SHOW YOUR PLASTIC CHALLENGE: WEEK 9

TOTAL – 40 PIECES, 18  OZ.

After returning home with our bulk Azure grocery delivery our son said,

“Mom, our kitchen looks like a salad bar.”

I suppose that statement is a positive one. At least I decided to interpret it as one. How many mothers would love their children to eat raw kale, spinach and green beans! That’s our six year old in a nutshell.

I escaped the trip without purchasing any convenience foods: cereal, chips, and cookies. However, now every morning I am finding myself up at 6:00 to not only bake our gluten free & allergy free bread but also to prepare breakfast from scratch. Some mornings I lie in bed questioning if I can do it. So far I have managed to peel myself up and complete the task but not without some struggling. The question is: can it be a habit I can sustain? A life style change? For now, it must.

I began completing the personal care substitution worksheet from Beth Terry’s book Plastic-Free: How I Kicked The Habit and You Can Too. Wow, what a job! It will take me several weeks to research and determine possible alternatives in this area. I’ve published my top 10 alternatives in the Personal Care Substitution Worksheet this week for you to take a look at. Next week I hope to complete the next 10 items for a total of 20 items.

September 7th ended Zero Waste Week 2014 and we held to our pledge to line dry all of our clothes during the week. Call me crazy but it was challenging. With the number of items on my daily to do list this was no small task. The dryer is a convenient way to get laundry done while forgetting about it. A convenience that my husband doesn’t want to live without. I hope to be able to continue line drying 50% of our family’s laundry. That’s my goal – 1 out of every 2 loads to be air/line dried.

PROGRESS:

• Prepared a batch of baby wipe solution to use with my cloth diaper wipes.
• Finished #ZeroWasteWeek by Line Drying ALL laundry during the week.
• No chip or cracker purchases this week! The addiction is far from over though.

SUMMARY:

Month 1 Summary – 205 items, 3 lbs 15 oz

Month 2 Summary – 195 items, 3 lbs 14.5 oz

Week 9 Total – 40 items, 18 oz

GOALS:

• Prepare 10 gallons of HE laundry detergent. My laundry detergent is almost empty.
• Research and experiment with different plastic free dish soap options.