Third Weekly Check-In: April Tiny Challenge!
By Jenn | April 29, 2008
.
.
.
.
Howdy Tiny Choosers! It’s time for the third weekly check-in for the April Tiny Challenge (wherein we & ya’ll have committed to an individual tiny challenge for the month).
So, here’s what we have to say for ourselves:
Karina: “I vow to (oh heck) give up plastic straws.”
Week 3 Update: I have been having a terrible terrible time with the no-straws goal. Maybe it’s because I don’t eat out much, but I don’t ever expect a straw to come in my drink! but then to exacerbate things I’ve been eating out a lot more than lately, so I have been getting straws a-plenty. In the last week I got 2 more straws. I feel terrible. The straw comes to the table, I look up at my companion, and I say (so so so sadly): oh No. another plastic straw. I’m thinking about a plastic straw penance project for next month, you know, something to make myself really keep the straws in mind at all times. I’ll fill you all in on it next week.
Week 2 Update: I had a 50/50 week. I accidentally got a straw with a lunch, but then on the other hand I didn’t get a straw with another lunch. All in all, though, it’s a real improvement over the week before which was 100% in the wrong direction.
Week 1 Update: I went to a wedding this weekend and I got two small plastic straws. Shoot! So far I am 0 for 1 in the number of opportunities of straw refusal where I actually was able to refuse straws. I need to try a little harder for the rest of the month.
Jenn: I vow to cook at least one time per week.
Week 3 Update: I cooked dinner twice last week. Twice! And also, I ate breakfast at home each weekday. So I’m happy about the trash I avoided generating from the to-go food I didn’t purchase. I’ve also concluded that I’m just practically never at home, which is why the cooking is so durn difficult for me. We’ll see how this week goes…
Week 2 Update: Well. I’m not entirely sure this counts, but this week I cooked food for the Passover meals with my family. I also baked macroons. However I didn’t cook any meals explicitly for my own consumption during the week… but I can tell you that Week 3 has started off with a bang already…which doesn’t at all make up for the fact that I flopped during Week 2, but, I’m trying. Baby steps, right?
Week 1 Update: Well, I did it– I cooked one time last week! Sure, it was late Sunday night, but it totally counts– and the best part is that I had enough leftovers for 2.5 more meals. It’s a good start.
************************************************
So, fill us in on how your Tiny Challenge is going, dear Tiny Choosers!
Topics: Activism |
Week 3 has gone better. I simply unplugged most of my kitchen electrics and haven’t plugged any of them back in yet. For the ones I do use more often I’ve brought their power strip up and attached it to the uprights of my kitchen cart for easier accessibility. I still don’t always remember to switch the power strips off at the end of the day but am much happier with this setup.
Challenge: To not buy anything new.
Surprisingly, I don’t think I bought anything other than the food stuff. So go me; )
I have totally turned my computer off every night - but it got twice as hard after i mindlessly deleted tons of programs from my computer causing some kind of weird glitch that now makes it virtually impossible to shut down without just having pulling the plug and battery out . And start up is a huge production with all these frozen programs .. ahhhh.
Maybe next week, i’ll have to take the ole computy to the Dr. !
My goal: avoiding plastic packaging in new food purchases.
Result? I haven’t been perfect (of course), but when I keep this plan in mind when I go food shopping, I am forced to eat closer to the ground. I only wish there were more food companies on the same kick I am. I have had a hard time looking for plastic-free food packaging. No tortilla chips for me!
Also a big problem: finding bread in paper bags. There’s a great local Polish bakery or two in my neighborhood, but it comes bagged at most delis. I get shy about buying directly from the bakery. Anyone know how to say “I want to buy bread in a paper bag” in Polish?
potrzebuj? (chcie?) ?eby kupowa? chleb w papier (papierowy) *bag*
You’re on your own with the pronunciation of that, however.
:)
(http://www.poltran.com/pl.php4)
Could you be more adorable? I owe you a Polish meal in my neighborhood, just for the attempt to translate, Jenn.
xoxoo,
sg
That would be lovely! We could try to ask for perogies in Polish, too, and smile at the cute blond boys. :)
3 weeks, 3 plastic bottles. I am still pretty proud of myself for reducing my dependence on the ever-present 20-ounce bottle by that much, but just maybe, I can kick it in to high gear and surpass myself this week.
I didn’t realize how easy it would be to give up factory meat! I have done so well at that one that I am considering keeping it going as a lifestyle choice even after the month is up!
I bought some beef short ribs last week from the local organic meatmerchants, but I RUINED them in the cooking, ‘cuz I don’t know how to cook ribs. They were so rubbery and disgusting, they helped me to not want meat the rest of the week!
Stay Strong, Tiny Choosers! Stay Strong!
Great idea. Mine has been to shut down/unplug my computer every night, which I’ve been faithful to for a week straight. In fact, both computers in our home are now shut down nightly!
Still doing well on bringing my lunch to work at least 3x/week! On the local-produce front, not as good…I’ve tried, but was in a hurry the other day at the local organic store and didn’t realize that my organic tomatoes and oranges were grown in Mexico. Still, I guess I was supporting local business by buying them, so it’s not a total loss!
nearly forgot to update! i did make some progress last week. i remembered to bring my reusable mug during the workday coffee break, remembered to ask for a glass mug at our usual weekend spot, and only got one disposable cup in an unplanned stop. Not perfect, but definitely an improvement.
whoa, crazy week. i have not cooked really much of anything! yikes. but i did eat veggie (instead of other takeout i tried a new salad place that has compostable forks, it rocked - sweet green down in georgetown dc). will cook more this week, i hope, and really i plan to go veggie more now as a matter of course. it’s too easy for a tiny choice. thanks for kicking me into gear on this one.
Challenge: Reduce my garbage output
Results: Not bad. I’ve kept it below a bag a week for three weeks now. This week has been the worse and I still haven’t filled up the bag. The real benefit isn’t that I have drastically reduced my output, I haven’t, it’s the awareness of everything that comes in and goes out. Here are the things that have wound up changing because of the challenge:
1) No more plastic shopping bags. I have to kick myself sometimes and pull the items out of the plastic bag and carry the pile to my truck, but I’m remembering to bring a tote to the supermarket all the time.
2) Less food waste. My meal plans tend to get out of sync with what I do during the week and I frequently find myself looking at a package of something thinking “How bad could it go in a month anyway?” and then finding out (and emptying a pile of food into the trash, which hurts more because I hate wasting food). The downside is more trips to the market, but I pass it almost every day. With smaller food purchases, it all fits in my tote too.
3) More to recycling. In the past junkmail that could lead to financial ruin (credit card offers etc) got torn up and thrown in the trash (yeah, I know thieves could probably scrape the rancid chicken off the paper, but it helped me sleep). Now I set those items aside and tear out the identifying pieces during boring conference calls. Pull out the name, address and offer code; toss into recycling and sleep comfortably (plus do something constructive during those really horrible calls)
4) I have to set up some kind of food composting thingie. Soon.
5) Talking about waste and recycling with the kids more. They’re 4 and 9, so maybe it isn’t intellectual discourse as much as the joy of being allowed to say “plastic bags suck!”. Kidding aside, they have both asked about why I didn’t want a bag.
The down side? I now see how easily we get to that 4.4 pounds a day on the average. I have a nasty carpet that has to go out to the curb this week. That should put me on the national average for a while.