 Yesterday Marcia and Ann, two lovely walking friends at the gym, asked me about how to manage their vast VHS and DVD collections. Marcia is ready to eliminate her collection; Ann would like to hold on to hers but store the majority of her media out of sight.
(5/11/16 - Here's a happy update for you! Marcia donated her 158 VHS tapes to the Goodwill in Centerville! Well done and good for you Marcia!) Let's start with the easy storage solution. Purchase and/or look around your home and gather plastic, see through bins together. Sort and categorize the media collection (year, genre, family, travel, special events, movies, etc.) and store in labeled plastic bins to prevent unwanted rodent and/or moisture damage to the tapes. Throwing away "techno trash" presents environmental challenges because the outer cases are made of recyclable plastics but the inner cases are made of plastic polyethylene mylar covered in toxic metals which make them nonrecyclable. Because of the toxic metal component, the metals will potentially contaminate landfill sites and surrounding water and soil so the techno trash is classified as "e-waste". A Google search provides information for your consideration when you are donating, selling, recycling and/or trashing old VHS and DVDs. Here are several links that you may find useful. http://recyclenation.com/2015/01/how-to-recycle-vhs-tapes Well summarized article about recycling VHS tapes! http://theverybesttop10.com/reuse-and-recycle-vhs-tapes/ Creative ideas for reusing your old VHS tapes! http://www.greendisk.com Green Disk charges $9.95 for a 25 pound box with every additional pound over 25 pounds for 35 cents. This company offers a variety of pricing and shipping options for large and or small recycling techno trash recycling projects. http://www.amazinggoodwill.com/donating/donor-guidelines Goodwill centers will take DVDs and VCRs donations! http://www.backthruthefuture.com Serving NYC, Washington, D.C., Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey http://www.actservices.org/recycling Serving mid-Missouri http://www.services.amazon.com To sell your media through Amazon, set up an account, ship all your merchandise to them where they will store it for you and ship it for you when it sells. You will receive payment when the transactions are complete. Remember, if you need assistance and support with your family life, home and/or office organization, you are cordially invited to contact ... Donna LaRoche, M.Ed., Professional Organizer Serving Cape Cod, MetroWest and Eastern Massachusetts Contact: 617.640.2366 www.energizeandorganize.com  Infographic Source: ASPCApro.org My sister Susan and her husband John have three dogs ... Tess, Toki and Tallulah. Each dog is unique and unrepeatable with their own dynamic personalities and mannerisms. They are exceptionally well cared for and bring great joy to their animal-loving caregivers!
My sister Jen and her husband Bob have two abundantly loved and extraordinarily well cared for cats named Stevie and Gracie. It's been great fun watching them grow from sleepy kittens to frisky cats who endlessly entertain their smitten owners. College friends Terri, Marcia, Lee, Janey and Kathy lovingly care for their beautiful dogs. Falmouth friends Val and Bob delight in the loyal companionship of Devin, their beloved dog. Pets, pets, pets and their happy owners are here and there and everywhere! (We even have a lovely Betta fish living well in his crystal clear aquatic abode here in the living room!) Here in Falmouth, canines and their owners enjoy meeting and playing at the renowned Falmouth Dog Park. Perhaps there is a dog park or animal park in your community as well? Pets of all kinds are on the move ... family vacations, hikes in the woods, walks in the park, spontaneous fun with neighborhood children and more. That got me to thinking about the importance of creating and maintaining a pet first aid kit for at home and/or traveling pet needs. Google pet first aid kits and you will find a wealth of resources for providing excellent health care to your beloved pets! Remember, if you need assistance and support with your family life, home and/or office organization, you are cordially invited to contact ... Donna LaRoche, M.Ed., Professional Organizer Serving Cape Cod, MetroWest and Eastern Massachusetts Contact: 617.640.2366 www.energizeandorganize.com  In Mah Jongg As In Life -Anonymous "In life we start with a set number of random chromosomes.
The tiles line up on the rack before us, like DNA sequences and chance circumstance. We begin to make sense of the randomness, to arrange bams together or notice number sequences. We make sense of what we’ve been given to start with. We form our core “identity” and try to make sense of it. This is, in Mah Jongg, as in Life, an element of destiny or inevitability. Some might call it FATE. Some people are born with more “jokers” – more good fortune, if you will – than others. Some people an obvious life path, based on given talent of proclivity. But in Mah Jongg, as in Life, we have free will. From the tiles before us, we have a choice as to which hand to play, which path to take. There are often several possible directions open to us. The decisions we make early on affect the direction our hand will take. The skill we bring to the play once that path is chosen affects our outcome as well. So Life, as in Mah Jongg, is a combination of chance, choice and skill. The beauty of Mah Jongg and Life is that even with the worst opening set of tiles, or enduring harsh childhoods, there are several directions open to us. But with practice and hard-won wisdom of many games played (read “years lived”), we get better at spotting the best choices to make, the most optimal paths to follow, given what we have to work with. Even the tiles themselves, with their lovely imagery, speak of Life to me: the “wind” of change, the “dragons” we must slay, the “flowers” that beautify our world, the circle of “dots” of Life itself and the “cracks” we sometimes trip on or fall into. Like Life, Mah Jongg is never “fair”. The random distribution of tiles favors one player over the other. Some are gifted from the very outset with clear patterns, the blessing of numerous Jokers, making their game much easier, and their chance of winning much higher. But again, as in Life, skill and judgement, patience and effort, can allow even the most mediocre of initial hands to prevail: just as with carelessness, lack of focus, or poor decision-making, the best initial hands can fail. Mah Jongg has taught me that as in Life, decisiveness is key. One must be able to spot a direction early on and have the “leap of faith” courage to fearlessly commit to it, letting all tempting by-paths go. One must let seemingly “good tiles” (i.e., clinging to two flowers or those alluring dragons) go to commit to the best potential outcome. But even then, there have been times where a chosen path hits a dead end. Chance fails to favor it (i.e., you’ve committed to a hand with a pair you don’t have and realize the last tile you need now lies in the discard heap.). Then, as in Life, you do not panic, but go back to the card, dig deep and find a new path, knowing that even though your chances of “winning” have been greatly reduced, you don’t lose hope, you don’t give up, you fight to the end. Mah Jongg requires alertness and vigilance. Get too distracted and you’ll miss picking up that joker on someone else’s rack when the opportunity arises. Hesitate and you’ll miss “calling” for just the right tile, losing a critical chance to succeed. In Life, too, opportunity comes by just once sometimes – if we’re “asleep at the wheel” it passes us by forever. In Mah Jongg, as in Life, the anticipation of a win – the possibility of your choices working out, the suspense of not knowing what will turn up next, the patience required as you wait and hope the tile you need will be the next one discarded or the next one drawn – is the key to its enjoyment. It truly is “the journey” as the cliché reminds us which allows us to feel enjoyment in just playing, even if we don’t win. My rare victories in Mah Jongg, while thrilling, have reminded me that triumph is fleeting. You start again each time with a new hand, new circumstances. One win does not guarantee another. But, you keep playing, keep risking, keep striving, knowing that in Mah Jongg, as in Life, each game, each win and loss, makes you a bit better player. " Anne, thank you so much for sharing these wonderful words of wisdom with Pat, Bette, Kathy, Judy, Marianne, Carol, and me in our Mah Jongg group. It's a pleasure to share it with my Energize and Organize professional organizing blog readers around the world! Remember, if you need assistance and support with your family life, home and/or office organization, you are cordially invited to contact ... Donna LaRoche, M.Ed., Professional Organizer Serving Cape Cod, MetroWest and Eastern Massachusetts Contact: 617.640.2366 www.energizeandorganize.com  Donna LaRoche, M.Ed., Professional Organizer Serving Cape Cod, MetroWest and Eastern Massachusetts Contact: 617.640.2366 http://www.energizeandorganize.com  In the “old days,” people used their cars simply to get from Point A to Point B. But today, vehicles are used for much more than transportation, so it’s no wonder they get messy. To get car clutter under control, starts by figuring out how you use your car. Do you drive your kids’ soccer carpool? Do you work out of your SUV? Do you run daily errands? Do you keep emergency blankets, a first aid kit, maps and other supplies in your trunk? Do you store your sports equipment there? Evaluate how you use your car, and it will be easy to make -- and keep -- it tidy.
• Ward off the munchies. Keep healthy and easy-to-eat snacks easily accessible for yourself and hungry kids. Fill a small shoe box with granola bars, small bags of almonds or walnuts, dried fruit, juice boxes, and water. • Run errands with ease. Put a crate in your trunk for clothing that needs to go the tailor or dry cleaner. You can also add items that need to be returned to stores, library books and movies ready for return, and loaned items that need to find its rightful owners. Take a peek in the box each morning and see what you can get rid of that day. • Consider some specialty car organizers. Discount stores offer a variety of them, such as back-of-the-seat organizers for kids, visor organizers for CDs, collapsible crates for groceries or sports equipment, and much more. • Toss it out and tidy up. Keep a nylon or plastic garbage bag in the car so messes get cleaned up as you go. Take five minutes at the end of each day to empty the bag and tidy up the entire vehicle. This small investment of time will keep it neat and organized. To ensure it stays clean and crumb-free too, plan to vacuum and wipe down or dust the interior every week or two, or invest in occasional visits to your neighborhood car wash. © 2016 Articles on Demand™ Remember, if you need assistance and support with your family life, home and/or office organization, you are cordially invited to contact ... Donna LaRoche, M.Ed., Professional Organizer Serving Cape Cod, MetroWest and Eastern Massachusetts Contact: 617.640.2366 www.energizeandorganize.com  In the “old days,” people used their cars simply to get from Point A to Point B. But today, vehicles are used for much more than transportation, so it’s no wonder they get messy. To get car clutter under control, starts by figuring out how you use your car. Do you drive your kids’ soccer carpool? Do you work out of your SUV? Do you run daily errands? Do you keep emergency blankets, a first aid kit, maps and other supplies in your trunk? Do you store your sports equipment there? Evaluate how you use your car, and it will be easy to make -- and keep -- it tidy.
• Get papers under control by creating an on-the-go filing system. Whether you office out of your car, or just need to have lots of information at your fingertips, create a simple filing system. Your local office supply store has a variety of portable, lidded file boxes to choose from, or use a simple plastic crate. Label hanging file folders with broad categories, and slide important papers in the correct spots. • If you work from your car, create a portable office. In addition to a portable filing system, include essential office supplies, such as pens, sticky notes, paper, envelopes, and stamps in a neat box. • Take note. Brilliant ideas have a way of sneaking up on us. Make sure you don’t forget them by stashing a small hard-cover notebook to catch those moments. Or, to keep your eyes on the road, tote a mini-recorder or call your voice mail and leave reminders there. © 2016 Articles on Demand™ Remember, if you need assistance and support with your family life, home and/or office organization, you are cordially invited to contact ... Donna LaRoche, M.Ed., Professional Organizer Serving Cape Cod, MetroWest and Eastern Massachusetts Contact: 617.640.2366 www.energizeandorganize.com |
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