Challenge Update

  • Challenge Update,  family,  food,  Food Stamps,  frugal,  no waste,  rants

    Seven Limes

      This is what a week’s worth of groceries for one person looks like, if you’re Gwyneth Paltrow on food stamps. She’s not on food stamps, but has attempted the one-week Food Stamp Challenge. My longtime readers know I did the June Food Stamp Challenge* in June of 2010 — 30 days of the food stamp budget for my family of 5. That ended up being about $450 for the month, and we made it — barely. The budget averaged to about $25 per person, and half that for our son who was with us only half the time that summer. (Read more here about my JFSC, all 30 days.) We…

  • Challenge Update,  food,  My World and Welcome to It,  plastic

    deep thoughts

    So this is it — 30 days without plastic. What’s the conclusion? I conclude that it is extremely difficult to live without plastic in today’s consumer world. I conclude that avoiding plastic takes wits — paying attention — and the wisdom to know the difference between Good (usable, reusable and recyclable) and Bad (one-use Saran-wrap or Baggies, plastic film wrap for “hygiene,” or personal use items like tampons or plastic bottles for water, etc). Good and Bad plastic are always present; it’s how you choose. I conclude that when I opened my eyes to items I use every day that are made from plastic, it wasn’t all that tough to find a…

  • Challenge Update,  family,  food,  green,  plastic,  sustainable living

    boxes, bells and whistles

    Every day is a challenge when you’re trying to avoid plastic. Every. Single. Day. Plastic is so ubiquitous in our lives that it’s hard to really see it all — it attaches itself to products like static cling, and is almost as hard to get rid of. At the beginning of the month I took everything plastic-bag-like back to the grocery store bin for recycling (these are bins near the front door of most grocery stores, where you can recycle your plastic grocery bags). I put other plastic bags in with the grocery bags — from other stores, plus other types of plastic wrap, baggies, etc. I figure I can…

  • Challenge Update,  frugal,  green,  plastic,  sustainable living

    news and notes, Day 27 (with a video!)

    It’s been 26 days of living without plastic, or trying, and it’s all good. Here’s some of what’s going on. I wrote to the Bear River Valley cereal people, who make delicious natural cereals and have a lot of info about green energy and how they purchase credits to offset their manufacturing. That’s awesome news, and I want to support the company. Here’s the gist of their response about plastic packaging on their cereals:   “…When it comes to the packaging of our products, our first priority is to provide consumers with safe and fresh products. The polyethylene bags we use provide our customers with wholesome, quality products without the high…

  • Challenge Update,  frugal,  green,  plastic,  sustainable living

    trash talk

    I warned you we’d have to talk about the bathroom trash can. Put on your gloves and gas mask, because this one is a stinky topic. What’s in your bathroom trash can? Compostables? Recyclables? Toxic waste? Biohazards? Betcha there’s some plastic in there, too. I was going to photograph what came out of our bathroom trash, but I got a little shy and a little grossed out, so never mind. Just use your imagination, and follow along as we parse what’s plastic and what’s actually garbage. Cotton swabs, aka Q-tips. Buy the kind with a paper/cardboard stick. Those can be composted or will disintegrate in landfill, while the ones with…