"Green" Organizing is a growing trend developing in the professional organizing industry. And it's here to stay. Green Organizing is an environmentally-friendly approach to professional organizing emphasizing the principles of reducere-userecycle. It encourages thinking about the social and environmental impact of your purchases, as well as the ethics of the companies you buy from.

Green Organizers promote:

• Using recycled and/or biodegradable products where possible and feasible
• Re-using products rather than buying new products
• Limiting the amount of unwanted items going to landfills by donating, free-cycling, selling and recycling as much as possible
• Purchasing organizing products from companies that adhere to environmentally sustainable manufacturing practices

As a Green Organizer, I will strive to:

• Limit the nature and volume of the products I consume and discard
• Purchase from Green product and service vendors.
• Teaching Green practices to my children.
• Set up effective and efficient recycling centers in my home.
• Find creative ways to store potentially useful items or give them away for future re-use instead of throwing them away.
• Purchase earth-friendly, second-hand, or locally-produced products where feasible.
• Follow Green disposal practices such as:
  • Using recycling centers
  • Finding individuals or organizations who need unusual items I need to get rid of
  • Safely and legally disposing of toxic items.
• Share my knowledge of green organizing with others.
• Encourage vendors to offer more earth-friendly products.

Ariane Benefit

Ariane Benefit is a professional organizer, speaker, and author of the popular Neat Living Blog which provides free organizing tips, home makeover photos and much more.

Her mission is to inspire people to simplify, clear clutter, and get organizes so they can get things done easily, and have more time to enjoy the things they really love!!

Contact me at 973-429-2100 or abenefit@neatliving.org. Article or book writing requests are welcome! I am also available to provide content expertise to other writers.

Background: Having grown up in an extremely cluttered home and having moved frequently, I learned first hand how to overcome the need to keep everything. Being the first and only person in my family to go to college, I also learned early on how important it is to organize yourself to achieve your dreams and goals.

I am especially empathetic to creative people, people in crisis, people with ADD/ADHD, young people, students, packrats, sentimental collectors, people moving, merging households, and anyone who needs to downsize.

I have a Master's Degree in Education with a minor in Business and a Bachelor's Degree in Spanish from the University of Miami in Florida. With over 20 years experience in corporate performance consulting, I am also certified in Process Facilitation, Management Development Training, and Accelerated Learning Methods.

My personal and professional qualifications uniquely enable me to help people not only get organized, but acquire new skills and habits so they can STAY organized.

I am an active member of the National Association of Professional Organizers, the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (where I am currently pursing the newly established Certified Professional Organizer designation), the American Holistic Health Association, and the International Society for Performance Improvement.