Spring Cleaning: Where to Recycle Used Stuff

I've got a fever and the only prescription is.... Spring Cleaning! After this endless cold and snowy winter, the arrival of Spring with its promise of renewal and productivity is reason to celebrate AND clean and organize your home!

Do you have over-crowded closets, storage locations that are bursting at the seams, corners and surfaces that were meant to be temporary holding spots but have turned into precarious piles of who knows what? YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Even the most organized among us need to keep on top of their stuff or it does get out of hand...it's just a normal occurrence.

To start your spring-cleaning, grab a dark marker, post-its, garbage bags and/or boxes to collect your items. Use post-its to label each container: DONATE, TRASH, KEEP.
These are basic label suggestions, but you can write others that relate to your life such as ATTIC, STORAGE UNIT, OFFICE, GARAGE SALE, (insert relative's name), etc.

Look carefully at what you are removing from your home and consider how it can be recycled or repurposed. See the list below with links to my favorite local organizations for donations. In addition, please check with your neighborhood houses of worship as many of them host tag sales this time of year and would be thrilled to receive your cast-offs. In the list below you will also notice a few unique donation sites that are not local. These charities require shipping, but are quite worthwhile and may strike a philanthropic nerve in you.

LOCAL Charities and Websites:

• The Sharing Shelf: donate gently used children's clothing (ages 0-18) that are then distributed to children in need in Westchester County through social service agencies and schools.

• Furniture Sharehouse: donate household furnishings for distributing to families in need in Westchester County.

• The Benefit Shop: donate furniture and furnishings with all sales going to fund local non-profits.

• Golden Shoestring: drop off clothes, jewelry, and housewares to the Larchmont location. Proceeds from sales support community projects and help fund scholarships and community grants.

• Humane Society: Drop off most household items to the new thrift store on Centre Avenue in New Rochelle. Proceeds help provide loving care for lost, abandoned, injured, and mistreated animals. The Humane Society's Animal Shelter on Portman Road in New Rochelle publishes a wish list of common household items they need at the shelter to care for the animals. Here's a link to their most recent WISH LIST

• Habitat for Humanity: Drop off used household goods to ReStore in New Rochelle.

• Best Buy: This retail store accepts large and small electronics and appliances - Best Buy is a proud partner of a voluntary program, begun in 2006 to help protect the ozone layer and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases through responsible appliance disposal.

• Veteran's of America: They will pick up right at your home and take most household items. The donated items generate the majority of the funding to support local, state, and national programs of the Vietnam Veterans of America.

• Good Will: You can drop off most household items to locations throughout Westchester County (Mamaroneck, Eastchester, New Rochelle, Yorktown, Bedford Hills, Croton-on-Hudson, etc.)

• Freecycle: A nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns.

UNIQUE Donation Sites To Consider:

• Donate Bridal Gowns: Brides For A Cause, The Bridal Garden

• Donate Bras: Free The Girls

• Donate Shoes: SOLES4SOLES

• Donate Used Greeting Cards: St. Jude's Ranch

• Donate Golf Clubs: The First Tee

Jocelyn is a member of NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers) and ICD (Institute for Challenging Disorganization). Jocelyn has been helping Westchester residents organize their homes for the past seven years. Contact her at Jocelyn@kenner.org or www.seeyourwayclear.com.

Jocelyn will be presenting TWO workshops through the Scarsdale Adult School, "The Ten Commandments for Organizing Your Home", on Tuesday, March 24th at 7:30 PM, and "Heartfelt Organizing for Life's Transitions" on Friday, April 24th at 10:00 AM. Visit the Scarsdale Adult School website to sign up.