Declutter the Eco Friendly Way - Secrets to Sanity in 2013

Eco Promotional Products, Inc. – Written by Laura Mathews


If you’re like me, you don’t need to wait until March to do some spring cleaning.  With the New Year upon us the decorations come down and you’re left with a great opportunity to organize and declutter your home.

But where do you begin?  Let’s start with things that are frequently coming into your home, and then leaving in short order.  Two main culprits for most are mail and packaging.  The average American receives about 41 pounds of junk mail a year, a statistic you can likely appreciate after just getting through all the holiday mailers.  By going to the National Do Not Mail List & Direct Marketing Association’s website, you can set preferences to get off unwanted mailing lists.  You can also set up online accounts to handle all your bills electronically.  It’s fast, easy and you’ll save a few bucks every month on postage.  Moving into the kitchen, let’s talk about packaging.  With all the serving size food options available to us at the grocery store, convenience can seem tempting and worth the price.  But all those single use 8 oz. yogurts and 12 oz. water bottles are part of the 200 billion pounds of plastics that are produced every year.  I challenge you to go green and save yourself some green by purchasing bulk sizes.  It may require you to actually portion out your own on the go snacks, but pre-portioned items can easily cost two to three times as much as their larger container counterparts.  Another great place to eliminate packaging is in the bulk dried goods area.  Beans, rice, flour and granola are some of the most common items that can be purchased in bulk and can save you around 30%.  You can even bring your own container from home to fill up.  That brings me to a key point I’d like to make about eliminating packaging.  In order for this kitchen transition to be a success, you must have proper reusable containers at home.  If you don’t, you’ll get frustrated and just buy smaller portions.  Start by saving glass containers from things like preserves, honey or pickled items.  Also invest in some larger containers.  When I made this transition in my kitchen, I purchased a case of pint and quart mason jars.  It’s made it easy to see what I have, they stack, they’re easy to clean, they work for saving leftovers and it makes my food more visually appealing and all the more enticing to cook.  A lighter option for foods you’ll be taking on the go are BPA free plastic containers.  And let’s not forget drinks.  Investing in a quality water bottle and coffee mug is going to make it easy for you to bring filtered tap water or home brewed coffee with you as you leave.  Perhaps your company hands out reusable water bottles.  Put the money saved from bottled waters and coffee shop coffees in a fund for next year’s Christmas presents or a vacation!  You’ll be amazed how much you’ll save.  Reducing the amount of things coming into your home is a great start to decluttering your life. 

 

But what about all the items that have already gotten into your home and are staying there?  They are necessary items being stored where they should be but every time you need something, you know it’ll be a battle.  I’m talking about your clutter hiding spots - the closets.  To begin, just start folding.  What started as being in a rush while putting laundry away can often become an “Oh, just shove it in” situation.  Take back your closet and fold!  The next step is to get containers that can easily store items that can be grouped.  The possibilities are endless but here are three scenarios in which containers will help.  If you’re an avid camper but all your camping stuff is strewn across various closets, purchase large storage containers with lids and keep everything stored in one place.  You can do the same for holiday decorations also.  A solid colored container will give off a cleaner appearance than a clear one; choosing different colors for each storage category will help you distinguish which is which.  Second, a better solution to having all your medicines, lotions, and extra toiletries standing on a shelf in the linen closet may be to keep them in an open container on the shelf instead. This way, you can slide the container out rather than

reaching behind various bottles to get what you need, being at risk of knocking all the other containers down.  Third, if your beach towels, bathing suits, scarves and mittens are taking up valuable closet space that could be storing something you use all the time, get an under bed storage container for season specific items so they can be alternated out twice a year and free up space in the closet.  Just by investing in some smart containers, your closets will go from disaster zones to the awesome storage spaces they were meant to be. 

 

Finally, the part that is often hardest for us all.  Be honest.  While you may not be the next to appear on an episode of Hoarders, that doesn’t mean you’re not hanging on to an item or ten that you’ll realistically never need again.  You’ve lessened what’s coming into your home; you’ve organized your clutter danger zones, now all you have left to do is take a good look at what you don’t need anymore. I strongly discourage haphazardly throwing stuff out.  However, for those items that are still perfectly good but just not needed anymore, maybe it’s time to donate them, (companies like the Purple Heart actually do scheduled pickups), repurpose them (turn an old vase or colander into an outdoor planter) or, if you have a lot of items, host a yard sale.  Decluttering is an amazing feeling.  Treat yourself to a more Zen-like home this New Year.

 

 

About Eco Promotional Products, Inc.:

Eco Promotional Products, Inc. (EPP) is a certified woman owned company providing a full-line of eco- friendly promotional products. EPP helps organizations promote their logo, brand and message in a “green” way.  All products are made from either recycled, organic, biodegradable, rapidly renewable resources, promote conservation, made in the USA or a combination of these qualities. Eco Promotional Products was born out of a passion for the environment, with goals of reducing landfill use, respecting our non-rapidly renewable resources, providing exceptional service at affordable prices and being an active advocate for human rights issues.

 

For more information on Eco Promotional Products, Inc., please visit:

www.ecopromotionsonline.com , call local: 847.520.1771, toll free: 877.326.9467 or email us at info@ecopromotionsonline.com  .

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