Whether you’re doing some much-needed spring cleaning or de-cluttering in advance of selling your home, it is inevitable that you will wind up with many items that you’d like to get rid of. As they say, your trash may be someone else’s treasure, so think carefully before just throwing all of your unwanted items in the garbage.
There are many ways to give your stuff new life, and help the environment while you are at it. In fact, Consumer Reports recently provided suggestions to its readers looking to recycle larger household items.
- Many charities such as Habitat for Humanity, Goodwill and the Salvation Army will accept donations of appliances, furniture and other household items. Here in Basking Ridge the Commmunity Service Center does furniture pickups on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings. It’s really easy!
- A website called Earth911.com offers solutions for recycling a variety of items, such as mattresses, electronics, building materials, hazardous waste and more.
- The Yahoo group – Somerset Freecycle – is another avenue to donate stuff; it’s also a great place to find second hand items that you might not even know you need!
- If you don’t mind paying a small fee, services such as 1-800-Got-Junk will remove your “junk” and make sure it is recycled, donated or disposed of responsibly.
- There is a chance you can even earn some cash for the things you no longer want. Try listing items on Craigslist so local buyers can come to your home to pick up what they have purchased, saving you the hassle of shipping.
