Six years later!

Has it been only six years since I saved my trash for seven days?!

I now have two children, five and three, both boys, and sustainable living is one of the last things on my mind!

We’re finally done with diapers (YAY), and we’re packing lunches in mostly-reusable containers. We don’t buy bottled water. But I am taking out a full bag of garbage every day. A lot of that is food–I’m terrified to compost. (Ants!)

I’ve also been diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. My medicine intake has gone up, and thus I throw away a bunch of plastic pill bottles each week. I would save them if I could find a clever way to reuse them, but let’s say I average seven pill bottles a month… that seems like a lot to use up.

A cheeky, cheeky downside of RA is fatigue–so you can see that I am not eager to spend my energy anywhere but with the family. When my young ones are older, I’ll have more sleep, and thus more energy, and I’ll get back to my old habits.

So… that is my list of how I’m doing poorly, but I do have some good new habits and I’ve kept a few old ones. What am I doing well?

Buying bulk food when possible–I am possibly an expert at this. We have a large assortment of bins in our kitchen.

Taking water bottles everywhere–the children have their own water bottle holders made by my friend Mary. Buy one at her etsy shop!

Cloth napkins–We never use paper napkins at my table. The cloth ones are so easy to throw in the wash, so why not? (I never iron them.)

Sewing with scraps–I have nearly learned to be thrifty with fabric. You can do all kinds of things with scraps.

Cooking–by baking bread, cooking fresh food, generally making it ourselves when we can, we cut down on buying processed/packaged foods. Mostly this is due to my husband being an awesome cook! I have learned quite a lot too.