Shred Fest

This weekend a local financial planner hosted a " community shredding event". At the event, you bring old financial documents (utilities bills, credit card statements, etc.) that you don't need to keep and have them shredded on-site by a shredding service. They pull up a truck, a noisy truck, and you watch your documents go through.

Before the event, the company provided a list of what to documents to keep and for how long. I've attached one I found on line that was similar. We spent a few hours clearing out a file cabinet and ended up with 4 paper bags! And we do this periodically, so I can only imagine some household's files.

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/mtg/20000518h.asp

Look out for such an event because these shredding companies are expensive to hire, so take advantage of a community shred event. Keep your identity safe, save time, and keep you clutter in check!

Not the greatest product....

I was cleaning up in the garage this afternoon and came across a Ziploc "Big Bag". They came out with these a while ago, maybe a year, and I have used 2 of 3 that came in the box. I have decided that I don't like them as a storage solution (now I only mean the these extra large storage bags, not their regular food storage products).

The main reasons why I don't like them is when you fill them, they are very awkward and bluky to store. They don't stand up on their side well, nor do they flatten out well. They also become heavy quickly. Their website suggests among a variety of things, to store books, photo albums in them. A storage box is a better alternative to storing books and photo albums.

I think there are better alternatives out there. Any ideas what these bags are good for? Anybody just love them?

We are lucky to be expecting our second child this Winter. We are thrilled....but we have a girl and of course we are having a boy this time around. I know, I know, we are lucky to have one of each. But this means we have to buy everything new for this little boy because everything, including the car seat, was pink.

So I've started my project of sorting through all of the bins and boxes that house all of our girl things. As I have started this process, I realized that I don't want to just give away things blindly to local charities, but really ensure that they have a good purpose. I have done some research, and have found a couple of great options for our gently used baby clothes and gear.

First, online communities and auction sites (like EBay, Craigslist) to sell items that are new or almost brand new are a great. I also have the opportunity of posting sale items on a local mother's club website. For the majority of clothing and some gear, I have visited local consignment stores. They are pretty particular about what they take, but if they want what you have they are can be simple and moderately profitable. You'll split the profit at a designated percent. Last, instead of just sending the more used things off to the Goodwill( I love Goodwill but they are so broad), I have found local donation sites that are specifically for mothers and children. I love the idea of giving directly to the audience that will benefit.

Not only has it been a big project, but just keeping the bags and boxes that are going out organized is a job in itself. All the bags are labeled with contents and destination. Then I use my daily planner to make note of where and when items were donated and dropped off.