Organizing Your Electronics/ Chargers

I know you have one too... that "junk drawer" that barely closes, the place you put everything in your house that does not have a permanent home.

We are electronic junkies and lately I realized that half of our junk drawer was full of chargers. All of our devices seem to come with a cord or battery re-charger... the cell phones, the camera, the portable DVD, the video recorder, the GPS, the ipod... you get the picture.

I went on-line to find a solution (yes, I know most people get these organizational urges in January but I am procrastinating on real work!). All of the solutions I found alarmed me because they keep the cords plugged in ALL THE TIME. Have you seen these boxes for your chargers? The cord is hidden, plugged in, and whenever you need it, it is ready. Sounds great, but many cords still pull energy when plugged in, even if they are not attached to the device.

So, the picture above is my solution, and an inexpensive one too! These organizers can be found at any retail giant or organizer store. They are normally used for shoes or accessories, and they hang on the back of any closet door. We keep ours in a closet near the kitchen where all of our chargers are convenient to the whole family. I labeled all of the slots (OK, I am revealing my geek nature, I do own a label maker). We love it!

Overwhelmed with Green Choices?

Last week I hosted a bookclub on Michael Pollan's In Defense Of Food. Many of us had seen the movie Food, Inc and we had a great discussion debating the merits of various points from both the movie and book. I thought the best one was Pollan's advice to stick to foods that have 5 ingredients or less. Simple advice and yet so hard to do in today's grocery stores. So, Pollan adds, get out of the grocery store. That is more difficult than it seems. For instance, In my household we get our CSA box only 10 weeks out of the year, our cow-pooling is great but we don't like a lot of red meat to begin with, and our garden plot is tiny due to our small yard at the beach. The nearest farmer's market is a 45 minute drive. Small changes do help, but to totally change our western diet we need big changes at the grocery store too.

One of the most interesting comments came from one of the moms in the group who had led the conversation from healthy food to healthy household cleaners and said a friend emailed her about the dangers of today's sunscreens right after she just replaced all of her plastic with BPA-free bottles. Whew, take a breath, right? That's exactly how she felt... she needed a break. She said, "I could not even open the email because I just could not take any more". A lot of people agreed. The changes many of us are making to lead a more healthy and sustainable lifestyle feel good. But they can also be expensive and exhausting!

The fact is that we do make choices every day that affect our health and the planet. But overhauling your lifestyle in one day may not be possible. Make good sustainable choices. Buy reusable rather than disposable items. Read what the experts have to say and then use your own instincts. I try to remember, as Pollan points out, that "the experts" have been very wrong in the past. But our instincts are usually right.

My New Year's Resolutions For Creating a More Sustainable Lifestyle

1. Ride my bike more/ use my car less. My oldest child's school is only 1.5 miles from our house. When school began, we rode our bikes every day. Full disclosure leads me to tell you that at this point I am trying to ride the bike at least 50% of the time. The typical excuses abound... we are running late, the kids are whining, I am freezing (I am seriously not equipped for cold weather, so I am a wimp when the air temp dips below 50 degrees). But then I have to slouch down in the car as we ride past all of my neighbors who are happily biking with their kids. A few have "green" motivations for being on the bike, but mostly they just love being outdoors with their kids, getting some exercise.
   
2. Create a Spring and Summer garden. I have wonderful memories of my parents sending me out to the garden to gather vegetables for our supper most summer evenings. I have killed more tomato plants than I care to mention and have never ventured beyond container plants. Surely I can aspire to more! We have been working on our composted soil for almost a year and I feel ready to try this. Any suggestions for veggies (middle eastern coastal area)?


3. Spend more time with friends and family. I really think there is a connection between this resolution and creating a more sustainable lifestyle. Life balance and focus on basics rather than "flash" allows us to break out of bad habits of old.

Do you agree? Do you have any to share?

Also, thanks to everyone who used reusable gift wrapping from fabricwrapper.com this holiday! We appreciate your support and all of the kind words regarding your satisfaction with our products.