"You can't shop yourself out of an organizing problem." -- Kim Anker-Paddon
Last night, I listened to a panel discussion on green organizing; Kim was one of the participants.
Kim's point is one I've mentioned before. Too many people believe the way to get organized is to go buy a lot of organizing products - and then those products wind up becoming more clutter! There's a time for buying those products, if you wind up needing them - and it comes near the end of the organizing process.
"Plastics is nasty stuff." -- Amanda Kovattana
Amanda reminded us that plastic products generally don't get recycled into new plastic products. Rather, the plastics become carpet backing, plastic lumber and polar plus sweaters, and then that's the end of the line; those things can't be recycled any more.
Kim Anker-Paddon noted that while plastics are needed for storage whenever you're dealing with humidity, banker's boxes with a label work just fine in most other situations.
"Think quality and think long-term." -- Kim Anker-Paddon
If you need to buy organizing products, buying something of quality that will last for many years is one environmentally-friendly option.
Another strategy highly recommended by the speakers was repurposing items you already own.
[photo by decaf / Jonathan Coffey]
4 comments:
I love your concept of green organizing. I have always worked with clients to reuse items in a different way to help them get organized. It is so true that you cannot shop your way to being more organized! I love that! Thanks for sharing!
This was a great collection of thoughts on green organizing. Organizing products can be so tempting to buy!
Jeri,
Don't be too jealous, but I had drinks with Kim Anker-Paddon at the end of August here in Los Angeles and she told me she felt so honored that you quoted her on your blog. Nice work, Jeri.
John
John: I'm a bit jealous; Kim is such a good person! I was thankful to her (and Amanda) for giving me such great blog content!
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