Black Friday and the Packaging Woes

I hope all of you bargain shoppers found terrific deals to make this holiday season go down in savings history.  I know many people on this savings day are shopping for great deals on toys.  Thinking of children opening up the toys they have been hoping for brings on a different memory for me.  For the past few years, Christmas morning has required an industrial pair of scissors and a few Band-Aids.  Having two boys, ages 10 and 6, we have had to cut open so many packages that are secured stronger than Fort Knox!  The plastic has been as sharp as a knife and typically cuts at least one of us.  If the plastic packages are hard enough to open, the twist ties that keep they toys in place are wound so tight you have no idea where to begin untangling them. 

This crazy packaging in not just for toys, though.  You can have fun opening this type of packaging in everything from electronic toothbrushes to bulk batteries.  I have found that Costco and other bulk suppliers are the biggest culprits for this packaging.  There is hope though for a change in packaging.  Amazon has introduced Frustration-Free Packaging.  This is from the Amazon website:

The Frustration-Free Package (on the left) is recyclable and comes without excess packaging materials such as hard plastic clamshell casings, plastic bindings, and wire ties. It’s designed to be opened without the use of a box cutter or knife and will protect your product just as well as traditional packaging (on the right). Products with Frustration-Free Packaging can frequently be shipped in their own boxes, without an additional shipping box.

Here is a link to additional information regarding their new packaging.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html

I am all for an easier means to anything.  Yes, the package on the right you can see into, but once upon a time, a picture on the box was suffice.  I hope you will all look into shopping with Amazon this holiday season.  The more we purchase this type of packaging, the more other retailers will catch on.  My kitchen scissors and my hands will thank you!

For more tips on organizing, visit my website at:  www.afreshstartorganizing.net/tips.  Also, you can subscribe to my monthly e-newsletter “Fresh Ideas for A Fresh Start” . Subscribe Now 

The Future of Reading

If you were watching Oprah on Friday, October 24, 2008,  you learned of her newest “Favorite Things” gadget.  It is a product from Amazon called the Kindle.  Kindle is a handheld, wireless reading device that allows you to download books, magazines, newspapers and even blogs.  This seems to be the “future” of reading.  You can download most any book in aproximately 1 minute!  To think this will really be the way we read books in the near future makes me both sad and excited.  I am sad because I think of the old school way of reading.  I mentally have a hard time focusing on reading from a screen!  I guess I am a tactile learner and need to feel the pages in my hand as I am reading.  But the thought of how may trees we will save by this new way of reading, in addition to the less “stuff”  we have sitting around our home, makes me so excited!  Following is a link to the Kindle:

There has already been a move toward on-line reading materials.  Newspapers have been on-line for a while now.  Magazines are heading in that direction as well.  There is a company, Coverleaf, that provides digital editions of many magazines.  This allows you to view your favorite magazines anywhere you have internet access.   According to coverleaf.com, “you can access your magazines for free by verifying your subscription.  You can also browse the selection of magazine on coverleaf.com and look inside any issue for a free preview.”  Visit www.coverleaf.com for more information.

If you are like me and not ready to stop physically holding your reading materials, there are many ways to cut back on the expense and amount of space they take from our lives.  First, the local library is an excellent way to have access to all that you want to read.  The library can track down most any book for you.  Also, used book stores or Amazons “used” book selection are ways to get the book you have been looking for at a reduced rate. 

For magazines, you can also find them at your local library and even online.  If you have a subscription to a magazine that you are not really enjoying any longer you can look into www.maghound.com.  According to Maghound, “Maghound is an exciting new online membership service that allows you to choose, change, and manage all the magazines delivered to your home for one low monthly fee.”  Maghound has a 30 day free trial to see if you like it.  You have the flexibility to change your magazine selection!  I know that I have been disappointed in magazines in the past and this service will be fabulous to ditch those and move on to a new one. 

I am learning to trade paper for a computer screen, but I know it will be a slow transition.  I hope the products listed above will help me (and you) reduce paper waste.  Let me know your thoughts on other ways to read without holding a book, magazine or paper!

If you would like more tips on organizing, visit my website at:  www.afreshstartorganizing.net/tips.  Also, you can subscribe to my newsletter “Fresh Ideas for A Fresh Start” . Subscribe Now 

It ain’t easy being green

Or is it?  It seems that “green”  is almost a fashion statement.  Going green is so popular you have to make sure that your efforts truly make an impact on the environment and not help increase profits in the marketplace.  According to NAPO, the Organizing Authority, “Green consumption aims to reduce or eliminate negative environmental effects, providing a more positive impact to the world environmentally, socially, and economically.”  In other words, we need to make wise choices in our purchases and how we discard any unwanted items.   But how does “green” and organizing relate? 

First, organizing helps you know what it is you have so you don’t make duplicate purchases.  Many times people can’t find what they are looking for in their clutter that they spend money purchasing the same item they know they own.  More often than not, they wind up finding what they were looking for.  Now they have two similar items and a smaller wallet.    Duplicate purchases contribute negatively to the environment by the production of and the disposal of yet another item.

Second, scheduling your time and being prepared will help you make wise energy decisions.  Planning out your errands will save gas (see my last post). Being prepared by having your cloth bags in the car when you run your errands will make a significant environmental impact.  Planning when you do laundry so you do it during off peak hours and doing it when you have full loads will also make significant impacts environmentally. Planning and preparation not only helps the environment but also saves your precious time and money!

Third, being organized keeps you more aware of your time and money so you make wise purchases.  If you know how and where your money is spent you are more concious when you spend.  When you are making concious decisions, you are also able to be aware of the environmental impact from your purchases.  When you are organized you are paying your bills on time and saving money (no more late fees).  When you aware of how you spend your money you can see where you can cut back and where you can splurge!

Going paperless for your bills is a fourth way to be organized and environmentally friendly.  If you cut back on the statements and bills that come in and go out you are saving millions of trees.  If you have your bills on a schedule paying on-line can save you time and money (the costs of stamps is rising as fast as gas)!  Also, you can reduce the amount of junk mail that comes in to your home (and the trees that are used for it) by going on to the following websites:

• Catalogues – www.catalogchoice.org/signup
• Junk Mail – www.dmachoice.org/consumerassistance.php
• Credit Card Offers – www.optoutprescreen.com

While organizing you are reducing your clutter, saving money, and saving energy resources, but you also have to be concious of how you dispose of your unwanted/unnecessary items.  Before you discard an item, can you repurpose the item in a different area in the home?  But don’t hold on to an item just in case one day you may use it.  Live in the here and now.  Donate, sell, recycle and discard items appropriately.  There are many items that wind up in our trash that should be recycled, such as old cell phones, computers, paints, and medicines.  Check out your local recycling center for more information on what items they take, you may just be surprised!

For more information on going green check out the following sites:

• www.geenpages.org
• www.earth911.org
• www.thegreenguide.com
• www.worldwatch.org
• www.care2.com

If we all do our part Kermit will one day be singing a new tune, “It is easy being green”!