Productive & Organized Home

I started getting myself organized, now what do I do with the items I want to let go of? - Part 2

In "I started getting myself organized, now what do I do with the items I want to let go of? - Part 1", I talked about there are three main choices to do with items you want to let go of. They are:

1. Sell them
2. Give away / Donate them
3. Trash them

In "Part 1" I covered "Sell them" and now I will be covering the other two options "Give away / Donate them" and "Trash them". 

I started getting myself organized, now what do I do with the items I want to let go of? - Part 1

I recently received several questions from people about what to do with the items they want to let go of. To answer these questions, I wanted to devote time to provide you with information to help you get rid of the thing you are ready to let go of.

First, congratulations on deciding to let go of some of your processions, great job! Here are your main choices:

1. Sell them
2. Give away / Donate them
3. Trash them

I will go through each one of these and give you some great information on what you can do.

Could you live with just 72 things?

I was reading this post today: Living with 72 Things and wanted to share it with you to get your perspective.  Tammy and her husband have eliminated almost everything from their material lives and blog about living a simple life.  About two years ago they began letting go of things.  To date, they have let go of so many items that they have moved to a less expensive, much smaller home.  Read Tammy's post and come back here to tell me what you think!

To your success!

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7 Ideas for Handling an Overabundance of Bathroom Products (lotion, sanitizer, perfume, etc.)

Do you have a plethora of bathroom products?

A Reader Writes:

I'm looking for ideas to help my mother.  She is 65 years old and has a HUGE collection of personal products in her bathroom and linen closet.  Most of them are unopened and expensive (she got them as gifts) so she does not want to throw them out.  But, she will never use all of it and her space is filled to the brim.  Is there any place that would like this kind of stuff?
Thanks!
MaryAnne -- Jacksonville Florida USA

MaryAnne- Yes!  I've listed seven options and I bet my readers will have ideas too.

Recycle Your Encyclopedias and Other Reference Books

Carla (a reader from S. Florida) wrote us the following inquiry:

"Back when my kids were young we purchased a set of beautiful encyclopedias.  They really are nice.  Color photos and gold leafing... 

Anyway, our kids are grown and have moved out of the house and these beautiful books take up 4 feet of space in my office.

I have tried to get rid of them in many ways:

Going GREEN - Reducing Paper Piles

Just about every client we talk with says that paper is one of their biggest challenges.  Is it one of yours?

One way you can eliminate paper from your home office (or kitchen counter, entry hall table, etc.) is to

Going GREEN - Tennis Shoes Become Places to Play!

The other day my son, David, came home from school with a "Scholastic News."  The short children's news story talked about how sneakers are now being recycled to create the ground cover on playgrounds.  They use every part of the shoe.

Got (or want) Books? Have Some to Get Rid Of?

Got (or want) Books?  Here's a great web site for you....
Want to increase your business library?  Or like to curl up with a good book to relax and unwind from the day?  Do this for next to nothing, while also being environmentally friendly, with www.paperbackswap.com.   It is easy to use and there's no subscription fees for the service.  Here is how it works:

EBay the Easy Way

One of my long-time readers asked me if I knew of a resource to learn more about e-bay.  He wants to "unload all of this stuff" and he is also considering the possibility of a home-based business using e-bay.

Consider Donations in Your Tax Planning

If you have gone through a great decluttering effort and have donated items to your favorite organization, you may want to consider documenting it on your taxes for a deduction.  You might be surprised about the type of deduction you can actually get!  I have been doing this for years and it has been very beneficial for us.

Now, it used to be that figuring that kind of thing out took a lot of time.  I used to create an Excel spreadsheet and then go to the IRS tables to determine what each item was worth.  That just took way to long!  Then, back in 2005 Intuit came out with a product that did it all for me!  That first year, I did the estimation my way and used the software, just to compare.  I was shocked!  The software took me significantly less time and gave me a BIGGER deduction. 

Well, Intuit has now integrated that software into TurboTax.  Here is how it works (just focusing on the donation stuff):

De-Clutter Your Mailbox - Get Rid of Those Unwanted Magazines

Tis the season to have an over-full mail box! I don't know about you, but my mailbox is very quickly filling up with holiday and seasonal catalogs and special magazine issues.  The stacks are already piling in my office.  Are they overflowing in yours?  To make matters worse, companies send duplicates of the same catalog, just to make sure that I buy!

Fortunately, I learned about a great service from one of my colleagues, Phyllis Flood Knerr.  The service is called Catalog Choice and it is a free service that allows you to decide what gets in your mailbox.  In today's world focus on "getting green," this is a great service to know about!   Not only will you be able to limit the clutter in your mailbox, but you can save our natural resources too!