Day one. I woke up and reached for my phone. Usually I lay in bed, thumbing through social media pages, watching videos and seeing everyone’s updates. I will admit an hour will go by after the alarm goes off but not this morning. I go through my phone and my tablet and delete all the social apps. Hmm. Well I might as well get out of bed lol. So right off the bat I am way more productive than yesterday 😁
It’s interesting how many times I reached for my phone today only to put it back down. Social media is like a drug. I’m not really feeling any withdrawal symptoms at this point. I just have noticed how much I am connected to it.
Day two. Same morning as yesterday. I got out of bed. Ate breakfast while reading…..wait for it…a magazine lol. Consumer reports has an article about how to quit plastic. It makes me cringe even more thinking how much plastic I have thrown out in the past. Oh well got to start somewhere.
Day three. I got several emails from Facebook. Telling me that one of my friends posted a picture or a video. Weird coincidence, big brother or? And this didn’t happen just one time either. Four so far. I had deleted all of the apps so I don’t know how or why I am being tracked but it just started doing it this month. Creepy.
So, don’t judge me but I calculated out how much time I spent on social media and it came out to around four hours a day. That’s a low number. That is 120 hours per month. Five days worth. All wasted doing nothing. I am totally disgusted with myself. I think about how quickly time passes and I wasted hours when I could be doing something productive? I don’t want to wake up, old, and say, “where did the time go”. That scares me.
I feel like this can of worms is not getting closed up at the end of the month.
Well, that’s a wrap on thirtydays trash less. I’ m confident I can stick to this one. How do I know? When shopping I take into consideration the packaging, I cringe with every piece of trash I put into the garbage can, I am excited to fill up my compost bin and I have learned different ways to reuse items I thought were useless.
Now on to October.
So. Social media. Love to hate. Hate to love. Love to see pics and updates on friends. Hate to see all the political b.s. I don’t care who you voted for, whether you did or didn’t get the vaccine, how many people were wearing a mask at the grocery store or what news channel you subscribe to. Honestly it stresses me out. Plus I seem to waste a ton of time watching videos. I’ll admit some of them are educational and funny but I could be doing more productive things.
This month’s thirtydays is going to be no social media. None. Zero. Zip. No laying on the couch, in bed or sitting in my car mindlessly scrolling through content. Maybe I will actually get stuff done lol.
Definition of social media: internet based communication that facilitates the sharing of thoughts and interests to others.
This include: Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Tiktok, Pinterest and YouTube. Technically WordPress but I will need that for the blog.
It’s already the 23rd of September and I havent blogged my next thirtydays 😲 oh well, better late than never lol.
This thirtydays ended up being a continuation of last month. We went camping at Loon Lake the 6th thru the 12th and I really dedicated myself to reducing waste on that trip. No paper plates, paper towels or plastic silverware. I brought my un-paper towels. I had already purchased dishes and silverware for the camper. I pre-cooked dinners and put them into reusable containers. I used my orange juice containers and filled them with filtered water for us and the dogs. We ended up with only one small garbage can of trash at the end of the week so I think it was a success.
Twice I went to the grocery store and forgot my bags in the car. I did not allow myself the luxury of purchasing a store bag. The first one I asked the clerk to set the items at the end of her counter and I would come right back in and bag them up. Luckily there was no one in line after me. She did give me a look though 😂 the second store I didn’t purchase that many items so I did a balancing act on the way out of the store lol. It was quite a sight.
This thirtydays is coming to an end but I wanted to share a few things I have done so far.
Shred trash. I put some around the base of my bushes, added rock on top and around the edges. I’m excited to see how this goes next spring. I’m hopeful it will keep some of the grass from poking through.
Coffee grounds and egg shells. I read on the internet that if you dry them out and then grind them up in the blender you can use it for plant food. It came out perfectly. Now to sprinkle some on my plants.
I bought some reusable produce bags. Five for $3.00. I think they are going to be much easier to open up in the store. Lol, no more licking my fingers. Just kidding. I just need to remember to bring them with me.
Orange juice. Well, I usually put this in my green drink in the morning. My daughter, Krystal, convinced me to just use oranges. There is no way I can squeeze enough oranges to equal what I normally use so I will supplement with water. I couldn’t find any regular ones at the grocery store so I settled on tangelos. They were easy to peel and the peelings went into compost. I also got lemons and I’ll put a couple of slices in with it. Those were NOT easy to peel. Lol.
Overall I think this thirtydays was a win. I was able to reduce what was going into my garbage can and I found new ways to reuse and recycle some of it too. I think it made me more conscious of what I was buying and how it was packaged.
Wow. This thirtydays is going to kill me. What started out with reducing the amount of garbage in my can has grown into me questioning everything I use. I probably should stay off the internet. Plastics, global warming, fires and covid has kinda pushed me over the edge. That said, I know I am just one person but I hope to make my footprint a tiny bit smaller.
Plastic is my enemy. From now on I will try to purchase things that are wrapped in paper. Like toilet paper. Instead of the giant pack that is double encased in plastic wrap I will opt for the individual rolls that are in a cardboard box. It may not be name brand but every little bit helps.
Plastic orange juice containers. I have a three pack left. I use it in my green drinks in the morning. (That’s one thirtydays I have been able to stick to). The next time I need to get some I will buy it in the cardboard containers. I will save them to use for water in the camp trailer. So they won’t be going into the trash lol.
Shred garbage. I found a few ways to reuse this. Fire starters for camping. Stuff into toilet paper rolls along with dryer lint. Easy way to start a campfire. You can also put it around plants/trees and mix it in with bark mulch.
I finally got the composter. It came in a million pieces so I had my son in law put it together. Thanks Randy! I also got a cute tiny compost can to put kitchen waste in. Right now the contents of the composter is mostly eggshells, lettuce, egg cartons, banana peels and onions. Hmmm, what does that say about my diet lol.
Only a few days left to this thirtydays but I think this one I will continue 👍🏽
I went through my drawers and cupboards looking for ways to trash less. I came to the conclusion that in order to figure out what needed to be recycled, reused or reduced I needed to pay more attention to what I was putting into the trash can. So I looked in my garbage and I found :
food packaging
tissues
junk mail
paper towels
paper plates
plastic slider/zipper bags
food waste
We have already covered paper towels and paper plates so I guess we can talk about the plastic slider/zipper bags. Okay, I’ll admit it. I love them. They aren’t just for food. I use them for traveling, craft storage, organizing random things, rocks and sweat towel storage for the gym. I don’t really throw them away. Probably just the ones I use for lunches. So from now on I will use a reusable container instead.
Junk mail. It’s mostly advertisements for services I am not looking for. It either gets ripped into tiny pieces, shredded or sent back from whence it came. If they send me a postage paid envelope I will send it all back to them with a note to take me off their mailing list. Does this work? I don’t know but it makes me feel better knowing that it’s not going into MY garbage can lol.
Tissues. Yes I use them to blow my nose in the morning. What is the alternative? Good old fashioned handkerchiefs. I am going to try these but no guarantees. Lol. I don’t know if I can do it.
Food waste. Most of my food waste consists of banana peels, coffee grounds, avocado shells, onion skins, lettuce and egg shells. These are things that can be composted so I got one. More on that later this month.
Food packaging. Wow. I didn’t realize how most of the things I purchase are contained in plastic. And it’s not small or recyclable. Orange juice, laundry soap, body wash, apples, condiments, the list goes on. I will be researching alternatives. Wish me luck🤞🏽
Yesterday I went into a store to get some household items and dog toys. Dog toys to replace the ones that Krystal’s dog, Sunny killed a few weeks ago lol.
I got to the register and the cashier asked if I wanted to purchase a bag for 5 cents. Of course not. Did I bring my own bags? Of course not 😂. Luckily I shopped without a cart so everything I was purchasing I was carrying. 10 items😂 Ugh I need to train my brain to grab those recycle bags on my way into the store. In my defense, the bags are in the back of the car. I guess I should just put them in the front seat but I hate clutter lol.
Less garbage:
I bought some reusable paper towels. Not that I am getting rid of the real thing altogether. I will still keep them for dog barf and grease clean ups. The reusables are 12×12 inches and made out of cotton flannel. They roll up around a cardboard tube. You can take them off one by one. I got them from Amazon but they are actually made in Eugene Oregon, Marley’s Monsters reusable unpaper towels. A little spendy but over time I hope to use less of the real ones and this is more about the environment. I guess if I wasn’t so lazy I could make my own. They are just flannel squares serger stitched around the edges.
Cotton balls. I use at least a bag of cotton balls each month to remove my eye makeup. I know, they are tiny but everything adds up over time. I found some reusable makeup removers from Wild Minimalist that are basically just like the unpaper towels but double layered. These are also made in Oregon. They measure 2×2 and are cotton flannel. I just squirt some makeup remover on them, use and toss them in the dirty clothes. They wash up perfectly and again I could probably make these lol. Spoiler, maybe that’s what’s coming for Christmas….😊
I hate to admit this but I use a lot of paper plates. I was reaching for one last night and reminded myself I should be using the real plates. Most of the paper plate use is for cooking/reheating in the microwave of greasy stuff. So it’s a toss up between them and paper towels as clean up afterwards. To explain, I am not connected to city sewers and I have a septic system. I definitely don’t want to wash any grease down the drain or it could cause a grease plug and a back up of the system. And yes I am speaking from experience 😂🤣
Where did July go? 64 ounces of water seemed like a lot to toss back. Eight, 8oz glasses per day. Well apparently I drink a ton of water because at the end of the day I was measuring in at 90-100 ounces. I have to add that I quit drinking coffee on the weekdays so I probably traded that liquid for water but hey, my blood pressure went back to normal so, yay!
While trying to decide what my next thirtydays would be I was at the store buying groceries and as usual I didn’t bring my recycle bags in with me. It’s not that I don’t have any I just never bring them in. So this month I will be trying to reduce waste. No store bought bags because I’m too lazy to go back and get them. If the apples I’m buying are in a huge plastic container I won’t be buying them. As most of you know I do a lot of shopping at Costco which means buying in bulk. That can either be a curse or a blessing when it comes to packaging. I will also be taking that into consideration. Ultimately the end result will mean less garbage in the cans that has to be taken to the dump. I know I’m just one person but for some reason I produce a lot of trash.
For this thirtydays I will try to drink at least 64oz of water per day. I know. Boring. Lol but this is part of my plan to get healthy. I’m trying to come up with a plan on how to measure it out during the day. I guess that’s four 16oz glasses a day. That doesn’t seem like that much. Hmm. Maybe this will be an easy one. Wish me luck🤞🏽
Well, my paper list is done and I think I’m ready. I will do a last minute repack just to make sure I remembered socks and unders lol. Probably two repacks 😂
I also packed a backpack specifically for the park. I’ll be flying in late and I don’t want to have to worry about what I’m taking to the park in the morning. I checked my paper list to the contents of my suitcase one more time. I think I’m good😂 I must add that this is my first ever carry-on only trip. I’m so excited. I’ve always wanted to do carry-on only but have never been able to squeeze it all in. I squished everything I will need into a tiny suitcase and a backpack. Granted I’m only going to be there for three days but you never know what you will need. I was going to have Krystal and Randy drive my suitcase down but I didn’t trust them to not get it stolen lol. So they took my pillow and my blanket instead. I will only be a little mad if they lose them lol.
I dropped the dogs off this morning. And by dogs I had a plus one lol. Sunny is going to Canine Country Club with Axel and Kohl. Axel was not a happy camper. He kept trying to leave with me. Sunny and Kohl were clueless. Totally engrossed in sniffing every inch of the floor. Well I guess I know who really loves me. 🐶 I told Kris, don’t forget Sunny when you pick them up lol.
On my way to the airport. While driving I was thinking it would totally suck if I got a flat tire. Since I dont know how to change one, lol. I would definitely miss my flight. Luckily I made it to the airport. I had to park a mile away. I hope I can remember where my car is. I drove the Cooper so parking would be easy but it’s short and it hides between cars. I took a picture of where it’s at so that might help me.
Check in was fast. I flew through TSA. Well that is until they scanned my bag. Note to self. If you are bringing a bunch of quarters and pennies for the penny squishing machines, make them easier to find. The TSA agent was digging all through my suitcase. Lol. He asked me if I knew where they were. Uh no. He finally found them in my other backpack. By that time my perfectly organized bag was a disaster. Thanks lol.
Oh and I look like a dork. I didnt want to wear shoes I had to tie so I opted for my birkenstocks. I also don’t like walking barefoot through the TSA checkpoint soooo I have socks on. With camo shorts. And a cat shirt.😂😂🤣🤣😂😂 I’m quite the fashionista lol.
Finally boarding. I boarded through the back door. Lol. They took my suitcase at the gate because they said it wouldn’t fit in the overhead compartment lol. The airplane is so small. Total 76 seats. I’m in seat 17b next to the window and the engine. There are only 19 rows total. The windows don’t have shades 🌞😎 It is so awesome. We are flying over the clouds. They look like snow. I’m kinda glad I have to wear a mask. Smells like a cross between a lawnmower and a room full of sweaty people. It really makes me appreciate first class and big airplanes 😂
Our flight has a complementary beer or red wine drink. Umm I’ll pass on that. Maybe a cute little box of water and a Kind bar. Really don’t want to get airsick.
Super short layover in Seattle and then on to Los Angeles. Of course I got lost trying to find the next gate. I blame the signage.
The next airplane was bigger and I was sitting in row 7. Closer to the front.
I was so lucky and got to sit next to two obnoxious people, a mom and college age son and a screaming baby behind me. The mom read a book made out of paper the entire flight so she had her light on the whole time. I fell asleep and I woke to a spotlight glaring down on me. She had turned my light on too🙄. The son kept complaining about the screaming baby and that he would never have kids. Good. The obnoxious gene will stop there😂
Randy picked me up. Got to the hotel at 1 a.m. So tired but need a shower to get rid of airplane germs. Getting up early to beat the crowds😁
foxpartyofone 