Trying to live clutter-free

I'm on my way to a simple life.  I purged through my old files, my kids' schoolwork and artwork, along with old magazine clippings, and 2 trunks of memories.  Most of the junk in my life is finally gone.  But how long will it last?

What I'm trying to figure out is how to handle everyday clutter.  Kitchen clutter, study clutter, paper clutter.  I feel inundated with papers EVERY SINGLE DAY.  Whether it's the mail, or school flyers, or articles from magazines that I find interesting, there's always something.

Here are a few tips that I've used to at least condense the amount of paper clutter in my home:
1.  Create a home for everything:  I've set up file folders in a stand on my kitchen counter to organize some of this randomness, but it doesn't contain everything.  I've also bought 2 plastic scrapbooking bins for each of my children to put their schoolwork in.  At least that part is organized.

2.  Find a basket to put everything else:  I also have a basket for all of these papers that I intend to organize at another time.  I think as long as I keep the basket down to one, compared to the one in every room system that I used to have, then it'll be much more manageable.

3.  Stop the junk mail.  There are a few sources to get rid of your junk mail, and although I still receive some, it's not nearly as bad as it used to be.
Here are a few links to help you get started:
www.directmail.com/directory/mail_preference/ 
http://www.donotmail.org/
http://www.ecocycle.org/junkmail/index.cfm

4.  Get your news or magazines online or at the library.  Less clutter to get rid of later.

5.  Give yourself distance:  I know my problem is not unique, but most people don't have as hard of a time letting go of these papers like I do.  My "just in case" mentality is exhausting, but if I leave the pile for a month or so, it gives me enough distance to get rid of the stuff without a problem.

6.  Recycle or shred: I have a shredder under my kitchen desk in order to get rid of junk mail containing any personal info in it.  This way I get to the biggest culprit immediately.  And then recycle the rest.

I still flock to the magazines that tout in bold letters "organize and de-clutter your house in 3 easy steps", thinking it'll have some transformative information that will rid me of this problem forever.  But nothing is fool-proof and obviously, I still have this problem.  So, if you have a method that works for you, please share it so I can make my kitchen desk a little less cluttered.  I'd greatly appreciate it.

Now where did I put that field trip permission slip....

Vegan, Vegetarian, and Meat-eater, Oh My!

I just finished watching Oprah's episode about her staff going vegan.  I know it's been almost a month since it aired, but it's been sitting on my DVR since then.  Honestly, I was scared to watch it because I wasn't sure how it would affect my eating habits.  I watched the episode a couple of years ago when she first featured Michael Pollen, who made the documentary "Food Inc", and I haven't shopped for food the same since.

The vegan diet has never been something that appealed to me because it seems like it's too much to think about.  How would I get my calcium and protein without milk or meat?  Do I have to start eating things I can't pronounce, like quinoa?  Will I lose so much weight that people will think I'm anorexic?

So, after this vegan episode, I must say it wasn't as scary as I thought it'd be. What I got from it is that you should be conscious of what you're eating and where it comes from.  I buy only organic and free-range meat when it's available at the store, and I try not to buy too many boxed, processed foods.  As Michael Pollen suggested, I try to shop in the perimeter of the grocery store where things are fresh and refrigerated or frozen.

So the ethical question is this: Can I be an animal lover and an environmentalist if I like to eat meat or animal products?  I know for a fact that I will never be vegetarian or vegan.  I like steak, chicken, and cheese too much to give it up (and don't get me started on bacon!).  But I am conscious of where my food comes from and buy from local farms or free-range sources when I can.  I also only eat red meat once a week and make at least one vegetarian meal a week.

I know the environmental impacts of factory farms are detrimental to our water supply and contribute to global warming, but if the farms are smaller, treat the animals humanely, and are more conscious of their impact, then maybe it's not that bad.  Last year, I learned about Temple Grandin (thru the HBO documentary about her life and contributions to the way cattle farms are run) and am relieved to hear that many farms, and even McDonald's, use her methods to treat the animals more humanely.  If more farms were run that way, with more consciousness of how they affect the planet and the animals, we'd all be better off.

In my opinion, I CAN be an environmentalist and animal lover AND eat meat and animal products.  I respect veganists and vegetarians as well.  To each his own, right?  Who said there's only one right way to eat anyway?  Bon Appetit!

Keeping warm: Gas vs. Logs

This year, we seem to have experienced such a long, cold, and agonizing winter.  The weather seems to be warming up a little bit now, but who knows if we have another winter storm ahead of us.  After all, spring is still 5 weeks away.  With so many days at or below freezing, my utility bills have skyrocketed and I wondered about the environmental impacts of the ways people heat their homes.

Do you have a fireplace in your home?  Do you ever wonder if the natural gas logs are better for the environment than the traditional wood-burning stoves?  Are there any alternatives to either choice?

Here are the environmental advantages of having a gas fireplace to heat your home:

• No wood means no trees to cut down 
• It can save 25% on your energy bill
• There are no fumes or particles that are being released into the air, no pollution
• Some models have a blower that circulates the heat into the rest of the home (and if you don't have a blower you could use a ceiling fan switched to turn the opposite way you do in the summer)
• If you lower the thermostat while the fireplace is on, it increases more energy efficiency (and lower bills)

Here are the environmental advantages of having a woodburning fireplaces:

• You can use reclaimed or waste wood to burn; wood that would be taken to the landfill
• They're cheaper to run than conventional heating systems
• Reduces your dependency on electricity and natural gas
• Wood is a renewable resource

And here is alternative source of materials to burn in a woodburning fireplace:
Terracycle, an organization that is based around making products out of trash, has a wonderful product called "eco-friendly fire logs".

• It burns cleaner than the alternatives and gets rid of some of the waste from the landfill.
• They also offer a fire starter product  that is made for woodburning stoves and charcoal grills.  

Another way to stay warm this winter and paying a little less on your energy bills is by lowering your thermostat to 68 degrees (65 at night).  And an even better way to do this is to get a programmable thermostat to regulate the temperature to be lower when you're sleeping and when you're out of the house for long periods of time (like when you're at work).  These are just a few ways to help your wallet survive this winter.  Remember, only 5 weeks to go.   :)

Memory Clutter--good riddance!!

As I've mentioned before, I have a terrible memory.  Blame it on the wine I've consumed in the last 15 years or maybe on my 2 kids (I never got over pregnancy brain, apparently).  Whatever the reason is that I can't remember anything, I've kept too many things hoping it would trigger some memory of an event that has occurred in my life.  Unfortunately, it doesn't work too well.

I've kept two foot-locker trunks full of crap memorabilia that I am starting to go through and purge.  The tip I gave a few posts ago about giving yourself distance really works.  I've given myself 20+ years distance on a lot of the stuff and can't remember why I kept half of it.  My goal is to condense them into just one trunk.

Remember when we used to pass notes in class, as in the ones written on a piece of paper?  For those of you young folks who only know texts and emails, this is the way we communicated in the old days.  I found at least a dozen shoeboxes full of these notes and discovered that I had the past all wrong.  Maybe I was romanticizing it, but I kind of wish I never opened up that pandora's box, literally.

While I don't remember most of the details of my high school years, I do remember the lessons of these events, or bad friendships/relationships.  Isn't that what counts anyway?  I regret a lot of the decisions I made back then, but there are no do-overs in life, so it is what it is.  I am who I am because of those decisions.

I'll admit that I don't remember a lot of the people from my high school who have friended me on Facebook, but does it really matter how we were back then if we've become better people now?  I'm glad I don't hold on to the past because I don't think I would have made the friends from my high school that I have made this past year.  Maybe losing my mind isn't such a bad thing after all.

I can't wait to get rid of more stuff and be done with it forever.  It's very cathartic to let go of the past in such a permanent way. I would've burned that stuff as a symbolic gesture but sent it to the recycling instead (because burning it wouldn't have been very eco-friendly, now would it).  Revealing the "drama" that I went through as a teenager makes me so thankful of the life I have today, and a little anxious of what's to come in the future with my kids when they become teenagers.

So this week's eco-tip is to let go of the past and your memory clutter.  You'll find that most of it has no significance whatsoever.  And remember to recycle it if you can.

Thanks for reading!
Next week: gas logs vs. woodburning fireplaces

Surviving the winter, the eco-mami way

For those of us in the DC area, we dodged quite a few storms while the Southeast and Northeast got slammed with snow for the past few months.  Unfortunately, our luck ended this week and I've had kids with cabin-fever.  No, it's nothing like "snowpocalypse" from last year, where we had about 2 weeks of cancelled school, (at least that's what it felt like).  However, it's been bad nonetheless.  A teacher workday and 3 snow days and the week's to-do list went out the window before I even got started.

But like a good boy scout, you must be prepared.  I've managed to occupy them with things like building forts, doing schoolwork (sometimes computer games so they don't realize they're doing homework), playing out in the snow, or making crafts.  As hard as it may seem, it IS possible to keep them busy without just turning on the TV.  Don't get me wrong, I still turned it on between some of these activities, but not for hours on end.

Some more ideas for staying busy while you're snowed in or if it's too cold to play outside:

• Cooking together: My kids love to help me bake goodies or make dinner.  (And you can teach them math without them realizing it).
• Scrapbooking: Maybe it's not a gender neutral thing, but my daughter loves it. 
• Board games: The kids just got a bunch of games over the holidays so that kept us quite busy.
• Stock up: not just on groceries.  Head to the library before the storm hits and get a bunch of books and movies for both you and the kids.  

Obviously, I haven't had much time to do things that I need to be doing, such as continuing my purging mission, but I figure that crap isn't going anywhere.  So I'm taking this time to enjoy my kids, let them have fun on their own or with me, and the rest of the stuff on my list will be there when they go back to school.

How is any of this eco-friendly?
Less TV wastes less energy.  Making crafts with recycled materials is less wasteful.  Making our own snacks is better since it requires no packaging (which means less waste).  And hopefully these activities will be passed on to my children's children when they look back on how we survived yet another snowstorm.

Stay warm, everyone!

The eco-papi challenge

As much as I have tried, I just can't convert my husband into becoming as environmental as I would like him to be.  No amount of begging, bargaining, or nagging has made him concerned enough to take his reusable bags to the grocery store (and I have them stored in his car for his convenience).  Instead of getting too frustrated, I see it as a challenge that if I can convert him then I can convert ANYone.

Leaving the lights on is something seemingly simple that he could change.  Unfortunately, it's still a bad habit of his so I'm thinking of installing those automated lights that only turn on when triggered by motion.  Maybe that'll save me some time by not having to follow him all over the house turning the lights off.  And will help with the power bill too. :)

Another eco-unfriendly habit he has is idling in the driveway every night when he comes home because he's usually on the phone for work.  (The phone is hooked into his car's speaker system and sometimes when he turns off the car it hangs up the call).  Idling is a big pet peeve of mine since it wastes gas, pollutes the air, and wastes natural resources.

I'll give him credit on at least trying to recycle.  Right now he errs on the side of caution and throws everything into the recycling bin.  Of course, not everything is recyclable but at least he's not throwing everything in the trash.  I guess it can be confusing knowing what exactly is recyclable and what isn't.  I'm always looking for the magic triangle underneath packaging to see if the number is accepted in my local landfill (which is usually just #1 and #2).

Thankfully, there are a few things he doesn't have much choice on when it comes to living green.  Since I do most of the cleaning, grocery shopping, and cooking, he has to eat what I make, use the products that I have in the house, while not changing a single thing about his daily routine.

He's not completely hopeless.  I guess as long as there's one participating member of the household that's willing to go green, that's enough to make a little positive impact on the planet.  One day in the future I hope to blog about his miraculous transformation into eco-papi, but until that day I'll do enough for the both of us.  It's better than nothing, right?

Purging: Part 2

So you want to get rid of your stuff but don't know how to go about it in an eco-friendly way?

Here are a few suggestions on what to do with the things you no longer want in your home.

Last week I mentioned a few ways to get rid of your clutter in order to simplify your surroundings.  

A quick recap:
- Scan as many papers as you can (& don't forget to backup the computer)
- A place for everything, everything in it's place
- Go through your kids belongings every few months to weed out the toys & clothes no longer used
- Designate a spot to put things to sell, donate, consign, or give away (freecycle)
- Recycle what you can
- If you have a lot of personal papers no longer needed, take to a shredding event in your community

Here are 5 more tips on how to declutter & get rid of your stuff:

Tip #1: Pick a "home" for the stuff & make sure it fits in it.
One of the most useful tips on those hoarders/organizational shows is to pick a container for your stuff (it's new home) and make it a goal to fit everything in that place.  The example one show used was a house overrun with toys.   Their solution was to condense to only what could fit in one bin.

Tip #2: Get rid of something before bringing something else in
As an incentive not to build clutter in the future, that same couple was told to make sure they got rid of something before they brought something else in.  That's another GREAT tip, which could be applied to the closet, the kitchen, the bookcase, or any other room in your house.

Tip #3: Baby steps
You can't expect to declutter your house, or even one room, in a day.  But if you do a little bit (15 minutes) a day it will progress.  Before you know it you'll have cleared out a space and wonder why you didn't do it before.  It seemed to be a daunting task for me to get rid of the papers and papers and papers that I had in almost every room in the house, but I'm chipping away at it and feel great after a day's worth of purging.

Tip #4: Give yourself some distance
Every school year when the kids get out of school, I go through their papers and instantly throw out the things I don't want to keep.  However, as time goes by, I wonder why I kept most of the stuff to begin with.  The longer you wait to get rid of the stuff, the less you'll keep.

Tip #5: Make a photo book
For your children's artwork and some school projects that you want to keep, you could scan them into your computer and make a photo book.  Sites like Shutterfly or Snapfish are great places to get these things made, often at discounted prices if you become a member.  This is definitely on my to-do list once I condense the piles and piles of stuff I want to keep.  You can keep those drawings without adding to the amount of crap you already have in your house.  Lovely!

Some more suggestions on where to take the stuff you don't want:
Books: Library or used book store
Toys & baby items: Church, daycare, preschool, some high schools
Clothes: Planet Aid bins, consignment, yard sale, thrift store, homeless shelter
And everything else: consignment, homeless shelter, ebay/craig's list, freecycle

I've been purging for about a week now and it is mentally exhausting.  But with the goal of having a simplified and clutter-free home, it's worth every minute.

Declutter and simplify!

Maybe I've been watching too many hoarders shows on cable TV or maybe I'm just sick of looking at the clutter in my house these days, but I'm on a purging mission.

Since I moved in with my husband 14 years ago, we've moved 11 times.  Out of those places we lived in each place less than 3 years, with the exception of our townhouse where we lived for 4 years.  I have moved the same crap from house to house for 14 years. So now, since this is the last house we'll live in til we retire (I hope!), I am taking it upon myself to finally purge of this shhhtuff.

It's a very liberating experience, and I've always wanted to live more simply.  I have what the organizational experts call "memory clutter", and LOTS of it.  I keep ticket stubs, theater programs, and city maps of places I've been.  Mainly it's because I have the worst memory and would forget about these events otherwise.

But on the other hand, I'm very type-A and believe in "a place for everything, and everything in it's place". I also believe in the technique of getting rid of something if you bring in something new.  I go through the kids toys, books, and clothes as often as I can (once every 2 months or so) and have a designated spot in my storage room where I'll either sell the stuff (in a yard sale or consignment sale), or I'll donate it.  My husband gave me a scanner for Christmas which has me scanning recipes, articles and, hopefully soon, receipts so I can have less mounds of paper in my life.

Knowing the stuff isn't going into a landfill is the most gratifying thing for me.  And getting it out of my house is the best feeling in the world.  Breathing a little easier without stressing about this junk in my life is the best reward, and not a bad way to start out the new year.

Hope you can purge and de-clutter your space in order to live more simply.  Remember to recycle the papers you get rid of and back up any files you put into your computer.  Also, get a shredder to dispose of personal documents or take your stuff to a community shredding event.

Happy purging!

Need a resolution? Take the eco-mami challenge

The holidays are over and it's time to look forward to the new year.  Most people make resolutions to lose weight, save money, and live a healthier lifestyle.  If you take the eco-mami challenge you could knock all of these out at once!  When you learn to live green it'll amaze you how much better you'll feel about your body, your budget, and your planet.

Here are 5 simple steps to get you started.  And if you're new to this blog, look at my previous posts for more ideas.  

Step 1:  Recycle.
So easy, a 2 yr old can do it.  Plastic, cardboard, paper, cereal boxes, aluminum, glass. It's all recyclable and less to go in the landfill.  Bonus: less to put in your garbage means less trash bags, which will save you money.

Step 2:  Eat less meat.
I'm not vegetarian but I try to eat one meat-less meal at least once a week.  Bonus: buying less meat will cost you less at the grocery store, and is much healthier for your body.

Step 3:  Reduce.
Buy less disposable things, such as one-use items like juice-boxes and buy in bulk instead.  Be more aware of the waste in product packaging.  Bonus: it will save you money, guaranteed.

Step 4:  Reuse.
Use reusable water bottles, mugs, lunch bags, and tupperware.  Get a filtered water pitcher instead of buying bottled water.  Bonus:  this will also save you money, guaranteed.  After buying these things once it will pay for itself ten-fold before you know it.

Step 5:  Clean green.
Go the non-toxic route in cleaning your house.  See my previous post about green cleaning for recipes on making your own cleaners.  Or buy non-toxic products such as Method or Seventh Generation.  Bonus:  this will save you LOTS of money and is much better for your health.  

These five simple steps will get you on your way to live green, save you money, and will improve your health.  Not a bad way to start 2011.  Happy New Year!!!

Holiday gift waste

The holidays are over and you've gotten everything you wanted, and some you didn't.  There are always those people who give you stuff because they think they're expected to, but have absolutely no idea what you like so just buy any random thing so they don't come empty-handed.  The thought was wonderful, but what you got isn't the most practical and will just collect dust in the back of a closet somewhere in your house.

So did you get something this year that you have absolutely no use for whatsoever, like another hot pink snuggie or maybe a sweater that doesn't fit you AT ALL?  What are your options for getting rid of these things without throwing them in the trash?

Freecycle or donate:
This is a great way to get rid of those things you don't need or want and give them to those less fortunate.  Win-win!

Dress up trunk:
Save outdated clothes or those that don't fit for a dress up trunk for the kids in your life (nieces, nephews, and grandchildren count too).


Regift: 
For those last minute gifts, keep an extra drawer or closet shelf with some of these gifts (and put a piece of tape with the giver's name on it so you know who NOT to regift it to).  Some people say regifting is tacky, but I say it's environmental.  Better than ending up in the trash or not being used at all, right?


Have a swap party: 
Have everyone bring those gifts they don't want or can't use and have a party!  These swapping parties can be lots of fun as long as you don't invite anyone who has given you anything recently.  Don't want to be put in that awkward situation.

Check out this article on NPR about the value of gifts and swapping.
Hope these ideas will help you give those unwanted gifts a new home.  Just don't tell your great-Aunt Mildred I told you to get rid of her crocheted vest.  ;-)

Be sure to tune in to next week's post about making a green resolution.  Happy New Year!