Forensic Tales

Coping with eco guilt in 4 steps   Does the future of our planet usher in hopelessness? Do you stay up at night worrying whether Earth will remain habitable for our children? If so, you may suffer from eco guilt. Eco anxiety is fear for the future of our planet and manifests itself in feelings of anger, powerlessness or exhaustion. A 2017 report by the American Psychological Association found that...

10 Reasons Why Your Home Is Cluttered After Tidying   It happens to the best of us: You have already tidied, yet your home remains cluttered. It’s incredibly, frustrating, sure. It is also quite common. Tidy homes can often feel messy, even after the work is done. Why is that? The answer is threefold: First, there’s a perceived inverse relationship between clutter + cleanliness. Second, you overlo...

Does the slow living movement intrigue you? If you recently went on a summer vacation you know it’s true: A slow, intentional life feels right. Yet, despite our best intentions, most of us retreat to our busy habits + our cluttered ways hours after returning home. The first step to living a more intentional life isn’t Googling a quick fix. Seasoned minimalists know that in order to slow down (for...

What’s your underwear made of? Are your tighty-whities: A. Synthetic? Polyester, rayon, acrylic + nylon are comprised partly of plastic, are hard to dispose of + contribute to landfill waste. Even worse, synthetic waste byproducts pollute waterways. B. Or is your underwear made of cotton? Because it’s grown, conventional cotton is bathed in pesticides, derived from genetically-modified seeds + ori...

These days, many Americans boast supersized homes, an outfit for every day of the month + 300,000 possessions, on average. We also report high levels of depression + anxiety; we have debt, too. Have you ever wondered why we continue to buy more + more, despite the fact that our purchases don’t make us happy, send us into debt + destroy our planet’s precious resources? I do. On this week’s show I d...

Have a major decluttering project on your To-Do List? If so, you’ll benefit from having both a plan + insight before you declutter your home. My guest this week is Katie McGowen. Katie is a mom of 5 who knew she had to declutter in a big way. But she didn’t tidy willy-nilly wherever the wind blew her + whenever she found the time; instead, she sought to declutter her entire home systematically. Ka...

You’ve heard the buzz around composting, but you want to be certain composting is right for you *before* you embark on another potentially time-sucking hobby. Of course you’d love to know how to make great compost, but you’re a newbie + you need guidance. If your garbage can is like the average American’s, at least 20% of it is filled with food. Worse, that 20% is entirely preventable. My guest th...

My grandparents were incredibly resourceful: They pioneered countless reuse ideas so that nothing valuable was ever wasted. These days, while many Millennials + Generation Y-ers harbor a collective single-use mindset, generations past had ingrained reuse within well before zero-waste living ever became a ‘thing’. We can learn an awful lot from our grandparents. On this week’s episode I uncover 13...

Sick of having a closet full of clothes + nothing to wear? If so, it’s time to seriously consider a capsule wardrobe. A successful capsule improves self-esteem, reduces mental clutter + makes getting dressed a heck of a lot easier. But what’s the secret sauce to creating one that works, as opposed to one that’s ‘meh’? It isn’t about base neutrals or accent pieces. It isn’t about following rigid ru...

Why is Recycling Bad? Here are 6 Reasons Americans are crazy about recycling. We separate our trash in airports. In office buildings. Inside schools. We assume our garbage is properly disposed of; we expect that our plastics, papers, and aluminum actually get recycled. But the reality is we shouldn’t be thrilled about recycling; we shouldn’t assume the good men and women in waste management follow...

How to love your home Do you love your home? Or is there *something* about your space that sends you running for the hills? For many, our living spaces provoke anxiety. Maybe the clutter constantly distracts us. Perhaps (seemingly endless) household chores wear us down, slowly but surely. Or maybe we’re bored at home so we hunt elsewhere for entertainment. But what almost always happens when we he...

Do you desire to declutter your home but find yourself worried about making an even *bigger* mess? I hear that. If a slow + steady approach to, well, EVERYthing appeals to you, you’ll love the Shoebox Method’s incremental take on minimalism. My guest this week is Dionne Myhre. She’s a lifelong lover of organization; she’s a blogger who helps women find peace in tidied simplicity, too. She’s here t...

Have you planted your summer garden? Did you do so zero-waste style? If gardening isn’t your cup of tea, I humbly ask you to reconsider. Gardening is the cheapest way to get your hands on organic produce; it’s a hobby that intimately connects you to your food source, too. Whether you’re growing herbs on your fire escape, tilling a 600- square foot parcel or attempting something in between, it pays...

Have a big bucket list but a small-ish bank account? Do you dream in color but get snagged on the details? Feel held back by your children? Many of us aspire to get living, but the minutiae of planning forces us to stand still. That’s why it’s easier to remain stagnant in a life that may (or may not!) light us up. This week’s guests have mastered the art of intentional living. Despite dubious fina...

Declutter Your House by Starting with Small Wins   It’s one of your biggest decluttering concerns and I hear it all the time. Are you worried you will declutter your house and donate something you will one day miss? You’re not alone. For some of you, this fear is so strong it prevents you from decluttering before you even start.          On this week’s episode, I lead you by the hand through your...

What Is a Capsule Wardrobe? (And Other Closet Questions) When it comes to our closets, the most sustainable practice is to wear what we already own. Donating clothes contributes to textile pollution; as such, it’s prudent to wear and re-wear our garments until they are thoroughly worn out. But what is a capsule wardrobe, exactly, and how can you create one if you have a closetful of items you simp...

Conscious consumers are so much more than review-checkers. They don’t have their credit card information saved on Amazon. They’re not swayed by “deals” or “sales”, either. Conscious consumers don’t walk the shopping mall for fun + they certainly don’t follow marketplace trends. You’ve heard the term but – still! – its definition remains ambiguous. What is a conscious consumer, exactly? This week,...

    Did you know? The average American kitchen holds a whopping 1,019 items. Yet professional chefs argue that fully functioning kitchens demand *just* 16 items. No need to spend an arm + a leg on top of the line models, either: you, too, can whip up delectable meals with just 16 items that cost under $300 total. This week, I’m dabbling in the concepts of minimalists kitchens + minimalist cooking...

Freshly baked artisanal breads, still warm from the oven. Imported cheeses in original packaging. Untouched organic berries. Did you know? You can find all this + more in your local dumpster. Cameron Macleish first learned about the food waste epidemic as a broke college student. These days, he dumpster dives and – with his mom’s help – cooks delectable meals with his finds to push back against bo...

Have you scheduled self-care into your days lately? I get it: We’re all busy. When we must cut something, we almost always cut the tasks that rejuvenate ourselves from our schedules first. I believe that self-care is less about time-intensive, expensive spa treatments (although if they light you up, go for ’em!).  Instead, self-care is a collection of little habits that promote healthy + peaceful...

  So you’ve slashed into the trash your household produces. (That’s great!) But what about when you’re out + about? Are you conscious of garbage when you’re on-the-go? The truth is this: Strategic handbags go a *long way* toward low-waste or zero-waste living. It’s easier than it sounds, too: I carry everything I need for eating out, doing errands + stopping anywhere spontaneous in my medium-sized...

Have you ever embarked on a dry month? Would you consider one? This week we explore the space where minimalism, intentional living + sobriety collide. My guest this week is blogger Kim Miller. Through the lenses of #winemom + motherhood drinking culture, Kim + I examine the idea that clutter isn’t *just* physical stuff. Clutter is old ideas + habits that don’t serve us. Clutter is anything that ta...

Ever find yourself questioning the air quality in your home?  How about your water? Many of us have completed personal detoxes to eliminate internal toxins from our bodies. But how many of us tackle the toxins that reside in our homes? Toxins are everywhere, even in the cleanest of living spaces. As such, indoor air quality is typically 2-5 times more polluted than outdoor air. Worst of all? Abund...

Let me guess: You like the *idea* of thrifting as a means of preserving both your hard-earned money + the planet. But in practice, things get muddled. Who has the time, energy or desire to sift through mounds of less-than-ideal garments in search of a genuine find? Here’s the good news: These days, it’s easier than ever to shop secondhand. My guest this week is Lauren Spraggins. She’s a fashion re...

Humans are sick + are getting sicker. So is planet Earth.  Our health as a species is intricately linked to the health of our planet. Indeed, perhaps the most concerning aspect of greenhouse gases, polluted oceans + shrinking ecosystems is that – ultimately – we have manufactured an environment unfit for human life. My guest this week is Dr. Stephen Hussey. He’s a chiropractor, health coach + auth...