The continuing saga part II

So in our last thrilling installment, we learned that my zero waste toilet paper efforts were a bust, but my bamboo toothbrush efforts were a boom. That’s life in a nutshell.

Facial bar disappointment: In previous posts, I’ve explained how I had hoped a certain facial scrub would win the day in my beauty (?) routine, and how I ended up just buying an (almost) unwrapped bar at the farmers’ market. There is so much I love about my new bar of soap: It smells nice, it’s pretty, the lather is amazing, and there’s a cat stamped on the front.

What I don’t love about it: It’s making my face break out. I keep thinking that eventually my face will settle down and I won’t have to worry about that anymore, but so far that hasn’t happened. My plan is to just ride it out until either I go crazy and try something else, or my face does, in fact, accept this new cleaning development.

Please just accept this new development, face. It would make things so much easier.

I always have a meat counter story: I haven’t purchased meat since my last encounter with Mr. Plastic and Beard Net Kid a couple of weeks ago. I’ve just been too exhausted to deal with those guys. Plus we tend to not eat as much meat in the summer. I don’t know, it’s just too hot. But on Saturday, chicken breasts were on sale … and I decided to get back on that horse.

THE PERFECTION!

PERFECTION!

Behind the counter is a guy whose name I should know, since I’ve been going to this grocery store since I was nine, but I don’t. He’s just That Nice Guy. I have a half-gallon jar with me for chicken, and he lets me put it on the scale, and he tares it like a pro. Then he proceeds to fill it completely up with chicken, just as I’d asked. And since he was putting the chicken directly inside the jar, it was exactly as much as the jar could hold.

It was almost too perfect.

So I was like, what the hell, let’s really push our luck, so I hand over my orange tupperware for some hamburger. He asks (!) if I’d like paper, I say no, that’s okay, and he give me my pound-plus whatever he happens to grab (since there’s no going back when it’s in your container and I am super cool with that) and then next thing I know, I have two perfect containers of meat in my cart.

There are the price stickers, of course, but I can’t get it any more zero waste than this. I thanked him profusely — he was very calm about his awesomeness, which just made him more awesome. You guys, this is the best meat counter encounter (say that three times fast) I have had to date. That Nice Guy is my new best friend.

Speaking of shopping: Eric made enchiladas for dinner Friday night, and he doubled the batch so we’ll be eating those things all week. We are big fans of leftovers. Anyway, he said he had the choice of using cream cheese or yogurt in the filling, and he picked cream cheese because the entire package is easier to recycle than plastic.

I was like, huh, I guess you are listening. 😉

We won’t talk about the package the tortillas came in, or the salsa, or the sour cream. (All can be recycled. But all were plastic.) But he does have reusable grocery sacks in his truck now, and just knowing he’s thinking about zero waste, even if it wasn’t a perfect zero waste meal … he just gets all kinds of credit.

And those enchiladas? Amazing.

Project 333: July 1 marks the new season of Project 333, of which I am a big fan. I’m currently going through my closet and picking my 33 items for the next three months. I bring this up now because summer is a great time to start if you’ve been thinking of giving it a try — it’s easier to put together a wardrobe when the weather doesn’t change around as much. (Winter is also a good time. Hello, Australian friends!)

If you’re interested, you can find the rules HERE, but if you’ve never done this before, I wouldn’t really stress about following them perfectly. It’s not so much about the number 33 or the three months or what you do and don’t include as it is just seeing what it’s like living with less. And hey, there’s a zero waste aspect of this too — if you’re not shopping for new items, you don’t have to worry about how to get rid of tags and bags et al.

P.S. I will write more on this later, but I really encourage you to give it a try. I’m going on four years now and it’s completely changed my outlook on shopping, my closet, and what is “enough.” Also, did you know I hate button-up shirts? I didn’t, until I picked an entire wardrobe filled with those things.

Next up: We’ll finish up the week with a couple more updates, and then do something fun for Monday. (Or fun-ish. I don’t want to oversell it.)


11 Responses to The continuing saga part II

  1. I would NOT let the soap keep harming me. I’m sure you can find another use for that soap, even if it is just as a sachet in your underwear drawer.!

    Loving this blog. I am so far away from zero waste that it is funny. But it makes me think and I’m trying to do little things to reduce the waste around here. And thanks for that.

    • Thank you for the nice words! It took me YEARS before I felt ready to go for this whole ordeal. Sometimes I still wonder. I’ve found that just being aware is most of the battle. And little things add up. (And bad days still happen.) I appreciate you sharing your experience!

      And you’re right about the soap, of course. I don’t know why I’m being so stubborn about it.

  2. I may be in the northern hemisphere but summer it is not. It has been 13c today, not the time to sort those summer clothes out!! #wearingtwocardigans and #theheating is on!!

  3. I managed to find some nearly package free soap this weekend. It just had a small paper sleeve around it. Score! I also tried going to my local farmer’s market this weekend but the farmers weren’t actually there. Guess there is always next weekend.

    And I also love Project 333 although I started my summer capsule June 1 because it was definitely already summer here in Florida!

    • Oh, score! I’m always so sad to see lovely soaps in plastic wrap…

      Seasons with P333 are definitely open to interpretation. I always have to keep a couple of sweaters in mine, even in summer — Oregon weather is just too unpredictable, although we’re not as rainy as everyone thinks. Anyway, jealous of your June 1 summer date. We’ve had some great summer days here, but they’ve been followed by what appears to be fall. It’s exhausting!

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