Waste-free

It's been a long time since the last post!

In that time, I founded a new company, Recycle the City, (www.recyclethecity.com), focused on helping people reduce waste.

For New Year's I was in Canada on a mostly sustainable farm (http://briarpatchmagazine.com/2007/09/07/prairie%E2%80%99s-edge/). The residents have built their homes by hand, made mostly from recycled goods. The homes face south for solar purposes, as that is their only form of energy. They grow food three seasons of the year and eat mostly that during the winter.

Life is different when you are connected to your needs. It's slower, but fuller. You can't leave the shower running because there's only one pot of melted snow for your shower, taken in the heat of the wood sauna.

One service I offer my clients is budget evaluation, reorganizing their spending to do it less with the same resources. When your needs are clear and honored, the waste gets stripped away.

This year, let us focus on change in the form of truly meeting our needs, and letting the rest happen.

Happy new year!

Save More, Earn More

Last Friday, one of my biggest clients asked me if I'd been cashing the paychecks.

"Yes," I responded, puzzled. "Why?"

"Well, I don't know. It seems like, lately, since we've been doing all this work together, I have an inordinately large amount in the account."

Reminding her of the prediction of this when we began our work together, I assured her this was normal...and the goal.

Upon leaving her house, I sent this story to another of my biggest clients as inspiration.

Monday I arrived at the office of the second client to find his assistant puzzling over a regular weekly invoice.

"This is strange," he said.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"This account- he wants to pay the invoice in full. He never does that- he only pays in installments."

"What do you think is different that would have made him want to pay in full?"

"I don't know- he's never done that since I've worked here, nearly two years. The only thing is...there's a lot of money in that account lately, so maybe that's why."

Yes, maybe that is why! But why all the money in the accounts? It is a multi-fold system:

1. Stop the leaks: Try to discover small and large ways in which your money is leaking away- are you being charged late fees or finance charges? Do you have to take taxis because you're always running late? Eliminating these $10-$50 fees will enormously change your situation.

2. With a tighter system in place, you will have less paperwork and fewer people after you to take your money. You will also be more in control. When you are more in control, you will have the capacity to handle greater input, particularly financially.

Tighten up, earn more.

Watch it happen.

A Generation of Non-Cleaners

If you stain your couch, what do you do? Do you pat it firmly with white vinegar, or use a formula of baking soda and seltzer and salt and a scrub brush? Or do you leave it, bothered, and eventually replace the couch? Most people don't expect you do darn your socks or repair your stockings, but what about the rest of your things?

I think one of the great contributors to the consumerism of our times is simply that we have never learned to clean, and we are generally taught that it takes too long, anyway.

This bears quite a bit on understanding the mentality of many of my clients, who are of the Depression generation, or raised by those who were. Out of necessity everything was salvageable, and even if you personally didn't know how to fix it, You might need it someday so you'd find someone who could.

It is probably not possible to teach everyone to clean, because time is such a commodity these days. Cleaning and reusing our stuff would save our landfills, our space, and our money. But, in the meantime, let's at least pass the stuff on to those who can enjoy it (and might be able to repair/clean it).

More on this topic soon.

Let's reuse, and here's to cleaning!

How little is enough?

Yesterday I met a happy man with very little.

One day he decided he was too much of an "anchor," and decided to get rid of it all. Discarding/recycling everything from clothes to old letters, he kept only a bicycle with some spare parts, a backpack with a few items such as a thermos he had found, some photos, music, and a pair of shoes. What he has left is him (and a slender self, at that).

"Perhaps I went overboard getting rid of everything," he admitted, but smiled when I asked him how it's going. "Good, I feel provided for. There are so many things around...and they're accessible when I need them."

The weight, the sighs, the head shakes I see when clients, friends and family speak of their lives. The overwhelm! Yet this man speaks calmly, walks gracefully, travels lightly, and enjoys each meal he eats. He is not picky or worried.

Were we all to clear even a tiny bit of the things weighing us down, how much lighter our steps would be, how much higher the quality of our days.

Here's to the clarity and peace of mind that comes with less.

No bag is better than a reused bag

Please help the stores and your peers understand something for which I suffer passionately: No bag is better! (or at least equal).

The idea of saving resources and reducing our carbon footprint will go farther faster if we are purists. Purity is about ideals. Ideally, I wouldn't be shlepping things around with me. Why bring a bag if I don't need one? That's how things fill up- because they're there.

The less we use, the better for ourselves and the environment.

I am very happy that stores are beginning to offer a tiny discount of a few cents if you bring a bag. However, that discount is not extended if you refuse a bag. Why not? I have discussed this with many a cashier or customer service representative who, rolling their eyes, explained that I did not get a discount for bringing a bag because I did not bring one. True enough, but the discount is for the very concept of saving resources. It is about retraining. If we are taught that we must pay to have baggage, we will Definitely have less literal baggage, and subsequently less metaphorical baggage.

My dream is that the States follow Ireland, and start charging 25c/plastic bag. Watch how quickly people learn to bring their own, or politely refuse.

No bag, thank you!

There Is Someone Who Loves To Do What You...Don't

For months I have struggled (years, really) trying to do everything that is involved in having one's own business. Not only is it tedious and difficult, it's disheartening.

It's so hard to work with others! After finally getting an unbearable task done, the accountant is unavailable, the health insurance co. can't find the fax...so these unbearable tasks have to be repeated..oy vay.

However, there are some gifted people out there who love following up with remiss administration, filing, and organizing things you hate looking at. The key is to do the preparation so they can really help you.

If you hate cleaning the house, and you can afford someone to clean it for you, pay him/her! Not only will you save your invaluable time to do the things that matter to you, but it will also inspire you to do that which you love even better. I'll discuss house cleaning very soon.

We are somehow taught, I feel, that we must be good at everything and, worse, that we ought to enjoy it. If we don't enjoy it, we ought at least find solace in the fact that we're not alone...forget that, I say! Let's not waste our short and precious time here doing things that we don't want to do (if it doesn't harm ourselves or others to not do them).

So I shall have three assistants...how about you?

Clear desk...clear mind...reliable person...

It continually amazes me what a difference the aesthetic of one's environment makes.

Before heading out of town, it took a vigorous effort to really clear my desk.

Every day when I come to the office, it's ridiculous how efficient I am when the desk is cleared. Paying bills ahead of time, replying to people immediately, dealing with any wrinkles in effort with the slightest of ease. And yet, how easy it is to slip from here, and how quickly it happens.

Maintenance can feel boring and tedious...but it is there where the true liberation lies.

Two things, today. Put them away.

Returning to the Point

It's so natural to become embroiled in our "stuff." And then suddenly, as a spinning teacup with a loose connection, we are ejected from the consuming turmoil and we stand, dazed, outside of it.

What does it take to remember what we really want?

Some breaths, that's for sure. Maybe a walk when we wouldn't have otherwise walked. And support. The ability to discuss things (if we wish to) with our family/peers is the most important. Do we all have that person to mull with?

In lieu of that, how about five words that are highly representative...and we'll go from there.

Off to make a list!

How Quickly We Forget!

The task I had to do the other day had been hanging over my head for many months...six, perhaps? I finally completed all the parts, and it is DONE. Strangely, it's as if it never existed, as if I hadn't fretted and planned to accomplish it at all, let alone to the worried degree that I did. All I can see now is all the things I have yet to accomplish.

This is so common amongst my clients. We are so accustomed to worrying and suffering, that it is hard to take a moment to do two things: 1. Say, Well done! Finally! 2. Be inspired by our achievement to do it again.

So you achieved one task...terrific!

Today

Today I will deal with at least one problem which, left undone, continues to grow in its problematic-ness.

There may be parts to the task, such as finding the elements you need to deal with it, going to the place, and dealing with it.

I'll let you know when I'm done, and hope you do the same.