Tag: pickup

Do a Pre-Holiday Decluttering

Posted on by Jordank

It may be hard to believe, but the #holidays are right around the corner! Two weeks from now, you’ll be enjoying a #Thanksgiving feast; then, it’s on to the big shopping and gift grabs of the Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa season.

Do yourself a favor, and #declutter ahead of those holiday events. Whether you’re going to be hosting or not, #streamlining your home and weeding out your extra #stuff will help you get ready for seasonal #celebrations with less stress.

Start with the #kitchen. You may be baking cookies, contributing a side dish to the potluck or hosting a family feast. Go through your cabinets and drawers, and pull out anything that’s broken, cracked or chipped. #Trash and #recycle these items immediately.

If you find anything you haven’t used in more than a year or is ever-so-slightly less than perfect but still could be of use to someone, set it aside in a box or bag and #schedule a #free #donation #pickup with ClothingDonations.org.

Before you know it, your kitchen will be streamlined and ready to churn out that green-bean casserole or roast turkey with no fuss. Why? Because you’ll be able to find the cooking tools, serving dishes and dinnerware you need quickly because you’ve eliminated the #clutter!

Next, do the same thing as you get any #holiday #décor items out of #storage. Are some of your table linens worn and stained? Are those strings of twinkly lights half-lit? Clean and fix them if you can, and #trash them if you can’t. And again, you can #donate anything that no longer makes the cut.

“I love a good declutter before the holiday season,” professional organizer Carly Adams told Real Simple. “The best time to #declutter and #tidy the spaces you’ll be using to #host guests is before the social expectations of the holidays are here.”

Prepare your home for the holidays now! With a quick #decluttering, you’ll be able to everything you really need faster, reduce the stress surrounding holiday gatherings and have a happier holiday season. #HolidayDeclutttering

Donate Stuff to Veterans in Honor of Their Service

Posted on by Jordank

The easiest way to #honor those who served this Veterans Day is to #clean out and #declutter a drawer, #closet, room or #storage space; find still-useful clothing and household items that you no longer need or want; and #donate them to ClothingDonations.org. A driver will arrive at your home on the scheduled day and whisk away that extra #junk, leaving you with a tax-deductible receipt and all the extra #space you rediscovered. It won’t take long to gather several bags or boxes for #pickup, so you can still make the Veterans Day #parade, memorial or banquet after you purge. #VeteransDay

Celebrating National Grandparents Day

Posted on by Jordank

Observed on the Sunday after Labor Day each year, National Grandparents Day is a relatively new holiday recognizing the contributions of family elders. Elder activist Marian McQuade — herself the grandmother to 43 children — first championed the concept in 1970, hoping to give families an occasion to connect with patients in nursing care.

West Virginia became the first state to issue a proclamation establishing a Grandparents Day in 1973, and 42 others followed. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed a bill designating the Sunday after Labor Day as National Grandparents Day starting the following year.

The day should “honor grandparents, give grandparents an opportunity to show love for their children’s children, and help children become aware of strength, information, and guidance older people can offer,” according to the law. McQuade urged the nation’s youth to “adopt” a grandparent and focus on family time, rather than commercialization.

To celebrate, ask seniors to share their knowledge with grandchildren, Almanac.com suggests. Maybe they like to fish; ask them to demonstrate how. If they like to garden, volunteer a day of yardwork with the grandkids. If they have a favorite recipe, make and enjoy it together. If they have a favorite movie, watch it. The point is to spend quality time together.

Grandparents might appreciate reminiscing with family members; go through their old photo albums and listen to any stories they inspire. Members of the younger, digital-savvy generations can help grandparents #organize those memories by sorting photos into digital albums or printing out a few favorites to frame and hang on the wall.

One thing grandparents often need to do as they age is #downsize. They will appreciate any help you and their grandchildren can lend, and may even wish to offload a few family heirlooms or trinkets for safekeeping. If there’s any #stuff they no longer need or want, you can send it directly to ClothingDonations.org by requesting a #free #donation #pickup.

Grandparents are repositories of family memories, knowledge and wisdom. Remember to celebrate National Grandparents Day with the elders in your family this week!

Get the Jump on Back-to-School Season

Posted on by Jordank

For kids and the college-bound, the lazy days of summer will soon come to an end. School starts as early as mid-August in many parts of the United States, so it’s goodbye to campouts and cookouts and swimming pools and pickup games, and back to the books.

Parents will want to take advantage of the many sales. Retailers are promoting back-to-school #deals earlier to tap the average $875 parents will spend this year to get each child outfitted in new clothes, computers and backpacks.

College students need even more to set them up for success: $1,365, according to the National Retail Federation, because they also need basic housewares such as sheets and minifridges. Whatever the student’s age, Good Housekeeping offers a guide to the things they might need.

You’ll want to get your students looking the part, from outfitting them in the latest styles (baggy jeans and leopard prints are back) to getting them a fresh haircut. (Great Clips is offering 24,000 free haircuts and a glossary of Gen Z slang to get parents up to speed.)

“It’s tough to keep up with the latest slang kids are using, but it is important because you can’t help your child succeed if you don’t really know what they want,” says former NSYNC singer Joey Fatone, who stars in a promo with his teenage daughter.

Parents who want to cut the #clutter will also want to prepare for the inevitable onslaught of student projects. Now’s a great time of year to work with your kids to #clean out #closets and make room for new #clothes, #organize a desk and #file last year’s school work.

Set aside any #clothing that still has some useful life in it and contact ClothingDonations.org to schedule a #free #donation #pickup. Other parents appreciate the deals they can find at the #thrift stores supplied by those generous #donations, and #veterans benefit from the resale proceeds.

So (attempting Z slang here) don’t do back-to-school mid — gas up your kids for the new year. If your beige flag is organization, it’s a good time for you to cook. But start right away — letting kids start school unprepared is delulu!

More Stuff Equals More Garage Sale Shoppers

Posted on by Jordank

A #garage sale is kind of a needle-in-a-haystack proposition for shoppers, so more #stuff tends to draw more people. If you have a ton of #merchandise to #declutter, you can go it alone with a sale, but if you don’t, “collaborate with friends and family,” says My Blessed Life. Create a bookkeeping system to divvy up the money, or piggyback onto a neighborhoodwide sale. You can also attract the interest of more and different customers by having the kids set up a lemonade stand or sell baked goods. And before you even open for business, schedule a #free #donation #pickup with ClohtingDonations.org to get rid of the excess junk after the fact. #GarageSaleHacks