Is your home a computer graveyard?

Mine is!

Is yours?

Today's decluttering challenge for you: Find and recycle the dead or surely dying computers and computer peripherals.

After you've wiped your hard drive, go rid yourself of them. If you're not married to a computer geek, PC World has instructions for completely erasing a hard drive. You can look up a recycling center near you at www.earth911.com.

My six-year-old laptop bit the dust on Sunday. Even though the husband built his own desktop and is something of an IT genius he couldn't figure out how to fix it. I tried to use the old macbook I've had since college but it only boots up long enough to grab a few files before it chokes. Two computers dead in a weekend. Argh.

At least I can get another decluttered item out of this. On to...

The Reckoning!

Decluttered item 49: my Dell laptop.

Cost: Gifted to me when I took my first telework job in 2009. It was three years old then and had been beat on by medical students all during that time.

Why I decided to get rid of it: Four words: blue screen of death. I have a desktop, so no need to keep the laptop and no need to replace it either.

Fate: Best Buy recycling immediately after we wiped the hard drive. If you are getting rid of a laptop, don't forget to do this!!

Money lost on junk: Still $208.