Spring Cleaning: "100 Reasons to Get Rid of It"
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 03.30.07
The March/April issue of Blueprint includes a great article entitled “100 Reasons to Get Rid of It.” According to the article, 80% of what we own we never use and 1.4 million Americans suffer from chronic hoarding and clutter. We found it inspiring, not just because it made us realize how much clutter we really have, but because our time for spring cleaning is quickly approaching and there are so many other options rather than just throwing something in the trash. The article includes some of our favorites like Swap-O-Rama-Rama, Freecycle, Earth 911, Paperbackswap, Recycline and Peerflix. But they also introduced to several new organizations as well, such as Help 1 Up (furnishes homes for disaster victims), Operation Fairy Dust (sends formalwear to teenage girls who need help getting to the prom), World Computer Exchange (sends computers to more than 50 developing countries) and Youth For Technology (puts scanners, computers and cameras in the hands of deserving, impoverished kids around the world). You can view the full article here. ::Blueprint
bookins.com is another great book swap site. Members get points to mail their unwanted books for free. When you see something you like, you use your points and pay media rate postage (around $4.00 US) to get it. A win-win.
I have a whole site related to getting rid of unwanted items, Stuff Ya Don't Want. Perfect resource for your spring cleaning!
I take my books and magazines to our local school and put in the teachers lounge so the teachers can have them.
If you have any extra coupons you may want to give them to teachers, health care workers and anyone else.
Zig
why not ask your public library to set up a small free magazine exchange just inside the door to the library. A bookcase or metal rack will do. Then encourage all to bring their magazines they have finished reading and exchange for someone else's. When a magazine gets too moth-eared, put it in the recycling pile. Then we can all read lots of a variety of magazines and only need to pay for a few subscriptions.
Hello Ray Saunders
thanks for tip of swapping books... I just checked out the website bookins.com -it is a great idea. I am looking forward to swap books soon :)