Places to bring donations and recycling

Dress For Success
20 Court Street
Buffalo, NY 14202
Phone: (716) 842-0602
buffalo.dressforsuccess.org
Dress for Success is a global not-for-profit organization, that promotes the economic development tools, to help women thrive in the workplace, and in life. We provide suits to disadvantaged women returning to or entering the workforce.
Wanted: suits and dress clothes for women as well as shoes and accessories

Habitat for Humanity ReStore
1675 South Park Ave. (716) 852-6607 Ext. 302
501 Amherst St. (716) 852-6607 Ext. 203
http://www.habitatbuffalo.org
Habitat for Humanity Buffalo is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit charitable organization seeking to alleviate the shortage of quality affordable housing in Buffalo, New York. Through volunteer labor and tax-deductible donations of money, land, and materials, Habitat Buffalo builds or rehabilitates simple, decent houses.
Wanted: furniture, appliances, building materials, doors, etc.

Cars for Veterans
1-800-409-3274
http://www.carsforveterans.org

Donate A Car
1-800-237-5714
https://www.donateacar.com/
Donate a car to your choice of charity. We will pick up your vehicle.

Salvation Army
Many locations in the area. Check out their website for addresses.
https://satruck.org/
The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian
Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission
is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination
Wanted: Clothing, furniture, cars, household goods, appliances

Goodwill
Many locations in the area. Check out their website for addresses.
2655 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, NY
(716) 447-0566
http://www.goodwill.org/
When you donate your new and gently used items to Goodwill®, we sell them in our stores or on our online auction site and use the revenue generated to fund valuable employment training and job placement services for people in your community

Wanted: Clothing, toys, knick-knacks, household goods, electronics, kitchen goods and more.

AMVets Thrift Store
1833 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo, NY
(716) 873-7900
Will pickup – http://amvetspickup.org/pickup.php
Wanted: Clothing, Bedding, Small Appliances, Kitchenware, Computers, Books, Video and Audio components, furniture, bicycles, dishes, toys, knick-knacks, tools, lamps

Savers
2195 Harlem Road
Cheektowaga, NY 14225
(844) 799-2050
2658 Delaware Ave
Buffalo, NY 14216
(844) 799-2050
https://stores.savers.com
We’re an impressive thrift store, a community champion and a revolutionary recycler. Help fund the work of local nonprofits with items you no longer need. Each one of our stores accepts donations on behalf of a nonprofit. We purchase your donations from the nonprofit which provides them with a steady source of income.
Wanted: Clothing, electrical, exercise, kids, kitchen, knick-knacks, media, small furniture, textiles

Specialty Items
Hazardous Material- Erie County, NY Environment & Planning
Automotive fluids, oil-based paints, rechargeable batteries, pesticides, fertilizers, pool chemicals, any devices containing mercury.
Pick up days are in the spring. For details call: (716) 858-6800

Pharmaceutical Waste
Expired drugs and used needles
See http://www2.erie.gov/health/sites/www2.erie.gov.health/files/uploads/pdfs/ESAPSites.pdf for locations.

Tires
Tires can be disposed at any retail tire dealer for a small fee.

For a list of additional places to donate and recycle items, go to http://www2.erie.gov/recycling/index.php?q=recycling-sites

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Household Hazardous Waste Drop-off Event: June 3, 2017

The next Household Hazardous Waste Drop-off Event will take place:

Saturday, June 3, 2017

9:00 A.M. – 2:00 P.M.

ERIE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

South Campus—Orchard Park, NY

Enter from Big Tree Rd. (Rt. 20A via Abbott Rd.)

NO LATEX PAINT or LIGHT BULBS ACCEPTED

For more details, visit http://www2.erie.gov/recycling/sites/www2.erie.gov.recycling/files/uploads/June%202017%20Flyer2%20pdf.pdf

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Top 10 Practical Organizing Tips

Here are my top 10 practical organizing tips that will have the most impact in the least amount of time (IMHO!). Start with one or two until they become habit, then add more one at a time. This isn’t going to solve all your problems with clutter, but it’s a great start!

1. Make sure you have enough wastebaskets. Look around your house and note any places where you have left things that you meant to throw away. This is where you need to put a wastebasket or recycling bin. You just need a small one- get something nice that will fit in the décor. You might think you should be taking your garbage to the main trashcan every time you have something to throw away, but most of us don’t. We put it down “for now”, then forget about it.

Work with your habits- if you like to sit on the couch and go through the mail there, put a recycling bin there. I guarantee that a nice wastebasket looks a heck of a lot better than a pile of old mail!

Read the rest of this entry »

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Secret to Decluttering Your Home

The Secret to Decluttering Your Homesecret

There are plenty of reasons to divest yourself of some of your belongings. You may be downsizing, moving, or simply have too many items to live comfortably. Regardless, you are now faced with a huge project: you have stacks- maybe even rooms- full of items. They are all over the place in no particular order or grouping. Once you start actively looking, you’ll find things everywhere- behind the bookcase, under the bed, and shoved in the space between the dresser and the wall. As you look out over your vast collection of possessions, you realize that a) this is a much larger project than you initially assumed, and b) you have no idea where to start. Now what?

Here it is, the secret to dealing with this huge, unruly project. The key is to remember the old joke about the elephant. Read the rest of this entry »

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Families of Hoarders- an Open Letter to You

An Open Letter to the Families of Hoardersworried_about_familiy_member

Do you know someone who has so much Stuff that they are living in a unhealthy or even dangerous environment? Would they have difficulty getting to an exit in the case of a fire? Are they in danger of being hurt by tripping over piles of Stuff or having stacked boxes fall on them? Do any appliances not work because the person is too embarrassed to let a repairman into their home? Is food or garbage left out to rot? Is there mold, or insect or rodent infestation? Are any rooms unusable because they are filled with Stuff? Do they hold onto things that seem like trash to you?

You don’t want that for them. You want to see your loved one live a healthy, safe life. You may have been fighting this battle for years, and have tried everything you can think of: pleas, anger, ultimatums, and logic. Maybe you even cleared out the space, but it just went back to the way it was. Despite your best intentions and efforts, you have not been able to help your loved one.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Practical Moving Tips- How To Do it Yourself

Practical Moving Tips- How to Do it Yourself

It would be wonderful if we could magically move all our belongings from one home to the next. Unfortunately, most of us are stuck doing at least the packing/unpacking. I read somewhere that moving is the third most stressful event in our lives; I believe it. It’s a nightmare at the best of times- and we always seem to have to move when it’s most inconvenient.moving-is-not-fun

Here’s a list of moving tips I give to my clients when I’m helping them move.

1. Keep all your moving information in one place.

  • Get a notebook big enough to make a lot of notes in and put everything moving-related in it. Believe me: you will never be able to find the slip of paper with the mover’s cell phone number written on it.
  • Have the notebook with you to jot down notes when you call people.
  • Have a master list you can check off of everything you need to do. Hint: I put my master list on the last page so that I won’t have to flip around to find it if I need more than one page.
  • Clip/tie a pen to the notebook
  • Keep it with you at all times.

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Practical Organization: Reality vs. Fantasy

Arranged to within an inch of its life.

Arranged to within an inch of its life.

Practical Organization: Reality vs. Fantasy

I love looking at beautifully organized rooms with everything color-coordinated and arranged in artful perfection. I even occasionally think about how nice it would be to have a collection displayed like the one to the right. The cars are all organized by color (according to the electromagnetic spectrum!) with every item the same style – even the spacing is done artistically. Then I wake up and remember that I live in the real world where I don’t have matching everything and am not going to want to spend my time putting every car back in the right place when playtime is over. I’m also not going to want to dust it. That’s my reality.

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Clearing out a parent’s or other loved one’s home after their death (Part 3)

This is Part 3 of Clearing Out a Loved One’s Home. It includes a step-by-step system for sorting, things to do at the beginning and end of every sorting session, ideas about where to start, and some more tips.toomuchstuff

Going through items
1. Start in an easy place. I suggest the kitchen or the entryway that leads to the kitchen. Although it’s a place full of memories, it’s going to be fairly easy (relatively) to go through. Having a clear entry will also save you a lot of hassle.

2. Clear an area to stack boxes in- this is where you’ll store the items you want to keep for yourself or someone else. Clear an area next to the door- this is where you’ll stack items that are to be donated.

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Clearing out a parent’s or other loved one’s home after their death (Part 2)

Continuing from Part 1, here are some ideas about how to get through the difficult task of clearing out a loved one’s home.

Things to bring with you

  • boxes
  • garbage bags
  • gloves
  • markers
  • flashlight
  • a snack and a drink
  • music

Read the rest of this entry »

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Clearing out a parent’s or other loved one’s home after their death (Part 1)

50skitchenI recently read a question from a woman whose mother had died and needed to go through a houseful of belongings. I started to respond, but the post got too big, so I’m posting it here. Part 1 talks about the process as a whole. Part 2 breaks down the job into concrete steps. Part 3 looks at the sorting step in more detail.

Going through a loved one’s belongings after their death is tremendously difficult. We have to go into their house- which looks like it did when they left it- and effectively dismantle their life. It can feel like we’re invading their privacy and showing a lack of respect as we go through a parent’s underwear drawer or find a daughter’s hidden diary. Read the rest of this entry »

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