Reduce, Reuse, Recycle series: Trash-free living ideas of a hippie and Part 1, Reduce

Sometime last March, I was bored in class and daydreaming (revelation: I'm kind of a fickle student, good grades notwithstanding), when this idea popped into my head: what if I could live trash-free?  I made up a list of lots of ways, big and small, that I could be doing to get there.  My list fell pretty easily into the familiar three categories of reduce, reuse, and recycle.  I was completely consumed.  For as long as I could (about a week), I didn't tell anyone else about my idea, because I was pretty sure it would be seen as a classic Sabina pie-in-the-sky unrealistic hippie idea.  At the lemonade springs where the bluebird sings, as the saying goes.  (And to be sure, some people did see it that way, but they tended to be people who didn't really share many of my environmentalist leanings anyway--no skin off my nose.)

In the intervening year and change, I've tried to put as many as possible of those little ideas into action.  They seem to be equal parts easy adjustment with few or no social consequences (maybe an occasional eye roll from a stranger or someone especially *ahem* prone to eye rolling), and changes that are seen as unusual, drastic, maybe even crazy.  However, I'm going to go out on a limb and share them with you, both the ones I've implemented and the ones I'm still working on.  Since it's a pretty long list, I'm splitting it into three parts, along the lines of the original list.  Here are some of the ways I reduce my consumption in general, and especially of trash- or waste-producing products and services.  I love that this started out purely as an environmental act on my part, and yet it also saves me money and reduces my exposure to harmful chemicals, in many instances.  Sweet intersections! 

• Turn off the lights whenever I leave a room--if I'm going to be gone for more than 30 seconds, off it goes.  30 seconds of electricity doesn't exactly cost a lot, but I've noticed if I leave it on intending to come back, I often get distracted, do something else, and then suddenly I've been lighting a room for an hour with nobody there.  
• In a similar vein, I try to use the A/C less or not at all.  This isn't always possible in July in SoCal, but I've previously shared some alternative ideas here. 
• Growing veggies on my apartment balcony cuts my grocery bill, is delicious, and is a little way to keep some remnant of organic farming in my life at the moment.  I'm lucky to have a relatively big, uncovered balcony that gets 6-8 hours of direct sun (we're on the northwest side of the building, so that's pretty good!), so I'm growing herbs (mint, basil, chives, rosemary, sage, parsley, oregano, and thyme), beets, bok choy, tomatoes, zucchini, string beans, potatoes (though only one plant made it...), radishes, and sweet potatoes.  I started VERY late, so the herbs are the only thing I'm eating from there right now, but the beets and bok choy have taken off in the last two weeks.
• Home preserving dovetails nicely with growing some of your own food, but even if you don't have a garden  it's still a great money saver to buy large quantities of fresh produce in season and freeze, can, dry, pickle, or ferment for use out of season.  This has really helped me cut down on groceries and buying expensive, out-of-season items--I already have it in my freezer or pantry!
• Homemade body care products are probably my favorite natural living decision of the year.  I love that they're free of harmful synthetic chemicals and they're non-polluting (reducing manufacturing waste counts, too!), I love how cheap and easy they are to make, and I love how well they work for me.  So far, I've made homemade deodorant, shaving cream, dry shampoo, and toothpaste.  I also use baking soda and vinegar to clean my hair.
• Homemade cleaning products are another great way to reduce your chemical exposure, reduce production of manufacturing byproducts and pollutants, and save a buck.  Hey, three of my four favorite things!  (The fourth is wine, of course...) I use vinegar, baking soda (though never with vinegar since they're not effective in combination), ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, castile soap, and Borax for all of my cleaning now, and don't have to shell out for aerosolized foamy bathtub cleaners and such.  Plus, when you go no 'poo, there's a lot less gunk to clean out of the bathtub!
• A freeze on clothes buying since January has really helped my budget--I'd been looking for things to cut, and holy smokes it's amazing how much I'd been spending on aimless shopping during my unemployment.  I was bored to death and waiting to hear back about applications, interviews, and offers, and channeled that into buying clothes and a bunch of less-than-useful junk.  It was pretty wasteful, especially since I already have so.many.clothes.  Nipping that in the bud made a lot of other, more prudent spending possible (ya know, exciting stuff like groceries and apartment deposits and such).  I have broken that rule twice since January, once to buy a pair of cruddy jeans at Salvation Army for work, and once to buy a cute lace top that I didn't technically need but it's SO CUTE and I think I'll keep forever.  I'm still working on self-discipline, clearly.
• Roomie and I decided not to get cable.  Nice way to save money on the monthly subscription fee, and we would've had to buy a TV as well, since neither of us had one already.  We decided against it, especially since most of what we'd want we can get on Netflix or HBOGo anyway. 
• I cut my own hair, and after the initial (tiny) investment of the hair scissors, it's free!  I imagine this'll be my practice for a while, as the hairdresser usually washes your hair with conventional shampoo before the cut.  I don't want that, because that would mean starting a new transition back to no 'poo.  Plus, I can compost the trimmings.  
• I wash my own truck, albeit not as often as it might like.  This saves water compared to an automated wash--I use about 1 1/2 gallons of water per wash--and it saves money, too.  
• When I'm feeling especially squeezed in the grocery budget (or I'm just feeling like a challenge!), I like to do a pantry challenge.  You may remember I did one in May, and despite not really blogging about it, it went pretty well.  This is a combination clean-out-the-pantry and save-some-money-on-groceries proposition, and I've found I actually like depressing adult stuff, like budgets or not spending anything until payday, if I can make them into a game.  Score one for the pantry challenge. 
• Homemade bread, yogurt, beer, and sauerkraut are all semi-staples in my home.  The bread is largely replacing store bought (but it's hard to give up that Ezekiel stuff!), homemade yogurt has entirely replaced its commercial counterpart, the beer is purely supplementary (but every little bit counts, deosn't it?), and I don't think I've ever bought sauerkraut from a store.  It's a small thing, but it cuts down on plastic packaging for sure, and I'm inclined to think it would also reduce emissions from preparing and shipping that food.  This is another that feels less like subsistence and more like a game or a science experiment.  A delicious science experiment, mmmmmmmmm...
• Say no to disposable straws.  If you have the option when you're eating out, ask your server not to give you a straw, or don't choose one for yourself (for example, at a fast food place).  The best bet is probably to bring a reusable water bottle or one of those trendy reusable cups with a straw if you're planning on getting a drink at a fast food restaurant.  I don't make fast food a habit, but I still keep a water bottle in my truck for the once per quarter I might find myself at Five Guys (ok, it's actually for all of my life that happens in BETWEEN those visits, but it's useful then, too).
• Bring a lunch (and utensils!) to work or on day trips.  If you have leftovers, just sling them into a bag with a fork and you're good to go.  This is a double whammy, because you're not only avoiding the food waste involved in eating lunch out every day (and potentially packaging waste too, if you pick up a sandwich or sushi to go from the grocery store or something), you're also avoiding wasting your own homemade food that's already a sunk cost.  
• Put food away after dinner instead of picking at it just to finish it.  This one is hard for me, since B and I eat dinner together almost every night, and our favorite thing to do is sit around and chat over/after dinner.  With the food sitting there looking yummy, I find myself grazing, which is silly--if I'm not hungry, it's wasted on fattening me up for winter rather than nourishing me.  I'm also robbing myself of my own leftovers for work the next day.  Best bet?  Ten second tidy to put the food away, and then linger over wine and chit-chat.  
• I don't own any plastic wrap.  I have a lot of tupperwares and approximately 98 million Ball jars for my leftovers, plus some plastic bags (which I wash and reuse--coming up in the next crazy episode!) and aluminum foil.  One thing I've seen that I think I could get behind is using shower caps to cover bowls or plates.  In my dream world, all my tupperware would be glass instead of plastic, but for now I'll go for the much cheaper store brand BPA-free plastic.
• Get your book fix from the library.  Buying books, even at the dollar bookstore, was another big and unnecessary drain on my budget.  I love to own books, but I love to read them even more, and if that's my choice, the to the library it is!  The library is more than just books, too--my sister and I borrowed every season of True Blood from our small town library, a great find since neither of us has HBO.   
• Make razors last by making sure they're always completely clean and dry after use, and sharpening them on a pair of jeans.  I've successfully used the same cartridge for 6 months this way.  
• Cover pots when bringing water (or anything else) to a boil--why pay to heat up the kitchen AND have it take longer to reach a boil?  I cannot believe it took me 22 1/2 years to figure that one out, but there you have it. 
• Only run the dishwasher when full.  This is sort of a no-brainer, but it can be especially important in apartment complexes with older, less efficient appliances that use a lot of water and electricity, like, ya know, my apartment.  
• Though I don't use a lot of it, I buy milk at least occasionally.  Mostly I keep it around for cooking and baking, rather than drinking.  I was getting very frustrated with my inability to use a half gallon before it went bad, and I refused to pay the even higher markup for a quart.  Then I learned YOU CAN FREEZE MILK.  It's still perfect for all of my recipes, though I haven't tried drinking it or making yogurt with the defrosted stuff.  This way I can buy a gallon at a great unit price (with my employee discount, even organic grass-fed milk is within reach at Whole Foods), and I no longer have to use it within the next week or two.  This is, no joke, revolutionizing my kitchen.   
• The last reducing idea is a little silly, but it's always worked for me.  I have never once in my life bought paper clips, and have only bought pens a few times.  That's because I'm always finding them on the ground!  I've long had a habit of looking for interesting things on the ground when I'm out and about--mostly you see trash, but sometimes it's change, earrings, notes, paper clips, pens, a couple times even a $5, $10, or $20 bill.  I suppose this might technically count as reusing, or at best foraging.  But still.  I've never bought paper clips.  I have a rainbow of colors and a wide variety of sizes, courtesy of the sidewalk. 

Whew, this has been long.  Thanks for sticking with me, Gentle Reader, and I'd love to hear your ideas for or stories of reducing, whatever that means in your life.