Recycling and Redefining

Sunday the 17th I drove over to the dump with my recyclables. It was pretty easy. The attendant told me where to take the stuff and I did so... I was kinda concerned that he didn't have something to give me to let me know what may not be recyclable within the categories of paper and plastic. So I dumped all the cardboard that I had collected over the week, including all the cereal, cracker and other such boxes into the "newspaper" area -hope that was ok. I also had collected lots of plastics and don't know the difference, so hopefully they were all recyclable as well! This is something I can do every week easily after Church, with this Sunday being an unusual exception. We were in a huge hurry to get to a meeting that we had already missed half of. So last weeks collection will have to be dropped off early this week.

PS I will be posting pictures of the now-clutter-free-zones, hopefully they don't get re-cluttered before I get around to it!

Plus I was considering the rise in the cost of living and thought that maybe I should shoot for a 10% reduction in my utility bills.

CLUTTER! ARGH!

We are so spoiled in America. We have so much junk! It's everywhere, and if you're like me it's hard to get rid of once it's accumulated. I think that I'll use anything and everything "someday". So it gathers. It's here, it's there and pretty soon it's everywhere-stuff! Stuff everywhere-driving me crazy! So what do I do? Stick it here, stuff it there, put it in a box, throw it in a drawer and then there's the easiest solution, the catch all closet... Well today I tackled several piles of miscellaneous stuff that had accumulated in various places. Kinda embarrassing, but I'd like to think this happens to the best of us!

I'll take the after pictures soon- I feel accomplished, but really all I did was try to put it where similar things reside. Eventually, sooner than later I really want to go through all the drawers and closets and try to get super organized. Throw away what has to be thrown out, give away what is still a useful item and find a place for everything, so that everything has it's place. This is no easy task when you have a husband and kids. Nevertheless, it will be done! I will do it!

DON'T THROW THEM AWAY!

Every once in a while I check craigslist's free category, today I stumbled upon baby food jars... If you read my very first posting, you may remember, I listed baby food jars for free on c.l. last summer- nobody responded. I think I wrote the same thing this person did, "I hate to throw them away", but throw them away I did! Ughhh, so I responded with the link for reusing baby food jars and told her (I'm assuming a woman posted them) if she didn't want to do any of these things that I would be interested in getting them from her... I can just see myself as one of those street vendors with all my neat little re-purposed items for sale!

Outrageous Bills...

Our utility bills seemed abnormally high last month- I think I'll make a goal for our family. Reduce our Electricity, Water and Gas usage by 25% compared to last years bills... This ought to be interesting- I'll probably start with shutting the computers down at night and maybe even unplugging them. I also see 2 minute showers in my future. One bad habit I have is leaving the water on while I brush my teeth! Why do I do that? I like to rinse my toothbrush, brush my teeth, rinse, brush, rinse, brush etc. -maybe I'll use a cup of water, I don't know...

Stay positive!

I shouldn't get mad at WM. If more people showed interest in recycling WM would cater to the crowd! So, I need to stay positive and do what I need to do -while encouraging others to do the same- it's always easier than I think it's going to be, to do the right thing. I believe that's why people don't change-change is uncomfortable, it always seems like it's going to be so much harder than it actually is... So let's stay positive and know that it's easy to say AND easy to do -with this mindset it will be! It's not inconvenient to collect, store and transport the papers and plastics to a recycling center- it's the right thing to do! It's not harder to use cloth diapers over disposables (it really isn't)- it's the right thing to do!

WM is lame!

We took two of our neighbors trees to the "Christmas tree recycling center" in Carson, there was a big dumpster in the middle of the parking lot with no signs that indicated what it was there for. I called WM and after much searching the person on the other end finally said that it was on Butti (the road) near JC Penney's- well those two locations are at polar opposite ends of town. We had to assume this was the right place because there where other Christmas Trees in the dumpster. All I have to say is those better get recycled! I feel like we helped our neighbors and made up for our lack of recycling our tree...

WHAT! NO RECYCLING!

I vaguely remember calling Waste Management when we first moved in about recycling, but my husband's call to them yesterday refreshed my memory. We are unable to do curbside recycling here! Well that makes it a little harder but no less worth it. So we'll begin collecting our recyclables for a donation center that's located in the next town over. I do need to find out if they take it all unsorted or if it needs to be pre-sorted.