less is more: paper & plastic

{These "less is more" posts are my attempt to write about some of the conscious, but simple choices we are making to lessen our footprint and help get us back to 350. We believe that living with less can be rewarding, satisfying, and maybe even fun! Send along your simplicity steps and I'll share them too. Here's to working together.}

Quite some time ago we got energized to start really cutting back on the amount of paper and plastic that we use. It feels so good to have fewer bags of garbage going in the landfill and life is just plain simpler without all that extra paper and plastic kicking around.

One of my favorite fixes was the addition of several of these inexpensive cotton "bulk" bags. We use them for lots of things. We take them with us to the grocery and fill them with our favorite bulk items like flour, rice, oats etc. We use them as "bread bags" for keeping the bread that comes out of the freezer (for that matter we use them to freeze our extra loaves too). We also use them in the fridge to store any extra flour or grains that like to be kept cool and won't fit in our glass storage jars. They can be washed whenever necessary, but usually we just take them outside, give them a good shake, and throw them back in with the cloth totes ready for the next trip to the store.

With all the continuing news about toxins found in plastic, we'd just rather not have it touch our food. So we play it safe and store as much food as we can in glass or cloth. I feel so much better.

The bags above would be so easy (and fun!) to make, but you can also find them here. The jars below are restaurant-size pickle and cherry jars that I asked for at a local eatery. They were destined for the recycling, so they were happy to give them up.

Of course we have loads of tote bags to take to the grocery. I've been so excited to see them everywhere now, including places like Goodwill! How cool is that? Thrift a great treasure and take it home in a re-usable tote! But every once in awhile we forget our bags when we get to the store (who doesn't right?) Our local co-op has solved that problem for everyone by placing a large coat rack on the wall right at the end of the check-out counters where you can "take a tote, and leave a tote". So if we forget our bags we just borrow some from the co-op until the next time. A local business even donated what looks to be about a hundred (handmade out of old t-shirts!), so I don't expect they need to worry about ever running out.

On to the other paper stuff. Napkins, paper towels and tissue were easily taken off the shopping list with cloth alternatives. We love using cloth napkins. We have several sets so there are always clean ones in the drawer. Iris likes helping to set the table and choose who gets the vegetable pattern or the blue napkin.
In place of paper towels we just use washcloths, dishtowels and clean rags. We keep a basket of clean rags under the sink at all times and use them for spills or wiping sticky stuff off the floor. (It seems like there is always some oatmeal or squished banana lingering below the highchair!)

For wiping noses, well, nothing beats a soft flannel "hankie", or if you are a mama, maybe a sweet vintage cotton one. Again, the key is having lots on hand, so you can just toss them in the wash when it's time.

Honestly we just don't buy these paper products anymore and I can't say that we miss them at all. We only notice when someone visits and wonders where the kleenex is. Then we just smile and point them towards the toilet paper (or the pile of clean hankies). Never fear good friends, we still do use toilet paper! Purists we are not.

But speaking of... we also add cloth diapers to our list of "less is more" options. For those of you not in the diapering world (I'll be with you in a couple years!), one quick "google" of cloth diapers and you will be inundated with the styles and options. Goodness, are they ever easy to find, easy to use, and oh-so-cute these days. We invested in one good set (and inherited another) and although they aren't cheap, we've long since paid off that investment and no longer have diaper cost in the budget. Elsa is the fourth baby to have used the set of diapers we are in now, and we hope to pass them on again. At 5 or more diaper changes a day, that's a lot of diapers not in the landfill.

Lastly, I used to find myself on-hold for what seemed like hours trying to get off some catalog mailing list (we were getting ridiculous amounts of clothing, tool, junk catalogs and with anything you want available on line, we just didn't need any of them!) But we found this really great website called Catalog Choice, that allows you to take yourself off just about any catalog mailing list with a quick click. That's more like it.

Do send along your ideas for using less plastic and paper. There is always more to do!