After doing a round of holiday cleaning at our apartment, I discovered a treasure trove of gadgets which still worked, but no longer met my needs. Thankfully I also found Gazelle.com, a company that buys old electronics for resale or recycle.

I tested out Gazelle.com with three items I had on hand; an old camera without a power adapter, a Dell PDA with all original wires and manuals, and a digital video camera with power cord. For my collection of slightly used gadgets I am being paid $124, more than I could likely get on eBay due to the lack of accessories.

Selling your stuff to Gazelle is simple:

1. Look up your item on the Gazelle site.
2. Answer a few questions about the quality and accessories.
3. Click "calculate" and see what Gazelle will offer you.
4. Send your items back to Gazelle with free shipping label.
   
5. Get paid via check, Paypal or Amazon gift card.
   

Currently Gazelle buys goods from 11 categories including; video games and consoles, GPS units, phones, movies, digital cameras, laptops and more. If the item you want to sell isn't already in the catalog you can request a customized quote, which is calculated within 24 hours.

In a worldwide survey cellphone maker Nokia found that only 3% of people have ever recycled a cell phone and nearly half had never heard of such a thing. That's pretty pathetic after the huge efforts by manufacturers, retailers, governments, environmental groups and charities to make sure cellphones don't end up in landfills, where they leak lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic.

If all the 3 billion cell users worldwide recycled one phone (and on average we've gone through five), we would save 240,000 tons of raw material and cut the greenhouse gas equivalent of 4 million cars, Nokia Director of Environmental Affairs Markus Terho said in a statement. Some 85% of Nokia phones can be recycled. Some recycled cell phones go for parts and materials; others go to seniors or people in developing regions that might otherwise be cut off.

The big problem is that people just don't know what to do with their old phones. The survey of 6,500 people in 13 countries showed only 4% just threw them away. About 44% just kept them in a drawer with their other dead electronics. One fourth of us give them to somebody else and 16% try to sell them.

Late on rent? Loan shark breathing down your neck? Can't fill your car with gas to get to work on Monday? Assuming all available funds and traditional sources of credit are tapped out, here are 25 (legal) ways to raise cash in a few days. We list them in order from least to most desperate.

100,000 homeless can't be wrong! In states that require a deposit, 50 cans could bring you $2.50. As scrap, 32 cans make a pound, worth 70 cents.

When I need a little quick cash, I simply grab a little poundage from my cache of scrap aluminum cans and turn them into legal tender. Junk aluminum cans are everywhere, and just about any town has someone who'll pay cash for them. The trick is to get enough of them to make it worth your while, and find a way of managing them which keeps you from getting disgusted with the whole proposition.

Finding enough scrap cans is fairly easy. I scan parking lots and ditch lines. I keep a couple of plastic shopping bags handy to throw cans into. Most people you know send aluminum cans into their recycling bin. I have found that if you make a routine of collecting the cans from them for yourself, they are more than happy to hold them for you. Coworkers are also a good source of scrap cans.

Processing and storage is probably the most difficult part of my can saving project. The foremost rule for me is to deal with the cans as soon as possible after I receive them. I crush the cans a number of different ways, and I store them outside the house and as discreetly as possible. Aluminum cans take up a lot of room. That is why many people are put off of the idea of saving them. However, when crushed, you'd be amazed at how much poundage you can conveniently store. By crushing the cans and keeping them in sealed plastic bags, you can easily save up enough of them to make the hobby well worth your while.

Grab a shopping cart and go hunting!

All 25 ways to raise quick cash.

Smartware products, a division of F&M Tool and Plastics Inc., is in the business of recycling discarded industrial and consumer waste into useful and beautiful new products.

Utilizing everything from computer monitor cases to discarded water jugs and running shoes, Smartware products reclaims waste plastics and returns them to the product cycle in the form of items such as landscape timbers, speed bumps and landscape containers. Possibly the best part of the whole proposition is that they do it all right here in America, reducing our need for landfill capacity and creating much needed economic stimulation.

For an overview of Smartware products, distributor locations and sales team contacts, please check out the company website. A purchase from this company may prove to be not only an exercise in environmental responsibility but also a show of commitment to national pride. Who knows, your old running shoes may now be someone's patio Rhododendron pot.

Do you still subscribe to your local newspaper? If you do, you likely have a stack of papers somewhere in the house or garage waiting to be recycled. Apartment Therapy has come up with 20 ways to recycle or reuse newspaper around your house. It turns out leftover newsprint is suited for a myriad of uses but it is especially useful for soaking up odors in many places.

If you have a smelly container, fridge or shoe stuffing some newspaper in it is likely to pull the odor and moisture out. This method of odor fighting is no doubt much cheaper than air sprays and baking soda. Other uses include keeping weeds out of your garden and as an additive to your compost pile. The uses for newspaper around your house or community abound. You can even use the newspaper to prevent icing on your car windows during the winter.

We don't get the paper at home anymore, since the idea of on time delivery eluded the local delivery boy. At work we get 3-4 papers daily which get recycled by an employee but I don't think any of the papers enjoy any of the varied recycling activities mentioned by Apartment Therapy. I enjoy using newspaper and Windex to clean my car windows as it does a great job of preventing streaking, but that is my extent of paper reuse.

Do you still get a hard copy paper? If so, what do you re-use your newspaper for?

The Daily Deal for Sunday, April 27, 2008

I went into work Friday and set my lunch box down next to an advertisement that caught my eye right away. It claimed that you can turn used cell phones into real money. After researching the offer a little bit, I've determined that it sure looks legitimate to me. Pace Butler Corporation claims it will buy your used cell phones for cold hard cash.

The company website is clear and simple. The process works in four easy steps. Just gather the cell phones that you want to sell, print out a prepaid postage shipping label, box the phones up and ship them, then get a check. The company states that your check will be issued within four business days.

Many of the phones on their payment list will only garner you a few dollars, and some only pay .50 cents. However, there are models which will get you as much as $50. You can check out their payment values on this list (PDF file). Just a few of the higher paying models are Motorola's Q9m and Q9h, each paying $50. If you have a Nextel i580, that model pays $30. The LG CU515 and CU575 each get you $35. There's a whole range of the Blackberry 8000 series which will net you anywhere from $10 to $50 apiece.

Nowhere on the website did I see mention of cell phone condition as a requirement for payment but I assume that they want the phones to be all in one piece. They also offer assistance with cell phone collection drives and will help you with cell phone collection fund raisers. If you just want to find out where to send your dead cell phones to keep them out of the landfill, they have a link to help with shipping 3 or more phones for recycling.

I think Pace Butler is really in step with responsible consumerism and assuming that it's completely legitimate, I believe this whole concept is an extremely timely idea.

In the interests of total disclosure, I'm going to begin by admitting that I don't like shopping at Whole Foods. I find the stores almost obscenely expensive, irritatingly self-righteous, and badly laid out. Beyond that, they are generally filled with snotty, self-obsessed yuppies, who have a tendency to step on my feet. By the time I leave, I usually have mashed toes, a bag full of overpriced delicacies, and the feeling that I've been manipulated into shelling out way too much money. It's gotten to the point that even my massively overdeveloped sense of liberal guilt is no longer strong enough to inspire me to shop at the temple of holy greenitude.

That having been said, I have to (grudgingly) admit that I'm impressed by Whole Foods' recent environmentally-sound actions. Its decision to use fuel cells to help power a store in Connecticut struck me as a bold and impressive move, and I'm hoping that other stores, schools, and institutions will follow its lead. I also feel like it puts its money where its mouth is when it comes to donating funds to environmental causes. And, last but not least, it carries an impressive selection of organic foods, even if it still uses a bit more high fructose corn syrup than I would like.

I have a number of artistically-inclined friends who believe that one man's junk is their own personal treasure trove of art supplies. I've reaped the benefits of this philosophy in my own home: My coffee table boasts a top made of used dice my friend collected during his frequent visits to an Indian gaming facility, and another end table sports a mosaic attesting to his love of beach glass.

Another mosaic/collage artist I know isn't content to wait until she drops a plate or rips a sweater to collect material for her work. She shops for other people's shards and scraps or buys whole pieces of crockery or clothing at thrift stores then takes them home to destroy and reform. Her resulting creations are both fun and functional; she's put her personal touch on everything from window frames to light fixtures to planters.

I don't pretend to possess the artistic skills of these two, but my attempts at recycled art have shown me that this is a good medium for anyone who wants to get her creative ya-yas out while giving new life to stuff she'd otherwise be throwing away.

As one of maybe three people left on the planet who still shoots film, I find collages are a great way to turn a bunch of less-than-fantastic images into one far more interesting one. And you can create them in more than one dimension: Now instead of just giving a framed photo as a gift, I'll put together a photo montage on one of those three-for-$2 unfinished wood frames from Ikea. It's more personal -- not to mention cheaper -- than an unadorned mass-produced picture frame, and it keeps my scrapbook rejects from becoming just more recycling fodder.

Obviously, there's an endless supply of materials you can use to create recycled art. So if you're in spring-cleaning mode, look at the junk you're purging from your hall closet for artistic inspiration before you chuck it. After all. 'tis the season of rebirth and renewal.

More than ever these days, people are rolling up their sleeves and finding ways to help themselves.They're also interested in helping their neighbors, their country and the planet. These attitudes are commendable, compelling and powerful.

That is why today I am bringing to you a few of my favorite responsible living links. The following websites have been created for you with great thought and care. Each of these sites will reward you for the time you spend there reading. Remember, reading equals knowledge and knowledge always pays dividends.

First on my list today is the blog, DIY Life. It's one of my favorites and it's a member of our Weblogs family. The site is a fast paced, informative blog which seeks to deliver to you the "cream of the crop" in do it yourself living. I must disclose that I'm a bit biased towards their blog because my extraordinary wife is a member of their fine writing crew. Check it out if you're into the fix it and make it yourself lifestyle. On their pages you'll find everything from home remodeling and gadget tweaks to jewelry making and unique home furnishings. Their staff is dedicated to bringing you up-to-the-minute do it yourself brain storms. In their capable hands, you can never go wrong.

When I was a little kid, I used to love dryer lint. My mother wasn't too careful about cleaning out the lint trap; when she finally did, the layer of lint would be an inch thick. I loved deciphering the lint, seeing the streaks of colored fabric that made up the pile. Red, green, white, black...I imagined myself as a sort of lint archaeologist, excavating the layers of washing.

Clearly, I had way too much imagination, not to mention free time.

The thing of it is, though, that after I exhausted the archaeological potential of lint, there really wasn't much else to do with the stuff. It was kind of grubby, too fragile to use as fabric, and made a big mess when you played with it. By the age of eight or so, I had turned my back on lint, never to return.

Or so I thought.

Every year in November, my friend Larissa and I start rifling through our bags of accidentally-felted sweaters, holey knitwear, and garments who have not stood up to our four little boys, and we get out our scissors and sewing machines and go crazy. We're getting ready for an all-recycled craft bazaar, and we love figuring out new ways to (literally) turn our trash into cash. Sometimes we raid our relatives' and friends' closets, too. Here's some of the ways we've found to make useful, beautiful items out of cast-offs.