Urban Blog

One reason why my household has too much stuff is because I have two sets of everything. For instance, I have a set of good china and a set of everyday dishes. The good china is not getting me my money’s worth. I didn’t buy it so that I would need to fill an extra cupboard or buy a hutch on top of everything else. Nobody looks at it; they walk right by.
 
I have extra clothes because I think I’m going to shrink back into my old clothes. I haven’t even looked at some pieces since my sense of style changed. I also have items that only go with very few other items and can’t be mixed and matched.
 
I think I’m going to try Courtney Carver’s suggestion to enjoy my favorite things every day by getting rid of everything else. After all, how can my favorite things be my favorite things if I never use them? If I never get any value out of them?
 
There are situations that still justify having a “good” and a “regular” set of things. For instance, with china, I may want to reserve using it for when the kids are at school, and wait until the kids are old enough before I save space by giving the “regular” dishes away.
 
The rest of the time, the only reason why I don’t use my “good” things is because I have an undeserving attitude. And I reinforce that attitude by acting it out. It’s a cycle that I will break.
 
Courtney has more suggestions for getting value out of your household’s favorite things every day over at Be More With Less.
 
Click to be more.
 

Even when you buy clothes from a reliable sustainable fashion company, you don’t truly know where your clothes are coming from. You trust the company. To reassure their customers, the companies themselves are stepping up and adding traceability as a quality of their clothing. The idea doubles as a marketing and education strategy.
 
Read more at Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator
 

For those of you who can’t afford to switch to solar just yet, Rayton Solar has created a solar panel that costs 60% less for them to make than most companies’ regular solar panels, and is 25% more efficient. It’s also safer to produce. The resulting energy is cheaper than fossil fuel energy, even when made in the USA.
 
You can give Rayton a hand at Indiegogo.
 

If you’re looking to craft colorful garments while reducing the risk you place on the environment, Color Ball has a fabric line called BotanicalDye. Color Ball gathers herbs in season and creates a line of colors that is surprisingly vivid for plant-based dyes.
 
Eye candy is at StartUp Fashion.
 

For those of you who like to clean your ovens with baking soda, Wellness Mama Katie suggests a new natural product. Branch Basics concentrate is safe but faster and requires less elbow grease than baking soda. Often making your own products is good enough, but Katie used Branch Basics to deal with an emergency clean-up.
 
Hear it from Katie.
 

Offices are adopting more technology but for some uses, it’s impossible to swear off paper completely. Now the University of California, Riverside has developed a rewritable “paper” that never needs fresh ink. If this “paper” catches on, not only can it save trees but it can reduce chemical pollution.
 
More at Inhabitat.
 

An adjustable diaper that grows with your baby can be too big if your newborn is relatively small. Thankfully, Kim Rosas has found another cloth diaper she loves, and this one is newborn sized. Take a look at the Smart Bottoms Born Smart.
 
Read the whole review at Dirty Diaper Laundry.
 

 
Wellness Mama has compiled a lot of information on mattresses. The purpose of her article is to explain why she chose the organic mattress she did. She begins with reasons why not to choose a regular coil spring mattress next time you need to go bed shopping. Then she explains how she found and evaluated an organic mattress.
 
Click, a good sleep is worth the investment.
 

 
If you’re phone is always on you these days, you might as well use it. Diane Hoffmaster has found five brilliant iPhone apps to help you live a greener lifestyle. While the other four are educational, EcoCharge is genius! It tells you when you’re charging your phone for too long.
 
Get the whole list at Turning the Clock Back.
 

 
January is warning you: tax time is coming. To make sure you have the documents you will need, check out these articles on eliminating paper clutter from Clean Mama.
 
“Simple Solutions to Eliminate Paper Clutter” shows you how to set up your home to sort paper and shred unwelcome documents.
 
“The Secret to Keeping Mail Off the Counters” is not a secret, but it tells you how to process your mail as soon as it gets into the door.
 
Finally, “How Long Should I Keep It For?” contains a poster to help you remember which documents are important enough to keep so you can let go of the rest.
 
This year, reduce your missing household documents when you do your taxes.