Recycling Reminder Calendar

Every so often we forget to put our recycling out at the curb. This then creates an overflowing container for the next pickup. We have been pretty good lately at remembering, but I thought a calendar would help. We had a recycling company at another home provide dates for pick up, and it was right on our recycling container. I decided this might help a little as a way to check at a glance if the recycling needs to go out.

I printed a two year calendar on a 4x6 index card. I found a free printable template online, so that made it easy. My printer didn't exactly cooperate, and created a large margin through 2016. Since we are nearing 2017 I decided it didn't have to be perfect.

I circled the dates of pick up in green. Basically they pick up on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month. Not hard, but still can be confusing without looking at a calendar! 

I used clear packing tape to attach the calendar to the inside of the lid of the recycling container we use. The lid is usually off to the side, but close enough to take a look at. Yes, I printed my own recycling symbol awhile back too. Our recycler doesn't provide anything, but I wanted them to know this can IS recycling, not trash. 

Simple, helpful, and even free! 

Are You Saving Reusables?

Are you saving items in your home because you see the value in reusing them?
Are you keeping items to be reused because you want to be a good steward to the environment?
Are you willing to give up square footage of your home to store these items?
At what point will you have saved enough items for later reuse?

I save some things to be reused, primarily because I know they will be used.  And occasionally, I save something because I think I will do something with it later. Maybe. It is those items I might use later that become clutter. Eventually, I have to be honest and remind myself I'm probably not really going to do that thing I thought I was planning. Once I make this decision, then it's a matter of figuring WHERE to discard the item.

And it doesn't have to mean the trash can. Or the landfill.

It is possible to discard items you acquire in a responsible way.

I have discussed with numerous people about their things. I've seen different myths or excuses get in the way of them making decluttering progress. And this environmental one seems to be one of them.

It is true that some things cannot be easily recycled like your the mail coming into your home. But so many can be if you take some time to research what your local town or nearby city offers in regards to these services.

Many communities take hazardous waste materials, including used oil, tires and air conditioners. Your local landfill company likely has resources for electronic recycling on their website a well.
There are non profits that will accept building materials, including paint and tools.

I did a quick search on a couple towns I've lived in and saw recycling for tires, batteries, compact florescent bulbs, grocery bags, appliances, fire extinguishers, propane tanks, televisions, computer equipment, automobiles, toner cartridges, water heaters, medications, oil, fertilizers, bicycles, and more!

Now, true you probably can't put many of those types of items on the curb. You will have to deliver them. There is extra work involved, but it isn't much harder than loading up your vehicle, driving to the location and dropping them off. Sometimes the volunteers or employees will help you unload!

Be HONEST with yourself. Are these items you may reuse someday a JOY or a BURDEN? If they are a joy then keep them. But if not, you really need to do the work at getting rid of these items. You are a beautiful sweat soul who wants to do good in the world, but yet you are getting stressed by your things. And some of those things are items you won't use. You are stressed by the myth you have that you are saving these items for good. But that is not the truth. You are saving them and the result is stress and irritation. There is no joy. The good really comes when you decide to get those items to a place where they can be recycled, turned into something new, or reused by someone who has a true need for these items. And it will feel good to do the work.

I'm always cheering for you!

Time to Check the Lights

It's time to check off another item on my Christmas planning list. The holiday lights! The reason I check lights this early in the season is because it is something that CAN be done ahead of decorating. We have had many years where we would pull out some strands of lights thinking we could throw them on the tree only to find out they didn't work. That just puts a big damper on the whole decorating process, so I now try to avoid it.

Our Christmas decorations are stored in our garage now that we don't have a basement. The first step was open our Christmas bins to see where we stand with lights. 

I found the light strand for the main tree in the first bin I opened. Do you see how I store the lights in bags? This particular bag is from a set of sheets. Since strands for lights can be different lengths I like to mark what the lights are for. 

The rest of the lights were in their own bin with extension cords. Oh I guess there was an artificial wreath on the top, too.  I brought it over to an outlet to start checking the status of each one. 

The first one out was a bit disappointing. It seems half of it was burnt out. I did try to lengthen it to see if the rest would come on. The answer is no. That strand was for bushes outside. And we do have larger bushes here, so I'm not sure we'll put lights on out there. But for now I know it doesn't work.

The package of lights marked for our main tree worked! That means I could decorate the tree any day now. Although we usually wait until after Thanksgiving. I expect that will be the plan this year as well.

Both packages of the girls colored lights worked well, too. 

The lights for our second tree did not. I think part of why some of these strands are not working is that they are old. I inherited quite a few from my parents when they were downsizing. I did at least get a little use out of each strand. 

We have these globe lights that we haven't used in at least four years. You would think I would have decluttered them, but I really like them. I checked them last year too and had to get rid of one strand because so many bulbs were burnt out. This year I thought I had some burnt out, but those bulbs just needed to be tighten in. All of them work! I'd like to see if these work on our front porch this year. 

I didn't take pictures of all the light strands, but the final verdict is three strands were duds. And the bonus for checking on our lights early is that I can get them recycled at Home Depot through November 15. Go here for more information and coupon offers. The coupons might help sway me to some new LED lights which are more energy efficient. I just have to find the one with the right glow!

Do you check your lights early? Will you? Have you switch to LED lights? Do you have a method for storing your lights to keep them from getting tangled? What else have you checked off your Christmas list?

Updates...Organized?

Today's post is random updates. I'll let you decide if they are random or organized!

Decluttering and Making Money

We purchased a new fridge last week. It was delivered Sunday. The delivery men were nice enough to help us move the fridge down about four steps. As a result, we had a spare, yet working, refrigerator in our garage. Not the plan long term because I would only see it as clutter. Yesterday, I decided to list it on Craigslist late in the afternoon. By mid evening it had been picked up. Extra fridge gone in a flash and an extra $100 in our pockets!! I'm super pleased that it didn't clutter our garage for too long and that it can still be used by someone else.

Bonus Decluttering

In addition to the fridge the buyers ended up with a carpet remnant. They set the fridge on its side in their truck. In order not to scratch it, I offered a roll of carpet that was from two homes ago. I had my eye on it recently as something that I could let go of. So a bonus item decluttered! I'm counting that for my small decluttering for the day.

Time Management Progress

I am planning to continue to stay off the computer in the mornings to accomplish to do lists I make the night before. I did this two days last week and already once this week. I can see a big difference in what I accomplish. What I'm finding is that it allows me more time than I usually give myself to do these tasks. If I get on the computer in the morning, I can find plenty of things to do to waste my morning away, leaving just a short period of time to get things done before the family arrives back home. It really should be the other way around, a short period of time to accomplish computer tasks! The biggest obstacle in getting this done each day is having the list ready the evening before. I'm usually not awake enough to really be thinking through what tasks I need to get done! 

Paper Adjustments

My post yesterday was how I had refiled all the files. Today I spent about ten minutes on the files again, and actually moved all of the files in the box INTO the filing cabinet. I put those in back of the bottom drawer. I was able to push them in there tightly because of a piece of metal in there (no idea what the term for that is!).  These files are mostly keepsake or old tax files only needed if we were audited. There is no need to get to them frequently. I do not have any files in boxes! I am keeping the boxes though, since we take most of our own files with us during our moves for security purposes.

Recycling Folders

I kept only five empty paper file folders. The the remaining ones were sent to the recycle bin. I've reused most of these many, many times. I guess I'm ready for new ones should that need arise! I really wonder if it will. It seems more and more things are being stored digitally. And interestingly enough, in the pile of empty file folders I found three more files I need to go through! I'm not sure how those ended up in there. I will need to add these to about five others that I still have set aside to finish. I think that is the goal for today!

January's Blog Theme

This month's theme on the blog was to work on decluttering something everyday. Most of my decluttering was paper! Are you still keeping the decluttering goal in mind each day? There are still five days left to make some dents in the cluttered areas of your home.