Dying to Be Green

In the Sunday, August 29th edition of The News & Observer, there was a story about Dr. Clark Wang who decided to opt for a green burial.  “He did not want his remains to contribute to the Earth’s blight.”  The article went on to detail how we used to practice green burials but the massive deaths in the Civil War and the need to ship bodies home.  Battlefield surgeons decided on embalming.

What struck me as most interesting were the difference in costs. Let’s face it, many people complain that it is cost prohibitive to be green or they don’t really care.  Here is a prime example of how being green saves you money.  In the article  burial is $7,323;  green burial at Pine Forest Memorial Gardens in Wake Forest is $3,650.

As an eco-organizer I help people save money by suggesting ways that they can repurpose everyday items to help them get organized. Not everyone is concerned about green, but they sure do appreciate ways to save money or spend no money when they have already hired me!

Here is the full article:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/08/29/653441/in-death-hell-set-an-example.html

In what ways have you saved money by being green?

Social Networking: Don’t become like Charlie on the MTA

I just finished my daily morning routine which includes updating my status on facebook/FB like page, linked in, Inside 919, and scanning what others had to say; checking my personal and business emails; and skimming the news.

I actually have that penciled in my daily calendar. Why? It helps keep me from being sucked into the online world where I could “never return with my fate still unlearned” like Charlie.

Not only can we lose track of time, but we can become less productive by constantly interrupting our work to respond.

I also schedule blocks throughout the day to check email and I do NOT have an icon that tells me when I receive a new email. I have spam filters on so I do not have to wade through a lot of junk. Finally, I ask people who take my business card to not automatically add me to their newsletters.

In an age where we are connected to everything and everyone it is hard to turn it all off. But we need to every now and then for not only productivity, but peace of mind!

How do you manage all your social networking?  What do you do to be more productive?

Who can name which song by which group–clue below!

Money in the Bank

One of my tips to get organized & go green is to switch to on line banking.  Laura Poole, owner of Archer Coaching, shares her experience:

Recently, I got fed up with the primary bank I go to, where I had several accounts. I received a notice that they were no longer offering free business checking and would charge $10 a month (per account) for me to access my own hard-earned money. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I decided to close my accounts and open new ones at the same bank where my husband and I have joint accounts.

To give you some background on me, I have been self-employed for more than a decade. This means I have had multiple business accounts, savings accounts, personal accounts, joint accounts, lines of credit, credit cards, debit cards, and more cluttering up my financial life. I can stay on top of it all . . . just barely. I am usually the one who pays the bills for the household, and switching to online bill pay for that really helped me save my sanity in that department.

When I showed up at the new bank to open the new accounts, my expectations were fairly simple: free business checking and free personal checking, with online access. With the help and recommendations of an excellent team of bankers, what resulted was a huge bonus in my organization efforts as well the gift of more time and money.

• Saving time. My business account came with free checks and expedited delivery. I also requested to be able to link my business account with my personal accounts, so I could simply transfer funds at payday. This was accomplished within 24 hours! Now I can pay myself and have it go through instantaneously, saving myself a trip to the bank and the time it takes for a check to clear (I had been writing myself a paycheck and then depositing it). The same goes for when I need to move money into the joint accounts.

• Saving money. When I opened my personal checking, I expected to have just an ultra-basic free account with no minimum balance. It turns out that I qualified for a higher-level account that included a money market and automated savings account! Because of this, I decided to close a high-yield savings account at a third bank and move it all into the money market. Now that I can transfer funds quickly and use online bill pay, I save myself money in stamps, gas, check fees, and more.

• Simplification and decluttering. In opening these new accounts, I took a leap slightly beyond my comfort zone. For all the years I’ve been self-employed, I have received paper statements from the banks. With all the accounts I have, it creates a lot of paper clutter. And I frequently misplaced statements before inputting  into Quickbooks. I’ve chosen to go entirely online with my statements now. I will be testing importing statements directly into Quickbooks without having to rekey the data. I’m now looking into having my utilities bills delivered electronically.

I’m so excited how such a simple change  has proven to be such a bonus to me! It’s made me rethink my approach to other systems I have in place. What can I simplify? Where and how can I reduce clutter? How can I save time and money?

Laura Poole is an ICF-accredited Associate Certified Coach and the founder of Archer Coaching. To learn more about her services:

http://www.archercoaching.com/

Do you Zwaggle?

Zwaggle is a national network of parents who have come together to share.

It’s simple: You receive Zwaggle points (or Zoints) by giving your gently used things to other families, then use those Zoints to obtain “new” things for your family.

Sound financially smart? Ecologically responsible?  Like a fun way to provide for your kids? IT IS!

Categories include: arts and crafts, strollers, DVD’s, furniture, holiday fun and many more.

Check it out:

http://www.zwaggle.com/

Stopping Junk Mail BEFORE it enters your home!

The daily mail is a huge source of clutter and can soon overwhelm you if you do not have a system in place to deal with mail and paper in general. Chris Walters of the Consumerist has 8 great tips to stopping junk mail BEFORE it enters your home:

1. Use their form to generate 17 ready-to-mail requests to different direct mail companies. DoNotMail will take the data you enter and create a PDF document with all 17 letters ready to print and send.

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

If you don’t want to enter your personal info into a random site, you can use fake data and then download the PDF document for a reference to create your own letters.

2. Contact Opt-Out Prescreen online https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t
or at 1-888-567-8688 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              1-888-567-8688      end_of_the_skype_highlighting (888-5-OPT-OUT) from your home telephone .

3. Email your removal request to Abacus Direct at optout@abacus-us.com

3. Remove your name from ADVO Inc. by calling 1-888-241-6760 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              1-888-241-6760      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or completing the form at www.advo.com/consumersupport.html

4. Fill out the form on the Direct Marketing Association’s website at www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailing

5. Email your removal request to Publishers Clearinghouse at privacychoices@pchmail.com

6. Get off Val-Pak’s list by filing out the form at http://www.coxtarget.com/mailsuppression/s/DisplayMailSuppressionForm

7. To remove yourself from Acxiom’s list, you must request a mail-in opt-out form by calling 1-877-774-2094 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              1-877-774-2094      end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

8. DoNotMail.com notes, “Catalogs may stop coming when your other removal requests are processed, but you can always call the catalog company.”

Other options if you want to pay someone to take care of it for you:

http://www.41pounds.org/

https://www.dmachoice.org/dma/member/home.action

Drink Wine! Get Organized!

One of the things I am most passionate about is coming up with creative ways to repurpose every day items to help people get organized!  With the holidays coming up now is a great time to go through all of your ornaments and get organized.

Instead of buying a specialty made plastic container for ornaments you can use an empty case of wine box.  After you have enjoyed the wine, you have a perfect carton to organize your ornaments. If the box kept glass bottles of wine undamaged your ornaments will be safe.  If you have multiple boxes, the uniform boxes will be easy to store. You can also color coordinate boxes.  Don’t drink wine?

You can go to your local Wine Store where they have an area with empty boxes.

What is your favorite item to repurpose?

Green Halloween

Halloween is my favorite holiday!  I love to dress up and see all the trick or treaters.    When I was little my dad made an Indian princess costume for me out of a burlap sack.  Many times I have been “static cling” where I take a blanket and pin socks, t-shirts, underwear, or whatever else is in my drawer.

Here are some suggestions on ways to bring some green along with the orange and black this Halloween!

Costumes

Check out Consignment and Thrift shops and garage sales.

Raid your own closets: what can you make with what you have?

Old costumes are often donated to Goodwill, Salvation Army.  Also look on E bay and Craigs List.

Remember, it is doubtful that that plastic costume can be recycled.  What can you make out of cardboard which can be recycled?

Candy

Buy organic apples

Check out your local health food store for organic chocolates; on line:  http://www.worldwidechocolate.com/organic_chocolate.html

Roast pumpkin seeds

Decorations

What in nature can you find to inspire you?  Leaves, pumpkins, pine cones…

Eco Friendly Trick or Treat Bags

Reuse a paper sack

Use a reusable cloth sack

Have your child decorate a reusable tote bag

Here’s a great site to check out for even more ideas:  http://www.greenhalloween.org/

What creative things are you doing to make your Halloween more green this year?

Got Green Biz? Want to be more Green?

I have been invited to have a booth and hope to see many of you there. OCTOBER 18th-20th in North Raleigh!

More info:  http://reuseconex.org/

Reuse Alliance is proud to host ReuseConex – the one and only event that connects all facets of the nation’s reuse sector! We’re bringing together people from far and wide to learn about the triple bottom line benefits (environmental, social and economic) of reuse.

ReuseConex will include:

• Expert panelists, motivating speakers, and informative workshops
• 40+ reuse-related exhibitors,
• Tours of local reuse centers,
• A reFashion Show andmovie screenings, and much more!

The event will also have 3 distinct attendee tracks, so we can meet everyone’s interests:

1) Reuse 101 – provides the general public and reuse sector novices a better grasp of the sector

2) Best Practices – allows reuse sector members to learn from each other

3) Skills Builders – allows advanced reuse sector staff to refresh and develop key organizational management skills in an interactive workshop format.

Please review the rest of the website for all the pertinent details for attending, sponsoring/exhibiting, or volunteering at ReuseConex.

Who Should Attend?