Daily Check-In - Wednesday, April 22nd

[Deleted]

Good morning Virtual Sellers! Today is Earth Day. Did you know that the average American throws out nearly 65 pounds of textiles (including clothing) every year? That's over 13 million tons per year - and only 15% is recovered for reuse or recycling. The remaining 85% (roughly 11 million tons) goes to landfills.

As resellers of used goods, we play a very important role in caring for the planet. We reduce the amount of what goes into landfills .... Our efforts to clean and repair used clothing and other goods extends the usable life of those items ... and our willingness to share information and encouragement on forums like this one creates more resellers to carry on our work (not to mention more happy customers who love getting bargains on secondhand goods!)

What else do you do to be Earth-friendly? Do you recycle? Compost? Take your own bags to the store? Share your favorite tips here, and have a great, green Wednesday!

[val2525]

You know, that would be a GREAT advertising angle for eBay to take - the green aspect of buying used from eBay. It might get more of the 20-somethings shopping here.

[denise15601]

arghhhhhhhhhh! It is snowing!

[Deleted]

Yes Ebay should promote the green angle, don't see them going that route though. That would be the obvious and more original route, not the I want to copy all the other company routes LOL

I'm trying to decide if I want to go sit at the Dr. office or not. 2 weeks of poison ivy is about to drive me insane. Still new areas breaking out. Think I might have to suck it up and go get some steroids to take care of it. Been trying to avoid them but I'm miserable.

[Deleted]

I recycle everything in sight. LOL.

I can't even throw the cardboard box from a bar of soap into the bathroom wastebasket. I take it downstairs with me to put in the recycling bin. Oddly enough, I take more care to recycle than any of my three adult children do. My sisters that are a decade older than me don't care much about recycling either, yet my parents who are 90ish years old are very good about recycling. Strange.

I was bummed for hours after my garage sale last year. I'd put out a big box of old phones, chargers, etc. and marked it FREE. I was going to take anything left over to Best Buy as they recycle stuff like that, or at least dispose of it properly. Some woman was looking through the box to find a charger that would fit her phone. It was hot and I guess she got tired of standing out there and looking, so grabbed the whole box, took it to her car and drove away. I'm sure that anything she couldn't use, which was probably most of it, ended up going into the trash.

I think many people don't realize that their stained, ripped clothes can be recycled. Before I became a thrifter, I used to throw out clothes that I deemed too nasty to donate. If I didn't become involved in my church's annual clothing sale and put a halt to the practice, hundreds of pounds of castoffs that are too damaged to be put out for sale would be thrown out each year. Instead, we bag them all up and DH drops by a few times a day during the week of the sale, grabs whatever we have and takes it to Goodwill. As soon as the sale ends on Saturday afternoon, several organizations come by with trucks and volunteers to take everything that was put out but didn't sell and they use it to help others. It's a heartwarming circle of life for clothing.

[Deleted]

Apr 22, 2015 15:47:34 GMT peek said:

I'm trying to decide if I want to go sit at the Dr. office or not. 2 weeks of poison ivy is about to drive me insane. Still new areas breaking out. Think I might have to suck it up and go get some steroids to take care of it. Been trying to avoid them but I'm miserable.

If I were you, I'd go.  That's too long to be suffering with that.

[Deleted]

Apr 22, 2015 14:34:11 GMT val2525 said:

You know, that would be a GREAT advertising angle for eBay to take - the green aspect of buying used from eBay. It might get more of the 20-somethings shopping here.

That's just the angle Olive (GMM) uses on her storefront. 

Aside from that, I'm into recycling everything I possibly can. I'm forever digging recyclable cans & plastics out from the regular trash because SO can't be bothered to separate stuff. I also know how to make dynamite compost from kitchen scraps and leaves/grass clippings.   And I love the cha-chings when we take scrap metal, aluminum, wiring, etc. to the recycling center!

Anyway...today is going to be a goof-off day, for the most part. Today is SO's b'day, so I'll be a bit scarce on the boards.   Although I'm really not looking forward to getting out in the cold rain. We've had thunderous downpours for the past 4 hours. 

[Shirley U Geste]

Living in the sticks it's a pain to recycle, but I do what I can.

A neighbor down the street collects cans, so I save mine up until I have a big bag full and drop them off at his house so he can turn them in. Cardboard gets flattened and tied in bundles and when we go to town to Home Depot it gets dropped off at a recycle bin in their parking lot.

I rarely just throw out fabric items. Buttons and usable fittings get removed for future use. Anything that will work for a cleaning/car washing/etc rag gets saved. Soft stuff goes for kitty bedding, big things like blankets go to the rescue for bedding. And I have bins to put leather, good sized pieces of denim, nice fabrics, etc, to use for craft projects; throw pillows, totes, etc.

[Deleted]

Apr 22, 2015 15:47:34 GMT peek said:

I'm trying to decide if I want to go sit at the Dr. office or not. 2 weeks of poison ivy is about to drive me insane. Still new areas breaking out. Think I might have to suck it up and go get some steroids to take care of it. Been trying to avoid them but I'm miserable.

Have you tried oatmeal? Seriously...when my toddlers had a serious case of chicken pox - in spite of being vaccinated, I had them soak in the tub with oatmeal granules and it helped them immensely. Oatmeal is a great natural skin healer. Back in the 70's I was grinding oatmeal in my blender and making a paste of it for facials.


Another thing. I was a country girl growing up. We had a pet goat and 5-acres of heavily wooded land that was rife with poison ivy and oak. But for the 2-yrs we drank fresh milk from our goat, we were totally immune to getting poison ivy outbreaks. And I'm talking about seven people...

[denise15601]

Poor Peek...I would go to the Dr. I had it a few years ago and was miserable. I think I got Benadryl.
My slob neighbor has it in his yard and it comes my way....as well as the termites that he kindly sent to me.
Termites treatment cost $2,000 plus $200 a year for check-up. Thanks a lot.

I do recycle. Plastic bottles and cans....and also newspapers.

A guy who lives 10 miles from me was on Shark Tank last week. He created "Pit Moss" as a mulch for plants from recycled newspapers. What a great idea and I am so glad that he worked out a deal with the sharks.

What I can't sell on eBay, goes to consignment or GW.

[Deleted]

We recycle as much as we can. Pop (soda) bottles/cans have 10 cent deposits on them so those are easy to recycle. Clothing gets donated or repurposed. The bf recycles metals. Leftovers go to the chickens or dogs. Everyone in our household plays a part.

As for today, I have 7 more to list tonight for my 10 for today. I didn't get the listing special, so I'm on the fence about doing relists. I probably will just pay the insertion fees because I hate having a huge backlog of unsolds. And they can't sell if they're not listed!

[Deleted]

Went to the Dr., his reaction was oh that's gross LOL Yeah it's really bad. I don't get a poison ivy rash like most people do. I get a severe reaction with lots of big oozy blisters and bumps, plus the rash, currently it's on about 80% of my body, my butt has been saved from it so far . Got an 11 day high steroid taper pack to take. Hopefully they start working quickly, I'm beyond my maximum discomfort point, way beyond.

[RetroMonde]

Ewww, that sounds horrible! Hope the meds work quick and provide relief. We get poison oak here (west coast) and DH is very allergic. The best thing to kill the stuff is heavy-duty brush killer. Not very eco-friendly but it does the job. And if you've exposed, washing thoroughly with Fels Naphtha soap cuts the plant oil and removes it from your skin. We've used calamine lotion before when the rash is present but if you have open wounds that may not be a good idea. That oatmeal bath is a good suggestion too. Good luck!

Sandra

[blissfullymiserable]

I put everything I can out in the blue recycle container that's collected every week. I take all of the plastic shopping bags to GW, they collect them here now. I donate anything that's I can't find a purpose for and is still useful. That's about the extent of it.

[Deleted]

Peek, I'm so glad you went to the doctor. That sounds horrible! I've never gotten it as I don't do yard work, but DH has gotten it probably 10 times. A couple of times it was really bad and he went to the doctor and got the steroids. He's never had it on as much of his body as you do, though. What were you doing?

[SA]

Oh no peek! I'm sorry.

We probably recycle as much as we put in our trash can.

DS19 is all about recycling and correcting me on how WRONG we are if we accidentally throw something out that should be recycled. I just tell him "I drive a Prius. I get a pass"

[Deleted]

Peek, I'm glad you went to the doctor - that sounds so uncomfortable! I hope the steroids work quickly for you.

I recycle lots of stuff and take my own bags when I go shopping. I like the canvas bags they give out at trade shows, they're so much stronger than plastic or paper and can go in the washer (the plastic woven ones can't).

[Deleted]

Years ago I wrote to the Robert Graham company. I had a great mens RG shirt, but it was the first I'd ever seen without RG on the buttons. The buttons were plain. I wrote that I had bought the shirt second hand before noticing the buttons weren't the buttons with the RG name I was accustomed to seeing, and did they make shirts with plain buttons?

I did get a response, and the rep did answer my button question, but she also used the opportunity to tell me that I shouldn't be buying RG second hand. I should always buy new from the company or a trusted retailer.

I thought it was an irresponsible (ecologically speaking) response and almost wrote again and told her so.

On the other hand, Patagonia encourages buyers to wear their items out, including passing them on and re-selling them. They have their Worn Wear program and I'm in their Common Threads partnership with eBay.

Honestly, it was unlikely I would have ever bought RG at retail anyway. The guys in my family are much more the Patagonia type. But had a brand we normally purchase sent me the same letter I got from RG, that would have been the last of my dollars that company would have seen.

I recycle, repurpose and reuse, but not 100%. I'm aware, but I could do better. All of my eBay items that fit in a (recycled) poly mailer first go in a Zip Lock bag. I'm not entirely comfortable with that, but I have poked my finger through a couple of those mailers, and I know they sometimes get mangled in machines, so I like the extra level of protection. Maybe the buyer washes the bag and reuses it like we do at home.