Recycling Plastic Bags

When my local recycling program added plastic grocery and shopping bags to their list of acceptable recyclables I was so happy. People with bags of bags know what I’m talking about. Finally, there was an option for disposing all of those indestructible plastics, other than the landfill for the next 1,000 years.

To reduce your bag accumulation start by sorting out all of those with holes or rips and put those bags that can be recycled into the bin. Next chose one bag and fill it with durable bags that will be good for reuse. Use this one bag as a guideline for limiting your collection. Keep only what you can realistically use. Let go of the rest.

For local Toronto residents June 1, 2010 marked the first day that all retail plastic shopping bags must be recyclable in Toronto’s recycling program. This bylaw prevents retailers from offering plastic bags with metal detailing or grommets, rope or hard plastic handles and biodegradable or compostable bags. (For more information on the inclusion of biodegradable and compostable bags see http://www.toronto.ca/garbage/biodegradable_plastic.htm)

Next week, Alternatives to Plastic Bags

Mail Magic to Make it Disappear

Have you got a pile of unopened mail on your dining room table? Maybe it's in a pile on the counter. Here's some magic to make it disappear.

1. Take all the mail offers and put them directly in the recycling bin. You can be sure, there are more on their way.
2. Take all other enveloped articles and remove the envelopes. If you have to, staple the envelop contents together.
3. Divide the remaining articles into three piles Act Now, Follow Up and Think About. Book time for the Act Now items. Most of the items in the Think About you can throw out. You will probably never think about them and they are probably not on your list of top priorities.

Presto! A small pile of items that really require your attention.

25 Things to do Before Christmas - #8 Clear out Toys

#8 Clear out Kids' Toys - There will be more toys arriving in a week's time. Why not get a jump start on your organization before they do?

Give your children each a box appropriate to their size and age. Tell them they have 10 minutes to fill the box with toys that they no longer play with, may have outgrown or do not like.

Ten minutes later you could all make a trip to a local charity office to donate the toys. (Depending on your space for storage you may want to save them for a garage sale in May or a toy box for younger sibings.)

With the toys reduced, you will have an opportunity to review if the toys storage for your children is still appropriate for their age. If you have children moving from toddlers to preschool age, do you have shallow bins on the floor for them to access their toys? If you have school age children, have you moved from the shallow bins for preschoolers to sorting bins? Sorting and patterning is one of the first task children master in school. They can do the same thing at home sorting toys into difference coloured bins for pre-readers and labelled bins/boxes for the older children.

Hallowe'en Horrors from the Dress Up Box

Like many families, yours may have a box of ever-ready dress up clothes. You may, in fact, have already been through the box with your children in preparation for this year's Hallowe'en costumes.

Why not take the time to clear it out and purge the clutter from the box. Grab a big bag and clear out any clothes that don't fit, are torn too much even for dress up, haven't seen the light of day for five years or generally don't seem to belong there anymore. Make room for the new costume pieces added this year and those great cast-aways from your wardrobe that the kids want to keep for dress up.

Client Questions - Strategies for Letting Go!

A client recently expressed the following frustration:

"I have too many casual-use dishes, and they are taking up a lot of space in my cupboards. But I can't bear to part with any of them. One set (of about eight) was given to me by my late mother and includes a set of casserole dishes, mugs, coffee pot, salt and pepper shakers, butter dish with cover, and so on. These are my favourite, but they're not microwave safe. The second set (of four) was given to me by my daughters when they were younger, one of the first gifts they bought for me with their own money. They're pretty, and I like the shape of the bowls, but some have broken so now there aren't enough. And they don't go with anything else I have. The third set are plain white, which is practical because I can use them to supplement my good china. All three sets came with cups and saucers, which I never use and would give away, but I don't like to separate them from the rest of the set. Do you have any suggestions for how to reclaim space in my cupboards?"

This is a classic expression of the frustration we all experience when objects pile up and emotional ties prevent us from letting them go. Here are some suggestions that might help you in this situation:

• If you like the objects, get them out of hiding and use them.
• Consider that your mother probably did not expect you to keep the dishes forever and would be very sad that you were experiencing so much stress over them. Who would she suggest that you give them to or what would she have liked you to do when you were finished with them?
• Move the dishes out of the cupboard and lay them out in a different room. Taking items out of context often helps the sorting/separating process by changing perspective.
• Play the strangers, acquaintances, friends game. Which of the dishes are friends and which are strangers? Send the strangers away.
• The emotional attachment in this case is not likely to the dishes, which are at the end of the day, just dishes you are not using. The attachment is to your mother and your daughters. Rather than keeping a cupboard full of dishes, pick one or two which serve as a representation of the love you have for them and send the rest away.
• Often by giving items which hold a strong emotional memory to someone or someplace of significance to us, the emotional attachment to the object can be diminished by the emotional experience of the giving. Are your daughters setting up their own homes yet? Could they use the dishes? Do you know a single mother who is struggling to make ends meet? Would she enjoy some lovely dishes? You get the picture.
• Take a picture! Get a friend or family member to take a picture of you using the dishes and with the entire set. In the case of the dishes your daughters gave you, have them in the picture too. You can now save the picture to remind you of the dishes and to elicit the same feelings of love for your family members without keeping all the objects.

Client Questions - Why can't I decide what to do with this stuff?

You've made the decision to get rid of it, you've blocked the time and arranged for the children to be elsewhere. You're looking at a pile of toys in the basement that haven't been touched by the kids for months/years/decades and can't decide what to do with it. You'd be surprised how common this situation is. Many of my clients have tried valiently to sort through a pile of unwanted goods and become overwhelmed with the process.

Try this: move the goods to a different location. If the toys are in the basement, pile them all into a laundry hamper and put them in the middle of the living room/kitchen/backyard. Group them into similar objects. Notice how your perspective changes?

Changing the location of the goods changes the perspective for your brain and grouping by like objects demonstrates the quantity of goods you have collected. Changing perspective helps your brain to look at the goods differently and boosts the Keep, Give Away, Throw Out decision making process.

Start small. If you empty the basement into the living room you are committed for a weekend. You might not make it and then you'd be frustrated with the stuff in the living room. Try a couple of laundry hampers worth first. Success? Great. Celebrate and either schedule your next session or try a couple more hampers.