Clear clutter without tossing it in the trash
When Jenny Whitty found out she had Type 2 diabetes and a heart condition, she realized she could no longer put off cleaning the basement. Her treadmill was somewhere down there.
For the past five years, Whitty and her husband had been busy with four children, the two youngest of whom were diagnosed with autism. Anything that got in the way, they simply threw in the basement. Now Whitty needed a place to work out, and the kids needed a place for therapy sessions. But she did not want to just throw items away.
“When I called Tracy it was a matter of desperation,” Whitty says, referring to Tracy Hoth, owner of Simply Squared Away, a professional organization service. “She told me it didn’t look as bad as the ‘Hoarders’ show, but I am not so sure. She totally respected the fact that I don’t like to throw things away. I don’t have trouble getting rid of things, I just didn’t know where to start.”
That’s the first obstacle: knowing where to start. Unless you regularly evaluate and remove unwanted items, five years can go by and suddenly you can’t walk through your basement anymore. According to Hoth, the first thing to do is to begin sorting. Start piles, including things you plan to donate, sell or recycle.
For Whitty, taking the plunge meant deciding where to donate. She searched online to figure out where things could best be used.
Because her family had a lot of items specific to autism, Whitty donated toys, games and puzzles to Partners in Behavioral Milestones as well as to therapists working with individuals with disabilities and their families. Old sheets went to the Linus Project, an organization that makes blankets for children who are seriously ill, traumatized or disabled.
“Occupational therapy supplies cost so much money, I loved giving the sheets away,” she says. “The weighted blankets they make for children with autism are expensive, but through Project Linus it can help so many families.”
Whitty’s deep-cleaning project didn’t stop there. She recycled a computer at Best Buy. An old desk was repurposed. Vanloads of stuff were donated to Disabled American Veterans and to her church. Old light fixtures, door fixtures and paint went to Heartland Habitat for Humanity Restore, and clothing and toys were sent to Children’s Orchard, a resale boutique with shops on both sides of the state line.
Three grocery carts of books went to Half Price Books, which recycles books, magazines and records that it doesn’t resell. Old doorknobs landed at Locks and Pulls, a hardware store with two metro locations, and old printer ink cartridges at Staples.
Whitty also had two garage sales, which netted enough to pay for Hoth’s services.
“Tracy kind of helped me have a system of moving things in and out,” Whitty says. “Every time she was here we would just put things in the trunk, and that was my homework. I would have to take it the next day.”
Hoth suggests building donation and recycling routines into regular maintenance cleaning. She tells clients to try putting a bin with a label such as “deliveries” in places like closets and garages so that when you clean, a place for disposables is handy.
“No one needs to feel like they can’t keep those things, but you have to look at what you have the time for,” Hoth says. “Do you want to get this stuff out of your house and go from there? You have to want to maintain. Having a bin is just an easy way to remember.”
After getting her place organized and under control, Whitty says, it feels like they have a brand-new house.
“I thought getting rid of that stuff would make me feel like I have less, but I actually have more because I know where things are,” she says, laughing. “I actually feel richer than before.”
TIPS FOR TROUBLE SPOTSJunk drawers and home offices
Junk drawers are notorious. They collect little bits of things you don’t want to keep or may no longer need — exactly the type of things many people don’t know how to get rid of without dumping them in the trash. Many a junk drawer includes small electronics such as old digital cameras or outdated cell phones and chargers. And home offices are essentially large junk drawers, constantly outgrowing equipment.
Most city recycling centers offer volunteer-run electronic recycling events for things including batteries, computers and VCRs. The city of Overland Park is hosting an electronics recycling event from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 30 at Waddell and Reed’s office campus, 6300 Lamar Ave.
Staples and Best Buys recycle many items, such as PDAs, digital cameras and cellphones, even if you didn’t buy them there, and accept ink and toner cartridges. Staples recycled more than 55 million cartridges in 2009 alone. Most items are accepted for free, but for certain items, such as computer monitors, it may cost about $10. Typically the stores give $10 gift cards in return.
Garages and basements
The safe disposal of household hazardous waste protects waterways, shields trash haulers from exposure to dangerous materials, lowers the risk for fire hazards, avoids potential poisonings and reduces illegal dumping, according to Nadja Karpilow, an environmental planner with the Mid-America Regional Council’s Solid Waste Management District.
MARC operates www.Recyclespot.org, a website where you can find the safest and best location to dispose of or recycle a wide variety of items.
Although paint is the main thing people want to remove from their garages and basements, other nonhazardous materials also clutter spaces. If you have items that could be put to good use, Habitat ReStore has four locations accepting new and used building materials, including paint, and furniture in good, usable condition.
RESOURCES•Children’s Orchard: 800-999-5437, www.childrensorchard.com
•Half Price Books: 800-883-2114, www.hpb.com
•Habitat ReStore: 816-231-6889, www.restorekc.org in Missouri; 913-596-6597, www.heartlandhabitat. org/restore in Kansas.
•Linus Project: 309-585-0686, www.projectlinus.org
•Partners in Behavioral Milestones: 816-501-5138, www.behavioralmilestones.com
•Simply Squared Away: 816-820-8848, www.simplysquaredaway.com
