Saturday, June 29, 2013

Low Waste Goals for July 2013

I think it is very important when you take on something in your life, to set a goal to reach. We are trying to lower our waste. It is also important to have a goal that is attainable, so that you can reach it and not give up out of frustration. That is one of the reasons I am embarking on "low waste living" as opposed to "zero waste living". It is not that I do not want to be zero waste (or aspire to get there eventually), but I need a starting block to get there.

I have had many conversations with my husband about lowering our waste, and I am lucky as he wants to be a team player in this. When you have a family member/friend/loved one who supports you, it always makes reaching your goals easier!

So what goals am I setting today? My goal for the month of July is to only fill 1 kitchen size trash bag per week. Now, if we don't fill it, great! But that is what I am aiming to reduce our waste to this month.

This week I am also collecting all my plastic trash (just mine, not my husband or child's) and at the end I will post it here (and on "MyPlasticFreeLife.com" under the "show your plastic" tally. Just so I can get an idea of what I am producing.

I would also love to get a composting system going. We currently do not compost. Composting would cut down a great amount of our outgoing trash (obviously). I have to say I do not know anyone personally who composts. ( I live in the North Eastern part of the United States. We seem to be behind the West Coast on this).

So there are my goals for July. I will update my progress on here!

Katie

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Public Enemy #1 - Water Bottles

We don't buy bottled water anymore. I am sure to people who are deep into an environmentally friendly lifestyle do not either, but I find most people around me still drink from plastic water bottles.

Not buying bottled water is probably the easiest (and cost effective) choice anyone can make. I actually think it is quite humorous we pay for water. When I was growing up bottled water wasn't even a "thing".

I have no problem drinking tap water, we live in the United States near a major city and have city water, I feel confident I can drink it without dropping dead or getting some weird bacterial disease. My husband is more fussy and does not like the taste of tap water, so he prefers filtered tap water.

That being said, what are the best bottle options? We own 3 bottles between the 2 of us, and we have 2 bottles for our son. We each have our own preference, so here I will tell you about each (and let you decide for yourself which water bottle you want!)

The first point for me was that the bottle must be dishwasher safe. This eliminated all aluminum options (such as the popular "Sigg" brand). My most used bottle is my Klean Kanteen. I just have the basic 18 oz stainless steel model with a screw off cap.



There she is. It is dishwasher safe and does the job fine. We have 2 12 oz bottles for our son (which started out with a sippy top and now just have the screw off). He takes them to school for snack/lunch as we do not purchase juice pouches any longer.

My husband, on the other hand, feels that the stainless steel water bottles have a metallic taste (I don't notice this, maybe I am not as sensitive?) So he has 2 other bottles. One is the Life Factory Glass bottle in a silicon sleeve:

This is also dishwasher safe. My only complaint would be it is a little heavy. But, despite being glass it is sturdy and solid.

My husband's favorite bottle is his stainless steel Clearly Filtered water bottle that has a filter right in it.




The biggest drawback to this one in my opinion is that the filter has to be replaced every 6 months. The high point? It is good for camping when you don't know if your drinking water is safe.

Buying a reusable water bottle is one of the easiest investments into a low waste lifestyle. And you really do not need more than one per person.


Katie

Welcome

Hello. My name is Katie. I have created this blog to track my journey into living low waste. I would like to reduce my family's plastic consumption and trash, drawing inspiration from sites such as "My Plastic Free Life" and "Zero Waste Home".  This blog is not meant for profit, but as a resource for myself and possibly others looking into a low- waste lifestyle.

Beyond reducing trash, I am also looking to reduce waste in other areas of my life, such as time wasting, etc. My husband and I have taken our family in a direction away from the average American family. My husband is an independent musician following his dream of pursuing his performing and teaching. I work in the education field part time. We function on a low income for an American family, so I will also touch on not wasting money, or space (we live in a small home).

This is all with a 7 year old son and a baby boy due in November. It should be an interesting journey.

Welcome!

Katie