Going Green by being organized…and the Living Green Expo

Yesterday I spent the day at The Factory in Franklin (an awesome collection of shops, restaurants & event space in an old factory – they also hold the Farmer’s Market there on Saturday mornings & Tuesday afternoons) at the Living Green Expo.

At the Living Green Expo

Excellent event – and got to meet all sorts of businesses that help people and other businesses go green.  Spray on foams, energy efficient windows, natural products (trying out some all natural bug spray this week – we’ll see how it works), and our family favorite, the electric scooters.  They were super cute retro looking bikes that run on electricity. My point of being there was how being organizing can help you go green.  It’s hard to be conscious of green options when it isn’t convenient or easily accessible.  One of the things I work on with my clients who want to be green is to make it easy. Some tips on being organized and green:

• Plan your routes when heading out for the day.  Map out your farthest point and make your stops accordingly.  Determine what tasks need to be done, and which stops are near each other.  I even go so far as to plot which stops are the same side of the road so I don’t have make left turns (my friends do give me a bit of grief about this but, hey, it works!).  Combine errands with trips you are already making, saving gas and time.
• Set up a cabinet or drawer in your kitchen for re-usable containers for lunchboxes, storage and more.  Get away from plastic bags and disposable items.
• Have a designated location for re-usable grocery bags, like my favorite ChicoBags, in a drawer or hanging on a hook.  Keep some in your car for unplanned stops at the store.  If you know right where they are and they are easily accessible, you will be much more likely to use them.
• Use Re-usable Water Bottles, and keep them near the water you drink (mine are in a cabinet right next to the fridge where the filtered water is).  Every plastic bottle you don’t buy is helping the earth – and saving you money.
• Go paperless in your kitchen with rags for cleaning, dish towels for drying hands and cloth napkins.  We haven’t gone as far as going toilet paper-less as in No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal.  Actually don’t think we’ll ever go quite this green!
• Reduce paper from coming into the house by unsubscribing from unread magazines, and removing yourself from junk mail lists and catalogs.
• Set up your recycling center to not only be easy to use but in a convenient location.  No one is going to regularly walk out to the garage for every plastic container.  Trust me on this.

Be mindful of how you want to go green.  What are your goals?  Then look at how you actually live and the setup of your home.  Creating a system that works for you and your family will help you be as green as you want to be.  I can help if you need it.  As your green organizing questions in the comments – and I’ll post an answer – it’s as easy as that!

The Story Of Stuff: timely and fascinating video about, well, stuff

I came across this video “The Story Of Stuff” on twitter (thanks @organizergal), and thought it was just terrific. I often talk to people (whether they want to or not) about how much stuff there is in the world, in their homes and in their lives. Most of my job is helping people either get rid of, or store, stuff. This little movie explains where stuff comes from, how it is made and where it goes. It’s pretty hard core on the environmental bashing and social issues of large corporations and the government, not that there’s anything wrong that, I say.

Here’s the blurb from the site:

“From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.”

Check it out: http://www.storyofstuff.com/

guest post on Small Notebook: kids gifts minus the “stuff”

I recently wrote a guest blog post on one of my favorite blogs, Small Notebook, about gifts for kids that don’t involve stuff like plastic toys from China and shopping at Target or Walmart. Here’s the link and I hope you enjoy: Great Gifts for Kids That Don’t Involve “Stuff”

This is also a great blog to subscribe to – always interesting and well written (and I’m not just talking about my post . Check it out!

feeling out of sorts

My husband recently took a new position with a great company called Conservation Services Group. They do home energy audits and other energy related things, and recently took a contract with TVA to work with local energy companies. This is all great – we’ve closed his inspection company and he’s full time with CSG now. It’s been a lot of work closing the company but we’re just about done, plus we recently switched banks as well so that’s been a handful

I’m usually pretty good with change but all of this has put me off my stride a bit. It’s funny because I have things pretty well organized, as you would expect, so that when all of these little things keep popping up that I’ve not planned for – well, when there are so many of them – it’s getting to me a bit.

I’m thrilled about Bill’s new job, and he’s really enjoying it. The part that is getting to me, I think, is that we used to communicate all day – just checking in, saying hi, touching base. Now, he’s not really available and I miss him. I thought I’d be relieved but it’s hard to get used to.

With his company gone, I’m also at some loose ends. I have more time now to work on my company, which is going well, but I’m at a weird turning point of an end and a new beginning. Things with the old company aren’t completely wrapped up, and I can’t completely focus on the where I want to go.

I think I need a little vacation. Hmmm . . . I think that’s the ticket. Maybe a complete mental break (not a breakdown!) would be beneficial. I had an email from a friend who is also feeling out of sorts – some family issues and a recent decision to home school a child, and another who is having some financial and marital issues with a husband out of work. I think I need to call a margarita night – only those who want to gripe and complain are invited. We’ll have a major bitch session and get it all out of our systems. Maybe even come up with some solutions but I suspect just venting will be enough.

I’m at a point where a lot of my clients have been and it’s humbling and eye opening . . . as well as a learning process. Luckily, I’ve got more resources than many do with my knowledge, my family, my circle of friends and business acquaintances that I can move on but it’s an odd place to be . . . out of sorts.

less is more . . . and breathing is good

I work with a lot of clients who have trouble remembering things, or misplace their stuff. I always tell them that it is pretty normal to do this – even us

It's just like when I purged my daughter's room and got rid of over half of her toys and furniture. She ended up playing with her things way more than she ever did, and played in HER room instead of strewing things around the house. It's the same with me. We've moved into our smaller house (less than 1100 square feet); I've pared down my closet, my cupboards, my files, my staging supplies; I've reduced commitments and really give thought to what I wanted to do instead of what I thought I should do. I mean, is life as we know it going to end if we don't go to the school spirit night at CiCi's pizza? or if I choose not to volunteer for a committee or scrub the tub whether it needs it or not? While it is good to do some charity work or help out at the schools, I've realized that I don't have to be the one who has to do everything.

And I feel that I can breathe.

I don’t feel like shopping much, because, honestly, I have no place to put anything. Everything that is around me is something that I either love, or use. And it’s awfully nice when those two things combine. I know I’ve written about this before but I’ve been thinking about this a lot. Our economy having this downturn is not a good thing for many people but our family, at least, has used it as a way to re-evaluate our lives and what we want out of things. We’d started this downsizing of our life well before the economy and real estate market tanked – and now I’m glad that we did. Check out my closet – I just don’t feel like adding anything to it

So it’s not that hard for me to put my hands on the things I need because there’s not that much space in which to look, nor is there much for me to look for. It’s not that hard to keep track of my commitments because there aren’t that many extraneous ones – and the ones I have are all on my calendar.

Sometimes I find this awkward when working with a client because who wants to hear that they’ve got too much stuff to do or things around them? Some people are open to it but many are resistant because change is hard. That’s not to say my way is the only way, by any means. But I’ve always wondered about people who say, I wish I could . . . . And then never do anything about it.