Green and Organized
I’ve always been on a journey to become more organized, but I got a huge surprise when I decided to embark on a journey to live a more eco-friendly life. Taking steps to be kinder to the planet made it easier to stay organized! This excited me so much that I decided I had to share it with the world. I realized, in fact, that it was a moral obligation if I wanted to do my part to make the world a better place for my children. Momentum Organizing was born.
How does living a green life facilitate organization? The answer is simple. When we consume more deliberately and create less waste, our spaces and systems reflect that. We live in a society that has normalized excess. Every day we hear messages about all of the things we need that we didn’t know we needed. We are made to feel that we are inadequate if we don’t use this specific product or buy this particular gadget. It is easy to forget that sometimes less is more.
Here’s a tangible example. At the store, shelves are lined with boldly colored, large plastic containers containing liquid laundry detergent or plastic encased pods. You’ve seen the commercials and everyone is using them. But why? These jugs need to be lugged from the store to the car to the laundry room, they take up a huge amount of space, and the liquid makes a mess everywhere. The main ingredient in these products? Water. It’s water, which most of us have readily available on tap. Our washing machines are hooked up to it. Why are we shipping huge plastic containers full of water to clean our clothes? It’s so much easier to use powdered detergent, and even easier to use laundry “strips” or “sheets” that take up virtually no space at all and make zero mess. Some companies make compact detergent tablets that don’t even have the plastic coating on them and can be stored in a small aluminum tin. It’s so simple and it really makes it easier to organize the laundry room and keep it clean. Not only does this streamline your routine but it cuts down on the carbon footprint of shipping water all over tarnation. In addition, it almost completely eliminates waste going to the landfill. This is something to feel good about!
In all fairness, some of the things we can do to save the planet require a little more work. Composting, even with a service, is a tiny bit of extra work but the benefits far outweigh that as I will detail in a future post. Using cloth napkins and towels does add laundry but it saves so much money and, contrary to what you may think, it saves a ton of water (paper products require massive amounts of water to produce). The important thing to remember is that none of us should be taking the literal weight of the world on our shoulders. No one person is responsible for how we got here, but we all have a chance to do our part. If we make our best individual attempt, we can make a difference. If we all try, we can move mountains.
I’ve been at this for awhile, exploring many of the eco-friendly products on the market (it seems like new ones pop up every day!). On the same token, I’ve been experimenting with more eco-friendly ways of living that don’t involve buying anything. I feel compelled to share my findings with my clients and include them in my blogs for anyone else who wants to learn. It’s easy to feel helpless when it comes to climate change, but knowledge is power. You are also in control. Pick one new thing a month to try, or dive in head first. You have to do it your way and move at a pace that is comfortable for you. That’s the only way to create systems and habits that are sustainable. Sustainability is, after all, the goal.
