Archive for the 'Green Living' Category
How You Can Profit From Getting Rid of Your Junk
June 24th, 2008 categories: Green Living, Redding, Ridgefield, Selling Your House, Talking Real Estate, Wilton
You’ve decided to sell, you’re moving or you just need to clear some junk out of your house. Living in Ridgefield, I can tell you how to do it quickly, easily and profitably. I help all of my real estate clients clean-out their homes and ready them for sale. Here’s 4 ways to make it easy and profitable. I love this stuff so CALL ME to help you with any of this! 203-313-0414
Craigslist - I use craigslist to sell mostly oversized or bulky items that are tough to ship. Price items to sell quickly, not to make a huge profit and they’ll be gone in a day or 2. Remember, your primary goal is to rid your house of all the stuff you no longer need or use. When moving last year, I sold a sleeper sofa, several old dressers, bikes and more on Craigslist. And the best part is, people show up, pay you and take your stuff away…. easy money!
Freecycle - Free/Recycle… “Freecycle”. It’s a national network of freecyclers with a growing local presence. I’ve been hearing more about Freecycle lately but haven’t yet tried it myself. The idea is if you’ve got something that’s still within it’s useful life but you need to get rid of it, say an old Laz-y-Boy, a washer/dryer or garden tools, there’s someone out there that will take it for their own use. This gets it out of your house and keeps it out of the landfill; very environmentally friendly. Although you get no cash for your stuff, you get it removed for free.
eBay - I use eBay mostly for things of relatively high value that are easy to ship. I’ve sold used mp3 players, cell phones, cameras and more on eBay with little effort and much success. You can set your own price or run an auction. Either way it helps you clear out your attic or basement of old video cameras, telescopes, toys, shoes, clothes and more.
Goodwill - Donate items at Goodwill. Goodwill Industries has convenient drop-off locations throughout the area and can even be called on to pick up furniture and other large items. Here’s a reliable way to donate items and they’ll also give you a receipt for your taxes.
The Dump - When all else fails, take it to the local transfer station. For a fee, you can drop most anything. The trouble is you do all the work and then pay for the privilege of filling a landfill with your old couch. This is usually my last option but they are always ready to take whatever I’m getting rid of.
Remember, I am always available to help you use any of these websites. Together we can get your house de-cluttered and put some cash in your pocket!
Related Posts on Real Estate Chocolate:
- Now You Can Have Local Organic Food and Live Healthier in Ridgefield
- 4 Ways to Live Clean and Green in Ridgefield, CT
- Home Sellers: Don’t Make This Mistake!
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Ridgefield’s Eco-B&B Green Rocks Inn: It Rocks!
June 16th, 2008 categories: Eat, Drink and Be Amused, Green Living, Ridgefield, Talking Real Estate
An ever growing number of people have transformed parts of their lifestyle to be more conscious of sustainability and our environment. So when you travel to the region, there’s no need to leave these good habits at home. In fact, now when you visit family and friends in Fairfield (CT) and Westchester (NY) Counties, you can bring all these important habits with you and even pick up some new ones while staying at Ridgefield’s own Green Rocks Inn.
Green Rocks Inn in Ridgefield, CT
As explained in yesterday’s New York Times article, House Won’t Sell? Turn It Into a B&B, homeowners Kim and Barbara became proprietors of their B&B after Brad (my partner on Real Estate Chocolate) floated the idea. What an ingenious way to benefit from a somewhat shifted Ridgefield real estate market and take a home that was slow in selling and turn it into a lifestyle dream come true.
The region’s best B&B is known as much for its hospitality as it is for it’s eco-friendly approach. On her blog, Kim maintains a list of more that 35 ways she keeps her inn green including composting, buying wind-generated electricity, and paperless billing. They also hosted last month’s Green Drinks and have sponsored the Ridgefield Farmers Market.
When traveling to Ridgefield or if you live here and need a place for family and friends to stay, count on the Green Rocks Inn for hospitality, service and an environmentally friendly approach to doing business.
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Now You Can Have Local Organic Food and Live Healthier in Ridgefield
May 20th, 2008 categories: Eat, Drink and Be Amused, Green Living, Ridgefield
Sipping organic wine and making new friend’s at last week’s Green Drinks networking event, it became clear that organic and sustainable living has become a priority for many Ridgefielders.
Ridgefield Farmers Market
The biggest local green news is the opening of the Ridgefield Farmers’ Market. On June 13th, a new era begins for Ridgefield’s localvores: fresh, organic produce, artisan bread and other locally produced products will be for sale on the grass field across from Cellar XV. The market will be open Friday afternoons from 3:00 - 6:00 through October. It’s a step back to a simpler time. There’s quite a buzz building around town and the market is sure to be a big success.
Organic Food in Ridgefield, CT
Over the years, Ridgefielders have enjoyed access to organic food. We’ve relied on Nature’s Temptation (rumor has it that they are moving to a larger store) and The Hickories. Ridgefield Organic Market and Ridgefield Prime have recently opened in Copps Hill Plaza. You can check out additional local sources here: LocalHarvest.
There’s a growing choice of purveyors right in Ridgefield because sustainable living is driving the demand for locally produced, organic food.
Related Posts:
- Ridgefield, CT Gets A New Eco-Friendly Bed & Breakfast: green ROCKS
- 4 Ways to Live Clean and Green in Ridgefield, CT
| Discussion: 1 Comment »
4 Ways to Live Clean and Green in Ridgefield, CT
March 31st, 2008 categories: Green Living, Ridgefield, Talking Real Estate
Live clean, live green! Ridgefield’s First Selectman Rudy Marconi sees protecting our environment as a top priority. Rudy’s many town-wide initiatives include converting 20% of our town’s energy use to “clean energy” by 2010, requiring all town departments to use available recycled products for construction, repair and maintenance and the creation of RACE. Ridgefield is quickly becoming Connecticut’s #1 town to embrace sustainability and smart living.
4 Ways to Live Green in Ridgefield
- Recycle: Did you know that curbside recycling is 3 times less effective than dropping recyclables at the Ridgefield Recycling Center? The recycling center accepts many types of materials that will not be recycled curbside. In fact, if you place just 1 “wrong item” in your blue bin, your hauler will likely just dump the entire bin in with the trash and recycle nothing. Your efforts are wasted and all your recyclables end up the landfill. Instead, many Ridgefielders choose to bring their recyclables to the town recycling center on South St. Learn more about recycling in Ridgefield at the HRRA website.
Compost: Composting at home is a great way to keep unnecessary bio-degradable garbage out of the trash stream and make terrific nutrient-rich soil for your garden at the same time. Put all of your vegetable cuttings, banana peels and more into the compost bin and make your own “black gold”. - RACE: join the folks at the Ridgefield Action Committee for the Environment. Commissioned by Rudy in 2006, RACE educates the town on environmental issues and sustainability like clean energy and anti-idling. RACE has created the Clean Energy Challenge and has forged relationships with like-minded people in neighboring town.
- Clean Energy: Ridgefielders can chose to have Clean Energy delivered right to their home. By selecting the “clean energy option”, each of us can use electricity generated from clean, renewable sources like wind and water. Click here to sign up.
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Ridgefield, CT Gets A New Eco-Friendly Bed & Breakfast: green ROCKS
January 23rd, 2008 categories: Eat, Drink and Be Amused, Green Living, Local Events, Ridgefield, Talking Real Estate
How green ROCKS Inn, a B&B was Born…
This is a story about how creativity and thinking out of the box can change lives and enhance an entire town.
We had a listing in Ridgefield that is quite amazing! It is a beautiful 5 bedroom, 3.5 bath, 4500 sq. ft. home, built at the end of 2004. The house sits on nearly two serene acres abutting many acres of Ridgefield Open Space.
We put the house on the market at the beginning of 2006 and thought it would sell rather quickly. After all, it was brand new, luxury construction on spectacular property convenient to everything! We did everything imaginable to get this house sold, including holding an estate sale at the property to draw buyers. The main reason the house failed to sell was that it is on Rt. 35 (Danbury Rd.) in Ridgefield, a main road, somewhat close to a gas station. It finally became apparent that, unless they dropped the price below their comfort level, it was not going to happen in the current market. I thought, and thought about our dilemma, and finally came up with a possible solution.
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