I walked out to the Donate Box yesterday morning and found this:
It’s a carseat.
A carseat that’s been embarrassing us.
We haven’t had a kid who could fit in that carseat for a very long time. Despite that obvious-to-anyone-who-knows-us fact, it had been hooked up in the back of my husband’s car until yesterday.
There’s no need to ask why he decided to get rid of it.
I’m just going to celebrate the fact that he knew exactly where to put it. Having a Donate Box in a specific place lets him go ahead and take care of the problem. No extra step of asking me where to put it. With all the Decluttering Drama that happens in this house, eliminating extra steps whenever possible helps. A lot.
Here’s hoping my AWESOME Donate Guy will take it for recycling since it’s too old to be re-used.
--Nony
That’s great! I love having a specific area for donations. It helps tremendously.
Nony, if it’s that old, you might want to check the donate-ability of it. According to the internet, most carseats expire after 6 years. http://thecarseatlady.com/used-and-borrowed-car-seats/
Yep! If my Donate Guy (who I always talk to) doesn’t know how to recycle it, I’ll just have to throw it out. He’s good about doing that stuff. It’s DEFINITELY too old to be re-used!
If you trash/recylce it, be sure to disassemble it so that someone won’t get it out of the trash and try to use it. You should remove the cover and cut the straps. The body can usually be recycled. 🙂
True! Good advice!
I kind of feel like if someone is going to take a car seat out of the trash they really need it and a six year old car seat is better than none at all. Is that crazy? I wish that the companies who make car seats would take them back when we are done with them.
I listen to your podcast while I am doing dishes. It motivates me to do more than just that one task. Tonight it will be folding laundry. I have learned SO much from you. The podcast about “Containers” was just genius! I am trying to sort out my scrap fabric so I can donate some (a lot) of it. I just found out our Department of Solid Waste will take fabric, clothing that can’t be donated, etc. to be reused as…I don’t know, something else. I hate to throw out fabric, even if it is scraps but if I know it can be turned into something useful I feel much better.
I also purged my knitting needles, to be donated, because the other day I talked to a woman who was flooded out three years ago and lost everything, including all her knitting needles. How could I keep all my extras when there are deserving people out there who “need” them?
I’ve been steadily decluttering for the last couple of weeks. I’m very discouraged and have been for months. It isn’t my stuff. My in-laws died, and then everything my MIL hoarded got dumped into my already full house. Anyway, I had the following discussion tonight with my 14yo daughter.
R: The last time the house was this clean was at my birthday party. You know, the couch thing…
Me: What are you talking about? What couch thing?
R: You know, when you put the couch in the garage and we had a pizza picnic in front of the TV, so there would be enough room for everybody at my party.
Me: That was two years ago.
R: … Well I guess it’s been awhile since you’ve cleaned.
Friends, I assure you. It’s not that bad. It certainly hasn’t been 2 years since my house has been company clean. But I’m making progress.
Glad to see so many others are aware of the dangers of using older car seats. 🙂
You can also trade it in at Babies R Us! They have an event a couple times a year. I know you don’t need baby stuff, but it the discount could be used towards a baby gift. I understand just needing it gone NOW instead of waiting for the sale to come around though!
Our local fire stations will accept old carseats for “recycling.” They use them in their training, then when they are done they cut it in half so it can’t be used again. They also give out free carseats to those who need them, so nobody with a need needs go without. You might want to check in with your fire department to see if they do the same thing.