Not so much progress...

[holyschist]

I did a bunch of socializing this weekend instead of cleaning.

In:

4 books

Out:

1 box stuff to thrift store
1 big piece of what-was-I-thinking fabric to thrift store
1 lap desk to thrift store
A bunch of empty medication bottles and old shampoo and whatnot (cleaned out under bathroom sink! Lots of space there now)

Net:

-3 + 0 = -3 (but better by volume)

Did not get packages ready to mail--this week!--or finish going through papers yet (lots of papers). Off to get new tackle box today, but also some other stuff for upcoming move (which has thankfully been pushed out a little. :-(

I started a box for stuff that needs special disposal--old/broken electronics, unused medications, dead batteries. I need to find out about 1) electronics recycling in my area, 2) whether there are any local shelters or similar that would like cell phones, 3) battery recycling, and 4) proper disposal of medications. I may or may not actually get all this worked out before I leave, but at least it will be in a single box to be dealt with as soon as I get back. Also need to look into food pantries for when I clean out the kitchen cabinets.

Thing I'm struggling with: supplements and vitamins. I have a lot of these from over the years, and I'm not so great at taking anything regularly, so they mostly sit there. I hate to throw them out, but I'm obviously not using them right now. What should I do with them? I'm sort of inclined to keep the vitamins and a couple of the ones for joints for when I'm having a flare-up and toss the rest.

How do you guys decide what to keep and what to toss in the realm of bath & medical stuff?

Comments

[peaceful_sands]

I don't know about in your area, but my local school has recently started recycling batteries as part of an eco-scheme - I think they get a small 'finders fee' whenever they fill their collecting container (in these days of tight budgets, I know they appreciate every penny they can get through things like that). They also recycle cell phones but I think the money from that goes to a charitable organization. They also recycle telephone books once a year and then use the money they get from that to buy new books for their library - the local community all turn up at the school door with bags of old telephone books retrieved from offices and places of employment!

I don't know how widespread things like that are, or how you find out about them if you don't have contacts in places like that - maybe a local library would know?

In my area, all unwanted medications have to be taken to a local pharmacy to be disposed off correctly, but it's just a matter of dropping them into the box they have behind the counter - no charge or anything like that.

[peaceful_sands]

Ooh - and with regard to the vitamins etc - watch out for keeping them too long - like medications they do go out of date and lose their efficacy. :) I've been known to pop them in with unwanted meds on a trip to the pharmacy - they've never objected to taking them in with the rest of the stuff.

[holyschist]

That's probably true for some of them, but I can't imagine calcium-magnesium supplements ceasing to be made out of calcium and magnesium. I am tossing a bunch of the other stuff, though.

[elf]

They don't cease to have magnesium and calcium, but sometimes the paste that holds them together goes bad. (Mostly not, if they're kept cool-ish and dry, though.) And some vitamins, perhaps even minerals, lose effectiveness over time as they react to oxygen & nitrogen. Theoretically, they could turn actually poisonous, but it's more likely that they could taste bad as the filler/non-nutritive parts could go a bit rancid.

I throw away expired pills of any sort. (It helps me feel like I'm doing something useful--see, uncluttering!) Also, I try hard not to think about when I must have acquired a bottle of multivitamins that expired in June of 09.

[holyschist]

Hrm, I haven't really run into problems so far. But honestly, I should probably toss most of it since I'm not great at taking pills.

[holyschist]

Oooh, I will look into those. Since the cell phones still work, I would like to give them to a place that will use them--shelter, homeless people looking for jobs, whatever. But those sound like good possibilities for everything else.

[kept_wench]

The Petsmart stores here used to have pre paid mailer baggies for old cell phones. Totally free to you. The phones went to a 3rd party company to be recycled and the money for them went to animal charities (details were on the little kiosk, as I recall.) I don't know if they are still doing it; the kiosk disappeared when all the holiday junk got dragged out last fall. :p I need to ask next time I go; I've got 2 old cell phones that I need to get rid of myself.

Our local county trash disposal organization has a hazardous waste collection point, no charge to the consumer. Businesses do pay a small fee if they are dropping off a large amount of items. Everything like batteries, old cans of paint, bug sprays, old TVs, computers, dead cell phones, etc is supposed to go there and not into the landfill. They recycle all the electronics they get. The county also keeps a free store for anything good that is re-usable, but you have to tell them it's for the free store when you take it in. I dropped off 4 cans of house paint once (all fairly new and unopened, landlord's unwanted leftovers) and picked up a small half box of plant fertilizer from the free store while I was there. I happened to need some and they had a half box sitting there.. absolutely nothing wrong with it and not out of date... usually there isn't anything in the free store I can use; it tends to be mostly home DIY stuff.

[beachlass]

Agreeing with above - when I've found old meds, I take them to the pharmacy.

My daughter gave me hell (last year, maybe?) over all the past date medication bottles in the bathroom. I had no idea that some of the bottles were years past their expiration date.

*embarrassed mom*

I've gotten way more ruthless about bath stuff. We have one teeny tiny bathroom, and the amount of products my teenager and I collect is crazypants. Every once in a while I dump out half bottles of stuff no one is using. Wasteful, yes, but it's also making me more conservative in what I'm buying.

[all_adream]

We go to hotels sometimes, and I take the bath stuff that we have opened since I figure they'll throw those out (and i leave what we didn't use so someone else can use them). I feel glad that at least I recycle the bottles at home, since I am unsure if they do that at basic hotels. I do tend to buy less of them now, and only brands or products that I really want--it amazes me to go to walgreens or something and see tons of hair and skin products that *seem* attractive to me in the store on sale, but which smell yucky and harsh or chemical at home and don't get used. It's hard to give away hair gel or makeup with handprints in it!

[kept_wench]

Cleaning staff sometimes refills them from a bigger bottle, actually. Depends on the hotel chain. Some have sealed bottles now in the baths. if the seals aren't cracked (i.e. not opened) they are left for the next guest. Friend of mine used to manage a mid range hotel in the DisneyWorld area. He's got some wild stories. :)

and EUW used makeup is a breeding ground for bacteria. Don't ever borrow or use someone else's makeup, especially eye makeup. Something like sunblock or moisturizer in a pump bottle should be ok, but nothing that uses applicators. Once any makeup container has been opened, the clock starts ticking on its shelf life. Some items are only good for three months max, most for a year or so. After that, they are just not safe to use any more. Bacterial infections are not your friend.

[twigletzone]

I go through my medicine cabinet and throw out anything that's past its use-by date - most medicines have it marked on them, at least here in the UK. It's amazing how much clutter that gets rid of!

[twigletzone]

As for bath stuff - if I've had it a year and not used it I'm never going to, so it either goes to a friend who likes the stuff, in the bin if it's been opened, or to charity if it hasn't.