I started in the kitchen methodically putting everything in glass jars (I won't need to buy any more spices for a loooong time... does anyone have a recipe that calls for lots of cinnamon?). What a difference - more space, everything is visible, and looks so much better (I love the look of food in jars, especially the food I can).
Cleansing our home of all the cheap and tacky toxic leaching petroleum based end up in the landfill or in the middle of the ocean junk could be likened to the squeaky clean feeling you get after a facial, or getting your teeth cleaned at the dentist. Ahhh. Super clean.
Not that I have anything against plastic, it has its purpose, just not in our home anymore. I am no expert (yet) on living without plastic so check out this Vancouver girl's blog to find out what life without plastic is all about.
While I was in the cleansing mode, I went through the rest of the house in search of waste. I am somewhat of a collector so I had to be diligent, keeping in mind that stockpiling is not part of waste reduction, it only delays the inevitable trip to the landfill (or recycler).
Old toothbrushes - see ya, broken pair of ski googles - well maybe Eli gets a new toy for a while, plastic food scale that doesn't work - bye bye. Ahhh decluttering is so refreshing. I don't even feel bad about landfilling these things because I know that from now on I will only buy durable, non-plastic products that I can pass along to Eli when the time comes. Thoughtful purchases only.
We're going to have a yard sale on Saturday April 23. Hopefully we will find more loving homes for all the plastic items that are no longer welcome in our home (dish drying tray, toys galore, plastic gift bags, birthday party decorations, etc.).
Needless to say, we have much more garbage this week than last week, but in my defence, it was all garbage that we incurred (long) before we started this challenge. I have a separate bin for all the garbage incurred since April 1, which currently holds a piece of plastic wrap that packaged a bunch of forms for Eli's daycare and some dental floss.
Great article!
ReplyDeleteha ha. I love the comment that "stockpiling is not part of waste reduction". That is my big issue. I'm pretty good at not bring new stuff into the house, but once it's there, it's probably never leaving. I always think that it might be useful at some point. I'm still wearing t-shirts from high school, and I have a box of slightly used gift wrap supplies that will last for years.
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