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Useful Things I Learned Over This Past Week
Friday, July 30th, 2010 09:33 am
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. ( how it works ) Edited to add: Finally got my gift card in the mail three weeks later. They condescended to buy one piece out of the two bags I brought in. ONE. (A black Halston blazer, for the record. I loved it but it was too big for me anymore.) Oh well, it's still $12 I wouldn't have had from Goodwill.
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. ( best ways to do this ) 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. ( how it works ) Edited to add: Finally got my gift card in the mail three weeks later. They condescended to buy one piece out of the two bags I brought in. ONE. (A black Halston blazer, for the record. I loved it but it was too big for me anymore.) Oh well, it's still $12 I wouldn't have had from Goodwill.
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. ( best ways to do this ) 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!
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