Holiday Home Prep—Part One

The fall season is habitually a time of organization and preparation. We all find ourselves cleaning and organizing with tasks ranging from tidying up little bits of clutter, to shampooing the carpets. Since many consumers spend the fall months preparing the home for the holidays, GreenCupboards put together some tips for getting things clean without endangering your health, or the environment. 1. Organizing Freeing the house of all clutter is pretty much impossible; but organizing and minimizing clutter is not. We often find ourselves looking for ways to organize the home and reduce the clutter without breaking the bank or adding more clutter. There are some really great environmentally friendly products out there that work well for organizing. If you have a lot of documents and papers that need filing, look at using recycled file folders. They are colorful and durable; they get the job done, without harming the environment! Or if you have larger items cluttering your house, and are looking for some fun and colorful ways to spruce up while eliminating clutter, look into some Way Basics Cubes or Rectangles. Buy however many you need in your choice of selected colors to get the pizazz your home needs while being chic and eco-friendly. Use as a bookshelf to display books, family pictures and other decorations. No matter what your use, these environmentally friendly shelves will help reduce clutter and add personality to any room in your house. 2. General Cleaning Have a lot of household cleaning to do before friends and family arrive for the holidays? Many commercial cleaners have harsh chemicals and dangerous toxins that are hazardous to you and your family’s health. Cleaning with natural and eco-friendly cleaners is not only good for the environment, but for your health as well. Whether you want an all-purpose cleaner or individual cleaners for the different areas in your home, green cleaners work just as well as — if not better than — the commercial cleaners from the grocery store, without harming you or the environment. Try using brands like Seventh Generation, Mrs. Meyers, and Options for Life. 3. Disposing Holiday gatherings typically produce a lot of waste. Whether it is pre-party preparations, or post-party cleaning, there are a number of eco-friendly disposal methods. The number one eco-friendly way to dispose of waste is to recycle. Most cities have implemented recycling as part of the garbage collection. However, not all cities allow you to recycle all materials. First thing is to check if your waste is recyclable, and what type of materials you are disposing. While most cities recycle plastic, they may not recycle all types of plastic. Check out the Recycling widget on Earth911 to find out what you can recycle in your area, or visit http://www.solidwaste.org/sub9286.asp?id=5102 for information on recycling options in Spokane County. Unfortunately, not everything we consume can be recycled. Thankfully, there are other options. Some consumers like to have a compost pile or bin, which is great for fertilizer and disposing of foods and used coffee grains and filters. This, however, is not an option for all consumers because of living conditions and other considerations. Another great alternative is using eco-friendly, green trash bags. We all have trash that needs to be thrown out, so why use a commercial plastic bag that isn’t biodegradable and can rip and tear? Perf Go Green is a green company that produces 100 percent biodegradable trash bags that hold up to the wear and tear of everyday use. They are completely biodegrade in the course of two years, rather than hundreds or thousands of years like conventional trash bags. They are also less expensive than many non-green, name brand trash bags. 4. Shopping This holiday season, when shopping for gifts and items for your home, check the product’s environmental impact. It’s easy! Though the products you purchase may not be eco-friendly themselves, try to buy products packaged in recycled or recyclable materials. Most products are clearly marked with the standard recycle label (the three arrows), and many will even have directions on the most effective way to recycle or dispose of either the packaging or the product after use. Many natural, “green,” or eco-friendly products are clearly marked and easy to spot. Products made of recycled or natural material are generally clearly marked and have increasing regulations to ensure you are not getting ripped off. Another way to save money and shop wisely is to do your shopping online. When you purchase your goods online, you can not only compare products, ingredients, and efficacy, but you save money and gas. Shopping online helps reduce the carbon footprint of each transaction. Each time you shop online, you reduce your emissions and can save money by having your products shipped together directly from the manufacturer or distributor, reducing the carbon footprint and emissions of each product. 5. Decorating If you’re decorating the home for the holidays, or just sprucing the place up a bit, it is easy to decorate your home green style! From using florescent, energy saving light bulbs to set the tone, to eco-friendly ornaments, shelves, and frames, there is a plethora of options to deck out your home in a chic and environmentally-conscious manner. But don’t keep all your eco-friendly decorating genius to yourself; “green” decorations make great holiday gifts for loved ones, co-workers, or the hostess of that party you promised to attend! Next week’s Viva Verde column will include even more tips to prepare your home for the holidays with as many eco-twists as possible. Viva Verde! is written by two MBA students from Spokane who love, love, love living green. GreenCupboards.com is an online provider of green, energy efficient products for the home and office.