A Soft Clean Rain is Coming. Clean Out Your Gutters.

As the economy clears out all that needs to be cleared, it’s a great time to do the same thing at home. Why not have life imitate life imitating life? While, of course, caring for the planet:

1) Unsuscribe to all that crappy email that comes at you that you don’t need. Sure, it doesn’t take much energy for Macy’s to send you an email about its latest sale. But it does take SOME energy. And it certainly takes SOME time and effort for you to delete it every time, for the rest of your life. So, next time an email comes you are sick of seeing, scroll to the bottom and click unsubscribe. You don’t need it. I no longer needed John Kerry.com or Writers Digest and a whole bunch more. Within one week, my inbox has been less stuffed. I wish I had advice for how to deal with spam. I do not. Just delete it as it comes in.

2) I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. You MUST use Catalogue Choice. This is an amazing service. At Christmas, when most catalogues arrive, we collected a pile, a very high pile, of all the wretched catalogues that come to our house. Then, we went to this site and opted out, one by one. It is such a relief. Now, we get almost none. Do it. You’ll be thrilled. Let the catalogues collect every month in a pile. Then take twenty minutes to go online so you can GET RID OF THEM. You save yourself the agony of facing them every month in your mailbox. You save the mailman the agony of having to lug them around. You save the planet by NOT wasting paper (these catalogues are hardly ever printed on recycled paper) and by NOT wasting the fuel to have them transported only so you can throw them in the recycling bin, or worse, the trash.

3) Go around your house and collect things that you no longer use, especially old electronics, and sell those useless items on Ebay. They will be useful to someone else. I have even sold a BROKEN, crashed imac on Ebay. I listed, “This item is broken. It is only good for someone who wants to use it for parts.” It sold to someone in Long Beach for about 150 bucks. My latest cell phone (a 3G Samsung Blackjack) ultimately saved me money. When I sold my old phone and all the accessories that went with it and put that toward the purchase of my new phone, I came out ahead $80. If Ebay isn’t your thing, then just GIVE your STUFF away to a thrift store. If that still isn’t for you, then save up all your old electronics and go to your local electronics recycling location and drop them off. Of course, you can sell almost anything on eBay, or give almost anything away. Just do it. These are clearing times.

CLEAR IT OUT. A soft rain o’ plenty is on its way. And these things are going to be green and lovely. Make room on your shelves. Make room in your life.