Cleaning out the cabinets, part II

I've been doing some major cabinet purging lately and amassed piles of stuff from the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry room that I really wanted to avoid tossing out, but knew my family would never use them again. Beth's recent email to us also got me motivated to find reuse organizations for as much as I could. Happily, I managed to find homes for almost everything:

• Kitchen: An old mixer and Dustbuster, both working great; sturdy Avent sippy cups; plastic toddler forks and spoons; a wok and some miscellaneous kitchen utensils went to the Oregon Community Warehouse. I love this organization because they work directly with Portlanders in desperate need of household items.
• Laundry Room: Lots and lots of mainstream cleaning products, most partially-used, like Drano, Comet Cleanser, Soft Scrub and industrial-strength floor cleaner (why did we buy this?) all went to the Good Neighbor Center in Tigard. I'd never heard of this organization before, but they are a shelter that serves many families with young children. In addition to the cleaning products, the Good Neighbor Center also gladly accepted items from my...
• Bathroom: Half-used shampoos, skin lotions, bug spray, shaving cream -- products we'd tried or bought on impulse and didn't like. Also, baby lotions and diaper cream that we no longer need. The only products I was unable to get rid of were expired prescription medications. I took them to the Burlingame Fred Meyer pharmacy and was told that they are unable to dispose of them. The technician suggested I burn them in the fireplace! Obviously, not an option. Anyone have luck getting rid of medications? (Renee, I swear you took yours to Fred's.)

I was really appalled at the amount of stuff we had just sitting and gathering dust -- particularly the cleaning and personal hygiene products. Sure, we could have used them up, but it would have taken years with the cleaning products, and I really don't want that stuff in my house anymore. All of the lotions and potions made me realize that I really need to stop and think before buying anything like this -- this is where the REDUCE part of the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle equation comes in. I'm glad that someone can use it, but what a waste of money (and resources)!