we love these crafty bitches.

Check out the latest awesome produced by our fave Northern ladies over at Yankee Crafty Bitch! These gals take DIY to a new level, and we love them for it. We yet again enlisted them in helping with our Spring Cleaning, Zero Waste-athon, and they yet again came through with a bitchin' way to reuse our seemingly unusable stuff. Last time, they delivered a sweet organizer made of old paperboard jewelry boxes. This time? Our old, scratched CD's have been transformed into...

A home disco ball! Oh, man. 

It's kind of mod, it's kind of McQueen-meets-Martha, and we're kind of obsessed.

Want to make your own? Natch. Get all the info, photos, directions and encouragement you need on their blog. While you're there, you might want to check out all the other cool stuff they're up to (wood-fired Rice Crispies treats, anyone?) and shake some of that city livin'. Almost as good for the soul as dancing under the light of your very own disco ball.

spring cleaning, zero waste. sneeze count: 12

Oh, wow. We have a lot of stuff. Like, a lot. And our apartment is SO not big enough for all of it. Not even close. We've got our own edition of Greenologist Hoarders happening over here, and it ain't pretty. Example? We've been holding onto the bottom half of a bathing suit we haven't worn since HIGH SCHOOL. Where's the top half? No idea. Is there any way we could still fit into it even if we had both pieces? Absolutely not. Somebody call Niecy Nash. Save us from ourselves!

It seems as though we've been recently led astray by our waste-not tendencies. Somewhere along the way, we lost sight of reality (and the floor of our closet) and forgot that not wasting doesn't have to mean saving every lone sock "just in case" its mate one day reappears. So now, here we are, 20 mate-less socks later, with nowhere to put... anything.

Enough is enough, we say! It's time to get serious. Seriously clean. It's time to commence Spring Cleaning Zero Waste. Check it:

Over the next month, while you crazy kids wow us with your Green Challenge photos and stories, we'll be cleaning and organizing our faces off. Not only that, but we'll be posting here to let you know all the best ways in which we're unloading our junk without sending a torn pillowcase, broken toaster or stained shirt to the landfill. Here's all the stuff we have to get rid of:

- CLOTHING: So. Much. Clothing. Some in great condition, some in OK condition, some that looks like it's been attacked by a fingerpainting bear.

- Books: Textbooks, novels... and a whole lot of Idiot's Guide To's. Don't judge.

- Jewelry: When did we ever wear rhinestone-encrusted hoops? Ick.

- Broken electronics: Our old Macbook had an unfortunate encounter with the floor.

- CDs/DVDs: Working and scratched (not working).

- Magazines: We like The New Yorker. And Dwell. And ReadyMade. And Smithsonian. And Mother Jones.

- Random household shiz: Working but worthless appliances, scented soaps whose scent we hate, baskets, candles, wire hangers, decorative pillows, unopened bath and body stuff, bad art. Worse art.

We'll be updating every day or so with our progress and solutions, as well as a sneeze count (it is DUSTY in here). You get all the best ways to de-clutter, we do all the sneezing. Sweet.

Wish us luck. If we get trapped under a mountain of socks, please tell Karen Oh we love her. Thanks.

waste not.

Happy February 4th! What's happy about it, you ask? We'll tell you! We just got rid of a bunch of closet-dwelling junk that was making us seriously claustrophobic. Old toasters, twin bedding, bio books and reams of hot pink paper begone! How did we do it, you ask? Did we pay one of those junk removal companies to come pick it all up and do whatever it is they do (what DO they do with that stuff?) with it? Pssht. No, ma'am. You underestimate our capacity for thrift. We used Freecycle.org's Cambridge-based Yahoo!Group page to find people who actually wanted our stuff and were willing to come get it from us. We traded one guy for a spiffy colander he was unloading. Huzzah! Why didn't WE think of this?

Using Freecycle was easy and rewarding. We signed in with our own Yahoo! account info (though not all Freecycle groups are hosted by Yahoo!Groups), we posted our stuff, and a few days later, we can see the floor of our closet again. Most importantly, though, using Freecycle helps keep stuff out of landfills. Recently posted (and immediately taken... you gots to be fast): a bag of pig's ears, a Brita water filter, a bag of beads and a green velvet couch. Nice.

We see that box of stuff in its original packaging lurking beneath your bed. You're never going to use any of it. Ever. For serious. We know, we know; you're waiting to have a yard sale! Please. You've been saying that for two years now. And even if you did get it together enough to have one, how much do you think you're going to get for a sleeve of Betty Boop Titleists? Just go to Freecycle.org, enter your location, post your junk, and you're clutter-free, kid. Or, you could end up living like this. Just sayin'.