I came across H²ouse last night, a site developed by the California Urban Water Conservation Council, which I thought I would share. It has some very interesting ideas, tips and advice on cutting down on your water usage by maintaining or replacing various elements of your home. Check out the tour page for a room-by-room guide to what you can actually do. The site is so in-depth that it even covers future trends and legal regulations. Saving water doesn’t get as much attention as electricity but it is becoming increasingly relevant as you may have noticed in the news. Below I’ve summarized their top five actions for water savings.

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Organize IT recap for 25th February 2007.

• As I am currently on a refreshingly long break from work, I’ve finally had a bit of time to really clean, de-clutter and just generally organize the home. I’ve been browsing around for a few tips and ideas and I came across a site called Real Simple, which has a selection of professional articles on the subject. They also publish a magazine, it’s just a pity I can’t seem to get it in the UK (anyone know otherwise?).
• Another site I came across this week is Meals Matter (via Lifehacker) which has a great selection of meal ideas, including suggestions for quick snacks and full recipes, all with relevant nutritional information. Of particular interest is the healthy eating section and the food diary, both are very useful if you plan on eating better.
• Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas for organizing laundry? I currently have the unenviable task of washing, ironing and putting away laundry for two people on a daily basis, and as you can imagine, it’s quite a challenge to stay on top of it. Any feedback on this issue would be great, and hopefully I will be able to post about it in the near future.

You may remember that in a previous post I introduced the recently published formula for procrastination. It received a lot of positive feedback. However, as is typical with formulas of this type, trying to practically put it use can be difficult. Trying to mathematically apply it in your daily life is hardly practical (go to the author’s site if you want to understand the intricacies behind it). As a result I decided to look into the four elements that make up the equation (expectancy, value, sensitivity and delay) and consider how we can practically increase/improve the odds for each of them to decrease our chances of procrastination:

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Picked up this clever idea from LifeDev last week, and seeing as I am currently posting a lot about clever little hacks I’m coming across, this is definitely worth a mention. Basically it’s a cheap way of keeping your desk clear using a piece of pegboard and attaching all your wires and routers to it. While I have some reservations about where all the heat is going to dissipate to (or as one person commented on the related Digg article, “I don’t know how I feel about having my wireless router that close to my balls…”), I think its definately worth checking out if you fancy a little Sunday DIY job. Now all I need is a decent table… For full instructions including lots more images, visit the designer’s site.

The recap is a new, weekly feature I am starting today where I will cover the most interesting posts and articles I’ve come across over the past seven days along with my thoughts and opinions. I will also use the recap as an opportunity to discuss what’s happened/what’s on the horizon for Organize IT. Hope you like it!

• A new site I’ve come across, called Organized Life has a great series about using Filofax for GTD. It’s always Levenger and Moleskine that seems to get mentioned in regards to GTD so it’s refreshing to see someone using Filofax, which is more readily available here in the UK. I recently bought one too, but I made the mistake of buying the smallest one they make which has made it really hard to use… Do you have a Filofax? Please share your experiences in the comments.
• I’ve recently been looking into the GTD horizons of focus (also called the vertical map) and came across this Michael Sampson’s reflections on it. In the near future I will be posting my own thoughts and experiences on the horizons of focus as I am currently finding it quite useful and long term, high level planning seems to be a topic that often gets neglected.
• If you have a habit of wasting away time idly browsing online for something or anything then Brad has an interesting article on the subject. Though the solution he suggests is by no means original, I think the description and explanation for why we spend so much time browsing (instant gratification) is pretty spot on. What are your thoughts?
• Finally, I have come across The Ultimate GTD Index. If the dramatic name alone doesn’t pull you in, it is essentially an index of feeds from various GTD and productivity related blogs (including this one, natch). If you are looking for more interesting sites to read or what to fill up your feed reader it’s definitely worth checking out.