re-homing, recycling, and resources
a continuously growing directory for creatively dealing with your stuff.
**most of this information is probably not useful outside of the US
Books: a never ending cycle
There are endless books in the world but only so much bookshelf space in a home, thus the constant cycle of books coming in and books heading out. My three favorite ways to rehome books (that aren’t moldy)
Little Libraries. Usually they’re made of wood and look like a large bird houses with a plexiglass door or something that can be securely shut for bad weather. If I have a book I’m ready to let go of, but isn’t in good enough shape for trading, I’ll keep it near the front door and grab it when I head out for a walk. There are at least four on my way to the closest grocery store. If you live in a more rural area, or have a grumpy HOA, these might be harder to find.
Donate to your city’s Friends of the [insert City]’s Public Library association. This is how the library gets rid of it’s excess book supply too so I’d be quite surprised if your library didn’t have a Friends Association.
Trade-In for store credit at a used bookstore. The books need to be in good condition! Some stores offer cash, but the store credit is often a better deal. This is a great motivator for me. If there’s a new book I want, I’ll scour my bookshelves for at least five books I can take with me in hopes of getting a store credit.
If you have ALOT of books to get rid of at once. Call the Friends of the Library association to warn them you’re coming. Most thrift stores take book donations too.
If the pages are badly soiled and beyond repair, just recycle them. Tear off the covers and recycle the pages. The covers probably aren’t recyclable and you can throw them away. If these books have intact beautiful pictures, you could also try donating them to a school’s art or local art center for collage.
MOLD is contagious for books. Please do not donate moldy books. The mold spores float around and infect other books nearby. Carefully remove the moldy book from the bookshelf and throw it in the trash. If it’s a small amount of mold and you want to save the book, take it outdoors, far away from your other books, and brush it off with a soft bristle brush, or vacuum it with a dryer sheet wrapped over the vacuum nozzle. For paperbacks, also wipe down the cover with rubbing alcohol (which is also a handy way to clean off dirt and grime) For the pages inside, brush off as much mold dust as possible, then dab the moldy part with a cloth dipped in hydrogen peroxide carefully not to soak the paper. Maids.com suggests sliding a piece of wax paper behind the moldy page to prevent the spores from spreading.
Shredding: protect your identity and why I don’t like home shredders
Any papers with financial, private, or identifiable information should be shredded. If you have a home shredder, the trick is actually using it. I’m not a fan. The noise is grating and changes pitch obnoxiously, they create a lot of cellulose dust, and to be honest, I never had the attention span to sit there and feed in one or two pages at a time, but mostly my issue is the noise. I prefer to collect the shredding in a designated paper bag that says SHRED on the side in big sharpie so I don’t mistake it for the regular recycling, then take it to get shredded when it’s full.
A reliable option for dropping off shredding nationwide will be a UPS office. They charge by weight, which should be roughly $5/paper grocery bag. The downside is that you don’t get to see your stuff get shredded. Your papers go into a locked container. It’s the same situation at Office Depot or Office Max, they charge $0.99/lb of paper. According to a manager I spoke to, a separate company owns the bins and brings a shredding truck to their store every Friday. Only the shredders have access to the locked bins, the Office Max manager said even he did not have a key.
If you are doing a large cleanout and expect to have a lot of paper to deal with, there are mobile shredding services like the company that services Office Max. The shredding machines are built into the truck and will come to your home or office. These can cost a lot and might be something worth going in on with neighbors or convincing a local community group to organize. Check if your local library or your city’s government offer community shred days. Sometimes they’ll pay for a mobile shredding service to come to a city parking lot, or the librarians might know if any community groups do this.
If you only have one or two bags, AND you want to see it get shredded, it might take a little sleuthing to find the right shredding business. You can do an online search for Paper Shredding + zip code, but I found Yelp’s customer reviews was a faster resource for find shredding companies that let you watch.
For Berkeley Folks there is a business called Berkeley Shreds on the west side of town (with easy parking). You can watch them dump your bags onto a conveyor belt that feeds the giant chomping machine. It’s very satisfying. (fyi, they only take cash, debit, and apple pay, $5/bag) They’re next door to an e-waste recycling center, so you can get two chores done in one trip.
Pharmaceuticals: what to do with old meds
Please don’t flush old medicine down the toilet, sink, or dump in the trash. Animals and kids might find them, and fish don’t want to swim in it. The best option is to return pharmaceuticals to the pharmacy. You can leave them in the bottles and use a large black marker to cover your personal information, or dump them in a plastic bag and recycle the containers yourself.
Police and Sheriff stations also accept unwanted medicine, but you might want to call ahead of time and check their policy before showing up with an unmarked bag of drugs. If you live in California, https://medtakebackcalifornia.org/ will send you a mailer bag so you can ship your old meds without leaving the house.
For sharps and liquids, the pharmacy that gave them to you is the best place to take them back when you’re done. Or any pharmacy that is convenient. You don’t need to be a customer to ask them to take these off your hands.
This was on the drop box for medicine a the Berkely Kaiser pharmacy.
T-Shirts: a sweet alternative to Goodwill
I’ll be adding a section on Textiles soon, but I found a sweet alternative for t-shirts or hoodies, especially the sentimental ones you’ve been holding onto for years.
Keepsake T-shirt Quilts and Blankets will make the t-shirt quilt for you. I’ve always loved the idea of upcycling old t-shirts into a quilt, but the project felt massive and I don’t have the patience for sewing machines. If you don’t have enough t-shirts for a blanket, they also make pillows. This company is actually a non-profit that employs nearly all deaf and hard of hearing workers, so you can keep those shirts out of landfills and support the deaf community at the same time.
Ideas or Requests
Do you have an idea for a category to include, or a need some help figuring out how to deal with a particular thing? Let me know, I like researching these things and sharing what I find.