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By Mom Unplugged, November 16, 2008 8:16 pm

This week’s Unplugged Project was a little different. After mentioning my massive sorting project, by popular demand the theme became Sort-Junk-Donate. Hopefully this theme inspired many out there to tackle those piles around the house. Whether it be toys, clothes, or just plain junk, we all need to purge from time to time.

Or maybe you recycled some throw-aways into art? I look forward to your projects.

As for me, I’ll simply show you a picture of what we donated so far. There is more on the way, but the photo above is the bulk of it. (Georgio Armani the cat is NOT a giveaway of course!)

Plus, a few awards!!

My oldest daughter wins the award for The Strangest Item Found: In her closet I found a plastic food storage container full of brown sugar.

My 2 year-old daughter wins the award for The Least Number of Stuffed Animals donated: 0 (although she did part with some toys).

My son wins the award for The Most Toys Donated (aka. The Unexpected Generosity Award): I didn’t count, but he even gave away his fancy space station to a friend who always played with it when he came over.

Of course you can donate to your local thrift store, but here are a few links to help you figure out a more original way to pass on no longer needed new, like-new or gently-used items:

New = New, tag-on

Like-new = No tag, but good enough to give as a gift

Gently-used = used, but still in great condition

• Samaritan’s Purse (Christian Relief Organization): Pack a Christmas shoe box of small new items for children “in desperate situations” around the world. Hurry up because this year’s deadline for drop-off is November 17-24. (Many thanks to Karen B. for this idea!)

• Project Night Night: Donates comfort tote bags to children ages 0-10 in homeless shelters. Each bag contains a security blanket, stuffed animal, and age-appropriate book. They take new blankets (handmade or cribsize), new stuffed animals, or new/like-new books, store gift cards (even if only a few dollars left), fleece or flannel fabric. Be sure to read the guidelines for items to be donated and drop-off/mail-in locations here.

• Books for America: Donates to Washington DC area schools, libraries, homeless shelters and hospitals. Provides underpriveleged kids with their first take-home books. Accepts new or like-new books (but NO HARDCOVER FICTION), movies (DVD or VHS), CD’s, audiobooks, and collectible items that can be auctioned. Children’s books are urgently needed. Please see here for donation guidelines and locations (drop-off and ship-to).

• Books for Africa: Sends books to rural African schools and libraries. Gently used textbooks can be hard to find homes for, but Books for Africa wants textbooks (no more than 15 years old), as well as popular fiction and non-fiction (hard and softcover), encyclopedias and dictionaries 1995 and newer, new school supplies. There is also a list of what not to send, so please check here first.

• Soles4Soules: Sends new and gently used shoes to needy and disaster-relief areas worldwide. Their estimate is that 1.5 billion pairs of shoes lie unworn in American closets. I am ashamed to say that many of those are in mine. Donation guidelines are here.

• Shoe4Africa: Accepts new and gently-used running shoes. Shoes must have at least another 100 miles of running in them! Shoes should be sent via AIRMAIL ONLY to Kenya. Instructions are here.

• Send new or gently used stuffed animals and toys to Iraq: Here is an address for someone stationed in Iraq who wants used stuffed animals and toys to distribute to poor children there. I found this on Google and know nothing more, but I offer the link here!

• Old computers and other electronics: Find a list of places to donate for reuse or recycling at the US Environmental Protection Agency. I just found out I can send back my ancient Nokia cell phone for free with a prepaid shipping label that I can print out. Who knew?

• The Help Kenya Project: Based in Westchester, NY. Accepts computers (and accessories), books, clothing, sports equipment, and more. Please see the website and contact them for more information.

• Foster children often must transport their meager belongings in garbage bags. Here is more information on how to collect and donate luggage. Consider donating suitcases or duffel bags to your local foster care agency or homeless shelter.

• Also, don’t forget to check locally. Google something like “used computers San Francisco donate” and see what you come up with. Substitute what you want to donate and your area.

• Of course for good-condition book donations there is always also your local library or schools (especially those in low-income areas).

• Garage sale for your favorite charity? If you have the energy, then give that a go!

If anyone else has a favorite place for donating “stuff,” please share your idea in a comment.

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If you participated in this week’s Unplugged Project theme of Sort-Junk-Donate, then please leave the link to your project rather than just your blog in Mr. Linky below. That way we’ll all be able to find your project, forever and ever! If you didn’t participate, but are interested in learning more, then read about it all here and consider joining in next week.

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Next week’s Unplugged Project theme will be more like the usual kind:

Thankful

We did this one last year for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. I don’t really like to repeat, but since it is probably advisable to think about being thankful at least once a year no matter what country you reside in, I will repeat the theme. We’ll do something new though!

Comments (7)

By Mom Unplugged, January 11, 2008 11:40 am

(So sorry for the pun, but I just couldn’t help it!)

Dear Readers,

Puzzles, puzzles, puzzles….Unplugged Kids do a lot of puzzles, and we are “Puzzle Central” here at the moment. Puzzles are my 2 year-old’s latest obsession, but they have always presented a bit of a problem for me.

Those simple wooden puzzles with the tiny knobs just fascinate my little one! The problem is, that I have never figured out how to store them. They always seem to end up in a pile on the floor of mixed up pieces and debris.

You are all probably laughing kindly as you read this, shaking your head sadly and saying to yourself: “I can’t believe she doesn’t know.”

Is there some great Mom-Club puzzle organizing secret out there that I am not privy to?

I have tried the following:

- Stacking them on a shelf: Looks nice until someone wants a puzzle from the bottom and all, or at least, some of them end up tumbling to the floor.

- Stacking them in a large plastic storage box with lid: This is worse than stacking them on a shelf since they all spill inside the box creating a giant, hour long sorting exercise for me.

- Puzzle racks: Nice idea but expensive and take up a lot of room. When you have a lot of puzzles, then this is not a viable option. (Does anyone have a method of making these at home? It can’t be hard, but not being terrible handy, I haven’t really thought of an easy way.)

- Keep them on a high shelf out of reach: This is no fun, plus that means that kids must bug Mom anytime they want a puzzle. Definitely NOT a good idea.

- Baggies: Instead of keeping puzzles on a shelf with the pieces in them, take the pieces out for storage and put them in a labeled baggie that attaches to the puzzle board. This is probably my most successful storage method, but I am not using it at the moment because I don’t like fiddling with baggies and I am DETERMINED to find a better way to store the puzzles in an assembled manner.

Usually I am the one offering unasked-for advice to the whole world via this blog. Today however, I turn the tables. I am unleashing the power of the blogosphere to help me solve my puzzle-dilemma.

The challenge is this: We can send humans to the moon. But can we find an easy, affordable and tidy solution for those boxless knob puzzles? I leave it to you dear readers, to come up with a solution to my problem!

Or, do you all use that easy Mom-Club solution that I know must be out there. If so, am I worthy enough to be allowed in on the secret? Pleeese! Pretty pleeese???

Thank you.

Signed,
Puzzled in Arizona

Comments (7)

By Mom Unplugged, November 27, 2007 12:19 am

It is 10:00 PM and I have just single-handedly put four children to bed not long ago (one extra is here tonight). I have a few blog post ideas circulating in my head, but no energy to do a good job on them. So instead…I give you some useful Holiday-related links:

Here are some good ones left in my comments from my blog friend Andree-Meeyauw (I think she was surfing on my behalf as a form of procrastination, but I am grateful! Thank you Andree!):

++Thanksgiving Comes First post from Bostonscapes Daily Photo: “If you’d like ‘the holiday season’ to regain the meaning it once had, then let ‘them’ know how you feel. The Internet is a very powerful tool, take advantage of it.” Use your blog to help speak out against commercial Christmas greed.

++New American Dream: A really interesting site that I have to explore further. Has a good section on Simplifying the Holidays with a very worthwhile downloadable brochure.

++BetterLiving.co.nz, a New Zealand site, has some quick tips for Simplifying Christmas, instructions for making a Snowman Advent Calendar, and lots of other Christmas articles that I have not yet explored.

++The Simple Living Network, a website devoted to promoting voluntary simplicity, has a section of books to buy about simplifying holidays and celebrations (mostly Christmas, including Unplug The Christmas Machine but also weddings, and one interesting-sounding book on many holidays).

My amazing, super-organized blog friend Heather of Celtic Mommy, the guest author of Help! I Love Doing it All, But How Can I Find Time to Do it? , offered lots of great links, but these are good general simplifying links:

++Cruising Through the Holidays from FlyLady: Tons of advice from organizing to “clutter-free” gifts, to preparing and packing for travel…I have not had a chance to look at it all, but it looks good!

++Organized Christmas: For you organized people out there who think you aren’t organized enough. Printable lists, a six-week organizing plan, an eighteen-week holiday “Grand Plan”…you get the idea. Stress for us Type 1 Slackers, bliss for the Type 2 Organizers. The site also has some printable gifts, gift tags, and crafts that are quite interesting. Easy homemade gift idea: Journal prompts (for adults or children) in a jar anyone?

Finally, some sites that I can recommend:

++The Toymaker: GORGEOUS printable toys, cards, and gifts that kids could print out and assemble as holiday gifts.

++My Unplugged Toy Store list: I know there are others out there and I keep adding as I find them. These stores offer simple, high-quality toys that never require batteries. The only additional item needed is your child’s imagination. Many of them also specify where a toy was made if you are avoiding Chinese-made toys this year.

++My Unplugged Book Store list: No junky, commercially tied-in books in these stores. (Again, I am always adding new links as I come across them…but they must meet my standards in order to make the list!)

I am sure that I could come up with more, but I am tired so I wish you all good night!

Read all the Christmas/Holidays Unplugged posts here.

Comments (10)

By Mom Unplugged, September 28, 2007 8:11 pm

Original art…

Original art…

And yet more original art!

All for free!!!!!

If you have children, don’t spend money on a lot of art. Some of your kids’ original masterpieces can look quite stunning when nicely framed, or even displayed clothespinned to some string or wire as in the last photo. Plus, the kids are pleased.

(The string/wire display is a nice substitute for the refrigerator if you have a non-magnetic stainless steel one as we do)

Comments (5)

By Mom Unplugged, April 4, 2007 11:03 am

How ironic that my first “Works For Me Wednesday” would be about the car. If you could see my car there is no way you would consider me an authority on car-organization. However there is one cool little invention that I just discovered with baby number three, that I really feel has changed our travel life. Drumroll please! Allow me to present to you, THE NO-SPILL CHEERIO DISPENSER!!!

Hopefully this is not yet another example of how “oh so behind- the-times” I am. Hopefully you are not all saying to yourselves “Why, that has been around for as long as the sippy cup! What rock is she living under??” But, even if it is as ubiquitous as the sippy cup, it is MY “Works For Me Wednesday” post and the No-Spill Cheerio Dispenser works for me!

For those of you who are equally as behind-the-times as me, it consists of a little cup with a soft plastic lid. The plastic lid has slits in it. Baby pushes her chubby little hand through the slits to get the Cheerios, when hand comes out - slits shut to prevent spillage. A determined baby can still manage to lose a few, however it is usually not as dramatic as the Flying Cheerios Game that can occur with an ordinary cup.

Available at Babies-R-Us: Currently 3 for $10.99. Please visit Shannon at Rocks In My Drier for more great car ideas!