Uncluttering with the three r’s: reduce, reuse, and recycle
by Jeri Dansky on January 5, 2017
Reduce, reuse, and recycle has been a mantra of the environmental movement for many years. It’s also really good advice for anyone serious about uncluttering.
Reduce
You don’t need to remove clutter if you don’t let it enter your home or office in th (full story below)
by Jeri Dansky on January 5, 2017
Reduce, reuse, and recycle has been a mantra of the environmental movement for many years. It’s also really good advice for anyone serious about uncluttering.
Reduce
You don’t need to remove clutter if you don’t let it enter your home or office in the first place. The following are some ways “reduce” might apply to your space:
>Get off mailing lists. Registering with the DMAchoice mail preference service will help eliminate junk mail, while registering your opt-out preferences with OptOutPreScreen.com will help eliminate credit card offers. To get rid of mail from organizations I’ve done business with in the past, I call the catalog companies and charities that send me solicitations, but you could also use a service such as 41pounds.org or Catalog Choice.
>Consider borrowing or renting things you use only rarely or need for just a short time. For example, my neighbor and I share the use of my high-quality hole punch. Neither of us needs this very often, so it would be silly for us both to own one. I also see requests to borrow things on my freecycle group, and that often works out. (Nextdoor or Facebook groups might also help with this.) Another example: Your library can provide an alternative to buying books, and you can still buy any that you really want to own after reading the library copy.
>Consider whether your current magazine subscriptions still make sense.
>When you’re shopping, be a careful purchaser and minimize the number of purchases you later come to regret.
>Don’t take every free item that you’re offered.
Reuse
When you no longer need or want an item, you can often find it a good new home with someone who does need or want it. You might:
>Sell it using a local or online consignment store, eBay, Craigslist, a garage sale, etc.
>Donate it to a charity, which may give you a tax deduction. That charity might be a large organization like Goodwill, a local charity-run thrift store, a pet rescue/adoption agency that can use old towels, a church that gives things away to the needy, etc. Some organizations will pick things up, which is handy when you have big, bulky items. You can also ship off certain donations for free using Give Back Box. You might want to create a list of local donation sites, noting what types of things they accept, so it’s easy to do the donating when the time comes.
>Give it away to a friend or family member (if you’re sure the person wants it) or pass it along using freecycle, Nextdoor, a Facebook group, etc.
Recycle
If things can’t reasonably be reused, perhaps they can be recycled. Each locale handles recycling differently, so you’ll want to ensure you know how recycling works where you live. My city has curbside recycling, but there are also less convenient organizations that take things my local garbage company does not. When I had a friend getting rid of hundreds of home-recorded VCR tapes, I drove my very full car to a recycling center that takes them.
You’ll also want to know how your locale handles electronic and toxic waste, prescription medications, and medical sharps. These often require special disposal methods.
When the three r’s don’t work
Sometimes things really do need to just go in the trash. If you’ve carefully considered your options and can’t find another reasonable way to discard something, you don’t need to feel bad about just tossing it. And sometimes, even if there are other options, you may be under time pressure or have other constraints that mean you need to be less conscientious about how things get discarded. That’s okay. The three r’s are an ideal, not something that must be followed under every circumstance.
Arizona Summit Receives WRBLSA Award Arizona Summit was recently awarded the 2016 Black Student Law Association Chapter Award at the
Western Region Black Law Students Association (WRBLSA)'s 48th annual convention held during the
first week of January in San Diego.
Charlotte School of Law AAMPLE®
If a lower LSAT score is hurting your chances of getting into law school, Charlotte School of
Law (CSL) offers the Alternative Admissions Model Program for Legal Education (AAMPLE), a
seven-week online class that helps prospective students prove they are able to handle a
demanding law school curriculum.
Florida Coastal Law's Practitioner Clinics Florida Coastal Law's Practitioner Clinic is an innovative course offering students a chance
to work closely on pro bono cases with a practicing lawyer. Students are often invited to
work on these cases in the practitioner's office off campus, and the Clinics are offered as
two credits with an evening classroom component.
Center for Professional Development Arizona Summit's Center for Professional Development (CPD) is a full-service career counseling
and resource center that supports and assists students in all stages of the career planning
process, while helping employers fill their semester, summer, and permanent hiring needs.
Charlotte Law Compliance Certificate Program
Students with or without a legal background can pursue a career in the rapidly growing
field of compliance and ethics. Charlotte Law is one of the few law schools in the U.S.
offering a Corporate Compliance Certificate Programentirely online. It's an 18-week
platform that prepares students for the Compliance Certification Board exam.
Florida Coastal Law Offers LLM & Certificate in Logistics & Transportation Florida Coastal Law is the first law school in the U.S. to offer an onlineLL.M. Degree or
Certificate in Logistics & Transportation. Students in the 24-credit LL.M. or 12-credit
Certificate program gain expertise in global logistics and transportation law through
cutting-edge courses taught by attorneys and industry professionals online.
