Sites I Like #6: Freecycle.org

Ok I know I like JUST did a Site I Like, but this one is actually helping me in my progress! I'm giddy right now.

Today's site: FreeCycle.org



This is a .org site, but the part of it that I'm making the best use out of is the Yahoo group for my area. Basically, it's a very well-run organization of people pawning off the crap they don't want, and for free. There's no trading, no adult themes, and no money involved. Also, there's no worries about clogging those landfills or making some epic trek to a specialty recycling center. If you've got something that works but that you no longer want, you send an e-mail to the list serve (with title tags such as OFFER, WANTED [they prefer you don't use this one much], TAKEN [for completed "offer" transactions], and RECEIVED [for completed "wanted" transactions]) and interested parties e-mail you back.

Around 5 p.m. today, I put up two posts: one offering this stupid old floor ab machine (like the one at the bottom of this picture), and one offering two body pillows I don't want anymore. By the time I got home from a crepe outing tonight at 9:30, I had four replies - one for both posts, two more for the ab machine, and one for the pillows (it read: "i am interested in your pillows." Nothing more.). As I type here, I'm simultaneously making arrangements with the first woman who replied to have the items picked up. She's the one who wanted everything, and I suspect she is a compulsive/impulsive shopper, but that is fine with me, since it gets rid of my stuff for me haha.

We'll see how it goes! I'm excited to get rid of more crap and brighten somebody else's day. :)

The Professional Organizer Dilemma

Before this project, I had no idea there was such a thing as a professional organizer. It almost makes me want to choose that as my career, since I like organizing things, and it seems pretty lucrative. I mean, look at how happy this woman from GetOrganizedAndMore is. But I was browsing around a bunch of these people's sites, and while a lot of the tips were good, and they're good at selling themselves, just like any good decluttering prostitute should be, I started thinking about how much work my mom and I are actually taking on by ourselves like this.

One site said that it's basically pointless to attempt to declutter by yourself, because you're so invested in all the crap that needs to go that you'll never make any progress. Another good point was that third parties are a lot more objective and can also play the part of sympathizers where I, as the unfeeling child of the woman who owns most of the clutter, can hardly ever sympathize. Mostly I get impatient and angry faced. >:(

I'm sure that's all part of the professional organizer's clever ploys at money-getting, but it makes sense. The sites themselves are very convincing, as well. Look at the amazing before and after photos on this one! They truly give me hope.

However, the real problem is money, in that we have nay enough to afford such a professional. So we'll have to undergo this entire transformation on our own, and I get the feeling it will take months, especially with my mother's still-semi-mysterious-to-me health condition and unwillingness to put much effort into things I suggest. That could definitely be the old-person temperament that I chose to subject myself to in all this, but it sure is discouraging.

Thanks to:
- JakeandAmir.com (catchy dialectical negation. Fans will understand.)

Bay Area Awesomeness

Today we went to the Alameda County Computer Resource Center to drop off a box of jewel cases. I am proud to say I now have no more commercial jewel cases in my room (by that I mean cases that came with CDs I purchased; I have a few of the slim ones for CDs I'm going to use to back up my computer before we take its half-dead self into the Geek Squad)! Next is to donate our now-superfluous CD storage.

I've had the site for the jewel case recycling place up here on my "resources list" since the first day, but we hadn't made the trek out there till today. Turns out they take much more than jewel cases; just check out the site. I'm very pleased in general that it's so easy to find sustainable solutions around the Bay Area. Maybe it's because I haven't lived in New York long enough to understand all their environmental workings, but it seems like a less progressive place than the Bay. I constantly see people in New York toting their plastic bags, often throwing them out, and the littering is a huge problem, even though it's improved a lot over the past decade (I hear). San Francisco, on the other hand, made the decision last year to ban non-biodegradable plastic bags, which I appreciate. When I'm home, I love the fact that I see so many people whip out their canvas or other eco-friendly bags, not only at the grocery store, but many other places too.

This past year, after my suitemates and I quickly amassed a collection of plastic bags by the end of the first month of school, I grew to hate the plastic bag. But I found a way to take advantage of it: Tip: Keep one plastic bag in each of your purses or bags (yes men you can do it, too), so that when you're out and buy crap on an impulse, you don't have to consume more plastic bags and realize later you have no idea what to do with them. Another nice option for around the home is the Cole Hardware Biobag (an SF-based company :D), which my mom told me about.

Thanks to Art.com for today's image. You can buy the print, by artist Daniel Menchaca, at that link. P.S. for the non-natives, that's the Bay Bridge, not the Golden Gate. :)

Decluttering is Happy Business

Today was a pretty low-key day on the decluttering front. My mom and I had a bunch of other stuff to do (one of which we thought was going to be coming home to an empty carport where our old decrepit second car usually sits - it was supposed to be finally towed, but whatever), but we did manage to procure for ourselves some fresh juicy apartment air by getting rid of stuff. Dang that was so many words I just wrote.

Anyway, I found this place ERecycle On Us through a Google search (Lord I love Google!), and it was so close to our apartment it was tickling us. Anyway, they take all e-waste you could think of but just no appliances. Luckily the e-waste part was what we needed, so we loaded up with VHS tapes, taking two trips when that darned Mercury wasn't gone the first time (the tow notice said 12 noon, come on tow guys! Forget your bootless pastrami, there's TOWING TO BE DONE). The staff wasn't in the office when we arrived, but they had friendly notes and a great big box for our dumping pleasure. What? Either way, out went our tapes and memories of my irrational admiration of the 90s Mickey Mouseketeers.

My mom was so happy that we had found a close place like this that she gushed about it in that gleeful old person way (no offense Mom!) and I was glad too. Google saves the earth! In roundabout, sorta indirect ways like this and probably others!

So my unabashed promotion of Google and finding local resources for your decluttering needs continues! I probably could have skipped the story to wiggle out that public announcement, but who cares! You're entertained! I love laughing.

I'll try not to post about irrelevant life details most of the time, but can I just say it is ridiculous trying to find a summer job right now?! It's always hard, but I went to five places in downtown Walnut Creek today and only one even offered me an application. Guess I'll make my millions elsehow.

And since you're probably still wondering: yeah, I said bootless. Dictionary it!

Wrapping Paper Row*

Here's a cute and witty cartoon that somewhat pertains to this whole project. Click the image to see a larger version on the original site, BasicInstructions.net. (If it doesn't work, try this.)

Yesterday afternoon was an event. Bored with yet another jobless afternoon, I decided to clear the clutter in the doorway between our kitchen and living room, where a large box of wrapping paper rolls has overflowed for years. I started unrolling one of the wrapping paper rolls, when my mom came over and demanded to know what I was doing.

A short spat ensued, with Camp Mom arguing for keeping the paper, and Camp Alex arguing that it never gets used and that it needs to be cleaned up. Eventually, her being the mom, I backed off and started on the bookshelves instead. I was a little annoyed, because arguments like this happen rather often when there are questions of what to donate or recycle or whatever. This time, like all other times, I was sure I was right, since there were numerous wrapping papers that we so seldom use, and it would take forever to get through using them all. Wouldn't it just be better for everyone if we recycled the majority and kept only the useful ones?

But in talking with my good friend (who is so conveniently an objective eye to this project), an environmental studies major and green enthusiast, I discovered I would have to admit defeat and ignorance. Her advice was this:

     The order is reduce, REUSE, recycle!

I had never even thought there could be a reason for the word order in that old adage! But it makes perfect sense. My friend elaborated further, reasoning that recycling the old wrapping paper would be like buying something then discarding it. It's completely true. Now I feel a little guilty about recycling a lot of my old blank notebooks. Tip: Research organizations in your area to see if there's something like my good old standby, Books for the Barrios, that takes old school supplies in addition to the traditional stuff. Try to think of ways you can donate or reuse your stuff before you just chuck it. Tossing stuff is the easy way out!! Too easy...

So basically, doooon't follow the cartoon 100%. "Throw away" should be "recycle," and you should have a fourth pile for "reuse"!

* - Apparently the word "row," when used to mean "a quarrel," is pronounced to rhyme with "cow"!

Up To Now

As I mentioned, I'm starting this blog a bit in the middle of things. We have actually made some progress in the past couple weeks, since I've come home from New York. So I thought I would catch you up.

I started with our fridge, which was chaos! Expiration dates going back to 2003. Scary. A big problem we had was the shelving - the top and bottom sections were reasonable sizes, but for some reason we had the middle shelf at only one rung tall! Fixing that fixed our entire fridge. Tip: It's getting a little crazy in there again, so I'm planning to organize it differently - top for drinks and jars of food; middle for leftovers and favorites, and bottom for the short or special stuff. What's your fridge system?

Then we took to the living room, a HUGE mess. It looked a bit like the room on the right - you can't even tell what room it's supposed to be! (Image courtesy this site.) My mother and I each went through loads of papers and knickknacks, relics of our pasts really. We recycled nearly all of the enormous, useless cardboard boxes that were blocking our window out to the balcony. Now you can see our couch! (A friend of mine whom I've joked with about this for ages was very impressed when I showed her the couch corner from the front door the other day. No one is allowed inside, you see, until the project is done.)

Once we had separated the "donate" piles from the "save" pile (which I pestered my mom to make smaller until I was satisfied that we weren't keeping any more crap), we took our things to the proper organizations. Goodwill has been a favorite for our clothing. Our local one sometimes gets filled up fast, though. Luckily, there's a Salvation Army right next door!

Today we made our second trip to Books for the Barrios, a local organization that takes toys, books, and school supplies, among other things, to donate to poor schools in the Philippines. I think it's a fantastic cause. Some of my childhood has left us for good, but I'm ok with that if it means a cleaner apartment!

My goal for next week: open and de-clutter the two closets we haven't peeked into for over two years!