“A woman should wear fragrance wherever she expects to be kissed”-Coco Chanel
Laura Reynolds looks at some of the cheapest beauty products available
Having a chest of drawers might have seemed like a wonderful idea at the start of the year, but now that you’ve only got space for fifteen kilos of clothes and books on a plane or a corner’s worth of stuff in your tiny bedroom at home, it suddenly seems a lot less appealing idea. But fear not! There are eco-friendly solutions at hand, and this column wouldn’t be its greeny two-shoes self if I didn’t tell you about them.
First of all, if you’re thinking about getting rid of things you don’t have enough space for, or that you’ve just never used, there are websites like www.freecycle.org and www.dontdumpthat.com. They work on the principle that, since you’re getting rid of things anyway, you might as well give them to someone else who’ll still get the use out of them, and you won't have to dump them in a skip. It doesn’t seem to matter how broken it is or how much you think no-one could ever want to take it off your hands – there’s always someone. When you think about it, it’s probably nicer to know that your old bike’s still getting used than that it’s languishing in a dump somewhere.
Having just looked around both sites, rusty bikes, a dilapidated piano and - somewhat oddly - even some old doors have all found themselves new homes. Not that I’m saying you should take your doors with you when you move out. My general understanding is that it’s common practice to leave the actual house itself in one piece.
Alternatively, you can take things you don’t need along to your local charity shops. Oxfam, for example, is happy to take your old clothes, furniture, books, crockery - if you’ve still got any by now that isn’t smashed or growing new forms of plant-life - and various other things. In some cases, they’ll even help you move by coming over to take the furniture off your hands. So not only do you not have to find somewhere to fit it into your parents’ car, but you also don’t have to lug a bedside table or a whole shelf’s worth of books all the way down Goodramgate. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure my little puny stick arms wouldn’t cope with that kind of abuse.
Lastly, if all else fails, ask your friends. There are plenty of people moving off campus this year, or even just moving into new houses, who might be willing to take things you don’t want. If you’ve got one too many pairs of shoes to fit into one suitcase, or a plant that’ll probably wilt and die if you put it into a cardboard box under a pile of textbooks, then it wouldn’t hurt to ask around and see if anyone wants it.
You could put an advert on Facebook Marketplace, stick some notices up on the campus noticeboards, or even just ask people. If you do find someone to take it, you’ll be helping to reduce the amount of rubbish that university students leave behind them. But do try and leave the house intact – remember that the people who come after you will probably need those doors and windows.
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