recycle Archives - SOS: Simple Organized Solutions LLC

Think Responsibly Before You Donate Things

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2024-01-12T13:21:08-06:00January 12th, 2024|Categories: Donation|Tags: charity, disposal, mindfulness, recycle, repurpose|

We all have a basic understanding of what items that we can donate to charities; donate things that can be resold. If an item is damaged, stained or has pet hair on it, it cannot be resold or reused, therefore it shouldn’t be donated. When you donate things that can’t be resold or reused, you create more work for the charity. Those items need to be disposed of at the effort and expense of the charity which has limited resources for disposal. When you donate things such as books, they need to be considered more carefully. The main principle of [...]

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How to Keep Things Out of The Landfill

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2023-02-14T13:48:22-06:00February 15th, 2023|Categories: Recycle|Tags: donation, recycle, reduce, repurpose, reuse|

The best way to keep things out of the landfill is to reduce, reuse, recycle, so let’s look at what these three R's mean individually to determine a viable approach. You can mix and match these options, or maybe you have an option I’m not aware of, it doesn’t have to start with an R. Using all three R's provides a variety of actions that will lead to the ultimate goal. Reduce One way to reduce means to get away from buying products with packaging that isn’t environmentally friendly such as plastics. Yes, I know you CAN recycle many [...]

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Commit to a Weekly Discard Session

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2022-09-13T14:43:39-05:00September 14th, 2022|Categories: Decluttering|Tags: categories, clutter, commit, donate, mindful, recycle, strategy|

In order to keep clutter from piling up, try this strategy – commit to a weekly discard session. The thought is to keep your belongings proportionate to your living spaces. Discarding can mean trash, recycle, or donate, which is a type of recycling. A weekly discard session doesn’t have to be a major undertaking. This strategy can be tailored to the amount of time you have available, being mindful that the amount of effort you put into this strategy determines the results. The idea is to choose a room, area or category each week and focus your available time on [...]

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Storage and Disposal of Household Hazardous Waste

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2022-05-09T10:02:33-05:00May 11th, 2022|Categories: Decluttering|Tags: disposal, downsize, organize, recycle, safety|

Helping people downsize and/or organize their homes always includes managing household hazardous waste. This is something that most people don’t think about often, or maybe not at all. These common products used to maintain our homes, yards, and vehicles can cause damage to humans, pets, wildlife and the environment if not stored or disposed of properly. In and around St Louis, Missouri, we have 2 facilities where we can safely dispose of household hazardous waste. If you live elsewhere, I’m thinking there may be a facility near you. I encourage you to do some investigation to find one. If you’re [...]

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Preparing to Sell Your House

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2022-03-14T10:34:38-05:00March 16th, 2022|Categories: Moving|Tags: decluttering, donate, downsizing, preparations, process, recycle|

This is a very good time to sell your house for a lot of reasons. The main reason is that there is low inventory for available properties and sellers are at an advantage. This situation is commonly referred to as a ‘sellers market’. There are currently more buyers than available homes for sale, which creates competition among buyers to get the seller to accept their offer. If you have ever sold a house, then you know that there are many preparations to complete in order to put your house on the market. Several years ago, I wrote a post called [...]

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How to Manage a Paperwork Backlog

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2021-12-15T14:24:49-06:00December 15th, 2021|Categories: Paper Management|Tags: category, clutter, discard, file system, information, recycle, shredding|

I see this so much with my older clients. Most, if not all of them have a huge paperwork backlog. I get it, I really do. As I was growing up, even though I didn’t notice at the time, my parents were collecting paperwork. There were invoices, utility bills, cancelled checks - yes, our cancelled checks were actually returned to us in our monthly bank statements, investment statements, all types of insurance bills/statements, medical bills/statements, etc. The incoming flow of paper was relentless! Pretty much anything paper-related came to us via the US Postal Service, business and personal. Not only [...]

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How to Downsize Your Belongings Every Day

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2021-08-02T16:25:11-05:00August 10th, 2021|Categories: Downsizing|Tags: donate, eliminate excess, mindfulness, proactive, purge, recycle|

We all have an over-abundance of things. As I’ve mentioned in the past, at some point in your life you will have a need to downsize your belongings. Waiting until it becomes a necessity is not a good approach. Don’t wait until that time comes because it’s inevitable that you will need to downsize your belongings at some point. Be proactive, start before it becomes a necessity because if you wait, you may not have the physical or mental capacity to get the job done. You want to be able to make decisions for your things, you don’t want others [...]

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Don’t Buy Storage Products Until After Assessment

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2021-06-21T17:42:22-05:00June 23rd, 2021|Categories: Home Organization, Storage|Tags: assessment, clutter, containers, easy access, labels, organizing process, recycle, storage|

New clients always want to know what storage products to buy before we meet. My recommendation is not to buy anything until after assessment of their needs. Needs assessment in terms of acquiring additional storage comes later in the organizing process. During the first step of the organizing process, which is the sorting step where we put like items together, we will empty all sorts of storage products. They come in all forms, such as baskets, plastic or glass containers, boxes of every size and shape, shelves, bookcases, etc. All of these containers can be repurposed for organizing systems. I’ve [...]

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How to Manage Medications From Start to Finish

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2021-06-14T19:17:54-05:00June 16th, 2021|Categories: Home Organization|Tags: assign homes, disposal, labels, medicine cabinet, pill organizer, prescriptions, recycle, storage|

No matter what your age, at some point in your life you will take medications in some form. Over the counter and prescription medications both fall into this category. Like anything else, they have a lifecycle; from the need, to the purchase, to storage, to use, to refill, to proper disposal. This article focuses on how to manage medications from start to finish as described in the title. Need This is the first step in the lifecycle to manage medications. Your body is signaling that you have an issue that needs attention. It may be something as simple as a [...]

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Organizing User’s Manuals

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2021-04-03T13:39:07-05:00April 7th, 2021|Categories: Home Organization, Storage|Tags: digital, filing cabinet, hanging folders, organizing process, paper, recycle|

When you purchase items such as vehicles, appliances, garden equipment or any type of electronics, they come with user’s manuals. Some come in paper form, while others can be accessed online. These manuals are very important to understand the operation and maintenance associated with the purchased product. Quick and easy access is a must when you need information about the item. There are different schools of thought on how to organize user’s manuals. As with anything in life, what works for one doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for everyone. Think about the different options listed here, and decide which [...]

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