Good advice on how to combat clutter.
WASTE NOT | The whole notion of “shopping your closet” makes perfectly good sense—in theory. Who wouldn’t want to expand their wardrobe by mixing and matching their existing separates in new and unexpected ways. Who wouldn’t want to put their little-used shoes, bags, scarves and jewels back into heavy (and more creative) rotation. Read more
CREATIVE SOLUTION | The trouble with gloves is that they get lost, loaned, separated from their mates, mangled by pets—or can’t be found where you put them last. Read more
WASTE NOT | Some digital deal behemoths like Groupon, Living Social—and now Social Shopper—alert purchasers when their social shopping deals are about to expire, but other sites do not. This puts the onus on the purchaser to make sure their deals don’t slip through the cracks. If you’re like me, you may have forgotten about a few things you bought on impulse (social shopping is impulse buying after all), or just plain allowed coupons to expire. When this happens, social shopping becomes a gargantuan waste of money. Read more
If you’re like me, you probably have a bunch of dead AA and AAA batteries rattling around in a drawer—possibly scattered among several drawers. You can’t throw them in the trash or even in the blue box. And even though since July 1 all household batteries (alkaline and rechargeable) can be recycled at almost 1,500 collection locations across B.C., you still have to take them there. Read more
MONEY WELL SPENT | One of the best things we did the first time we renovated our house, when my now teenage son was small, was to put a gigantic black chalkboard on one wall in our dining area. We had to order it from a company in Ontario that supplies visual presentation products to schools because we couldn’t find anything locally that was the four-by-eight-foot size we wanted. The board was surprisingly inexpensive, but crating and shipping it nearly doubled the cost. And the cost doubled again when we ditched the anodized aluminum trim kit that can be purchased with the unit in favour of a custom-fitted natural wood picture frame we thought would look better with our hardwood floors and furniture. In the end, I think we paid around $800 for the whole thing, which isn’t dirt cheap but certainly less expensive than a framed artwork of comparable size. Read more