DAY ONE...Was probably a disaster...But at the same time I know this is going to take some time for me, and since it is only my first day, I am seeing what I never truly saw before.
Here is what I saw for my first day as a now conscious zero-waste consumer parent running a household:
1-JUNK MAIL
I opened my mailbox and found magazines and brochures clogging it up. This is not anything new, and I don't even look at them usually and throw them away. But since I have committed to start a zero waste journey, I realize that simply throwing them in the trash just adds more to my waste, and no one on the sender's side knows if I am reading their brochures or throwing them out.
One of the magazines I get is "Pottery Barn," and "Pottery Barn Kids." I read neither of these magazines, because if I even begin to open the pages I feel consumed with retail envy, as well as inadequacy, and that is just a feeling I as a young mother don't need to have in my life. I saw the number on the back and called up Pottery Barn, and for ten minutes I was on the phone with them to remove me from their company...Will this be the case with every article of mail I receive?? There has to be a better way!
I found this young lady on youtube who offered some informative websites that can help at least to get me started in eliminating junk mail, such as credit card offers, catalogs, and yellow pages! I always toss the yellow pages, who knew you could opt out of it? I didn't!! The first website she offered asked for a $2 fee, which I passed on and went to the other sites she mentioned. These were so helpful, and I finally FINALLY figured out how to say goodbye to that annoying Sports Illustrated Magazine for good! Nobody in my house is sporty (*yet*), and I never saw a use for the magazine!
There has to be a better way to get rid of paper waste than your garbage, right?I like the other options she gives for leftover junk mail seeping through the cracks: gift wrap, oragami, art projects, animal bedding, barbeque starters, etc. I will have to start making a pile of that for future use!
2-FAST FOOD TRASH
The terrible cycle of fast food is something I have to deal with often, and is one of my weakest points in my life...
Today the sewing machine repair shop gave me a call and said that my machine is ready to pick up, and are open from 3-5 monday thru friday (the tiny window I have between school and activities.) Realizing the only time I ahve this week to pick up my sewing machine is...RIGHT NOW, I grappled my 3 kids into the car, and away we go.
Here is my problem: I don't plan food ahead of time, even when it is expected, unlike today. When I plop everyone into the car for the hours of driving to and from activities, I hear tiny voices behind my driver's seat squeaking "I'm hungry!" (-_____-) (That's my face when I hear it, and my own tummy rumbles as well). So what do I do? Starve my children? No, off to the fast food I go, and on my way I hear myself in my head like my own mother, telling me two things: "You cannot afford to go out to eat all the time, you should have planned in advance!" and "Order the salad, order the salad, you have self control, your belly needs to shrink, just order the salad this time!!!" Do I order the salad? No. never. I get to the drive through and see the food, smell the food, and I lose all preconceived notions of what I needed to buy, and I go for the McDoubles.
So I have NO self control.
And I have NO money.
and I NEED to plan in advance.
Does this sound familiar, or am I the only one in the world that has this mental conversation?
Wendys hands me the bags of mouth-watering delectibles, and I VERY QUICKLY feel the mistake and guilt of not only creating fast food trash in the world, but that I cannot control my appetites when I am hungry. I need to fix this problem, and quick, because my waistline and cash flow are not agreeing with this convenience.
3- PLASTIC BAG WASTE
At home, as I am going through my children's food, I discover that all of their lunch and snacks, ALL OF IT, were protected in plastic baggies. From fruit to chips, they each were contained in plastic that we use once and then throw into the trash, only so we can buy more plastic to throw away. It was a sad sight for me to see, and just how much plastic bags are being wasted on our lunch food.
4-FREEBIES
My mother is a gem. She will buy my children food that is on sale, and give it to me out of the goodness of her heart. Today she gave me six boxes of cereal in three plastic bags for my children. She also was telling me the sales going on at the local shop rite (all of which are actually packaged foods.)
What I wanted to begin making a change first was my SARAN plastic wrap that I purchase. The zero waste alternative I saw was called "beeswax wrap." It basically is cotton fabric with melted beeswax pellets that you spread on top of it. It is re-washable and can stick to your bowls!
I wanted to try making it, so what do I do? Amazon, right? Well I quickly discovered...If I am going to live zero waste, I can't buy a plastic bag of beeswax pellets, shipped in a box with plastic packaging, and emit fossil fuels halfway across the country for me to try to save on plastic wrap!!
Plan B: try local. I asked my local town on facebook if there happend to have any bee keepers that have some beeswax I could possibly buy, pick up and use? No idea where to look for this kind of thing, so we shall see what happens with this.
Lastly, I thought this video was thoughtful when talking about the idea of "Cradle to grave" products and the difficulty of choosing zero waste when purchasing products. There aren't very many companies that are transparent out there about the process of how their products are made.
She gave an example of purchasing jeans. A good solution that I have for this is that I love to shop at goodwill - I've always believed that I am giving clothing a second life, and that satisfies me, and I am not adding necessarily to the consumer fashion market, but am gleaning off the excess of it...So maybe that ONE thing that I already do in my life helps me to live a more zero waste lifestyle...Maybe...
<3,
Laura
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