Tag: recycling

Happy New Year! 7 Ways To Clear Clutter This Week

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I love the hustle and bustle of the holidays, but I also love the calm and clarity that follow.  Here are 7 ways I’m clearing clutter this week, give one or two or all seven a try!

  1. Return stuff to other people:  Hooray!  My kitchen counter is clean again!  Last week, it held a roasting pan, a pie pan, an instruction book for someone else’s gift, a holiday cookie tin and a few other random items, none of which belonged to me.  The tin was the last to go, but as of yesterday, everything is returned!
  2. Donation / Recycling Clutter:  Drop off donations and recyclables, or at least put the next charitable donation pick-up date on your calendar and plan to have a bag ready.  Then start filling that bag!!  We have a couple of bags already filled with donated Christmas decorations, toys and outgrown kid and adult clothes.
  3. Purge cardboard:  I feel like we’ve been swimming in shipping boxes and toy packaging.  The recycling bin filled up quickly over the holidays, but there’s more room this week!  Collect the boxes, break ’em down and lug ’em out.  You’ll be glad you did!
  4. Plan a Returns Day.  Place a shopping bag by the door.  As you go through your home and routines this week, look for the items you intend to return and place them and their receipt in the bag.  If you can’t find the receipt, spend a little time looking for it, but don’t get hung up on perfectionism.  Even if you can’t find the receipt, a smaller amount of store credit or cash back is better than holding on to an item you know you won’t use just because you can’t find the receipt.  Spend an afternoon, and run those errands to return the items.  Cha-ching, money in your pocket and the clutter goes away!
  5. Clear the Catalogs:  Clean off the coffee table, reading pile and kitchen counter.   Call the 800# on the back of the catalogs or go to www.Catalogchoice.net, and remove yourself from mailing lists.  Subscribe online, if you’d like, and you may get regular promotion notices and coupons.  To avoid email notices, skip the subscription, open your web browser, create a bookmark folder called “shopping”, bookmark the page in your browser, and add it to your shopping folder, then toss the catalog!
  6. Phone clutter:  Ugh!  I am tired of the solicitation calls on our home phone line!  Register all phone numbers (cell, too) with the National Do Not Call Registry at www.DoNotCall.gov, if you haven’t done so.  And this month I will answer all calls on the home line, and request that the caller remove me from their list, which they legally must do if we ask.
  7. E-Mail clutter:  I am happy that a few people un-subscribed last week.  As a blogger and newsletter writer, it should not make me happy, but I was proud of those 4 folks on my mailing list for deciding to let go of something that was not working for them. Good for them.  Of course, now that they have un-subscribed, they will never know that I applauded their efforts.  And remember, I welcome your suggestions and comments for improvement, to keep my content meaningful and useful for you.

Yeah, you!  Look around, you’re feeling lighter and looking better already!  Way to go!

Your Car Is Cold! 5 Ways to Clear Garage Clutter!

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What is the purpose of your garage?  

Car storage, first and foremost.  For many, though, the car sits outside all winter while clutter lives safe and warm inside.  Make space by getting of some garage clutter!

What makes garage organizing a challenge? 

Garages become a catch-all, a dumping ground for our clutter.  Everyone uses the garage, so it becomes the holding place for all undecided items.  In addition, most of the stuff in the garage is just big, both the space and the items stored in it.  And when the clutter piles up, the task becomes so overwhelming, we just can’t tackle it.  The garage is the last area we care about, though it may be the first one we see when we come home.

I would suggest that garages are unique and deserve our respect.  They are truly multi-functional space, with stuff for all members of the household.  And whether we respect the garage or not, winter is coming and no one wants to scrape frost or snow off their car every day!  Here are 5 suggestions to help you Clean Out your garage!

Cardboard – toss it, seriously.

We keep boxes for just in case: in case we need it, in case we have to return an item, in case we up and decide to move.  Most of these just-in-cases never come to pass.  Collapse and recycle your cardboard with your weekly pick-up, or drop off at a local collection location. If you must keep your boxes, nest the small ones and break down the big ones to store flat.  You reclaim lots of space, and a roll of packing tape will restore them later.

Purge appliances and E-Waste like computers, televisions, cords, etc. 

If the item works, try Facebook groups, like buy / sell / trade groups or local groups.  Whether the items works or not, you can also find a place to recycle it:

  • SCARCE.org/Recycling-Events for events in the Chicago Suburbs
  • www.EWorksESI.org, for electronic waste locations and events in Dupage County
  • Solid Waste Agency of North Cook County, https://www.swancc.org/
  •  Check your local community for permanent E-Waste drop-off locations
  • Seasonal E-Waste Collections
  • Assistive Technologies: 7550 W. 183rd Street, Tinley 708-444-2836
  • Call the EPA at 217-524-6713, or visit their website  to find E-Waste collection locations near you!  (Thank you, ME!)
  • Com Ed will collect your old but working refrigerator and pay you $50. Click here for more info

Purge Paint / Hazardous Chemicals:

For more information about hazardous waste disposal sites in your area, click here:  https://www2.illinois.gov/epa/topics/waste-management/waste-disposal/household-hazardous-waste/Pages/default.aspx, or google it for your area.  You can also take the quick way, and purchase paint thickener packets from Home Depot (I’m told cat litter works as well) and add it to partial can of unwanted paint.  Once the paint thickens and hardens, it can be disposed of with regular household waste.

Purge Other People’s Stuff:

If you need help organizing your garage, enlist aid.  Call friends and family, especially the people who have been storing things at your house.  Ask for their assistance with clearing out the garage, and using firm but loving language, ask them for help and tell them the time has come for their stuff to go.

Maximize Vertical Storage:

Imagine all the stuff on the floor of your garage stored vertically on the wall.  Great, right?  There are snazzy garage storage systems like Gorilla Racks or Metro Shelving, but you can reap benefits for a lot less money, too.  For less than $100 at Home Depot, you can purchase some free standing shelves for bulky items, and nails or hooks to install on the studs for hanging storage for items.  I spent 10 minutes in a client’s garage recently, pounding nails into studs for vertical storage.  You can also store stuff in the garage rafters, or suspended from the roof beams.  We hang our bikes from rafter hooks over the winter, above my husband’s car, and clear space in the garage for easier movement.

Finally, once you have cleared your garage clutter, determine zones (storing like items together) and homes (permanent spots) for things, or you will end up right back where you started.  In garages, zones are based on categories like: Seasonal (holiday), Yard / Outdoor, Garden, Hardware, etc.

Spend an hour or two in your garage this week, and you will thank yourself all winter long!