wordling's Profile

My roommates and I have to sort recyclables and we end up with quite a few categories: paper, magazines, plastic bottles, glass, aluminum, cardboard, and plastic bags. These are kept in filing-type boxes in a 2x4 Ikea Expedit and bagged and emptied to the communal sorted recycling for our building on an as-needed basis.

We're at different levels of commitment for recycling -- one does when it's easy, one does all the time, and then there's me, known to haul bags of recyclables home from events that lacked recycling. Putting it in the dining room, but hidden, makes it accessible, easy, and not unpleasant to look at.

I was tempted by it at Ikea this weekend, but it's yet another one of those switch-on-the-cord lamps. I hate that! It's so much harder to pretend that the cord doesn't exist.

Dear AT, do you know of any hacks for moving the switch from the cord to a pull or something else?

Purple's my least favorite color too.

Love your tools-storage bedside table.

When I was painting 3-4 years, the employees at Home Depot and our local chain, Menards, all had no idea what I was talking about when I asked for VOC-free paint. When I went in this spring, they took me straight to a no-VOC option. No idea what the brand was, but I do remember that it listed only a few possible colors, but the sales person offered to try to mix the one I wanted -- worked like a charm. It was somewhere around $20 for a gallon, I think. Easy-peasy and cheap and not-stinky.

I don't want to see my neighbors' gas guzzling SUVs or overflowing trash cans or tacky lawn decorations or signs announcing the use of pesticides/herbicides that render their lawn untouchable. I put up with it.

I realize some people might not want to see my laundry but they can put up with it, too. Frankly, it's the ones who might *want* to see my laundry that worry me more; because of them I've ceased hanging underwear out.

That was my question too, Clickchick. Sad that they're not.

I email if I think I (or anyone else who's asked me to keep an eye open) might be interested, rather than waiting to be 100% sure. If anyone else is involved (in a communal space with roommates, potentially needing a ride to pick it up, sent the initial email on someone else's behalf), I will forward what I sent on to them.

Perhaps it's just me, but I don't bargain. I won't email if the price is outrageous.

I'm also trying to get in the habit of using the Craigslist "send to a friend" feature because some people take down the listing once they've received a response, which makes it hard to remember and/or comparison shop.

Even with this, I miss out on at least 9/10 of what I send emails for. But I suppose that's sort of the fun.

That's an Ikea curtain, I believe. If it isn't, Ikea makes a curtain that looks VERY similar.