Earth Day Challenge Results

I am a terrible blogger! I said I would update on the results of my personal Earth Day challenge on Friday, but I never did. And it's now Monday- yikes! But here we go...

Did I succeed? Ahh, well ... not exactly.

But while I wasn't completely successful in not throwing anything out (one of the things I forgot to plan for was the paper towels in the restroom at work), I do feel like the project made me a lot more aware of the waste I create. During more than one task throughout the day, I stopped to think about how I could do things differently to create the least amount of, or no trash at all, as possible. That was never really my main concern before, I was focused on "fast" and "easy" and did things more by habit. And while I had tried to avoid extraneous waste in the past, I didn't bother to stop and think about how I could adjust the way I did things to use even less.

This is definitely something that I am going to make an effort to continue.

PS- I am also completely embarrassed that my Earth Day post showed up dated April 20th! I thought of the idea a couple days earlier, and jotted it down in a draft. I wrote the real post on the 22nd, but I had no idea it would keep the 20th as the actual day. Oops!

Happy Earth Day!

In honor of Earth Day, my goal is to not put a single thing in the garbage can today- in other words, not use anything that creates waste. No packaging, no cleaning products, no disposable containers, nothing. Recycling is perfectly OK, but no garbage! (And no, that doesn't mean that I'm going to let any trash sit out on the kitchen counter until tomorrow :P) I'll check back tonight or tomorrow morning to let you know how it all went!

I am also going to take a bit of time to share some of the progress we have made in our goal of transitioning to greener cleaning products and household items. So far we have:

- Switched from chemical cleaners and Clorox wipes to Nature's Source 99% natural Windex and Seventh Generation All-Natural Wipes (both purchased at the grocery store). When our supply of those runs out, I will begin to make my own cleaners from water, vinegar, lemon juice, and baking soda to use with organic cotton washcloths that can be washed and reused.

(images -clockwise from top- from samsclub.com, greenlightoffice.com, acmemarkets.com, walgreens.com, samsclub.com)

- Switched from standard laundry detergent to Ecos 100% All Natural Laundry Detergent (purchased at Sam's Club). When our supply of dryer sheets runs out, I will also purchase these wool dryer balls from seller farmfreshfiber on etsy to use instead.

(images -clockwise from top- from samsclub.com, samsclub.com, farmfreshfiber on etsy.com, samsclub.com)

- After our Swiffer (which I used with the wet pads) snapped in half, I purchased a steam mop that cleans with nothing but water. I still have the sweeper end of the Swiffer and may buy a cover for it -such as one of these- to help with the dusting.

- Stopped using plastic bags at the grocery store and started using large canvas bags for groceries, and reusable mesh bags for produce.

That's all for today! I'm looking forward to my little experiment, and will let you know how it went tomorrow!