Save a little water and energy

Here’s an easy tip to help you save both water and energy:

Keep a small watering can under your kitchen sink.  As you are running your tap to heat up water, fill up the watering can.  Then, use that water, which before would have gone down your drain, to water your plants.

The can I have under my sink is just the perfect size… when it’s full, the water is warm.

I know it may seem like a small step, and it is, but each of these “small steps” we take day-after-day add up quick and help to make our planet a little healthier

Piles of files

Several weeks back, as I was going through my parents’ house in preparation for its sale, I realized that I came by some of my packrat tendencies honestly.  I’m not in any danger of having to create pathways in my home through stacks of newspaper and garbage as seen on the show Hoarders, but I do have several file cabinet drawers full of magazine and newspaper articles I’ve cut out over the years.

I’ve collected articles on vacation spots, recipes, party ideas, health and exercise, investment tips, and many other topics I find interesting.  I have them grouped by subject in file folders and every once-in-awhile, I actually look through them to find some information.

My father did much the same thing.  His topics may have differed from mine (it was a bit of an eye-opener to see what articles he choose to cut out and keep), but basically he had similar files full of articles that he kept for future reference. 

The big difference is that I live in the era of the Internet, he did not.   When I want to find more information on a place I’d like to visit, a recipe that uses egg yolks after I have a few left over from a recipe that used egg whites (key lime pie!), or how best to get a red wine stain out of the carpet, I just go online. 

Although I will probably keep some of the articles I’ve collected, I’m going to set aside some time soon to go through my file cabinet and purge most of these files.  I am much more likely to research the information online anyway and, frankly most of the articles are fairly old and probably out-of-date.  In addition, I don’t want someone to be cleaning out my house one day after I’m gone and laugh at the irony of me clipping out and filing all those articles about reducing clutter.

Don't put off creating a home you love!

I enjoy watching all types of home improvement shows, whether they are about construction, decorating, or searching for just the right home to buy. 

The show theme I find most interesting is the one that features a home (usually one that has been on the market for awhile) that, with minor upgrades and proper staging, morph from an ugly duckling into a inviting home, ready for a quick and profitable sale. 

These shows highlight easy decorating projects that most of us can do on a fairly limited budget.  They also demonstrate how easy it is to become blind to clutter and how we “learn to live” with bad design and dysfunctional living areas.  I think it’s sad that these people are only able to enjoy attractive and well-planned living spaces because their home is on the market.  Once the staging is done, many of them remark that they wished that they had made these changes years ago.

I understand that these staged homes are often void of the day-to-day objects that we need to live our lives and run our homes.  But, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a lot of stuff that is taking up room in our houses and our lives that we can probably do without – and, by getting rid of it, we can create a calmer, better functioning, more comfortable living environment.

It's funny but also true... being organized can save you time and wasted effort. 

Just remember the other two “R’s” as you Reduce - Recycle and Reuse (in this case, donate or sell) as much as possible – our landfills will thank you for it.