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7 Easy Ways to Get Organized for Back-to-School

August 9, 2024 by Amy Slenker-Smith 15 Comments

Summer is coming to an end and many kids are already back to school. Articles fill your feed with items to buy for back-to-school." But what if you handled it differently this year and saved money? Families want to start the year off right. Organizing your school supplies can be a great way to signal the transition from summer to school. Just keep a few things in mind before you shop. Advertising Works Advertising works because billions of marketing dollars make it happen! Ads lure you into buying 64 brand new crayons and all those cute IKEA desks you had to have during the pandemic. Let's be real for a minute. June-scissors work in August, right? Crayons and pencils might be scattered but still create art, correct? Kids are productive in different spaces, so do NOT force them into a desk. (I learned this from a homework expert years ago.) Before the ads convince you to buy, take an inventory of your supplies and consider what you really …

7 Easy Ways To Reduce Plastic Waste in Your Home

March 18, 2024 by Amy Slenker-Smith 3 Comments

March 18 is Global Recycling Day. I'd love to celebrate but we've reached a point of no return. Not only should we reduce plastic waste and use, we simply have to. This is no time to celebrate with statistics like this: The equivalent of one garbage truck of trash enters the ocean every minute The North Pacific Gyre (aka Great Pacific Garbage Patch) is twice the size of Texas 1 Million single-use plastic bottles are sold every minute. Americans use 50 Billion water bottles per year. Only 3 out of 10 are recycled. Studies show that 93% of bottled water contains microplastics in the water itself. Also, plastic is now in our food supply. By 2050, the ocean will have more plastic than fish by weight. I am overwhelmed by the magnitude of these statistics and saddened for our world. Something has to change. But How? Start small. Just start! Like decluttering, start with your own stuff. Make a few simple changes and set the example for others to follow. The best way we …

5 Easy Ways to Live More Sustainably

July 24, 2020 by Amy Slenker-Smith 8 Comments

During the past 15 years, I have realized many benefits from living simply. This lifestyle delivers financial freedom, less waste and a desire to shop sustainably, just to name a few. [bctt tweet="“The most sustainable purchase is left on the shelf.” —Joshua Fields Millburn" username="simplyenoughamy"] Over time, I found that living simply and sustainable practices go hand-in-hand. It opened my eyes to how owning less means living more. To start, our family eliminated excess shopping and created a strong financial plan. We paid off $30K of debt, followed a budget, and saved aggressively. It was a turning point that prioritized experiences over stuff. In the years to come, travel brought us to peaceful ocean waves, still quiet of the mountains, and the majesty of our national parks. Having witnessed these treasures first hand, I turned my focus yet again, to preserving them and living more sustainably. Now, we take great care to purchase without plastic and consider an …

How To Declutter and Organize Magazines

February 28, 2020 by Amy Slenker-Smith Leave a Comment

For years, we subscribed to our favorite magazines and even the Sunday newspaper. Over time, they became a burden to read, instead of enjoy. Gradually, we reduced the subscriptions but were harassed by endless mailings from publishers offering "lowest price ever" if we renewed. While I could easily manage the magazines themselves, I found all the extra mail to be wasteful. It required diligence on my part to know when our subscription REALLY expired. At one point, I had paid for 2 years in advance. Eventually, we went down to just one magazine. It was my favorite until I realized every other page was an advertisement. It was thick with unnecessary ads. This was just the motivation I needed to end the subscription. For months, the bills continued. Even a letter that stated I was delinquent. But that's just another sales tactic because advertising works. I don’t object to an occasional magazine. Reading is good. But my approach eliminates waste and …

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