Welcome back readers!
Just for you, just because it's Friday, we're doing 2 posts in 1 day!
Here are some things we are currently doing in our home to reduce trash:
1. We no longer use paper towels or paper napkins. We are using cloth napkins that we bought for cheap at Ross and we already had four. We also use kitchen towels for drying and cleaning. For heavy cleaning, you can take old t-shirts and cut them up to use as towels, and also, old towels can become good rags for cleaning.
2. We've bought one cloth bag for the grocery store and we've rummaged through our closets and have found about six other ones that we can use for groceries. Note, it is much easier to carry groceries in cloth bags than paper bags.
3. Now you might be asking yourselves, what do we use for trash bags in the kitchen if we use cloth bags at the grocery store? The answer is simple: we do not use plastic or paper bags. What we do is separate our trash between recycling, composting, and throw-away. We have one recycle bin and one trash bin and one compost pot in the kitchen. We empty them daily into their corresponding bins without any bags. Every time we empty them, we wash them out. So far, it has worked really well. Trash has not spilled onto the sidewalk and things look and smell clean.
We do, however, use plastic bags that we collect for the cat litter (we need something to collect the poop in, and we haven't come up with a better solution. Suggestions??). We then put the bag of poop in the trash bin and dispose of it.
4. Tristan is working on not using paper towels in public bathrooms and instead relying on a handkerchief (seriously, he bought handkerchiefs!) that sometimes he remembers and sometimes doesn't. But one thing you can always do is use the hand air-dryer rather than use paper towels. I have yet to buy my own hanky.
5. For all the ladies out there reading, we know how much plastic goes into each tampon, yes the tampon. If you buy o.b. tampons, you can seriously reduce your monthly plastic consumption. They are small, discrete and don't have any plastic applicators. Just a small film around the outside to keep it clean. That's it.
6. Tristan stopped buying sodas, because they are single serving and instead has turned to brewing tea in large pots to drink all day. Yum.
7. We currently hang-dry most of our clothing and only use half a dryer sheet per load. A friend who worked at a dryer-sheet company told us that half a sheet is more than enough to leave your clothes smelling fresh and feeling soft.
8. We bought reusable water bottles and traveling mugs for coffee and tea and have been happily using them as well.
Our request to you is that you post some of your tips for reducing trash, or even things you are considering doing, on this blog as comments.
Cheers until next week,
S&T
Friday, January 8, 2010
And the List Continues...
Hello everyone.
We hope that the first week of the new year brought with it moments of growth.
As for cataloguing our personal items, we have begun to take a stock of the bedroom.
Perhaps the most disturbing thing I (Shayda) have come across is how many items of clothing and how many pairs of shoes I actually have. I'd like to consider myself someone who doesn't really care about having a lot of shoes, and yet I have fourteen pairs. The point is that I didn't know how much I had until I looked.
The other thing I noticed, that I recommend you to try, is to actually COUNT your clothing. Yes, every bit of it. I'm talking socks, underwear, t-shirts, everything. I always think that I don't have anything to wear. Once I catalogued everything and saw the large quantity of things, the many options, I reconsidered. Something that I think might help the daily dilemma of "I don't have anything to wear" is to keep everything organized. I had socks in my t-shirt section, pants in the long sleeve section. As a result, I just found articles of clothing that I had forgotten about! Perhaps this is why we keep buying and re-buying things we already own: we forget what we have.
Below are a list of things I found in my closet and dresser. Tristan will post his soon:
socks (individual socks, since I mix and match mine): 43
underwear: 29
leggings: 5
pantyhose: 2
jeans: 5
dress pants: 4
exercise pants: 2
exercise shoes: 3
exercise tops/t-shirts/tank tops: 29
pajamas: 2
robe: 1
long sleeves: 35
jackets: 10
dresses: 11
suits: 2
skirts: 4
purses: 5
scarves: 11
hats: 3
gloves: 2
galosh: 1
boots: 3
exercise shoes: 2
in-door, keep feet warm shoes: 2
flip flops: 3
dress shoes/work shoes: 9
All these articles of clothing create a slightly embarrassing reality. I didn't know that I had so many things. Many of the things that I uncovered in the piles of clothes, in the shoes, are things that I don't wear; yet I still have them. Also, there are many things that I've found that I didn't know I have, things I no longer have to buy.
My challenge to you, the reader, is to take stock of what you have, clothing-wise. You might be surprised at what you find.
Happy searching,
Shayda & Tristan
We hope that the first week of the new year brought with it moments of growth.
As for cataloguing our personal items, we have begun to take a stock of the bedroom.
Perhaps the most disturbing thing I (Shayda) have come across is how many items of clothing and how many pairs of shoes I actually have. I'd like to consider myself someone who doesn't really care about having a lot of shoes, and yet I have fourteen pairs. The point is that I didn't know how much I had until I looked.
The other thing I noticed, that I recommend you to try, is to actually COUNT your clothing. Yes, every bit of it. I'm talking socks, underwear, t-shirts, everything. I always think that I don't have anything to wear. Once I catalogued everything and saw the large quantity of things, the many options, I reconsidered. Something that I think might help the daily dilemma of "I don't have anything to wear" is to keep everything organized. I had socks in my t-shirt section, pants in the long sleeve section. As a result, I just found articles of clothing that I had forgotten about! Perhaps this is why we keep buying and re-buying things we already own: we forget what we have.
Below are a list of things I found in my closet and dresser. Tristan will post his soon:
socks (individual socks, since I mix and match mine): 43
underwear: 29
leggings: 5
pantyhose: 2
jeans: 5
dress pants: 4
exercise pants: 2
exercise shoes: 3
exercise tops/t-shirts/tank tops: 29
pajamas: 2
robe: 1
long sleeves: 35
jackets: 10
dresses: 11
suits: 2
skirts: 4
purses: 5
scarves: 11
hats: 3
gloves: 2
galosh: 1
boots: 3
exercise shoes: 2
in-door, keep feet warm shoes: 2
flip flops: 3
dress shoes/work shoes: 9
All these articles of clothing create a slightly embarrassing reality. I didn't know that I had so many things. Many of the things that I uncovered in the piles of clothes, in the shoes, are things that I don't wear; yet I still have them. Also, there are many things that I've found that I didn't know I have, things I no longer have to buy.
My challenge to you, the reader, is to take stock of what you have, clothing-wise. You might be surprised at what you find.
Happy searching,
Shayda & Tristan
Sunday, January 3, 2010
The New Year: Let the Cataloguing Begin!
That's right people. The new year has begun and we are moving towards becoming trash free. As we said in December, we have begun the work of cataloguing all our worldly possessions. We have not completed this task, but we have learned how many things we have in our home.
In general, the holidays were great. We spent most of the time with family and friends. We had a solstice party where we remembered the earth. We burned an old wreath we had from years ago. As we burned the wreath, we asked people to think of one thing they can do for the earth in the coming year (by the way people, if you store your wreath in a flat box or a tied trash bag, you can reuse it. We kept ours for three years and it still looked great).
Here's a partial list of the things we found in our home. By next week we will have a completed list.
Mainly, what we discovered was that we have much more of everything than we actually need AND we're still not done cataloguing everything. Much of the things we have are old and used or were bought second-hand. We have a ton of stuff that doesn't match or is part of an old set. This is particularly true of the kitchen items. Most of our plates and cups were hand-me-downs from family or were bought for cheap from a thrift store. However, this does not discount their usefulness. We also realized how much we love all the things we have and how great they truly are. We would like to use the list to remind us of the abundance in our lives and also to make us more aware of the fact that we need very little material items to be happy, and that actually, we already have much more than we need.
Hold your breath! Here it comes:
Big plates: 25
Little plates: 6
Serving plates: 18
Bowls: 23
Tea/coffee cups: 26
Drinking cups: 23
Wine glasses: 15
Cheap knives: 13
Cheap spoons: 14
Cheap forks: 11
Nicer knives: 8
Nicer spoons: 16
Nicer forks: 16
Serving stuff/mixing stuff: 26
Oven mittens: 2
Hot place mats: 5
Hot pads: 3
Tea pots: 4
measuring stuff: 5
Toaster, micro-oven, coffee pot, blender, microwave, stove, oven, refrigerator, washer/dryer: 1 of each
Cutting knives: 4
Skewers: 4
BBQ utensils: 3
Miscellaneous jars and bowls: 13
Matte containers: 6
Random dishes: 7
Shoe holders: 3
Wooden nick-nacks: 4
Brooms: 3
Dust pans: 2
Mops: 2
Cat bowls: 7
Traveling mugs: 2
Reusable water bottles: 5
Cutting boards: 4
Dish towels: 10
Strainers: 2
Pans: 4
Pots: 5
Coasters: 13
Tea Kettle: 1
Dinner table: 1
Bed: 1
Desks: 2
Couch: 1
Built in kitchen table: 1
Futon: 1
Coffee table: 1
Art on walls: 23
Books: 660
Records and CDs: 300
End table: 1
Stools: 3
DVDs: 16
Bookshelves: 7
Cats: 2
Filing cabinets: 3
Chairs: 9
Random nick-nacks in home: 104
Computers: 2
Bottles in bathroom: 32
Computer monitor: 1
Cabinet in bathroom: 1
Stereo: 1
Dresser: 1
Radio: 1
Exercise bike: 1
Lamps: 3
Desk lamps: 2
Printer: 1
Telephone: 1
Cellphones: 2
Mirrors: 2
Love alter: 70 or so items
Family pictures: 20
Scrapbooks: 5
Photo box: large and filled to capacity
Big bath towels: 13
Hand towels: 15
Shower mats: 5
Place mats: 22
Cloth napkins: 17
Pillows: 17
Blankets: 14
Yes, this is most of our stuff, but there are still a couple of areas we have yet to catalogue. Those include our clothes, shoes, and other bathroom stuff.
It was exhausting to go through all of this, and that IS the point. One thing we decided after this is that we are only going to buy higher quality things and much fewer of them. We decided we rather have one good pair of shoes than three pairs that will break down quickly. The same is true for all items.
Okay, logging off until next Sunday when we will finish cataloguing the rest of our possessions as well as talk about the things we are already doing to reduce our trash consumption.
Cheers,
S&T
In general, the holidays were great. We spent most of the time with family and friends. We had a solstice party where we remembered the earth. We burned an old wreath we had from years ago. As we burned the wreath, we asked people to think of one thing they can do for the earth in the coming year (by the way people, if you store your wreath in a flat box or a tied trash bag, you can reuse it. We kept ours for three years and it still looked great).
Here's a partial list of the things we found in our home. By next week we will have a completed list.
Mainly, what we discovered was that we have much more of everything than we actually need AND we're still not done cataloguing everything. Much of the things we have are old and used or were bought second-hand. We have a ton of stuff that doesn't match or is part of an old set. This is particularly true of the kitchen items. Most of our plates and cups were hand-me-downs from family or were bought for cheap from a thrift store. However, this does not discount their usefulness. We also realized how much we love all the things we have and how great they truly are. We would like to use the list to remind us of the abundance in our lives and also to make us more aware of the fact that we need very little material items to be happy, and that actually, we already have much more than we need.
Hold your breath! Here it comes:
Big plates: 25
Little plates: 6
Serving plates: 18
Bowls: 23
Tea/coffee cups: 26
Drinking cups: 23
Wine glasses: 15
Cheap knives: 13
Cheap spoons: 14
Cheap forks: 11
Nicer knives: 8
Nicer spoons: 16
Nicer forks: 16
Serving stuff/mixing stuff: 26
Oven mittens: 2
Hot place mats: 5
Hot pads: 3
Tea pots: 4
measuring stuff: 5
Toaster, micro-oven, coffee pot, blender, microwave, stove, oven, refrigerator, washer/dryer: 1 of each
Cutting knives: 4
Skewers: 4
BBQ utensils: 3
Miscellaneous jars and bowls: 13
Matte containers: 6
Random dishes: 7
Shoe holders: 3
Wooden nick-nacks: 4
Brooms: 3
Dust pans: 2
Mops: 2
Cat bowls: 7
Traveling mugs: 2
Reusable water bottles: 5
Cutting boards: 4
Dish towels: 10
Strainers: 2
Pans: 4
Pots: 5
Coasters: 13
Tea Kettle: 1
Dinner table: 1
Bed: 1
Desks: 2
Couch: 1
Built in kitchen table: 1
Futon: 1
Coffee table: 1
Art on walls: 23
Books: 660
Records and CDs: 300
End table: 1
Stools: 3
DVDs: 16
Bookshelves: 7
Cats: 2
Filing cabinets: 3
Chairs: 9
Random nick-nacks in home: 104
Computers: 2
Bottles in bathroom: 32
Computer monitor: 1
Cabinet in bathroom: 1
Stereo: 1
Dresser: 1
Radio: 1
Exercise bike: 1
Lamps: 3
Desk lamps: 2
Printer: 1
Telephone: 1
Cellphones: 2
Mirrors: 2
Love alter: 70 or so items
Family pictures: 20
Scrapbooks: 5
Photo box: large and filled to capacity
Big bath towels: 13
Hand towels: 15
Shower mats: 5
Place mats: 22
Cloth napkins: 17
Pillows: 17
Blankets: 14
Yes, this is most of our stuff, but there are still a couple of areas we have yet to catalogue. Those include our clothes, shoes, and other bathroom stuff.
It was exhausting to go through all of this, and that IS the point. One thing we decided after this is that we are only going to buy higher quality things and much fewer of them. We decided we rather have one good pair of shoes than three pairs that will break down quickly. The same is true for all items.
Okay, logging off until next Sunday when we will finish cataloguing the rest of our possessions as well as talk about the things we are already doing to reduce our trash consumption.
Cheers,
S&T
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