Still Living LAGOM?

We are now halfway into the IKEA LAGOM project and it’s time for a little review!

My New Year’s Resolutions were around de-cluttering and recycling 'more'. 

Decluttering

I got off to a great start with all the lovely items I purchased as part of the competition and you can see a few ‘before and after’ shots at the end.  This had an immediate impact on how I have felt in my home.  Some of the tasks were really simple (organising that drawer in the kitchen for example) but even these have remained organised a couple of months on and I feel better for it.  Nothing I de-cluttered has become re-cluttered but I’m aware I’ve come to a bit of a halt and not for the want of areas to sort!  I think I have worked on the obvious and easy areas but in having a review I’m aware I want to get back to it.

Kitchen Drawer Before!

After!

Recycle More

‘’we now recycle at lease 5 times as much as we used to before I joined the IKEA LAGOM family’’

This one has been a surprise to me!  When at the initial LAGOM induction I was really aware (and slightly ashamed) of how little I ever recycled.   

We have a bin that is split into two sections, a large section for general waste (about 2/3rds of the bin) and the smaller section for recycling.  The first thing I did was to swap the two sides, meaning that we would try and recycle twice as much as we sent to landfill.  After the first frustrating few days of accidentally putting food scraps in the recycling and having to scrabble round to get them out, the whole family really got into the swing of it. 

In my excitement I started recycling everything made of plastic, only to find out our local authority hardly accepted anything (no yoghurt pots, meat trays, margarine tubs etc.).  I was shocked at how many potentially recycle-able items we had to send to landfill.  I started to consider petitioning the local council to change contracts so we could recycle more, however someone must have got there first as we received a letter from the council letting us know the items we could recycle had been massively expanded! 

-I never thought I’d see the day that I was excited about recycling.  

It’s hard to quantify but I think I would be understating it if I said we now recycle at least 5 times as much as we used to before I joined the IKEA LAGOM family.  In addition I save other non-recyclable plastic items for school to use in crafts and am looking at other plastic switches we can make (think tooth brushes, straws, teabags etc!)
   

All in all I’d say it’s been a positive start.  I’m sure the recycling habits I’ve started will continue and I’m looking forward to seeing what else I can achieve this next few months.