(Original Post from November, 2016!)
Baseball season’s over (Go Cubs!), the clocks have Fallen back, and this election year 
will soon be one for the history books. The leaves are flying around the yard today, with a chilly wind. It feels like November! And November is a great time to de-clutter, clear the decks, close the door on summer and open up the flannel sheets and hot chocolate. Conveniently, with November comes America Recycles Day on November 15th!
America Recycles Day, https://americarecyclesday.org/ , is a national initiative of Keep America Beautiful. Follow the link, then click Attend an Event and plug in your zip code to search for recycling events in your neighborhood.
Looking for more ideas? Here are 5 things to purge / recycle / donate / re-purpose / etc. this week, to get ready for colder weather and the holidays!
Shoes! Go through that pile by the door. Yes, THAT pile.
Purge the icky shoes (those 4 pairs of old sneakers someone keeps around for “yardwork”?) and the singles (ah, flip flops, missing either a flip or a flop). Donate the too-small ones or never-again ones, and, as it’s November, friends, put the rest of the warm weather shoes away in each owners’ closet.
If you are looking for places to recycle your shoes, just google “shoe recycling”. There are lots of options out there (for example, Nike recycles shoes to create running tracks and playgrounds). Locally, check out http://shareyoursoles.org/, a great not-for-profit that shares shoes with under-served populations.
And, won’t it be nice to not trip over shoes every time you come in the door?!
Put Away the Halloween Decor (and the summer stuff, too, if it’s still lingering on).
Mid-November, friends. Purge the summer and Halloween decor. Box it up, label it well, put it AWAY with your other seasonal stuff. Do not spend your cold weather months tripping over off-season stuff.
Enjoy clean and uncluttered surfaces for a few weeks, before the Christmas stuff starts creeping out!
Catalogs and Magazines.
I recently had an epiphany, and decided to cut myself some slack when it comes to my burgeoning reading pile. There are days and stages of our lives when we read voraciously, and there are days and stages when reading books or magazines regularly just isn’t meant to be. My life is currently in the latter stage and the reading pile grows quickly out of control. Last week, I reviewed my catalog and magazine backlog, and – considering it’s November – I tossed anything from October or before.
You can recycle them, of course, or you can share the magazines with a local doctor or dentist office, or senior centers and nursing homes.
Cardboard.
Ah, yes, cardboard. Now is the time to purge cardboard. I don’t know why We (and I mean a global “We” and not just the Klimczaks) all seem to hold on to cardboard boxes longer than necessary. If you have to keep boxes, break down the tape and store the boxes flat so they take up less space.
We are coming into Christmas season, however, which could be sub-titled “Amazon Prime is awesome and UPS drops off boxes often” season. As soon as I start our Christmas shopping, more boxes will come. So, I would challenge you to part with most, if not all, of your cardboard boxes, safe in the knowledge that more will arrive soon. Break it down flat, and send it out with the recycling this week!
Expectations.
Shoulda, coulda, woulda.
I’ll rarely tell you that you Should Do Something, or Must Do Something else.
We’ve got just a couple months left of 2016. It’s time to take a look at our current status, look ahead at the next 8 weeks or so, decide…
What Needs to Happen: friends, family, wellness, Holidays, faith, professional efforts?
And
What Does Not Need to Happen: ???
Last week, I completed some long-suffering tasks on my to-do list. It felt so good to finally complete them and cross them off for good! What else can go? Completed tasks, yet, but also unrealistic or unnecessary expectations for yourself or others?
So, embrace America Recycles Day, check out events in your area, and let go of some clutter this week!