Guest Post: Getting Organized? Be Green About It!

Today I am excited to welcome Katrina Teeple, founder and CEO of Operation Organization!

When it comes to being earth friendly and cutting costs when organizing, Katrina is an expert on the subject!  In fact, I stumbled upon her site when searching for "Green Organization" tips to share with all of you, so I thought, what better than to have her guest post!

"Most of us who are organizationally inclined also like it when we find an item or activity that does double duty.  You may not realize it, but getting organized can also play a role in your efforts to live a greener, more sustainable life.  Environmentally friendly cleaning products are not the only way to be green and clean.  Think about doing more with less to reduce your overall impact on the earth.

I like challenging myself to come up with green ideas when tackling an organizing project.  Reduce, reuse, recycle right?  What if you can use items that take up space in your home or office to actually organize and minimize clutter?  Avoid contributing to landfills and skip the cost of bins and containers?  With a few simple tips you can de-clutter your life, save money, and help save the planet.

Organizing projects often aim for reducing the amount of stuff you are storing, hiding or have forgotten in a corner.  But all too often, our consumer society sends us the message that we must buy shiny, new containers to reorganize the things we end up keeping after a purge.  When you think about organizing in this way it doesn't seem like de-cluttering will reduce our carbon footprint, let alone save us any cash!  Sure, we all love a trip to the Container Store or Target, but let's curb our desire for new plastic goodies and turn to our own home environment for inspiration.  In the process of getting rid of your unused belongings, keep an eye out for those gems that can be re-purposed.  An additional up-side to finding storage solutions right at home is that, chances are, what you choose to reuse will be far more aesthetically pleasing than a generic bin!

{box lids for drawer organization}

Green organizing is a mindset.  You must be willing to let go while you keep a creative disposition.  Before donating those unused vases that are often automatically stowed away after a flower delivery, pick out a couple that could be used as containers.  One could hold mixing spoons and cooking utensils from that overstuffed drawer in the kitchen.  If you are lucky, you could find {my personal favorite} a vase the perfect width and height to hold rolls of fresh toilet paper in the bathroom.

Vases also serve as a great under the sink container for things like extra hairbrushes.

You can reuse different sized box lids to organize a bathroom, kitchen or desk drawer.  Shoe boxes can also be an amazingly helpful tool.  I reuse them to keep a dresser full of clothes organized.

Their thin cardboard walls take up little space and allow you to hold and color code t-shirts to socks.

The possibilities of repurposing are endless.  Train your organizational eye to find the useful in the ordinary.  Altoid tins for bobby pins or meter change in the car, an old iPod box to hold thumb drives, binder clips for computer cord wrangling, or a tray to display everyday products on a counter-top.  Start to think of items as double agents: one life as a vase and another life as a toilet paper holder.  How can you use the things you have to get the organized life you want?

Multitude of tasks complete!  Remember you can reduce clutter in two places at once, a drawer and an unopened cabinet, all while doing the planet a favor by repurposing items and donating the rest for reuse.  By keeping organizing lean and green, you save a few bucks in the process and feel much more satisfied with your creative solutions for everyday clutter.

For those of us who are clutter busting green dreamers, there seems to be endless problems and too few solutions - an easy recipe for discouragement.

Remember, though; no step towards a greener, better-organized life is wasted, especially when you are accomplishing so many things at once.  Choose a problem that needs to be de-cluttered and decide what stays and what might be better used by somebody else.  Don't let the feelings of guilt override common sense.  I can assure you Aunt Gertrude will get over not seeing that Mickey Mouse salt & pepper shaker she gave you and life will go on if you give away your alma mater sweatshirt or re-gift a candle.

Rather than throwing things in the garbage, recycle, repurpose and donate.  Just make sure that you factor in the time to get your unwanted items out of the house within 24 hours.  This will ensure that you complete the organizing project you set out to do instead of leaving a pile by the front door for a month.  Lastly, have fun with your organizational systems - you probably have countless great ideas that just need a few quiet minutes to be realized."

Now we get to be extra spoiled!  Katrina has a video on the subject as well with even more ideas on the subject!

You can find more great tips over on Katrina's Operation Organization website, including ways to organize with style!

I have always been a fan of shopping the home for storage.  Recovering everyday boxes and soup cans with pretty paper, using mason jars for pens and craft supplies and vases for kitchen utensils and corralling dishcloths near the sink.  Nothing feels better than getting creative and making the most of what you already have!

A special THANK YOU to Katrina for the great reminder that we have so many items that can easily double as storage, right within our own homes.  As she mentioned, a trip to Target and the Container Store is always fab organizing fun, but it's not always the most economical, green or even necessary.  Evaluating your home before heading to the store should be step one.  

I would love to know, what item{s} have you repurposed recently for storage?

Katrina's profile picture courtesy of Nathan Morgan Photography

Video courtesy of Encino Mom Productions