Some folks that I spoke with were inspired by Earth Day enough to start considering some of the things they could try living without. They asked me where to start so I told them about our journey.
The first thing we gave up was paper towels. I had been buying paper towel made from recycled materials but one day I just went cold turkey and stopped buying them. We use towels instead and wash them. From there the plastic baggies and wrap went (we use containers with lids instead), juice boxes and individually wrapped snacks as well as all plastic cutlery and paper napkins all never set foot in our home again.
Not buying (and schlepping) bottled water for some reason was very cathartic. I started bringing my own bags into every store I went (not just grocery stores) and they were all ok with it. I just had to put them in the front seat of the car or near the door to remember to bring them with me.
We switched to e-billing, invested in recyclable batteries, and took ourselves off the catalogue mailing lists. We were managing WITHOUT all these things.
One of the goals is to give up all things disposable. This includes diapers (luckily we are not in that predicament any more), pens, razors, cleaning cloths, wipes, and many other comforts of yesterday. Now we feel better adding less to the already overflowing landfills.
Doing things manually was another step in our journey so we gave up electrical pencil sharpeners, can openers, started walking and biking more.
Our journey still continues. There are many things we can probably live without but haven’t gotten there yet. For example, our family still uses facial tissue instead of a handkerchief. That one is a bit hard to swallow with children around.
What can you live without this week? Try something new, it will feel better than you think.
Tread Lighter with less,
-Phyllis, Green Expert
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