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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is that it is okay to throw away unneeded

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Speaker 1: or unwanted stuff. Sure, we want to avoid waste when

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Speaker 1: we possibly can, but having stuff in your home that

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Speaker 1: you don't need or enjoy doesn't do anybody any good,

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Speaker 1: so go ahead and let go of it. After the holidays,

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Speaker 1: lots of people find themselves with stuff that they don't

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Speaker 1: really want. Maybe it is misplaced gifts like gingerbread scented

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Speaker 1: sugar scrub that smells great but is not so pleasant

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Speaker 1: on your sensitive skin. Maybe it's small pieces of wrapping

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Speaker 1: paper or holiday decorations that you are tired of or

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Speaker 1: that don't work anymore. If there is stuff that you

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Speaker 1: know you won't enjoy, give it away or toss it.

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Speaker 1: If there is stuff that you feel a nagging sense

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Speaker 1: of obligation to use but you know you never will use,

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Speaker 1: go ahead and get rid of it. Ideally, you would

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Speaker 1: be able to give any unwonted items away to a

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Speaker 1: friend or relative or neighbor, or perhaps to a charity

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Speaker 1: that might be interested. Maybe some elements could be recycled.

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Speaker 1: But if you are holding on to something because of

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Speaker 1: the guilt of wanting to keep it out of a landfill,

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Speaker 1: know this, it is going to wind up there eventually.

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Speaker 1: The question is when if you opened that bacon jam

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Speaker 1: from the gift set and tried it and hated it,

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Speaker 1: you are not going to be able to give it

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Speaker 1: to a food bank. In a partially consumed condition, it

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Speaker 1: might sit in your fridge for a year or more,

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Speaker 1: taking up space. It can sit there for two years

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Speaker 1: and then get thrown away when you move or get

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Speaker 1: a new fridge, or it can get thrown away today.

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Speaker 1: I know we all want to do our part in

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Speaker 1: reducing waste, but once an object is created and procured,

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Speaker 1: its life cycle is going to end somewhere. We can

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Speaker 1: reduce demand for certain things by being careful with gift giving.

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Speaker 1: That is one reason to ask for and give experiences

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Speaker 1: instead of things, or perhaps to give hard to shop

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Speaker 1: for people cash. If you are the hard to shop

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Speaker 1: for person, perhaps you could drop hints about a charity

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Speaker 1: that what you would love. If you are the hard

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Speaker 1: to shop for person, you can drop hints about a

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Speaker 1: charity that you would love for people to support in

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Speaker 1: lieu of giving you presents, But once the present exists

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Speaker 1: and is in your house, it will eventually wind up

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Speaker 1: in the landfill or maybe, in the best case scenario,

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Speaker 1: having its components recycled. Ideally it will be used in

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Speaker 1: the meantime, but whether it is or it isn't doesn't

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Speaker 1: change that final outcome. If you can find someone who

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Speaker 1: can use the item, that is awesome, But if no

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Speaker 1: one is going to use it, then giving it an

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Speaker 1: intermediate life as clutter isn't helping the environment. Now I

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Speaker 1: know this is really hard for me personally to accept.

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Speaker 1: I am a very thrifty person, and sometimes I have

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Speaker 1: extended the life of things for quite a while. I

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Speaker 1: put a little water in my makeup tubes and in

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Speaker 1: my shampoo bottles and so forth to squeeze out every

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Speaker 1: little bit of product. My four year old is wearing

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Speaker 1: a coat that was worn by my brother's children before

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Speaker 1: it was worn by my child's older siblings. My ability

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Speaker 1: to use up leftovers is top notch, if I say

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Speaker 1: so myself. But if I am never going to use

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Speaker 1: a tube of lipstick because I don't like the color,

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Speaker 1: it does nothing for anybody sitting in my drawer. I

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Speaker 1: can't really give it to anyone else after I have

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Speaker 1: used it, and it's just going to get grosser over

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Speaker 1: time as it's sitting there. The time to act and

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Speaker 1: consider was in the buying. Once that is done, it's

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Speaker 1: ok to throw it away. Nothing lasts forever, and once

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Speaker 1: it's gone you will probably stop thinking about it. We

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Speaker 1: all have more stuff than we need, which is a

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Speaker 1: good reason to pause and think about things before heading by.

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Speaker 1: But once something is bought, if it is not going

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Speaker 1: to be put to use, it is okay to proceed

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Speaker 1: to the final stage. That will free up space in

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Speaker 1: your home and in your mind. In the meantime, this

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Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the

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Speaker 1: most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.

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Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach

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Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,

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Speaker 1: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

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Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.