ecoLIVING London

I'm a blog junkie - not only do I write several of my own, I also enjoy reading other people's blogs.

One of my favorites is called zen habits by Leo Babauta. Babauta writes a lot about living a simple yet productive life, and some his recents posts have been about a pet topic of mine: Reducing consumerism.

In Simplify, and Savor Life, Babauta talks about savoring plain coffee and tea, eating simpler meals, doing shorter and simpler workouts, and borrowing books from the library rather than reading online or buying new books.

In The Wastefulness of Decluttering, he addresses a reader's comment that she felt "wasteful" for giving away things that she no longer needed. He then offers up some simple tips for decluttering your life.

My favorite is A Brief Guide to Life, however. It includes the following suggestions, which quite appeal to me:

less TV, more reading
less shopping, more outdoors
less clutter, more space
less rush, more slowness
less consuming, more creating
less junk, more real food
less busywork, more impact
less driving, more walking
less noise, more solitude
less focus on the future, more on the present
less work, more play
less worry, more smiles
breathe

If any of it appeals to you, give Babauta's blog a read. I always come away from his posts feeling inspired and refreshed.

Michelle Lynne Goodfellow is a sometime professional organizer, eco-friendly consultant and crayon artist who works by day in nonprofit communications and resource development. Read her eco-friendly cleaning blog here.