MARCH Tip of the Month

I love the beginning of Spring. This month we celebrate the renewal of life: from the Spring Equinox (March 20) to the religious holidays like Easter. Nature presents new life with trees budding and adorable baby animals in abundance. It is an opportunity for each of us to see how this renewal can be mirrored in our own lives. I encourage you to look for ways to renew in your life, and how you can mirror that in your space.

Do you want to rekindle the romance in your relationship? Try clearing the clutter from your bedroom. Want to get back into your favorite hobby? Make an area for it in your home. Want to reconnect with your kids? Take an afternoon to sort through their toys with them, playing each game and seeing how they’ve grown—and possibly what they’ve outgrown.

What areas of your life do you want to make room for? See our Spring Clearing special for this month if you’d like support with your renewal.

For your Stuff...
SPRING CLEARING: Why not double up your efforts this season and add clearing to your cleaning. Spring cleaning is traditionally a time to put away the cold weather gear, open up the house, and dust off everything from the relatively sedentary and secluded life people live in the cold winter months. Let’s face it though, in Los Angeles, there’s not the extreme weatherizing as in other parts of the world, but it may be a good time to shift your wardrobe, clean the windows, and clear the piles. Make the pledge to clear out at least one bag of recycables and one bag of trash this month. That should be easy! As the weather warms, go ahead and donate the faded sweater, the kids’ snow boots, and other seasonal items you know you won’t be using next year—why keep it, just to get rid of it next year?

For your Spirit...
BE AWAKENED: Consider joining Oprah’s Book Club and free online course this month. “For the first time ever, you can join Oprah and Eckhart Tolle, the best-selling author of The Power of Now, as they teach A New Earth in Oprah's worldwide classroom live Monday nights on Oprah.com. This is a 10-week webinar which is bound to be enlightening, or you can simply enjoy the book on your own.

For the Earth...
DETOX YOUR HOME: Traditional household cleaners are a major source of indoor pollution. The EPA estimates that indoor air pollution is ten times worse than air outside. According to the National Safety Council, it can lead to conditions such as allergies and asthma. One source of this pollution comes from the products we use, such as cleaning and beauty supplies. Try at least one new environmentally friendly cleaning product this month. Look for products that are non-toxic, biodegradable, and made from renewable resources (not petroleum based). Mrs. Meyers is what we use at the Johnson home. You can also try a simple vinegar and water solution in a spray bottle. These alternatives reduces your family’s exposure to toxic chemicals, decreases the petroleum and energy needed to produce said products, and all while cleaning just as well. See Going Green At Home for more ideas and alternatives.

For your work...
BUY GREEN ENERGY: Buying green energy is one way to off-set your carbon emissions. Take action to replace traditional polluting sources of electricity with clean and sustainable renewable energy that comes from solar and wind power. Locally, LADWP offers a green power program to residential and small commercial customers, which enables you to support cleaner energy sources for Los Angeles. Not a DWP customer? You can buy green energy tags, which fund the eco-friendly production of power (wind and solar). Find more ways to take care of the Earth at work in Going Green at Work.

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