Clear Clutter and Help Others in the Process…

During the month of October, while some of us are planning Halloween parties, making costumes or creating the scariest haunted house in the neighborhood, others are working toward making a difference and helping to find for a cure. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month and as Organize.com does their part to Think Pink and give back to a well deserved community of fighters and survivors, I would like to share some ways that one of our favorite organizers likes to de-clutter the home and help others in the process. Tamah Vega, founder of A Sense of Home, is an organizing coach & consultant, and an associate member director for NAPO in the San Francisco Bay area. She has given me 8 easy and fulfilling ways to clear some clutter and make a difference in your neighborhood. Check them out below:

8 Ways to Clear the Clutter and Help Others In the Process
By Tamah Vega

1. Help build a home for others. Habitat for Humanity ReStores accept donations of new and saleable, used building materials such as cabinets, lighting and plumbing fixtures, doors, flooring, and windows. Some materials are used to build Habitat for Humanity houses. The rest is sold to the public at 50-75% off the retail price with proceeds going back to Habitat towards building homes in partnership with local low-income families.

2. Share the gift of literacy. Donate all those books and magazines you’ve already read, plus the ones you think you should read but know you don’t really have time for. Many local public libraries have literacy programs and are in need of books and magazines.

3. Support the arts. Arts and crafts that is. We all have hobbies we started and no longer have time for or that we grew tired of. Instead of letting those supplies collect dust and serve as a reminder of something you didn’t finish, give them to a local school. Teachers are always in need of craft supplies for school projects.

4. Use your broken or outdated electronics to support the fight against breast cancer. Cell phones, laptops, empty toner and inkjet cartridges, PDAs, IPODS & MP3 players, digital cameras, business phones, and more can be sent via FREE pre-paid shipping labels to Recycle for Breast Cancer. Recycle for Breast Cancer is committed to reducing the incidence of environmentally caused breast cancer by keeping electronic waste from entering our landfills and environment.

5. Offer the gift of sight. Lions Club‘s around the globe collect prescription or nonprescription glasses or sunglasses. Check your drawers, desks, or closets for adult or child glasses and help those in developing nations who have little or no access to basic eye care.

6. Share the sound of music. You can donate musical instruments to a variety of non-profits allowing those who cannot afford an instrument the chance to learn to play. Mr. Holland’s Opus accepts shipped orchestra instruments to support music education and its many benefits to underserved school and community music programs and individual students nationwide.  Hungry For Music is a program that provides musical instruments to individuals, schools, and community music programs who cannot afford them. Since the program began, Hungry for Music has donated over a thousand instruments throughout the United States, Mexico, and India. They accept any musical instrument, sheet music and music related books.

7. Offer help in a career search. If you would like to help a disadvantaged woman thrive in the mainstream workforce donate a suit or other business-appropriate clothing that you no longer wear to Dress for Success.

8. Pamper someone. How many bottles of lotion, perfume or hair products do you have collecting dust? Most are given as gifts that we didn’t like but feel too guilty to toss. Others we spent good money on, but they end up not being as great as we thought, and now we can’t just get rid of them. Give your unused toiletries to someone who will really appreciate them, a battered women’s or homeless shelter in your town.

As Tamah continues to offer solutions to busy women on how to create a life that is more organized, beautiful, and balanced, I hope that you can share her great ideas with others and help to make a difference. And as I mentioned, this is the time for planning those fabulous Halloween parties, so check in again tomorrow to get some great tips on how to organize your Halloween party.
Happy Organizing!

- Mrs. O

1 Comment October 13, 2008 on 10:08 pm | In Uncategorized