Useful Things I Learned Over This Past Week
All, interestingly, to do with cashflow, one way or another. Mostly Boston-area-specific, though (sorry, everyone else!).
MBTA minimal-hassle refund
If you are in the Kendall T station outbound, where there is (at least on the weekend) no longer any attendant on site, and the turnstile takes your money but the gate does not open... posted on the turnstiles is a "help" phone number you can call, (617) 222-3200, where someone will take your info and mail you a new CharlieCard with the amount of one fare on it, as a refund. (Unfortunately, it won't prevent you from missing your train while you call.)
Cash for your clothes
If you have unwanted clothes/shoes/bags too nice for Goodwill, you can take them to the Garment District store on Broadway near One Kendall Square (around the corner from ITA Software) and they will buy them from you. You have two choices of process:
Free books
In general, remember to use your local library. ;-) Specifically: If you have a Minuteman Library Card, you can log into their website using the number on the back of your library card/tag. Then you can stop using your Amazon cart or Goodreads to remind you of the books you find interesting, and instead start saving them to your list, where you can then request them whenever you're ready to read them.
The best way to do this is to drill down to the actual title record of the copy you want, so you make sure to get the mass market paperback rather than the hardcover, or whatever you prefer. You can click "Request" right away, or if you just want to mark it for future use, you can put it on your wish list. Note that there is a crucial difference between "Add to my Lists" (plural) and "Save to my List" (singular) -- the latter is a this-session-only sort of shopping cart, but the former is the more powerful Wish List function where you can store things by category however you choose. In my first session, I opened my Amazon Wish List and "saved for later" Shopping Cart in the next tab, and went through bookmarking all my "it'd be nice to read this someday" titles. Now I actually will, without spending money on them!
In a day or two (or several) you will get an email notice that your books are ready for pickup. Then, at your convenience, just go up to the front desk at your library branch of choice (yes, you do still have to physically go to the library to obtain and return the books) and say you have books on reserve to pick up, and they will hand you the whole pile. Time spent searching the stacks: zero (not that searching the stacks isn't fun as a leisure activity!). You can also renew books online, up to twice, if you haven't finished with them yet. Sweet!
Free computer recycling
As a few of you know, I have been traveling with a dead vintage-1997 desktop computer in my car trunk since, oh, last October, meaning to take it for recycling somewhere. Last night I finally went to Staples (the one in Assembly Square), and they took it off my hands for free to recycle. (You can also trade in any computer for $50 credit on a new one from Staples, as long as the original retail on the new one is $500 or more... not so useful to me, since I next intend to buy a netbook cheaper than that, but still worth noting.)
Postscript: Stay organized
I have been trying to clean stuff out, and I have already found a number of things I thought lost, including an important receipt I needed to give to Tiger Boy, and (still in my wallet, no joke) a voucher for ~$25 at the Harvard Book Store from my last selling-off of books there a year ago. :-) Now if only I could turn up the gym-membership voucher I won in a Maimonides raffle in March 2009!
MBTA minimal-hassle refund
If you are in the Kendall T station outbound, where there is (at least on the weekend) no longer any attendant on site, and the turnstile takes your money but the gate does not open... posted on the turnstiles is a "help" phone number you can call, (617) 222-3200, where someone will take your info and mail you a new CharlieCard with the amount of one fare on it, as a refund. (Unfortunately, it won't prevent you from missing your train while you call.)
Cash for your clothes
If you have unwanted clothes/shoes/bags too nice for Goodwill, you can take them to the Garment District store on Broadway near One Kendall Square (around the corner from ITA Software) and they will buy them from you. You have two choices of process:
- While-you-wait: If you have an hour or so to spare, bring your stuff in at least an hour before closing, sign in on their clipboard, and you can either wait around or come back in an hour. They'll go through your stuff item by item, price everything they'll accept, and let you know how much it comes to. You can then take home anything they don't buy.
- Remote: If you don't want to wait around AND are willing to donate everything they don't buy to Dollar-a-Pound (because you're just going to take it to Goodwill anyway otherwise), you can just drop off your bags of stuff with the nice counterpeople (you have to fill out a form), and they will mail you your check/credit once they go through it.
Free books
In general, remember to use your local library. ;-) Specifically: If you have a Minuteman Library Card, you can log into their website using the number on the back of your library card/tag. Then you can stop using your Amazon cart or Goodreads to remind you of the books you find interesting, and instead start saving them to your list, where you can then request them whenever you're ready to read them.
The best way to do this is to drill down to the actual title record of the copy you want, so you make sure to get the mass market paperback rather than the hardcover, or whatever you prefer. You can click "Request" right away, or if you just want to mark it for future use, you can put it on your wish list. Note that there is a crucial difference between "Add to my Lists" (plural) and "Save to my List" (singular) -- the latter is a this-session-only sort of shopping cart, but the former is the more powerful Wish List function where you can store things by category however you choose. In my first session, I opened my Amazon Wish List and "saved for later" Shopping Cart in the next tab, and went through bookmarking all my "it'd be nice to read this someday" titles. Now I actually will, without spending money on them!
In a day or two (or several) you will get an email notice that your books are ready for pickup. Then, at your convenience, just go up to the front desk at your library branch of choice (yes, you do still have to physically go to the library to obtain and return the books) and say you have books on reserve to pick up, and they will hand you the whole pile. Time spent searching the stacks: zero (not that searching the stacks isn't fun as a leisure activity!). You can also renew books online, up to twice, if you haven't finished with them yet. Sweet!
Free computer recycling
As a few of you know, I have been traveling with a dead vintage-1997 desktop computer in my car trunk since, oh, last October, meaning to take it for recycling somewhere. Last night I finally went to Staples (the one in Assembly Square), and they took it off my hands for free to recycle. (You can also trade in any computer for $50 credit on a new one from Staples, as long as the original retail on the new one is $500 or more... not so useful to me, since I next intend to buy a netbook cheaper than that, but still worth noting.)
Postscript: Stay organized
I have been trying to clean stuff out, and I have already found a number of things I thought lost, including an important receipt I needed to give to Tiger Boy, and (still in my wallet, no joke) a voucher for ~$25 at the Harvard Book Store from my last selling-off of books there a year ago. :-) Now if only I could turn up the gym-membership voucher I won in a Maimonides raffle in March 2009!