Katie Munoz

Dispose of prescription medicine in Sammamish, Washington. There was a black hole in my In-law’s bathroom.

No! Not that one! This one was called the medicine cabinet.

I married into a family of pharmacists who had also lived through the Great Depression. That is a lethal combination! They believed that it was a sin to throw away anything that might be usable by someone, anyone, somewhere, anywhere. “You never know when you might need that!”

This rule applied to every item that entered their territory. Never mind that they probably wouldn’t be able to find “it” when they had a use for “it.”

The medicine cabinet was only a slightly different story. While they had accumulated an impressive collection of pharmaceuticals, unlike the rest of the house, the prescriptions were stored with the precision of a commercial pharmacy. They could put their fingers on almost any drug within seconds.

But two pharmaceutical concepts had escaped their notice. The first concept was that of keeping those pills out reach of children. The candy-like pills were beautifully displayed in long orderly rows in the cupboards of each bathroom. My polite suggestions were dismissed, “Just tell the children that they aren’t to touch those things.” Successive generations of children and grandchildren were charged with the task of keeping their children away from the bathroom cupboards at all times.

The second escaped concept was the importance of expiration dates. “Oh, those dates are too conservative!” Now, that’s probably true to a degree. But, I had to wonder, were the dates too conservative by 20 years?!

The accumulation of prescriptions and over-the-counter medicines is not unique to my in-laws, or even to retired pharmacists. It’s just that their collection was bigger, better, and more bountiful than any other such collection I had ever seen! We really wanted to dispose of prescription medicine in Sammamish, Washington!!!

When we finally got the opportunity to clean out those cupboards we were faced with a dilemma. How should we safely dispose of prescription medicine in Sammamish, Washington?

Several phone calls later, we had learned of the following three options to dispose of prescriptions in Sammamish, Washington:

1. Most pharmacies in Sammamish, Washington, have a drop off box for old prescriptions. Ask yours! (Be sure to ask about any exclusions, such as controlled substances).

2. Many animal shelters will happily accept donations of meds (even expired ones) and first aid supplies. Call around and ask those near you.

3. As a last resort, you can remove the pills from their identifying container, mix them with an “icky” material (like shampoo or compost), seal the resulting goo into two layers of Ziploc bags and then discard them with your regular household trash.

Whatever you do: please DO NOT FLUSH DOWN THE TOILET! While this practice used to be recommended, researchers realized that it threatens the health of local wildlife and the potability of the local water supply.

Don’t let your medicine cabinets turn into a black-hole. Take the time now to dispose of prescription medicines in Sammamish, Washington, and make your medicine cabinet a safer and less cluttered place! Dispose of prescription medicine in Sammamish, Washington.

Colleen Squier, Moving Forward, Inc.

Got books? Packing in Kenmore, Washington. Do you love to read? Do you cherish your books? Do you need to move?

That was us. We love books. Science fiction, fantasy, murder mysteries, and even some high falutin literature thrown in for good measure. We basically decorated our house in books, floor to ceiling, basement to bedroom. We’ve read them all and sometimes we read them again. Yes, we got books!

But then we needed to move. Not that far, but even if you move two blocks you have to put everything in boxes. And that was a whole lot of packing. Way too much packing. We’re in software. That means, we’re employed more than full time. We didn’t have time to even think about moving, let alone do it!

Our Realtor told us about Moving Forward.

We met with them for one day, a Saturday, and they didn’t even charge us extra for the weekend work. We showed them where we wanted things in our new home. We showed them our books. We showed them how our books were arranged in order and hoped that maybe they could try to at least keep the collections together.

That was it. One day was all that we spent on our move. Moving Forward took it from there. They packed our entire house. They scheduled a moving company. They arranged for our cats to stay overnight in a kennel, so they didn’t run away when the movers were in and out of the doors.

When Moving Forward was finished, every book was back in order as if they had moved whole bookshelves all at once. It was amazing! And we never even missed one day of work. Packing in Kenmore Washington

K and D in Kenmore, Washington

Make Life Easy Organize Your Kitchen in Bellevue, Washington. When was the last time you really looked at your kitchen? I mean, how it works for you. Whether you have a big “designer gourmet” kitchen or a compact “efficient” kitchen, it needs to be set up to meet your needs. Make your life easy- organize your kitchen.

Moving into a new home is a great time to organize. But, you can take a serious look at your space anytime.

The one, basic rule to organize a kitchen in Bellevue, Washington (or any town that you happen to live in), is that things should be stored near their point of first or last use.

Some things are easy; towels near the sink, potholders near the stove. But other things aren’t quite as straight forward. Try to imagine yourself walking through several common tasks. Making a sandwich is a good example. You need bread, mayonnaise, lunch meat, cheese, lettuce, and tomato. You will need a knife to cut the tomato and perhaps the meat or cheese, a knife to spread the mayonnaise, a cutting board for the cutting, and a plate to put the sandwich on when finished. Have I missed anything?

Now, in your imagination, walk through the task. I bet you are all over that kitchen! Keeping these items near the place where you make sandwiches would be keeping them near the point of “first use”. When finished, the refrigerated items are returned to the refrigerator which is the point of “last use.” Knives, cutting board and plate will probably end up in the sink or dishwasher which is their point of “last use”.

It is a balancing act. A sharp knife is used for making a sandwich, but also for chopping vegetables. Should it be stored near the “sandwich” area, the “chopping” area, or the dishwashing area?

As you might have guessed, there is no single correct answer. The key is to be conscious of your work habits, the daily needs of your family and the available space. Your kitchen cabinets are valuable real estate! With some careful planning and arranging, you can get the most use out of them! Make Life Easy: Organize Your Kitchen in Bellevue, Washington.

Declutter in Issaquah Washington. Do you find that you have things piling up in your home, but you just don’t want to take the time to declutter your home?

We all feel that way sometimes. And why is it that buying things and putting them into our homes is so much more enticing than taking things out of our homes? Can’t donating be as fulfilling?

Yes, it can!

I want to share one donating experience that knocked my socks off. My company, Moving Forward, helps people declutter in Issaquah, Washington. My client realized she wasn’t likely to ever move back to Washington. However, she still had all the furnishings for a 1-bedroom apartment in storage in Issaquah. She just wanted us to ship a few items back to her on the East Coast and get rid the rest, so she didn’t have to pay storage fees anymore.

I knew the perfect charity. The Sophia Way puts homeless women through an eight-week program to help them get back on their feet and then it outfits a whole 1-bedroom apartment for them.

www.sophiaway.org

When I told my client about the charity, she was thrilled. Instead of feeling sad, she was suddenly excited and filled with the motivation to declutter in Issaquah, Washington. After the charity volunteers had made their pickup, I found a few more things that I thought the Sophia Way graduate might enjoy. So I swung by their office on my way home.

As fate would have it, the Sophia Way recipient (I’ll call her Patricia) was there at the office when I arrived, and she was beside herself! She had a new job. She had a new apartment. She had complete matching sets of furniture and nice dishes.

When I asked Patricia if she would like to have the additional things I had brought – some dish towels, a hibachi and a frilly, pink lamp; she was so overwhelmed she burst into tears! Her emotion swept over me like a tsunami, and I ended up crying too.

Patricia hugged me and told me her whole long story and how much all of this meant to her. How blessed she felt at having this fresh start and how deeply grateful she was to all the people who had made this possible. And she swore to me that, on her honor, she would pay it forward.

I wish my client on the East Coast had been there to experience that moment firsthand, because it isn’t something I will ever forget. I relayed as much as I could to my client so she, too, could share in the joy of giving to this woman she would never meet.

Next time you need some motivation to declutter in Issaquah, Washington, or whatever town you live in; I hope you will think of this story and this woman. We may never know the effect of a donation we make to charity, but I can assure you the ramifications can be profound. Declutter in Issaquah Washington.

Senior Move in Bellevue, Washington. A couple years ago, some dear friends, Mary and Ben (not their real names) were preparing to move from their Bellevue home of 50 years and into smaller quarters. They were excited to make this transition, and looked forward to not having yard work and house repairs to deal with. The thought of living on a single level also appealed to Mary who had had a knee replacement. What they were not prepared for was actually facing the amount of “stuff” they had collected over the years.

Mary and Ben most definitely were not hoarders. One afternoon as we were beginning the process, Mary commented that they really didn’t have “that much” stuff to deal with. Every spring she had filled up several donation bags for charity. She always had plenty to donate to the church rummage sale, and willingly disposed of broken items. However, over the years, they had managed to fill every closet, cupboard, and piece of furniture with treasures! File cabinets were full of travel brochures and memorabilia. Tax forms and receipts for the last 50 years were carefully filed in other cabinets. Drawers of the children’s treasures filled their now abandoned bedrooms.

This is fairly typical of a senior move in Bellevue, Washington.

Boxes of very usable things reached the ceilings of each closet. Mary had always been a careful shopper, purchasing linens only when they were on sale. She had a collection of very nice items that were intended for gifts. Well cared for clothing filled the closets. The problem was that through the years she and Ben had accumulated way too many of these belongings!

It took months for their committed family and friends to go through these possessions and help them decide what to take, what to donate, what to discard, and what to pass on to other family members. When the job was finished, they hosted a little party for the loyal workers. Ben thanked everyone, and got a bit teary when he concluded that he just didn’t know what they would have done without these wonderful people.

We all want to think that we can handle this sort of project. After all, it is “our stuff” to deal with. In reality, a senior move in Bellevue, Washington, is usually more than we can handle alone. Mary and Ben were fortunate to have a large number of family and friends to help them sort, move and dispose of their things. Not everyone is that lucky! Families are scattered over the country these days, and friends are often already spread too thin. That’s where Moving Forward comes in. Call us to learn how we can help your family cope with a senior move in Bellevue, Washington (or anywhere in the Seattle metro area). Senior move in Bellevue, Washington.

(contributed by Colleen Squier)