As I mentioned, we’re cleaning out the office in order to make it a more useful writing/study space. Traditionally, it’s been the dumping ground for old things we didn’t want in the rest of the house—furniture, electronics, books, etc. A lot of this stuff is still useful, just not to us. So we’re selling it on Craigslist.

Craigslist can be so much better than a yard sale (especially if you don’t have a yard), getting the attention of people who specifically want your stuff rather than those who got pulled in by a random pile in your driveway. But it can be a pain, too. Here are some tips I’ve learned over the years.

• Post on Sunday night/Monday morning. More people are online during the week than the weekend.
• Include a picture. People are more likely to contact you if they’ve already seen the item.
• Don’t post in the free section. Even if you sell it for $1, you’re less likely to get inundated with emails and then stood up. I’m not sure if that’s because people find it easier when it’s categorized properly or if people just value things more if they pay for them.
• Check out how much similar items are selling for. My rule of thumb is that it loses half its value the moment you buy it, because it’s no longer new. Then I go down from there based on age, condition, and demand.
• Decide ahead of time if you’re going to deliver or haggle. People feel obligated to negotiate with you. Personally, I don’t go for it—I have a small car and I hate haggling.
• Schedule pickup for a time when you’ll already be home. I’ve gotten stood up so many times that I never stay home specifically to meet someone.
• Make sure someone’s there with you. I’ve met enough creepy people this way that I always have Jason around when they show up.
• Don’t remove the listing until after it’s been picked up. Like I said, you get stood up a lot, and Craigslist doesn’t allow you to repost for 3 days.
• Remember to remove the listing and reply to any queries. Otherwise you’ll be harassed by people who want to know if it’s still available.

Other sites are good, too. We’ve had good luck selling books and video games on Amazon Marketplace or trading them on Paperback Swap, and people selling collectibles seem to like eBay, but Craigslist is good for larger items that you wouldn’t want to ship. It can be kind of a hassle, but it’s a good way for someone to get use out of the things you neglect. They’re happy; you’re happy—it’s a good deal.

Speaking of deals, I still have a few things that haven’t sold yet: a beanbag chair, TIVO, VCR, router, and computer speakers. Let me know if you’re interested.

One year ago: Harvesting Vermicompost.

Lots of food and bike stuff this week. You can tell what I’m thinking about….

• Math Lessons for Locavores – New York Times. Obviously something grown in a local heated greenhouse is responsible for more emissions than something grown in its natural environment and transported. But greenhouses aren’t really the point of locavorism, are they?
• Great Rides in and Around Boston – Boston Biker. I might actually be up to these longish rides now.
• Canning Tomato Salsa – Sense of Home. We tried canning salsa once and it came out vinegary. But now that my landlady has given us another slew of tomatoes we’ll have to try again.
• Cyclist Says Police Officer Pushed Him – Boston Globe. I hatehatehate Critical Mass. More now as a cyclist than I ever did as a driver.
• Cleaning the Henhouse – New York Times. It’s a really good point—bad conditions for the birds equals more salmonella for us.
  Canada Bans BPA. Why Haven’t We? – Grist. Good news!
• Why Home Economics Classes Should Be Mandatory – Change.org. I’m convinced that the reason Jason likes cooking and sewing more than me is because he took a home ec class.
• Is There Animal Fat in Your Plastic Bag? – Plastic-Free Vegetarian. Nuh-unh. Really? Maybe Oliver isn’t trying to commit suicide after all.

That’s all, folks. As usual, if you see anything interesting this week, send it along.

On Tuesday I talked about recycling our old cell phones. This came about because of a fall cleaning of our office, and the biggest piece of electronics that we needed to get rid of was our desktop computer. My tech guru, Jason, talks about how he prepared it for reuse.

Our computer turned 10 this year. We replaced it with an energy-efficient NAS that we could access from a laptop, but then we had to figure out what to do with it. Since it still runs, if a little slowly, we’re giving it to my mom. Her computer is newer, but ours is custom built, so it runs faster.

The number one reason people let their old computers gather dust is that they’re worried about their data getting out in the world. I once held onto an old hard drive for five years because I never got around to wiping it.

Most computer file systems are organized so that when you trash a file, you’re only deleting the operating system’s knowledge of its location. The file is still sitting on your hard drive, and someone who knows what they are doing could come along after you, scan the hard drive, and undelete your files.

Ooooh...scary

The solution to that is Darik’s Boot and Nuke (DBAN for short). Download this program, burn it to a CD, and then boot off the CD. It offers several levels of cleaning. Unless you’re harboring military secrets, just select the first level. Now you’ve got a clean hard drive that’s ready for reuse or recycling. DBAN writes and re-writes your hard drive with a variety of different bit patterns until all trace of your original data is gone.

Other levels of DBAN offer Department-of-Defense-worthy erasure, but, honestly, after the first level only someone with significant scientific background and some heavy-duty equipment would be able to find your data again.

If your computer is so old that no one would want to use it, or broken, you should still do this before sending it off for recycling. We’re lucky that our town recycles computers, but if yours doesn’t, there are a lot of manufacturers and retailers that will accept electronics. Engadget lists a bunch of them, but an especially easy service is Recycle a PC from Metech Recycling. They accept 60 pounds worth of electronics through the mail for $30. And they’re e-Steward certified, so you know your computer isn’t going to be poisoning some third-world country.

One year ago: Water Filter Update.

Earlier this summer I lost my cell phone in the river while kayaking, and we used this as an opportunity to switch to a different carrier. Since Jason’s phone doesn’t work with the new carrier, we’re going to recycle it, along with another phone that I’d been meaning to recycle for almost two years. I put it off for so long because there are so many options, and I wanted to be sure that the place I chose was recycling it properly. Electronics contain all kinds of toxic wastes—which is why it’s important to recycle them rather than throw them away—but they’re often shipped overseas to be trashed or recycled in ways that poison the surrounding area.

.

So what are my options?

Department of Public Works

• Many towns, including Cambridge, recycle cell phones. Keep in mind that they’re collected at the town’s drop-off center, not with the regular recycling.

Retailers

• Best Buy recycles any electronics that consumers bring in to the store—for free.
• Staples collects cell phones and other small electronics at store service desks.
• Office Depot sells Tech Recycling boxes ($5, $10, or $15) for any electronic devices.

Carriers

• Verizon’s Hopeline program refurbishes working phones for victims of domestic abuse and recycles non-working ones. Retail stores have drop-off boxes, and the Verizon site offers a postage-paid label to mail it in. They’ll accept phones from any carrier.
• AT&T’s Reuse and Recycle Program resells working phones to buy phone cards for soldiers and recycles non-working ones. Retail stores have drop-off boxes, and AT&T customers can request a postage-paid envelope.
• T-Mobile and Sprint also collect old cell phones for refurbishing/recycling.

Manufacturers

• LG is really getting into this, with a high school contest and many ways that people can get postage-paid packaging for any phone.
• Motorola recycles any phones; you can print a postage-paid label.
• Sony Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung collect only their own phones for recycling. If you enter your name and address you can get a postage-paid envelope.

Third Parties

• Call2Recycle collects cell phones and rechargeable batteries through the mail as well as at drop-off locations. You may be surprised at how many are near you! Just within a mile of me I’ve got Economy Hardware, Radioshack, and the Apple Store.
• Greenphone (formerly Flipswap) either pays cash or plants a tree in exchange for your cell phone.

Electronics Takeback is a good source of more information on recycling any electronics, and the EPA has some great lists of recyclers, as well as info on how to prepare your phone properly for recycling. (1. Cancel your contract. 2. Delete your personal information. 3. Remove the SIM card. 4. Drain the battery.)

Unfortunately, out of this whole list, it looks like Samsung and Call2Recycle are the only ones certified by e-Stewards, the most reputable third-party certification program. Since our phones aren’t Samsung phones, we’ll be going with Call2Recycle. And with so many drop-off locations around, I won’t even have to mail the phones in. I would rather use the manufacturers, since we should be encouraging them to consider the whole life cycle of their product, but I think it’s more important to know that the phones are recycled properly.

One year ago: Cat Litter.

We were on vacation in Maine this week with no internet, so the only reading I got done were the books I brought along. But here’s what I’ve seen this weekend.

• No sign of salmonella at Maine farm, officials say – Boston Globe. But it’s not for lack of trying—the Maine DeCoster farm had “as many as 14 birds, instead of the standard four to six, crammed into a cage about the size of a file-cabinet drawer.”
• Boston woman ill with West Nile – Boston Globe. At least three people in Massachusetts have been diagnosed with West Nile, despite pesticide spraying earlier this year.
• A recently converted vegetarian tells which meatless dogs cut the mustard – Grist. None of them—I hate tofu dogs!
• Neighborly Borrowing, Over the Online Fence – New York Times. I haven’t tried any of these services yet, but I like the idea.
• The “Root Cellar” – Sense of Home. We really need to set up a better storage system for our winter CSA this year.
• Prius will no longer be silent under 5 mph – Grist. Because what we really need is more traffic noise….

That’s all for now. As usual, if you see anything interesting this week, send it my way.