Monday, January 30, 2017

My first zero waste bulk purchase

Behold: my very first #zerowaste bulk purchase from the bulk section of Wegmans (God bless Damien of Frederick Wegmans for listening to me explain my life goals and aspirations and personally weighing my mason jar of oats, all for like, a $2 purchase... and for understanding when I refused a plastic bag to carry it in).



If you know me personally, you know that one of my goals for 2017 is to limit the trash I create to diminish my negative impact on the environment. Being mindful and making conscious decisions when it comes to using disposable materials is just the start! It's a process, it's really hard, and it's not a societal norm to bring your own utensils and to-go containers every time you go out to eat... but I believe making these small changes and educating others can make an impact. Working towards living a zero waste life will probably take a while... but I'm starting here and now!

For me, bringing my own coffee mug when I'm out and about and using my own reusable bags for groceries aren't difficult things to do. I had essentially been doing these two things often for the past few years, I've just become more religious about it now. However, it took me until mid-January to actually bring my own mason to the bulk section. I had been anxious about this for a while for a few reasons... 

Saturday, January 14, 2017

My Passion Planner

I would really like to identify myself as an ultra-organized person, and in many ways, I am... but I always seem to lose my organizational tendencies when it comes to personal goals and things that don't need an actual deadline. In order to stay on top of my personal goals during this year of transition, I decided to invest in a planner that had goal-setting and goal keeping as a priority, since my planner basically dictates my life anyway!

At first, I wasn't sure if I even wanted to set many goals for 2017, but after thinking about it, I decided that I needed some structure during this year of transition, and that goals could only help me. I started to search for the perfect planner to help keep me focused.

This was when I came across Passion Planner!

These planners will cost you $25-$30, which is certainly more expensive than your average academic planner, but it does so much more than just that! It also is an affordable alternative to some other, similar competitors such as PowerSheets (still gorgeous tho).


What drew me to Passion Planner was its simplicity, affordability and the fact that you're not completely tied to a preset layout. Some other, similar planners come with ALL the bells and whistles: stickers, extra sheets to buy, step by step programs, etc. and I didn't think I really needed all that. Maybe I'll re-evaluate if I ever own my own business or something, but it really just seemed like too much stuff! I wanted this planner to help organize my life, not clutter it even more.

Passion Planner also has a "get one, give one" program, which appealed to me. For every planner purchased, they give one away to an individual or organization in need. 

Anyways, here's a brief look at how it works:

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

The beginning of my Zero Waste 2017

One of my goals for 2017 is to limit the waste that I produce by using less plastic, being mindful about my choices and trying to avoid making trash that will end up in a landfill at every opportunity. This isn't as easy as it may sound...

If you know me personally, then you know that I have always been a passionate advocate for the environment. I've always been intentional about recycling and I used to think that doing this was enough.

Well here's the thing, it's NOT enough... Recycling is actually the least you can do to help the Earth. Don't get me wrong, I think recycling is great and it's important to continue doing so, but the process uses up a lot of energy, there are so many different materials that are simply not recyclable, and even some recyclable materials get turned into these kinds of materials in their second season of life.


Obviously, I do recycle, and I believe that recycling is a good way to keep materials out of landfills and give them another lease on life.

- SIDENOTE - the apartment that I live in at the moment does NOT have a recycling bin because apparently my landlord does not believe in recycling (???) even though we have tried to talk to him about it. So, my roommate and I cart our mounting pile of recyclables to a super secret bin (could be illegal) which happens to use single stream recycling. We've been doing this for almost two years now, and for a lady who hates clutter in her living space, it's easy for me to say that finding an apartment that has recycling facilities is a big priority for me in the next few months.