The kids are back in school, work is getting busy again...and most likely the weather will start to change soon (although you wouldn't think we are nearly in October given the recent wet and humid conditions). Assuming Fall is soon on its way and we are in store for some cooler weather, making it a great time to weatherize your home before that cold hits us. Here are 4 green tips to help you transition into Fall:

1. Weatherize Your Home for Winter

When it comes to energy efficiency, one of the easiest and least expensive green practices you can do is to plug and seal leaks air leaks - called weatherization. Fall is a great time to prepare your home for the winter months before it gets too cold. According to the Department of Energy, heating accounts for the biggest chunk of our utility bill, accounting for more than 40% if you include heating the space in our home as well as our water. Weatherization can save you 25 to 40 percent on your heating and cooling bills.  The average unweatherized house in the United States leaks air at a rate equivalent to a four-foot-square hole in the wall.

You can weatherize your home yourself, usually for under $20, with a couple easy steps:

• Identify areas in your home where you may have leaks. Looks for gaps in your doorways where you can see visible light filtering in. Hold a match or incense near windows or areas where you have large cracks (possibly from foundation settling) - if the fire flickers or the incense is drawn to the outdoors, you have a leak!
• Buy weather stripping for your doors and windows at your local hardware store.
• Use caulking to seal up areas where you have cracks.

2. Manage Your Indoor Air Quality

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates indoor air to be 2-5 times more polluted than outdoors. Now I know I just told you to seal up your home to avoid loss of heating and cooling and reduce your energy bills, but you also have to be careful you don't trap in pollution that could harm your health. Most of us don't think about the toxins in our home from our furniture, carpets and rugs, and cleaning products. Wood often is treated with formaldehyde, paints used to decorate your walls may contain phenols; carpets, paints, and upholstery can contain VOCs - all of these are toxins which can adversely affect our respiratory systems and cause other health problems.

Here are a few ways to manage your indoor air quality:

• Make sure you have changed your air filters and continue to do that every 3 months or as directed by your HVAC or furnace system recommendations;
• When weather permits, open your windows to allow fresh air in your home;
• If you have ceiling fans, turn them on and keep air circulating. You can use floor fans and place them in front of windows to move air flow through your home and flush out stagnant air or use the "fan" on your thermostat that keeps air flowing through your ducts, even if the heat or cooling is not being used;
• Consider adding air filters to rooms you sleep in or spend a lot of time, and/or add air purifying plants to naturally clean your air. The best air-purifying plants include the peace lily, bamboo palm, English ivy, mums, and gerbera daisies, all of which are both easy to find and easy to care for - so even if you don't have a green thumb, you can still have a green home or office.
• Buying household products that don't have harmful chemicals is another important practice. Start with your cleaning products. Look for products that are 100% natural and chemical free, have no dyes, no detergents, no surfactants, no preservatives, no SLS, SLES, ALS, no synthetic fragrances, and no preservatives.

3. Make Healthy and Sustainable Water Choices

We've all been lectured about the environmental impact of purchasing bottled water - estimates still show that over 2 million plastic bottles are thrown away in the U.S. every HOUR! Well, it's not just about reducing our consumption of plastic water bottles to reduce the number going to landfills every day, there are health reasons to having the proper reusable bottle and ensuring your water comes from a trusted source. Many people get allergies in the Fall and cold and flu season begins with the changing temperatures. Clean, sustainable water helps keep you healthy and reduces your environmental impact.

• Get a good reusable water bottle. Look for Stainless Steel bottles like Kleen Kanteen, although there are many to choose from these days. If you prefer a lighter weight bottle made of plastic, be sure it is BPA-free. Check out Time magazine's Top 5 Eco-Friendly Water Bottles (rated in 2008).
• Get your water from a trusted source - preferably water you have filtered at home through our faucet or from your fridge. Since you may drink your one bottle sooner than you can return home to refill, especially since the point is to NOT buy water bottles when you are on-the-go, you can also get water bottles with built-in filters. Check out the BOBBLE and also the Camel Back Reusables with built-in filters.

4. Enjoy the Final Fall Harvest with Eco-eating

Fall is a great time to take advantage of the end of year harvests by visiting local farmers markets. While some farmers markets are year round, many end for the season in October or November until starting up again in April or May. It's important to choose the right fruits and vegetables by season as well as those that are lower in pesticides.

• Check out the Environmental Working Group's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides for a very useful guide of the Dirty Dozen (fruits and vegetables found to have higher pesticide use/content, making it worth the extra buck or two for organic) vs. the Clean Fifteen (those with lower pesticide use/content so you run less risk if you don't buy organic);
• Fruits and vegetables in season in October and November include apples, spinach, and broccoli. Grapes, pumpkins, squash, raspberries, and tomatoes may also be in season and available at your local farmer's market.

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It's been way too long since I connected with the Brooksfield community and so today I want to share some personal and professional thoughts on green living.

When I started my business in 2008, I wanted to provide a service that helped people make better decisions for their own personal health and the health of our planet. I also wanted to help businesses build a culture of green so that they could implement green practices that made sense, reduced their environmental impact, and boosted employee morale and retention. After a couple years of providing those services, with great success in some areas, and not so great in others - I have just this weekend had what I think is an insightful revelation on where I may have gone wrong, and where I need to go from here. 

The revelation: Most people just want things to be simple. Most people buy products because they want something tangible. Selling green services is often a bit...convoluted. I developed checklists and assessments and resource guides thinking that people would continue to use them over and over. But if any of you are like me, I have plenty of guides and useful resources that are sitting on a shelf collecting dust, or tucked away in a folder on my computer eating up memory that I don't even know I am using. Four months ago, something else happened in my life that has led me to this current revelation - I had a baby! And since you are likely a parent if you are reading this, you know that when that little being enters your world, everything changes and all your priorities shift. 

Cloth diapers, organic baby formula - out the window! Yep - me. The green consultant. Now I do still use the eco-friendly disposable diapers and only organic creams, etc. - but in my new day-to-day reality I need green practices that are easy, and that work for my lifestyle and busy schedule. For working parents, finding a balance between healthy living, green living - heck just regular living - can be hard enough. 

So if you are like me and always trying to do everything "right" - do yourself a favor and just do what is easy enough for today. Does that mean throw everything in the trash instead of recycle, crank up the heat, or leave the faucet running when you are not using water? Of course not. But live green where it is tangible for you whether it means buying recycled content products that you like, using eco-friendly cleaners that are affordable and at your grocery store, or being conscious of your energy consumption. We all define what green means to us. Find your green thing - and stick with it! You and the planet will feel more balanced! 

As for where this revelation is taking me, stay tuned! (A little re-organization on my end may result in a lot of re-organization for others.) 

 

 

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By now we have our kids in their school routines and we hopefully have adjusted to our fall schedules. I don't know about you, but it took me a little longer this year to transition into my fall schedule, and feel on top of it.   Some of this had to do with back to school chaos and my youngest starting Kindergarten, but I also think with our extra hot September I was trying to hold on to the more laid back summer pace, which doesn't work with a busier work schedule, volunteer commitments, two kids in school and many after school activities.  

I do believe that doing my best to create systems to help the house function better will have a positive effect on my kids ability to learn and their school success.   Research supports that children learn better when areas are clutter free and organized.

This summer, I participated in a series of radio shows on organizing and this particular segment focuses on the look and feel of personal organization. To be organized is a state of mind. I think once a person understands the connection between physical space and their mind, then getting or being organized is easier to achieve. Being organized requires some changes to habits and behaviors, and it takes a conscious effort to maintain systems that support daily routines, both personally and professionally.

There are so many benefits to striving for the organized mindset...some of which are reclaiming time, increasing productivity, improving physical and mental health, and improving clarity of thought.  How many times do we all find ourselves reacting instead of planning out our priorities for the day?  Having an organized mindset allows for more of a sense of control over work and life.  Additionally, having this mindset helps us create the kind of environment that contributes to school success.

Okay, now tell me you don't want to try to have more time, more control and more happiness?  Please listen to the interview to find out more.

 

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In celebration of Earth Day tomorrow I wanted to share some information on recycling electronics and other products we use every day that contain chemicals that are potentially hazardous to our health and the environment. See the links below to gain access to the how, where and when of disposing of electronics and other hazardous items in your home that are no longer needed.

 ALEXANDRIA -

General information on rules and regulations of recycling in Alexandria.

 

FAIRFAX COUNTY -

General information on recycling in Fairfax County.

Upcoming electronic recycling days.

 

I just became aware of a company called PCRecycler. They have a truly green approach to recycling electronics...mainly computers. The company does a free outreach to the community the 2nd Saturday of every month where consumers can bring their computers to their office in Chantilly and they will properly delete all information and recycle and dispose of unusable parts. Their website is www.pcrecycler.net.

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Simplify for Life is a new business partner with the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Alexandria. I believe there is a synergy between my company's mission - to help people gain clarity and time through the process of organizing, and the ReStore's mission to support the Habitat for Humanity of Northern Virginia's mission to provide affordable housing to low income families in the area. A significant part of organizing is purging and letting go of items no longer needed and a good way to do so is by donating them to a charity.

This Saturday, April 24th, the ReStore is partnering with the Metro Washington DC Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) to host the third annual BIG Sale starting at 9:00 at the ReStore in Alexandria - 7770 Richmond Hwy (behind Gold's Gym). Members of ASID are donating items that will be sold at up to 75% off retail. Items being sold include: wall hangings, fabric, trim, cabinets, blinds, shades, architectural details, countertops, curtain rods, furniture and much more.

I will be there for some of the festivities because, as you are all aware, not only does organizing make us feel good and help us gain clarity and time, but it is also a critical design element.

See you Saturday-

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It is so uplifting to see everyone working on their yards, and to hear the sounds of nature and lawn mowers in our neighborhood. Spring is here finally after our long, hard winter! I feel the need, more strongly this year, to purge things from the inside of our home.  I want the weight of unnecessary things removed from our newly renovated home. I am really trying to push my agenda of simplicity which sometimes is met with resistance from everyone else in my family.

One of my favorite columns to read in the Post is Michelle Singletary's, The Color of Money. She wrote this past Sunday about spring being the season of rebirth and that it is a good time to get busy throwing out the stuff clogging our homes, office, minds and spirits. I was very intrigued that a financial columnist was writing about decluttering and how clutter not only weighs us down, but it can cause us to be late on bills, contribute to debt and impact our finances in a negative way. Her April book she is recommending is Gail Blanke's, Throw Out Fifty Things - Clear the Clutter, Find your Life. The book is divided into four parts:

• Get rid of the unused stuff in your home (connect to my resource list to find out where to donate it)
• Attack your office, both home and work, to get rid of unnecessary items and clutter which may be impacting your ability to be productive
• Get rid of mental cluter
• Once you have gotten rid of 50 things in your home, office and mind, you'll be ready to contemplate what you want in your life

I bought the book and I look forward to reading it. As an organizer I understand and see first hand the power of letting go and when the old goes out, the new comes in as positive change. I have seen personally and through clients how cleaning up and making sense of our physical space, impacts our mental space which then impacts in a positive way our lives.

Let's have this beautiful season of spring help us bring positive change to our homes, minds and lives.

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"Our children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way." I'll never forget these lyrics, and the more work I do in the green sector, the more powerful they become to me. Many of us are making changes as adults to have less impact on the earth and live healthier lives. But it is not always easy, especially when it requires making changes in our daily behavior when we are already used to do things a certain way. 

What if you grew up being conscious of how your daily actions impact the earth? What if recycling and unplugging your electronics every day was as much a ritual as brushing your teeth? Most of us did not grow up living green because our parents didn't know the impact our daily lives have on the quality of our air and water and how many resources are consumed to support our lives. We didn't know that using bleach and other cleaning products were harmful to our health and the environment. We weren't taught to think about the life cycle of a product - what something is made from, how it is made, how it is used, and how it is disposed. 

But things are different today. Living green is not just a trend or luxury. Living green is living smart, for people and the planet. It saves money, keeps us healthy, improves quality of life, and helps preserve resources for current and future generations. The future generations - our children - are learning about living green as early as preschool now. Educators all over the country are embracing eco-education, including Brooksfield. But we can't put all the responsibility on our teachers.

The Zero Footprint Kids website has some great ideas for eco-educating your children. Many of the footprint calculators are based on practices that your younger children may not by engaged in yet (cell phones and video games for example), but the more you know, the more you can educate your children as their own lifestyles and behaviors change.

Areas they focus on include:

• What you eat
• What you throw away
• What you use

Educating your children about green living will ensure healthier a healthier people and planet for their children, and children's children.

be well. live green. 

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