Computer Junk

Now, it's amazing how much junk with computers we accumulate, isn't it? I mean, the amount of keyboards we go through, the amount of modems which we use and burn through, and the phones - don't get me started on mobile phones! 

There's things which we just can't send off to the landfill because it becomes toxic and isn't good for our environment, right? 

Well, I found out about a place here in Brisbane called Substation 33 - and it's where you can take your computer junk and they pull it apart and recycle it. What a place. And you don't have to pay for it either! It's in Logan City and my Dad took his old computer junk there (a whole lot of broken computers and keyboards and other computer items which weren't going to work) and he just handed it all over. 

I'm so glad there's a place like this around.

There's also a service for our mobile phones here in Australia where you can go to your post office and ask for a bag to send off your really old mobile to be recycled... isn't that great?

Also, there's a Fix-it style group which gathers at my local community centre up the road from my folks' house. They gather once a month and they fix everything from toasters to televisions... all for free and to show kids today that not everything is fated for landfill.

So, what recycling centres are around your cities for electronics? Or aren't there in any in place? If not, why not start asking around to see if they are beginning in your area?

A Little and A Lot

In the past two weeks, I've been working on a lot of things in the townhouse. And this is why I haven't been here for a while.

But there's been parts of the kitchen worked on, and parts of the bedroom as well. In the kitchen I've packed up some cups and saucers which I inherited from my late-Uncle and given back to my Mum. I really needed the space in my cupboard and wanted to use my own cups and saucers which I've scored from op-shops instead of being scared of breaking the delicate ones I inherited.
So, once they were out the door and at my parents' house safely, I cleaned up the cupboard and moved all my Keep-Cups into the space in cupboard, and made more room on the counter! Woah, that was really cool to see that, and now I have more counter space I can  get more done around the kitchen instead of feeling as though I'm being squashed into the corner of my sink.

The bedroom has been changed around a bit. I've refurbished the use of my shoe box; cleaning it up and making it into a book case for my night time reading instead of tossing it out. You see, it's not your ordinary style of shoe box... and it doubled well as a book case too. It looks great! 

Then I found two large lampshades and tried to upgrade my old ones... which didn't work out. So, I asked my Dad to help me. My lamps I bought last year from K-Mart were super-glued within an inch of their lives - something I didn't expect from K-Mart, but it's happened. So, Dad worked something out and made them fit. And the old shades? Well, they're on their bedside lamps - and both my parents have said they've never had so much light in their room ever! 

I've taken another bag of goodies to the charity store and enjoyed finding those lamp shades while I was there. But that was about two weeks ago... I haven't been op-shopping for something in a little while. I'm still decluttering in a major way.

This next week, I'm hoping to pull out all my VHS tapes and look into getting them converted to DVD to enjoy them like I used to... as my 21st Birthday is on them, so is a few movies we taped and some documentaries we can't find on DVD. So, it's something we want to look into. After they get converted to DVD, it'll be a matter of tossing out the old VHS tapes to the recycling bin. 

Otherwise, the everything is going well. I've bought a plant for the bathroom and I'm no longer using any plastic bags. I tossed out my last lot of recycling of plastic bags yesterday - how good is that? I'm using all reusable bags in all things in my life from shopping bags to grocery bags. 

So, how is your decluttering going?