Author: The Planning Lady
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Why Old Homes Are Eco-Friendly
While not everyone is interested in living in an older home, many people seek out these gems because of their character and charm. A quaint bungalow or imposing colonial revival are just a few of the styles popular before WWII that stand out from the way we design today. Not only are older homes unique…
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The World of the Policy Analyst
Book Review What I took away from the World of the Policy Analyst written by Heineman, Bluhm, Peterson, and Kearny was that as a policy analyst, you cannot escape politics. A policy analyst tries to be impartial, but it is hard to be completely unbiased which makes sense. The data is presented, but there are…
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Decluttering for a Sustainable New Year
About this time last year I bought Marie Kondo’s book The Life Saving Magic of Tidying Up and just a few months ago read another book by Cait Flanders called The Year of Less. Both were great books about getting rid of all our extra stuff, but with very different approaches. The KonMari method coined…
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Why Thrift Shopping is Essential for Sustainable Living
Anyone that knows me well knows that I am not a big fan of shopping. I avoid it at all costs, unless going with a friend. Even then, I hardly buy anything, I just like to spend time with my shopping buddy. My shopping system used to involve two quick trips, one in the spring…
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Tooth Powder Instead of Toothpaste
I first heard about tooth powder from my friend who has been using it for awhile now. So when I started down the journey of changing one habit per week to reduce the amount of waste I create, replacing toothpaste with powder came to mind. While at the zero waste shop down the street I…
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Sustainable Spin on Thanksgiving
A few weeks before thanksgiving I started thinking ways I could reduce waste as I hosted ten people at my house. A few of the ideas I had time to implement, others I hope to introduce into next years festivities, and some I have been doing for years now. The actions ranged from using every…
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Ditching Plastic Razors: the Safety Razor
My second zero waste change might seem like a small one, but it has a large impact. I read a HuffPost article about the negative impact of plastic razors which lays out the argument to move to a more sustainable option quite well. The razors themselves are very difficult to recycle as is the plastic…
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Backyard Composting
My first zero waste change was a fairly easy one. While living in the Twin Cities metro I was first introduced to composting. In Columbia Heights the City provided residents with a starter kit that consisted of a 5 gallon bucket, roll of large compost bags, and a few coupons. There was one central location…
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Embracing Zero Waste: Simple Steps to Reduce Your Environmental Impact
have been reading a lot of books on trees, nature, buying less, and living simple. I also just finished watching The Handmaids Tale which is set in a future world where America is in the hands of people who think they are saving the country from destruction by returning it to a lifestyle reminiscent of…
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Floods and Marathons: An Unexpected Race Experience
Even if you don’t know the actual mileage of the marathon, you probably know enough to know it’s a lot more than 6.6 miles. But that is all I was able to run during the Heartland Marathon this past Sunday. Having had a terrible race back in May due to the warm sunny weather I…
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The Planning Lady 