What to Do With Your Untapped Crafty Inspirations

When it comes to decluttering your home, one category of items that often comes up is craft supplies that fall into the category of “seemed like a good idea at the time.” We all have projects we wanted to get to in an ideal world, but just don’t seem to get done. When you uncover unfinished projects and dormant hobbies as you clear your clutter, make a list and decide which ones actually fit into your current lifestyle. For each item on the list, either give yourself a short-term deadline to take action or cut yourself some slack and remove it from your list. Most people feel a huge sense of relief when they decide to take some projects and even fun hobbies off their mental to-list and clear the gear and supplies from their home.

When it comes to crafting, projects often come with piles and bins of creative supplies. For creative-types who had a vision for the ribbons, fabric, buttons and egg cartons, it can be hard to let these go into the dumpster. Re-Nest wrote a great post with five possible outlets for your excess crafting supplies. If you decide it’s time to part with supplies that are collecting dust rather than serving as your creative outlet, check out these options in your community. Some of the same programs may also want gear and equipment for your past or theoretical hobbies.

Bottom Line: Do yourself a favor by reclaiming space in your home and life for the activities that matter most to you now, while giving others in your community a chance to enjoy your unused crafty inspirations!

Photo Credit

Home Improvement You Can Feel Good About

If you have home improvement projects on your fall agenda, Habitat for Humanity’s Re-Stores may be a great resource to help you stay green and save some green! Re-Stores sell usable and surplus building materials to the public at a fraction of the retail price. This may include fixtures, appliances, building materials and even furniture.

On the other end of the equation, Re-Stores also accept donations of new or gently used items that can be re-sold to others. The proceeds help local Habitat affiliates build homes in their community.

Bottom line: For home improvement you can feel good about, check out the web site for local Re-Stores near you.

Refresh Your Nest with Re-Nest

While checking my e-mail today, I was introduced to an on-line resource for green design and living that I wanted to share - www.Re-Nest.com. Re-Nest is part of the Apartment Therapy family - I receive daily e-mails from Apartment Therapy and absolutely love to click through the daily House Tour photos - one of my favorite daily indulgences. I can’t believe I’d previously ignored Re-Nest...until now.

This simple site contains posts on a variety of useful and/or entertaining topics. I especially enjoyed 13 Products That Are Unnecessary and Wasteful. Looking at lists like this helps keep your shopping filter sharp and focused - do I really need this or do I already have something that can do that job...or does the ‘job’ even need to be done? This doesn’t mean these items don’t serve the purpose their makers intend them to, but most of us are better off adopting a ‘less is more’ philosophy when it comes to our homes.

The Re-Nest House Tours can also give you some great ideas to refresh home with furniture and other household items you already own. As we all know, not buying new stuff is one of the best ways to conserve resources.

Bottom Line: I hope you enjoy this site as much as I am. I just added it to my Google Reader so I can get a regular dose of great green ideas!

Lunch-to-Go: Green Style!

With the beginning of school upon us, now is a great time to think about how to go green with your family’s lunch routine. For kids and adults, taking lunch from home is a great way to save money and can also make it easier to stick to a healthy routine. Lunch from home can also easily be a green way to eat, especially when compared to day after day of take-out in disposable containers. Here are some great products to help you and your family reduce lunch-time waste.

One of my favorite discoveries are Lunch Skins made by 3 Green Moms. These super-cute, food-safe and dishwasher-safe snack and sandwich bags in various sizes and patterns completely eliminate the need for plastic baggies or aluminum foil in the lunch bag.

And speaking of lunch bags, while kids have always had a variety of lunch bag and box options, adults now have super-sleek and easy to-go options, such as BUILT’s line of lunch totes. These neoprene totes zip close and help insulate foods and can be thrown in the washing machine to keep them clean. No more brown bag lunches!

A great set of reusable food storage containers, such as Rubbermaid’s Easy Find Lids line can help round out your green lunch routine. You can also pick up some biodegradable, reusable cutlery and of course quench your thirst with reusable BPA-free water bottles, such as the WaterWeek bottles we highlighted in July.

Bottom Line: Do lunch-from-home in green style with great reusable products the whole family will love!

Photo Source: www.lunchskins.com

Recycling Gone Wrong

If you have ever wondered whether something should/could be recycled, you are not alone. While recycling can be a great way to conserve resources, it only works well when people a) understand their local recycling guidelines and b) follow them.

I live in a large condo building and we have a recycling system in place for both paper and plastic/metal containers. Unfortunately, it is very clear whenever I go to empty my bins into our larger dumpsters that the guidelines are not being followed by everyone, which always makes me wonder what happens to our recycling pick up - does it end up in the trash or is the trash sifted out of the mix? While I don’t know the answer for our recycling provider - something I could probably look into - I do know that becoming familiar with your local guidelines and making sure you and your family follow them is a great place to start. You can also make sure you do what you can to eliminate waste altogether from you home - recycled or not. Reduce your need for bags and take-out food or beverage containers by using reusable bags, water bottles and coffee mugs and buy items with less packaging whenever you can.

There are also some fairly common items that you may be surprised to learn are not good candidates for recycling. Earth911.com compiled them in their article What NOT to Put in the Bin. Check out the article and make sure you are not contributing to recycling confusion.

Bottom Line: Get to know your local recycling guidelines and make sure you’re playing by the rules.

Stay Cool in Style

Staying hydrated is a must-do in this sweltering summer heat! Don’t take the chance that water will be available wherever you’re going. Bring it with you in these stylin’, organized and green WaterWeek refillable water bottles available at The Container Store.

There are five 16 oz water bottles and a convenient tray to keep them lined up in your refrigerator. Fill them all up and hand one to each family member as they head out the door, or if it’s just you, you’re set for the week! The bottles are BPA-free and dishwasher safe. What more could you ask for?! This is an example of a great tool that can help you stay healthy, green and organized. Just remember to wash and refill your bottles pronto, so you’re always ready to go.

I don’t own this neat set yet, but it’s on my list for my next Container Store trip!

Photo Source: www.containerstore.com

Less Paper, Please

Lately, I have been helping several clients dig through files and piles of paper. The amount of paper that we are digging through and getting rid of (recycling and shredding) is mind-boggling. And what’s worse is that in many cases, it continues to come through the door on a daily basis…and no, it’s not really the mailman’s fault…a perfect use for ‘don’t shoot the messenger.’

Managing all of this paper is less than fun and definitely less than green. The good news is, there are things you can do to reduce the flow of new paper coming in the door, which will not only save trees, but also your time and sanity!

Just Say ‘No’ to Junk Mail – Most of us get mail we did not ask for and do not want. While it may seem overwhelming, tackling this issue at the root is much more effective and green than continuing to throw it in the recycling bin or shredder as it comes in. Fortunately, several groups have put together resources to help you tackle junk mail. Here are a few that I’ve found, and I’m sure there are many others:

‘Do it yourself' kits/instructions for removing yourself from major junk mail lists and reducing your junk mail overall (I have not used but they all have similar info and easy-to-follow instructions):

http://www.catalogchoice.org/

http://stopjunkmail.org/resident.htm

http://www.donotmail.org/form.php?id=50

http://www.ecocycle.org/junkmail/index.cfm

This service charges a fee - I have used this and have definitely seen a reduction overall in my mail:
http://precycle.tonic.com/

Go Paperless – Another very effective tactic is to ‘go paperless’ (i.e. stop getting paper statements) for some or all of your accounts. If you have been reluctant to do this for fear of not having access to your information, missing a payment or simply losing track of your accounts, there are on-line solutions for account access and management.

You can check with your account institutions about access to old information if/when you need it. Newer information is easily accessible via secure online access (which you may already have even if you haven’t gone paperless). Personally, I prevent missed bills by enrolling in the auto-pay options for recurring bills. Email notifications when monthly on-line statements are ready prompt me to log-in to make sure all is well. We also use a money management software that downloads transactions – I check this on a weekly basis, so I feel pretty aware of what’s going on with my accounts.

Stop Subscribing to Magazines You Don’t Have Time to Read – Enough said…you will save money, time, and the guilt of recycling without reading (in addition to trees).

Regular Weeding - While those are the biggest things you can do to reduce paper flow into your home, regular weeding of your files is also an important part of the equation. This has several benefits including keeping you aware of what you have and where it is and making sure there is room to file new items that you do need to keep. If your files could use some purging, take a look at The Container Store’s record keeping guidelines (it’s best to check with your accountant for financial paperwork).

Be Selective – Last but not least, I always remind clients that every new account they have is something they will have to manage, paperless or not. Whenever possible, keep it simple by minimizing the number of bank, credit, store, and rewards accounts. This is not to say you shouldn’t sign up for things that make sense for you, just think before you act and you’ll save yourself unnecessary work and paper!