8 Things I Used to Do

Thanks, Haddock, for tagging me with an 8's tag. I'm going to bend the rules, as usual, to fit my fancy (I guess this means I actually play by the rules, if my rule is always to break the rules?)

Here are 8 things I used to do. On my journey into stewardship living, I've changed my ways. And I'm still changing. The key is to start where we are and make changes as we learn, grow and discover, isn't it?

1. I used to buy liquid soap in plastic bottles (see lovely green bottle above). Now, my daughter Sara taught me something new. I can make my own liquid soap by cutting up a bar of regular soap and letting it sit in a cup of water overnight. No new plastic bottles to buy. And most of our soaps are used-soaps that we keep from hotel stays.

2. I used to eat meat. Then I read too many things about the "third world" and how "first world" eating habits impact that. The article that "tipped" me into veggie land was about a poor woman in a famine-stricken area. She sold her children after she simply had no other means to care for them, and then committed suicide out of grief. The point of the article was more about market forces, but when I put it together with all my other reading, my heart was touched. I don't expect other people to feel the same way, or make the same decisions I have. But I feel better living this way.

3. I used to buy granola, ketchup, bread and peanut butter. Sometimes I still do, but mostly I make my own. It's amazing what we can make with our own two hands once we discover how.

4. I used to throw my kitchen scraps in the garbage. Now I compost them. In the winter, I use the vegetable scraps to first make vegetable broth.

5. I used to bag up produce in plastic bags, take it to the register and carry it home in more plastic bags. Now, when I remember (which is more and more often), I just put things into my cart loose and bring them home in canvas bags I provide.

6. I used to shop solely at the grocery store. Now I belong to a food co-op, where I buy foods in bulk. This means less packaging in the end. I'm also making an effort to go to my farmer's market every Saturday, where I bring my own containers and bags to carry things home.

7. Number seven hinges on numbers 1 and 3-6: I used to put out three bags of trash a week, to be "taken away" to landfills and incinerators. Now I put out one bag about every two to three weeks. I haven't bought trash bags in months and months.

8. I used to worry that I could never do enough to save the world. It's true, I probably can't. But somehow I don't lose hope. I wrote about it here.


Liquid Soap photo, by L.L. Barkat.

Green Inventions Invitation: if you write a related post and LINK back here, let me know and I'll link to yours.