I’ve had several people ask me where I get some of the knitwear that I’ve posed in on the site, and to be honest, I can’t usually find exactly what I want, so I end up making it a lot of the time. I knit and crochet and I find them both to be extremely therapeutic and calming. I learned to knit from my grandmother and to (properly) crochet from my aunt. I mostly make accessories, because I don’t really have the attention span for a sweater, (sorry Nana). So here’s the first in a series of patterns I’ll be posting this season. Enjoy!

Big Chunky Knitted Cowl Pattern by Savvy Brown

Skill Level: Easy

Wool: Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky
(or any super chunky wool you want to try)

In my continuing quest to organize stuff in our home, I had pushed cable organization to the top of the list. Both my husband and I have a couple of laptops, not mention various video game systems each with its own set of cables. I was tired of not being able to find the correct cable when I needed it, or resorting to a dusty game of twister when something blew behind the TV and spending an hour trying to find the right cord, before I could troubleshoot the problem. These ideas helped us, and maybe they’ll help you too!

image from unpluggd

Our house is over 100 years old, and the oak hardwood floors have a clear poly finish on them. For those of you who don’t know, real wood, should never be cleaned with tons of wet soapy water, you’ll only warp the wood and ruin the grain. The best thing to use is a floor cleaner that can be poured sparingly or sprayed on then damp mopped up. My father-in-law introduced me to this stuff and I liked the ingredients so I thought I’d give it a try.

Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner Spray (32 ounce) $8.35

Ingredients not available.

Every year I try to downsize and re-organize a bit so that we have less clutter to deal with. I have dreams of coming home to a perfectly calm, serene space where not only is everything neat and clean…but I actually remember where I put everything.

I’m still working on it.

The following is a list of a few things that have really helped make the task easier, that also happen to be earth-friendly and pretty cheap!

Receipts

Wrangle Receipts and Business Cards – I have only one solution to this problem. Shoeboxed.com They send you a few large envelopes in the mail, you stuff the envelopes with all of your receipts and then drop them back in the mail (postage is free). They scan, organize and post the receipts online for you in a password protected account, then destroy/recycle the originals. I can easily see what receipts I can use for deductions as well as what we’re actually spending our money on. They also have a nifty and free iPhone app that lets you take pictures of business cards and automatically imports them into your address book! The service we use is $9.95 a month, and since we’re independent contractors is a tax write off. (Money well spent, trust me).

There are a few ways in which you can collect your food scraps in your kitchen so that you won’t be constantly running outside to dump them in your compost bin. There are a bunch of countertop containers on the market and I even have some available for you along with compost liners in the Savvy Shop.

But here, I’m gonna show you how to make your own! (It’s really easy).

DIY Countertop Compost Caddy

What you’ll need:

• An empty container that’s at least a 3lb capacity (I recycled an old oxygen cleaner container for this, because it has a nifty handle.)
• Power drill with small drill bit to make hole in top (No drill? You can use a hammer and drywall nail instead)
• Charcoal filter (You can find these here and at pet stores )
• Hot glue gun or Crazy Glue
• Velcro (you’re only going to use the side with the “teeth”)

Directions:

I saw this over on Pinterest, (my new favorite hangout), and I couldn’t resist!

It’s originally from Martha Stewart

This laundry bag has 3 components:

• 12” embroidery hoop (she used a 14” one, but I felt it was too big.)
• Standard pillow case (you can use larger if you wish)
• OR regular sized laundry bag with drawstring
• Twine, string or ribbon to hang the whole thing up with

I made the pillowcase version, cuz, well, we’ve got a bunch of orphaned pillowcases laying around…

Believe it or not, you can compost indoors very effectively, and no it will not smell up your house or apartment. Here are two types of indoor composters to chose from:

Automatic Indoor Composter – This little baby works like magic. It can take all kinds of food, including meat, fish and dairy that other composters can’t take. It’s compact, can fit under a sink or in a cabinet and consumes and aerates large amounts of food rather quickly. You can have a full harvest of ready-to-use compost in as little as 2 weeks with this thing. It eliminates having to collect your

A boot tray is a good idea to keep water and snow from tracking across your floors, but why not jazz it up a bit with a Pebble Boot Tray? It’s DIY and really easy to make.  I saw this great idea on Pinterest and followed it over to Martha Stewart’s website. The stones allow the water, ice and snow to drip right into the pan, without leaving those icky white marks around the edges of your boots. Here’s her version…

The stones aren’t glued or anything, they’re just poured into the tray so that wet shoes and boots have someplace to drain. I already had a boot tray, but I don’t live near a craft store, so I had to wait until I went to visit my mom out in Jersey. It’s funny, I was all set to go to Michael’s when mommy looked at me, pursed her lips, squinted her eyes and said the magic words…

Types of Outdoor Composting

So in Composting For Dummies Part 1 we covered what composting is, why it’s beneficial to you and the environment and what it’s used for. Now let’s get into the how’s of composting. Here’s a list of the ways in which you can compost and they’re pros and cons.

Simple Compost Pile – This is essentially just an area of land that is used just for composting. It’s just like it sounds, just a pile of compost. PROS: No setup, no tools needed, compost can just be scooped from the bottom of the pile. Plus it’s free. CONS: Animals can get to it easily. A fair amount of land is required, so that when it rains or when the wind blows, compost bits aren’t flying at your house, must be aerated* by hand.

So if you’re still trying to figure out what to get Dad for Father’s Day, you still have one day left. If you’re dad’s like mine, then he’s so happy to get any kind of gift, he won’t care if it’s o Father’s Day or a few days after, you’re in luck. You can still order something. If you just flaked, and just can’t show up empty handed, go buy a card tomorrow and write in it that his gift is “on it’s way” and pick one of the items below. (If you’re here, you’re out of time anyway, so read on…)

Last-Minute Green Gifts for Dad’s

Logitech Wireless Anywhere Mouse MX for PC and Mac – Sexy has one of these and he loves it. (Granted, I find it all over the house but that’s another story).

Aladdin 16-Ounce Recycled and Recyclable Tumbler – This thing is made from