Final day...what a wonderful 2 weeks of learning. I haven't finished the book Garbology - so my challenge continues. I also have some ideas for the upcoming months/years that I want to work on related to my Personal Trash Audit - Thank you NWEI for putting together such a great opportunity like this. See you all next year! PS. My personal trash ended up fitting in a gallon sized ziplock bag (minus the raw chicken plastic bags) and the total weight ended up being 6oz.  I will miss my trash backpack. :) 

Things I hope to continue as this challenge ends...
-making my own bread (used my mom's recipe from when I was young)
-reducing my use of plastic (I found a use for old t-shirts, washable produce bag for the grocery)
Biggest challenges...
-reducing my use of plastic 😬

Today, I completed my one-time challenge of watching a documentary film about food with my husband and my brother. We watched Just Eat It. Initial reaction: Wow. Also, I want to try dumpster diving for groceries. 

Here's my stash. Being. Totally transparent here: this includes cooking for a family of 4, but not the plastic of 4 chicken wrappings and 4 sausage plastic wraps. For 3 years I did cloth diapers, but gave them away about 4 months ago! Therefore, disposable diapers did not make my stash either.
  I was so disappointed this week when I opened my normally paperbag of coffee beans to see that they now line the paper with a foil that is not removable.
(Water bottle present for perspective and a shameless  REDBUDSUDS plug.) 🙌🏼

I attempted to complete my one time challenge by setting up recycling at a local business in my town. I offered to buy a recycling bin for customers, and offered to pick up the recycling 3-5 days a week. The café is only about a mile from my house and I thought it would be a way to "be the change" that I would like to see I my town. The response they gave me wasn't totally encouraging- "we actually don't make all that much trash!". I hope to follow up tomorrow and see if I get a final go! Fingers are crossed!!

Grateful for my friends
Grateful for dark evenings and slowing down
Grateful for birthday celebrations and potlucks at work

I am proud to announce that I biked yesterday! It was a chilly rainy day. <45 degrees out when I was riding home, but I found that I still enjoyed my ride! Also, I used online weather radar to time my ride to miss the rain. 

Today will make 4 days out of the week that I have biked. 
 
When I started bringing my bike to work at the beginning of October, I got a few questions... most people assumed my motorized transportation was broken. I explained that I enjoy the exercise and the fresh air, and tried to explain that my bike works just fine for a 4 mile commute. Those days, we were having gorgeous weather, so they took my answers. Now, however, with dark skies and chilly winds, I am getting very different reactions. Here's two from today: 
 
Someone was outside for a smoke break, while I was rolling my bike to its spot by the fence. 
"Your husband drops you off with your bike so you can ride home in the rain! What a gentleman!" (dripping with sarcasm) 
I didn't feel like engaging him, so I just said "Good morning, Tom" and went inside. 
 
Someone else, who has a cube near mine: "Don't tell me you rode your bike to work in the rain today!" 
"No, I didn't ride this morning, but I will be riding it home!" 
I tried to show my excitement... to let him know it isn't the torture he thinks it is... but all I got was an eye roll as turned into his cubicle. 
 
Sigh. I wish the naysayers would keep their negativity to themselves. I genuinely enjoy riding my bike on every day that I do it (or else I wouldn't do it). 
 
All kinds of people justify 30min-1hr commutes with "It helps me decompress after work." How is that a good enough to justify an hour-long commute in a gas-guzzling pick-up truck, but not good enough to justify my 20-minute bike ride? 
 
Also, how can I get these guys to understand that I'm NOT torturing myself, I'm actually increasing my happiness, my fitness, my efficiency, and my bank account. 

Also. Call us old-fashioned, but we get the local paper. I just realized it comes in a plastic bag about half the time. This is a tough one, because we could switch to getting it online only. But for the sake of simplicity, I've really grown to enjoy the routine of checking out the local news, undistracted by the everpresent temptation of all-things-internet each morning. Old newspaper makes great project material, from paint-splatter protection to garden mulch. For this tradeoff, the newspaper (and its bag) win. At least until I find a satisfying alternative. 

 I went to the local coffee shop to get some computer work done. Ordered a drink "for here." It came in this. Dang it.

reH