Organizing items no longer needed

After surveying all the goodies from the holidays, you want to get organized.  Stop a moment before you just throw everything in the garbage. What you throw in your garbage  ends up in the landfill.  Please consider donating clothes , recycling your electronics, etc.

In 2005, the EPA estimated that unwanted electronics represented 1.9 to 2.2 million tons of trash. The majority of these products, about 1.5 to 1.9 million tons, were discarded in landfills with only 345,000 to 379,000 tons recycled.

To recycle electronics:

http://www.econewonline.com/

Throwplace, “the internet’s landfill alternative”, allows you to donate goods that can be used by non-profits. Your non-profit can also sign up to get goods as well. Registration is free.

http://www.throwplace.com/

For more ideas, check out my green resources page:

http://www.healingorganization.com/green-resources/

Post Holiday: Organizing your Decorations

The New Year is almost here!  Save yourself some time and stress by organizing your holiday decorations now!

Take all your decorations and place in one area.  Be sure to include anything that is stored but you didn’t use this year.  By putting everything in one area, you will really SEE EVERYTHING you have! Many times people underestimate what they own.

Separate all of your decorations into categories that make the most sense to you: ornaments, lights, stockings. etc. Hint: you might want to do by how you are most likely to retrieve something. Next go through everything once and then again asking yourself “Do I love it and does it fits with who I am?”

Once you have gone though you can decide what you would like to donate or sell.

Pack decorations into containers. I am a huge fan of repurposing empty wine cases to store ornaments.  Label everything.  I suggest making a master inventory list so you don’t have to go through boxes every year. Store in one area.

Donate items to charity and sell the rest.

Try and bring some eco-friendly and green decorations into your celebration next year:  look to the natural world for a source of inexpensive decorations: Gold-tipped pine cones into bowls, pine garlands, dried apple wreaths, etc. are beautiful!  Also, look around your home to see what you can repurpose to store your decorations!

Organzing Your Wrapping/Green Ideas

Still need to wrap?  Here are some suggestions:

Instead of getting all different kinds of wrapping paper for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, birthdays, etc. consider getting just butcher block paper that you can dress up with bows, artworks, etc. ; create  your  signature color (purple should stand out at every event!): or simply choose three colors such as silver, white and red that you can mix and match for the occasion.

When wrapping gifts consider assigning one color for each group of people to make mix ups less likely and easier for you to organize.  Immediate family could be white; co-workers could be red; cousins silver, etc.

Some eco-friendly options instead of wrapping paper include: using newspaper (foreign & comics are good choices); old maps; reusing paper from last year (simply set an iron on low and smooth); leftover fabric; old calendars, catalogs, magazines; jars and other resusable items such as a cake pan.  Have fun getting creative!

Look for non-paper  (http://www.islandnet.com/~ecodette/ecosource.htm)  and high post consumer content ( http://www.endoprint.com/wrapping-paper-s/3.htm&click=16 and   http://www.greenraising.com/Recycled-Gift-Wrap-C12.aspx ) as this closes the loop. Also check out reusable wrapsacks:  http://wrapsacks.com/

Remember to reuse bows; my mother has been doing this since I was a child and they last several gifts.  I also like to use the clear containers curtains come in to keep ribbons.

Repurposing: Sometimes a Necessity

When helping my clients organize I stress the four R’s: reduce, reuse, repurpose and recycle.

Repurposing doesn’t  mean pulling a MacGyver (although I have to admit I always thought it would be cool to have those skills!) and it can be fun when figuring out how to use something in a different way.

I tried, unsuccessfully, to beat the storm on Friday when driving to West Virgnina.  At 3:00 p.m. I stopped and stayed over in Mt. Airy which got over a foot of snow.  I have an emergency kit, but had no shovel or blanket because how often does it snow in Raleigh?

On Saturday I repurposed my ice bucket lid to remove all the snow and scrape the windows as well as shovel the snow to get my car out (the hotel claimed to have no shovel I could borrow!).  It took longer but it got the job done.  I was determined to leave so I just thought outside the box on how I could get going.

Unfortunately, Saturday was even worse!  I literally was stuck on the WV Turnpike for 6 hours.   It was night on the mountain and without a blanket I used all of my grocery bags.  (I figured they were warmer than the clothes in my suitcase because they were up front by the heater.)  Luckily, they got traffic moving again and I trudged on to make it to my parents.  By 4 AM there was snow and I could not make it up the hill. Nothing I could repurpose here, but luckily my dad has a four wheel Subaru!

Hopefully, none of us will be challenged like this to repurpose anything, but figuring out to reuse what you have to get organized can be done!  And I now have a shovel and blanket for my car!

Organizing your holiday feasts!

When I lived in Los Angeles I had an annual holiday dessert party where I would make about 15 desserts from scratch.  I learned the hard way that I needed to be organized to save me time, money and stress!  Trust me, there is nothing worse than being in the middle of a baking marathon and discover you don’t have an ingredient!

Spending some time now will save multiple trips to the grocery store later.  First, plan all your menus for your parties, dinners, any baking you are doing, etc.  Go through every recipe and create a master list of all ingredients you will need with the amount.  If this is something you do annually create a master ingredient list on your computer (also a good idea for grocery list).

Remember to shop when the stores are least likely to be busy when you won’t feel rushed.  Figure out what can be prepared ahead of an event.

The ingredients for the average U.S. meal have traveled 1,200 miles by the time they reach the plate. This travel requires oil for transport and refrigeration. Buying locally grown food tastes better, too. Choosing food that is in season and isn’t flown in saves energy. When you shop at farmers’ markets, you support small farms and organic food reduces toxic pesticides. Raleigh has many great places to choose from: Whole Foods, Harmony Farms, Earth Fare, and the State Farmers Market.

Green Gift Giving Babies and Toddlers

Many people hesitate to give used gifts to young children, but savvy moms know that children’s consignment shops often have high quality clothing, toys, and furniture showing little or no wear. What happens to that extra diaper bag from the baby shower or that cute Jack and Jill outfit that didn’t fit?

Consignment Shops in the Raleigh Durham area:

Animal Crackers Consignment Cary

Baby Bear Consignment Shop Durham

Children’s Orchard Raleigh

Kid to Kid Cary Apex

Once Upon a Child Cary

The Red Hen Carrboro

Bullfrogs and Butterflies is a great consignment shop in Wheeling, WV.

Also, check out Zwaggle.  It is a national network of parents who have come together to share. http://www.zwaggle.com/

Organize Your Shopping

When I posted on Facebook I had only one gift left to buy I was bombarded by jealous, stressed out and overwhelmed friends! With the days counting down many people are more frantic than ever.  Here are some tips to make shopping more efficient!

When your gift list is completed, is there one place the majority of gifts can be found?  List those stores in geographical order to make as few trips as possible.   Group trips.  Have a clear plan so you don’t make several trips to the store.

Carry your list with you on all errands.  Maybe you  discover a gift you need.   Record each purchase and price beneath the recipient’s name.  Keep a running total of money spent to stay within your budget.

The internet saves time, money and resources.    If you are travelling for the holidays you can have gifts shipped directly to your destination. Not only do you save time by avoiding long lines and packed parking lots, but you can comparison shop and save money too! Additionally, most e-commerce warehouses use 1/16th of the energy used to operate retail stores. And even overnight air shipping uses 40% less fuel than the average car trip to the store.

Eco friendly gifts

Think about giving one meaningful gift (or asking for one!)  rather than focusing on the number of gifts given and urge others to do the same.  The less stuff you give/get, the less you/others have to organize!

Here are some great sources for eco-friendly gifts:

http://worldofgood.ebay.com/

http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/

http://www.uncommongoods.com/

http://ecofriendlygifts.com/

http://www.eco-artware.com/

http://www.findgift.com/Categories/Eco-Friendly

http://www.gifts.com/ideas/eco-friendly

In Raleigh, check out Calm & Sense on Glenwood Avenue, www.calmandsense.biz, Belize and Ten Thousand Villages in Cameron Village.

Holiday Lights for Less!

Watch your bills flatline and help the environment!

We  use an extraordinary amount of additional electricity during the holidays.  A 2003 study conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy determined that Americans consume about 2220 GWh of electricity each holiday season by using standard incandescent holiday lights -which is equivalent to all the energy used by Angola in one year.  The study concluded that a mere 20% switch by American households to LED Christmas lights would save 440 GWh (or 1/5^th of electricity) during the holiday season.

You can purchase LED lights and recycle your old incandescents here:

www.holidayleds.com

http://www.holidayleds.com/holidayledscom_christmas_light_recycling_program

To help organize your lights and/or extension cords re-use plastic curtain containers.  You can loosely wrap and store them.  Most are see through and easy to label with a sharpie!