for pure profit minus the small cost for parts.
Be Opportunistic Too
While making a plan and brainstorming will serve you well, allow yourself and encourage your kids to be opportunistic as well. Sometimes opportunities just present themselves and you should be prepared to take advantage when they do. For example, suppose you see an old discarded dog house in a neighbor’s rubbish clearance. You and the kids can rescue that broken down dog house and fix it up good as new for a weekend project. Then, you can sell it to make money for the holiday fund! Old Christmas decorations thrown out in the summer can become part of arts and crafts projects in the autumn. Then you can sell these ornaments at a car boot sale in late November or December when they’ll be in high demand.
When you go on that first free holiday, you may be thanking every rubbish clearance pile and Clearabee van you see! You’ll definitely all be wiser and enjoy your holiday more than ever!
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