Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.

Our goals after a week or so...what's working? what isn't? what's hard? what's easy?

Reduce waste: we have made very, very little waste since we started this. About 1/2, or not even half, a 13 gallon can. Most of our trash has come from packaging from things we bought before we started this. And disposable diapers. But I have already purchased 2 cloth pull-ups for elsie to wear at night, so there won't be any more of that. Easy to do: buy in bulk, only buying recyclable or reusable packaging, using cloth bags to shop, composting, not buying single-serving items (well, we did buy some ice cream bars last night. i realized after the fact about the packaging. some habits die hard!), stopping junk mail, using cloth toilet paper. no, really! its ok! i swear, its not gross. it has reduced our TP consumption a lot. We only went though one small roll last week. It has made me more aware of our TP consumption overall.

Using less electricity: this is pretty easy, too. turning stuff off when not in use, unplugging stuff when not in use, switching to wind or other renewable power, line drying clothes (6 months of this saves 700 lbs of carbon from going into the air!), compact flourescent bulbs. we haven't tried the no-fridge thing (since its summer now).

Driving car less. Yes, but its hard. I shopped one day. Another day we planned to bus to meet friends at a city garden. Well, a wheel fell off our stroller (so we have to fix it! can't buy another one.) then we missed the bus. And i didn't know how to do it with a stroller with 3 wheels. So we drove. Other than that, we have been walking. Jay has been driving to work this week because of working long hours, but that wont be the case next week. It is hard not to drive. I need to work on the bus habit. I enjoy walking (especially when the weather is nice). When you aren't in the habit, the bus is daunting.

Food: Ok, so the 1000 mile limit isn't all that realistic. We can get some staples like olive oil and rice from California, I think. We were at the co-op and there were these bulk organic cracker things. They were made in PA. What to do? I bought them. I bought apples instead of mangos (dried) though. So we will try to buy local, whenever possible. And organic. Mostly everything we ate this week was organic.

Not buying stuff, especially not new stuff. Ok, so I bought those cloth diapers, but of course if I didn't buy those, i would have been buying more disposable ones to use and throw away, and these wont get thrown away. So, yeah. Also, Jay bought a router for our cable internet. We talked about it, and he had been planning on buying this for a long time, so our laptop (that a friend just long-term loaned us) can be on the internet at our house. That's it. I bought a pair of shoes and a shirt at a garage sale (total: $3.50). Our cousin bought Elsie a train table at a school fundraiser garage sale because it was $40. We need to get rid of stuff to make room for it.
Here is an article about "the compact": the pact to not buy anything new for a year

Water: yes we have been taking short showers. We dont shower every day (no, we aren't stink hippies). The yellow leave it mellow is working out ok. It starts getting stinky at some point and gets flushed. One thing I am going to start trying is reclaiming greywater. Taking old bathwater, water after washing dishes, and water after washing laundry, and using this to water flowers and in the garden. Someone gave me this idea, and i thought it was great. why not use the kid's bathwater to quench the irises?

That's about it. Thinking about choices more. Thinking about habits, trying to do things more consciously. Asking "do i need that?" and usually answering "no".