Sandra, it seems that a good way to recycle furniture would be to disassemble it and send metal to recycling, filling to reuse or recycling, cloth to reuse of some sort (paper is made from "linen" which simply means fiber of many types) and wood to reuse, burn, chip, and do something mulch-like with it. Etc. Disassembling furniture would take a lot less time than building it. That said, there is probably no profit from it so an altruistic approach is my recommendation.

I picked up two chandeliers in the neighbor's trash a few years ago. Shiny brass, made in Spain probably in the late 1960s. Most of the prisms were intact. I got replacement prisms (perfect match) and sold the two on eBay, made $250 between them. People really are careless about what goes to the dump.

Declutter of a different sort: yesterday got a call about a cancellation on the calendar at the Gastro's office, so I'm scrambling to prepare for the once-every-five-years colonoscopy next week. It bugs me that they insist you stop eating the things that keep you regular so the prep "works better." All that low-fiber diet does is make the prep worse when it happens. At least it will be over with and I don't have too long to dwell on it.

Meanwhile, I've decided to take a new approach (for me) to cleaning: Dust before it gets so bad that the duster fills quickly and required many trips out. I started this in November before the holidays and have now been dusting every couple of weeks (instead of much longer intervals). Seems to be working. Housekeeping is not my long suit - the thing I do most often around here is sweep up dog hair several times a week.