DR. WALLACE: I'm a guy who is 16 and will turn 17 in April, and I'm very interested in recycling and being responsible throughout my lifetime to help our planet. Once I reached the age of 16 and 1/2, my father allowed me to get my driver's permit and now allows me to use the family car a few hours per week.

When I first learned how to drive, gasoline was very expensive, but now it is absolutely outrageous! The good news is for the past year and a half I've gotten my family to be very organized regarding recycling, and since it was all my idea, my parents allow me to take any recyclable glass, aluminum or plastic to our local recycling center and to keep the money for my efforts.

Now, however, it almost seems I will be losing money to put gas in the car to drive to the recycling center! Do you think the prices that recycling centers pay for these materials will start to go up so that I can once again make this a profitable venture? Even if it isn't, I'll still keep doing it because I want to be a responsible person, but I'd sure like to make a little extra cash along the way. — Interested in doing my part, via email

INTERESTED IN DOING MY PART: I commend you both for your interest in taking care of our planet — and you're developing entrepreneurial instincts! Although I'm not sure whether or not prices paid for recyclable materials will rise in the near future, I do have a specific suggestion for you.

Simply tell the exact story you told to me to every friend, neighbor and acquaintance in person within driving distance of your home. You might even be able to post an advertisement in the local community newsletter for this purpose explaining your age, the reasons you're doing this and the fact that you would like to make it a profitable venture. I trust there are other families and individuals in your neighborhood who would gladly collect their recyclables and allow you to pick them up for free on a designated day when you decide to take your recyclables to the recycling center. This way, you can build a lot more volume, and this will help defray your gasoline expenses and make your trip much more efficient both for yourself and for our planet!

Be sure to explain this specific logic to those you meet and interact with, and I trust you'll soon have a growing base of "clients" you can serve and assist to do their part as well, with the added bonus of helping out a hard-working, ecologically minded young man.

MY ROOM IS MESSY!

DR. WALLACE: I'm a very busy 17-year-old girl. Now that the pandemic is over, I'm back in school in person and I've hit the ground running! I have a full load of high school classes and I participate in two different after school activities. I also have an active social life. I have many good friends and even a steady boyfriend who has been with me the past six months.

My problem is that my room does get pretty messy from time to time. I'm so busy that I don't always put everything away, which bothers my mother greatly. At least three times a week, she pokes her head in my room and tells me to clean it up. She even once told me that I should clean it up before school even if it made me late one particular day because it was really messy! Of course, I still caught the bus on time and did not arrive late to school.

How can I get my mom to back off a little and to understand that I'm really busy every day? And by the way, I have a 3.4 grade point average, so I'm a serious student who works hard in school. — Not the tidiest girl, via email

NOT THE TIDIEST GIRL: I do have a suggestion for you and that is to sit down with your mom one Saturday afternoon and negotiate something you can both live with. Tell her you understand where she is coming from and explain how busy you are but do mention that you'd indeed like to do better in this area. Just bringing it up proactively in this manner will give a great chance to negotiate something you'll both likely find to be reasonable.

Perhaps you can agree to keep certain areas slightly more clean during the week then you are presently doing. Then, see if she will accept a more thorough cleaning every other weekend. This hopefully will not cut into your busy schedule too much, but it will accomplish two important things. First, it will make your mother happy and less likely to constantly remind you of your shortcomings; and second, you'll start building some slightly tidier habits that will benefit you going forward in your life.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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