It is now the beginning of a new year! I want to challenge you to think about how you will make a change in how you process and recycle trash in your home. In order to consider this challenge and succeed, you will need to think about a few things first:

1. Where will I place recycling receptacles? You will need to have collection space(s) available in order to store items. A corner in the garage, concealed under a counter or table, outside along a wall, or in a specific part of the basement.

2. What kind of receptacles do I use? You can use anything in which to hold/collect your recyclables. Consider what you’ll be recycling and decide what type of container you will need to hold it. For instance, cardboard boxes work great, however, you may want to add a plastic bag liner when you deposit rinsed glass bottles/jars in it. Some people like open receptacles to toss things into, others prefer to have them covered. Either way, be creative and look for things you already have that are similar in size. Label them so the whole family can locate and use them.

3. When do I begin? You can begin this process only after you have set in place a plan. If a system is to work for you, thought has to be put into it. The process needs to be easy, fluid, and convenient to use. If you are lucky enough to have roadside pickup, then you will be given some receptacles to use. Larger families usually need more receptacles since more trash is recycled. This means more room will be needed for collection.

4. How do I begin?
a. Get the family together to collect ideas about what the family will recycle.
b. Explain to them how they will be involved in the new recycling plan. Make sure everyone is on the same page and understands the complete process.
c. Learn what the recycling numbers are and what you plan to recycle. Know what recycled items your community accepts, and where collection spots are.
d. If your home has a number of levels, you may want to have collection points for paper products on each level for convenience.
e. Learn how to recycle things correctly – rinse all containers out, separate plastics, crush everything possible to compact space, and set specific days for removal.

5. Why should I commit to recycling in my home? It’s your opportunity to do your part to begin thinking about how you can help. All of us should be more responsible for our planet’s future. It also awakens you to think about how things are packaged. Then you begin thinking about what’s contained inside that packaging and what companies are trying to package healthier product options in recyclable containers. In other words, it begins a whole ripple effect with how you will begin to think about and purchase products. Suddenly you’ll find yourself reading all product labels and learning that many companies use advertising key words to get consumers to buy things. Words like “natural, organic, lite” and many other select words let you think companies are making a change in their products, but the change can sometimes be simply in the new packaging catch phrase words that were added, and nothing else. Take time this year to be a better consumer!

It’s time for all of us to consider how we can teach our children to care for their planet. I hope you will take on this challenge for this year. I KNOW you will be a better person for it! If you ever need ideas or help with your recycling efforts, please contact me and I’ll help you get started. It’s really very easy. All you have to do is BEGIN.

Cathy Dick
Final Touch Designs, Inc.

http://www.final-touchdesigns.com

Now that Christmas is over and guests have gone and our living rooms are filled with a variety of papers, peanuts, boxes, and ribbons, how do dispose of it all correctly? Here are some useful tips to help you dispose of your tree and everything else.

Before you begin, you will need to sort through everything. This is a great way to see if you’ve accidentally tossed something you should not have. It’s also a great way to keep the recycling places happy.

1. Prepare your live tree by removing everything from it. Be sure there is no metal attached, take tree out of stand, and only wrap in bags if instructed to do so. Know what size of tree is accepted as well and cut if necessary. Flocked trees usually can’t be recycled, so put these in the garbage. Artificial trees will stay in the landfill forever if sent there, so consider recycling by donating to charity or give it away on Craigslist or Freecycle.

2. Gift wrap needs to be sorted well. Any metallic or glittery papers need to be separated from paper. Tear off any bits of tape, ribbons, bows, and metal. Now the paper is ready to be recycled and can be mixed with other papers in most communities.

3. Bubble wrap can be reused if you have room to store it or you can give it someone who ships a lot. Consider taking it to your local mailing center (UPS Store or Mail Boxes, Etc.). Some suggest to use bubble wrap to remove frost from windshields, and even insulation.

4. Packing peanuts can also be saved to reuse, but if you can’t reuse them yourself, give them away to someone who can. Shipping stores take them back as well.

5. Cardboard boxes can be recycled with mixed paper in most communities. Just break them down once all the tape has been removed. Again, large boxes can be given away to someone who is moving or storing large things. Some U-Haul stores take boxes and other places re-sell them.

6. Next year, consider using wrapping paper that is made from recycled paper or try gift bags made of fabric, reusable bags, and recycled wrap as other options. Get creative and wrap box tops and store carefully to use over and over again. You can reuse tags, ribbon, and other objects to decorate your gifts. Handmade gifts and handmade wrap is not only fun to create, but they are great to get.

Let your creative juices flow next year and reuse what you can. Re-gift, re-wrap, and re-cycle what you can during the whole process. When guests come to visit, we accumulate a lot of glass, cans, paper and body fat in such a short time. Look for healthy alternatives to what you eat and give, as well as how you prepare and clean up after the holidays. This coming new year will have even more smart ways to be greener when shopping for, during, and after the holidays.

Final Touch Designs is located in Roanoke Virginia. We offer workshops on living green, staying organized, and many other topics. Visit our website for more information on all of our workshops.

Whether you are at work or at home, email messages bombard you every second it seems. People wanting answers to questions, newsletters you subscribed to, promotions, ads, family’s long-winded letters about their lives, jokes, people answering questions that you’ve asked them (well maybe one out of three questions gets answered), and then a few relevant emails that you’ve been waiting for. Like junk mail that you physically have to open, email overload can cause you to go crazy! So what can you do to effectively manage all that email? It’s not really that difficult. What IS difficult is turning your attention away from it and telling yourself that it’s okay.

1. Set up a couple of Gmail or other accounts

If you don’t already have one- or two- or three different accounts, it’s a good idea to create a few. You can use a separate account to accept all newsletters, junk mail, and when a site asks you for an account and you don’t want to use your home or business account. That way, you can check it when you WANT to and those emails don’t clutter your primary account(s).

2. Check email at defined times each day

In your advanced email options, you can turn off the sound when you receive email. It is much less distracting. If you begin the habit of not checking your email constantly, you will be amazed how much you can get done. “But it will pile up on me!!” Trust me, we’ll get to that so you don’t get overloaded. If people know you are going to give them immediate return responses, they will begin to expect it from you all the time. Have them use the phone and let them know when you will be available by phone. When it is email processing time, then you can turn the world aside for a few minutes and blast through them quickly.

3. Create email folders to keep you organized

Use your organizing tools that your email programs provide for you. Just as you would file a document, file your emails according to topic, people, or job. Use the label/categorize features and label them ‘To Do’, ‘Follow Up’, ‘Reply ASAP’, etc. Once it’s been taken care of, you’ll want to have more relevant folders set up to move emails into that you want to archive. Just be sure you label them appropriately so you will remember where they are and what’s in each folder. Then drag and drop. Delete all emails you don’t want immediately.

4. Use paper and pencil for a “response list” to process email in batches

Sometimes writing down who emailed you and what you need to do with it puts it all in one place. You can put the list aside to follow up on later. It’s quicker to zip through a list of emails that ALL need to be replied to, than a list with many irrelevant emails in between. Always try to get your inbox down to zero by the end of each day…okay no more than 100! If you can do that (and I know you can), you will feel so good when you enter your office each morning.

5. Read email, answer briefly, then move to the next

Some emails require only a quick answer. For those emails that ask a simple question, read the email once, and reply quickly, then delete it and get it out of the way. This does not apply to the massive long-winded emails that require you to hunt for the questions. But please remember one thing: Be sure the question that was asked is either in front of, on top of, or under the answer! There is nothing more frustrating than getting an answer back and having no idea what or where the question is. So make sure it is clearly visible within a line or two (max) of your answer.

6. Keep emails and responses short and sweet

Remember, people tend to remember the beginning and end of a long message, story, or article, and forget all the content in the middle. Use bullets whenever possible, begin with RE: and the subject or topic as a quick reference, and cut out unnecessary words and sentences. In this way you can train people by example. I personally like to respond briefly at the ends of either sentences or paragraphs. That way the recipient knows I’ve taken time to read what they sent and all questions get answers. Have you ever sent an email to someone with a number of questions only to have the last one answered? Bullets are great for one sentence questions, one after another. If you have lengthy questions that require lengthy answers, CALL the person!

7. Use bridging emails when necessary

Have you ever sent an email to someone only to receive a reply a week later, if any at all? Do you wonder if they ever got it, read it, or cared about responding back to you? Well, you’re not alone. It only takes a few seconds to send an email that tells them you received and read their email but don’t have time to answer it at the moment. Now, how easy is that? Taking time to respond to an email that may take time to draft later can mean the difference between leaving a positive or a negative impression with people. People can appreciate that you’re busy, and they’ll also appreciate the fact that they aren’t being ignored.

8. Use email threads only when necessary

In a business office it is often necessary to reply to an email while keeping the sender’s message at the bottom. But there are many cases where you don’t want to do that. Be careful when you hit that ‘Reply’ button. There may be times when the content should not be shared if sent to another recipient. And when you receive an email that shows the other 20 people who’ve sent it prior to you with a joke or link or video at the very end, please, please, please, take all the irrelevant lines off and only send out what IS relevent. It is so frustrating getting a message with Re: Re: Re: Re: White Socks in the subject line and you have to scroll for five minutes to see what the heck the person was sending you.

Just as you can learn to turn the ringer of the phone off, you can also learn to turn your eyes away from your email. So what if it accumulates 100 more emails in an hour. At least, if you used your hour productively, you can look back at that last hour and see what you accomplished. Choose your phone and email times to suit your work day and stick to them as much as possible.

There are already so many things that take our minds and thoughts away from the tasks we have to do each day. Many studies have shown that multi-tasking is not very productive. So let people you work with or live with know that you have work to do and don’t wish to be disturbed with emails or phone calls during certain times of the day — it can be for a few minutes or longer. It takes determination, discipline, and will power to turn it off. But in the end, you will be less stressed and much more productive–honest.