Ideas for Donating Books and Magazines

I'll continue on the decluttering theme for one more day. I know some people get all hyped about cleaning and organizing in the spring time, which is logical. For me, though, it's fall. When the air starts getting crisp and I see sweaters on sale, my clean-organize-beautify radar kicks on. I think it's about getting everything in order for the semi-hibernating I do in winter. When it's below 20 degrees outside and there is ice on the driveway, I don't venture out with 2 little children. I stock up, I cook a lot, I get a big fire going in the fireplace, and we cozy up with blankets and books. I love winter.

Meanwhile, it's fall. One thing my clean-and-organize radar has immediately identified as a problem is books. I hate getting rid of books, but I'm out of bookshelves. I don't need all these books and magazines, and there are other people who will appreciate them more.

• Libraries don't always need books for their own shelves (though sometimes they do), but they often take in whatever you will give them for their regular book sales.

The College Greening: Paper-less Papers

I consider myself a pretty eco-friendly gal, even in the college environment, where extraneous energy use is a very real problem. Over the next few weeks I would like to document some of the ways schools are helping their students be conscious environmental citizens.

In high school I imagined college as a place filled with stacks of essays, papers littering my desk, page after page of thesis material printed and ready to give me credit for all my hard work. But the reality is as an English major in this technology age, the number of papers I have physically handed in to my professors is a whopping 1.

Thanks to the development of online academic tools like

Garden Books Worth Owning

This seems to be gardening week; I keep thinking of more gardening ideas, advice, topics, questions... Bear with me. I promise next week I'll talk about something else.
Like farmer's markets...
So if you visit a big bookstore's gardening section, you could be wandering for days. People, lots of people, lots of people other than me, have a lot to say about gardening. And apparently lots of people like to read what they say about gardening, because the garden-book category just keeps growing. (No pun... oh nevermind.)
You don't need all those books. But a few wise choices can be extremely helpful if you plan on growing (living) things on a regular basis. Even if you're just doing a little container garden, you still need some information. Here are my general gardening book recommendations:

If you get nothing else, get one big "gardening tips book" or "complete gardening" compendium

Do It: Swap Your Stuff

Bartering is an old, old idea. It worked for hundreds of years before we came up with this cash idea. I've got a chicken, you've got this pottery bowl. Let's trade. Stuff isn't all that works in the bartering system, either: services, skills, and benefits can be traded. You hunt, I'll gather. (Or vice versa, depending on who is better with a spear.)
Bring back the benefits of bartering to your life. We all have stuff we don't need, or professional services and special skills we can trade. Other people have stuff we do need. It's just a matter of finding a good swap.
Swapping rather than shopping means that you get rid of your unwanted stuff without sending it to the landfill or processing it through a recycling center. It goes straight to someone else who wants it and will use it, without the extra packaging. Swapping means you get the stuff you need without purchasing new, packaged goods. You can also avoid that drive to the store, if you swap small stuff through the mail or choose a meet-and-swap location that is close to home.