Some cool re-purposing ideas from people much craftier than I on Re-Nest:
A cool, practical way to Re-use your plastic bottle tops
(Or, you can reclycle them if there is an Aveda near you)
Bird Feeder Made Out of Bottles
DIY Hanging Herb Garden
Use VHS Tapes as Shiny Ribbon
These are great ideas to help get my creative juices flowing. The May goal to reduce the amount of plastic coming into the house has been semi-successful, but must obviously continue as an active goal for the forseeable future. REDUCE REDUCE REDUCE. My new mantra. Reduce, and Refuse (as in, I refuse to buy new lip gloss because I have 15 tubes already, not Refuse = Slightly Affected Way to Refer to Trash).
Les and I have begun a massive apartment cleaning project for our decidedly un-massive apartment. It's incredible how just moderate amounts of clutter feels oppressive in a small space. But we're still struggling to figure out what to do about all of our stuff. Wishing I had Refused some of this crap before I had to figure out how to Reduce the piles.
Our Recycle bin is constantly overflowing, the trash can has been emptied more often in the last 3 weeks than I would like to admit. And even as I try to assuage my guilt with the growing "donate" pile on the floor, I have to wonder why anyone ELSE would want/need to bring my 37 slightly used candle votives or the 2 of my original 6 puffy vests that I know I can live without, or the "too lazy to figure out how to fix it" DVD player into their own fortress of stuff. Ugh.
I have way too much stuff already. And yet I always find myself wanting MORE. New. Better. Prettier. Or, even Greener. Living Simply is not that simple. For me, anyway.
The June project of the month is going to be to cook from scratch more often, thereby reducing the consumption of packaged and pre-made food Les and I have grown accustomed to eating. And I don't mean "putting our own toppings on a frozen pizza crust." I mean cooking for real. Taking the time to put food in our food. There's a twinge of dread mixed in with my excitement about this project, but I think it dovetails nicely into May's plastic-reduction project. Less packaging = less plastic, right?
Plus, it is way less scary than the project I have cooking for July...
Showing posts with label reduce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reduce. Show all posts
Friday, May 27, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
The Great Coffee Mug Debacle of 2011
Oh, for the love of Pete. I can hear your eyes rolling in your head. "Really? Really, she's going to write about coffee mugs again?"
Yes. Yes I am. Because apparently, I am no longer authorized to operate a travel mug containing hot liquid. I spilled on myself/my belongings/the car not once, but twice yesterday. Les demanded that I buy a new 4-star rated travel mug immediately, before I give myself 3rd degree burns or destroy my cell phone or something.
This is the mug that I have decided will solve all my life's ills:
It is made of stainless steel, and it gets the highest ratings on Consumer Research. And, it comes in pretty colors. But it costs $20, plus shipping, etc. Which just seems dumb. I guess in a cost-per-use calculation, it does pretty well, but I'm skeptical about it's actual awesomeness due to my inherent inability to use a travel mug properly. Can it really be that great?
We have 3 or 4 travel mugs in our cupboard, but I have never made it to my destination without getting coffee all over myself with any of these mugs. Like, ever. Not once. They leak from the seal, they leak from the mouth opening, they leak when they are full, they leak when they are supposedly empty. It drives me crazy. And it has made me very reluctant to carry one on my person, or to brew my own fair trade coffee + oat milk + raw sugar in the mornings because I don't want to end up wearing it by the time I get to the train stop.
But despite Les's insistence that I go ahead and order the darn mug already, I began thinking up other cheaper, less "go forth and buy stuff" options. And I came up with this:
The brilliant glass bottle with plastic screw-top lid that I got with Argo tea inside at Whole Foods. Pretty good seal, very drink-able mouth. But it's made of glass, so it probably won't stay hot for too long. Which is OK, because I can take off the lid and re-heat it.
Which would burn my hands, right? Well, not if I could insulate it somehow....
I'm pretty sure Les will not want to be seen with me if I walk around the city with an errant sock as a coffee mug snuggie, but whatevs. I'll give it a try this week and let you know how it does on the Travel part of the "travel mug" designation. I just carried it around the apartment this afternoon. I'm sure I could find a more attractive sock, if this dingy brown one is just too stupid.
Makes me laugh at myself as I remember that I once went to a church in town (that some of my dear friends later attended and now call home) that I decided was "way too crunchy" for me. A judgement that was based on my observation that several of the congregants arrived to church drinking hot tea or coffee out of mason jars, and would screw the lids back onto the jars when not in use. I could not handle that kind of green-ness at the time. I bet they would laugh at me with my bottle-in-a-sock. Deservedly.
Yes. Yes I am. Because apparently, I am no longer authorized to operate a travel mug containing hot liquid. I spilled on myself/my belongings/the car not once, but twice yesterday. Les demanded that I buy a new 4-star rated travel mug immediately, before I give myself 3rd degree burns or destroy my cell phone or something.
This is the mug that I have decided will solve all my life's ills:
 |
| Contigo 16-Ounce Double Wall Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Tumbler |
We have 3 or 4 travel mugs in our cupboard, but I have never made it to my destination without getting coffee all over myself with any of these mugs. Like, ever. Not once. They leak from the seal, they leak from the mouth opening, they leak when they are full, they leak when they are supposedly empty. It drives me crazy. And it has made me very reluctant to carry one on my person, or to brew my own fair trade coffee + oat milk + raw sugar in the mornings because I don't want to end up wearing it by the time I get to the train stop.
But despite Les's insistence that I go ahead and order the darn mug already, I began thinking up other cheaper, less "go forth and buy stuff" options. And I came up with this:
The brilliant glass bottle with plastic screw-top lid that I got with Argo tea inside at Whole Foods. Pretty good seal, very drink-able mouth. But it's made of glass, so it probably won't stay hot for too long. Which is OK, because I can take off the lid and re-heat it.
Which would burn my hands, right? Well, not if I could insulate it somehow....
Makes me laugh at myself as I remember that I once went to a church in town (that some of my dear friends later attended and now call home) that I decided was "way too crunchy" for me. A judgement that was based on my observation that several of the congregants arrived to church drinking hot tea or coffee out of mason jars, and would screw the lids back onto the jars when not in use. I could not handle that kind of green-ness at the time. I bet they would laugh at me with my bottle-in-a-sock. Deservedly.
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