The Reality Reports

Getting rid of an old mattress seems simple until you try to stuff it in your car or realize your trash service won't take it.  Americans throw away about 20 million mattresses each year, and most end up in landfills where they take up massive amounts of space and can take decades to break down. The good news is that up to 90 percent of mattress materials can be recycled or reused if you know where to take them.

Books: The Silent Travelers Books top the list of borrowed items that seem to vanish into thin air. Whether it's a novel from a friend or a textbook from a classmate, books have a way of blending into our personal collections.  The borrower often forgets where the book came from, especially after months pass by. Meanwhile, the lender assumes their book found a good home and hesitates to ask for it back.