It's 2013 already???

I have to say that with all the things that happened in my life in 2012, I - one - never thought the year would end, and - two - can't believe it went by so fast. Is that even possible?

To give you a quick recap of my year -

Game Day at MHS

• I moved three times and now am living in my 4th Vermont town in 12 months. I now live in Montpelier (where I hope to say). Over 2012 I was a resident of Barre Town, Barre City and Marshfield as well. (boy did this confuse the official polling officials on election day - since I was somehow registered in every one of those towns!). My housing ranged from a 2 bedroom house, to only having a small bedroom for myself to sharing a 1.5 bedroom cabin to living in a 2 bedroom apartment.

• Finalized my divorce - this was tough, but ended up being one of the best things to happen. My ex-husband and I are still friends and parted amicably and without needing to go to court. With the split I went for having 2 dogs to just one. Whew. 

Me and Odin snuggling in our newest home

•  Coached JV Girls Soccer at a local HS.

• Ran and finished 4 half marathons!

• Cheered my brother on as he completed his first Ironman!

• Decided to try out online dating - and met a special someone! 

Me and family with our Ironman!

I am sure there are a few things I am missing in there, but with the whirlwind that was 2012 I am not surprised that something got left out. As for the challenges I set for myself at the start of 2012 I can say that I fulfilled some but not all of them. I know that I didn't go through my things every day of the year to find one thing to get rid of - but with packing and unpacking my life 3 times I purged far more than 365 items!

Heading toward the finish of my 3rd half!

And what became of the other challenge of not buying anything new unless absolutely necessary - I have to say that I failed at that one. Unfortunately for me I tend to submit myself to retail therapy when stressed or upset. So, during some of the harder months I did go out and but new things (some necessary, so very unnecessary). Although buying more clothes was excessive at times, I believe I have done better than years past. Maybe I was secretly hoping that the Mayans were right and with the end of the world I wouldn't have to worry about my credit card bills. As I am sitting here on January 2nd 2013 - guess the Mayans were wrong!

So....2013

What do I have on tap this year you ask? I guess I haven't thought about it too much yet, but sitting here now this is what I have come up with: 

• Pay off my credit cards!  -Considering I don't keep them in my wallet I don't need to worry about using them. My goal is to also pay more than the minimum monthly payment and make a good dent in what I owe.
• Save money! No really, I want to save money!  I have set a budget for myself and goals. Using a great secure website - mint.com -  I have been able to see all of my expenses - track what I am spending money on and set goals for myself. I also recently refinanced my car and a personal loan I had and am not saving $200 per month! Whoot whoot! 
• Continue to look for things I don't need anymore. Like those awesome jeans that don't fit anymore that I have held onto for more than a few years for when I fit in them again. My co-worker AG and I actually just set a competition between ourselves to see who could get rid of the most items during the month of January! The prize you ask? Just the satisfaction of being on our way to minimalism!
• Continue to work on reducing waste through smarter purchasing. This for me mostly means thinking harder about packaging when grocery shopping.  
• Get back to doing some fun re-use crafting! I am hoping that whatever household items I may need to can create or find an alternative using recycled materials or items. 
• Try not to buy new things unless absolutely necessary!

Wow - a more exhaustive list than I thought I would come up with! Overall this year I am just hoping to live with less, not worry about money and just enjoy life. 
 

  

365 Challenge- January In Review & Tuesday Night Quick Craft

The Challenge

So, January has come and gone and I am well settled into my challenge. I have been over-eager these past few weeks finding things to get rid of. I've done my best to stop myself from piling things up. With the prospect of my moving in the near future, I've found it hard not to do. To recap the last few weeks- I've decided to separate with eight strings of icicle lights (that work), but that I didn't even bother to hang this past December. The last week of the month I ended up with a random assortment of items that I found very easy to part with. With that said, one month (and 31 days) down, and eleven months (and 334 days) to go!

 

Tuesday Night (Not So Quick) Quick Craft

For the past several weeks my sister, M and I have been trying to implement a new craft night - Make-It Mondays- where we get together, eat dinner and do a fun craft. Well - last week she came over and ended up cooking me dinner (at my house) and nothing was crafted. Last night was an obvious bust (M was feeling under the weather and had grad school work to do). So the Make-It Monday craft turned into a Tuesday Night Quick Craft - although it wasn't as quick as I thought it would be.

Since I made the dinner tonight (meatloaf, green beans and butternut squash), M picked the craft. We decided on making t-shirt tote/produce bags. M found the idea online on another super awesome craft blog (all thanks to Stumble).

We picked out a few t-shirts and went to work.

We turned the t-shirts inside and used a fabric marker to outline our bags. We decided that we would each make three bags of different sizes and styles.






                                                       Bag number one cut out and pinned.






Next came sewing.

After they were sewn we drew lines where we planned to cut slits.

After cutting the slits we went back and sewed over the seam (on the outside) for extra durability.

 The result, some great all -purpose bags made out of unwanted t-shirts!

Tuesday Night Quick Craft

Project materials

I've started to set aside items that I think could be used in random crafts. On this rainy Tuesday evening I went ahead and picked up the orange mesh from the top of a clementine box. I had been eye-ing them for several days and had an idea.

I had bought some small basic wooden frames from Joann's this past summer. I had taken the time to paint the frames, but had never got around to using them.

Using a staple gun I attached the mesh to the frame.

 After trying to organize my earrings "neatly" on the edge of the bathroom sink for weeks on end (unsuccessfully I might add), I decided I needed a better system. Using the wooden frames and the orange clementine mesh I made cute and practical frames for all my earrings.

This project took less than 15 minutes, keeps plastic out of the landfill, looks great, is functional and should last me a good long time!

 

 

First one done!

I never said I was concerned about hanging things evenly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

365 Challenge - the first two weeks

With the second week of 2012 coming to a close, I thought I would give an update on how my 365 Challenge was going. To recap the project: I plan to find one item in my home everyday to get rid of. At the end of the year, I will have gotten rid of 365 items! Quick recap of the rules:

1) If something got replaced, it didn’t count.

2) Every item counted as one item. No extra points for big stuff or expensive stuff: whether it was a pair of earrings or a moped, it counted as one.

3) To keep my honest, I’d take a picture of each item. At the end of the year, I should have 365 pictures.

From the beginning I did have a bit of an advantage. While unpacking holiday decorations I had been eying several items, thinking that I really didn't need them at all. So, I was off to a perfect start. Also, I will admit that I have already broken rule number 3. I haven't been taking a picture of each item each day (in most cases), but rather putting the in a box, then taking the picture at the end of the week.

Week 1

Week 1 - I parted easily with some Christmas candles that weren't lit once this season, a vase that had come with flowers, a Christmas themed coffee mug I bought at Starbucks, two snowflakes bowls and a snowflake plate.

Week 2 - I was able to sell my Nintendo DS and three games to a friend (never used it, didn't need it), a 3-foot tall artificial Christmas tree (never came out of the box this year), Directv (yes, I cancelled my service and will now be saving $95.00 per month and have loads of free time on my hands!), lastly I pass along one of my old pair of alpine skis to my Mom- hopefully she will use them more than me (which was pretty much never).

Nintendo DS (along with 3 games- not pictured)

So far, I feel like this challenge has been a definite success. I've have found it fairly easy to find things to part with and am actually finding it hard not to just pile things up all at once. I anticipate though, that as the months roll by I may find it harder to find things to get rid of or harder to part with items. I hope this isn't the case, I hope that I am strong enough willed to know that the stuff I own doesn't own me.

Bye Bye Directv!

As for my other resolutions, I would say that I am doing quite well. Amazingly I am sticking to my healthy eating plan and have had great success in cutting down on added sugar and uber processed foods. My goal for the coming month is to become a member the local food co-op and begin buying what foods I can in bulk. I am also going to start baking more bread and rolls at home and plan to continue to cut out added sugar and processed foods from my diet.

With snow finally on the ground, I am able to get out and snowshoe, x-c ski and to play with the pups. I am starting to use my bike trainer more and prep for my 100 mile ride this summer. There is also a good possibility that I may be part of a 2 person team in the KeyBank Marathon in Burlington in May. So, I have plenty of reasons to get up and get moving this winter and coming Spring.

As for the tote bags- I've stuck to that one completely (and even had to deal with carrying an armload of groceries after leaving my bag in the car). I have been very good with the to-go cup resolution as well. I will admit, not perfect, as I did forget my to-go mug on a recent trip to Boston and was in much need of coffee. The giving up added sugar and cutting back on caffeine has helped when I am out and about, especially without my mug. No mug, no latte. Aside from all that I really haven't had the need to purchase much stuff, so have done well sticking to the other resolutions. Of course, it is only the end of week two of the new year, guess we'll have to see how I'm doing at month eight!

More Pictures from Week 2:

I would rather use a live tree than a plastic one that was made in China!

Alpine skis- not used in years

Out With the Old..

As the holiday season and the year 2011 comes to an end and new year is beginning I (along with most people) have made some new years resolutions. Now yes, I have made the "usual" resolutions - exercise more, eat healthier, watch less TV, etc. but this year I am adding a few more to the list and challenging myself to take my goal of living a sustainable zero waste life to the next level.

The Resolutions

1. If I truly feel that I need to buy something I will look for a used option before buying new. This goes for clothes, gifts and household goods (definitely not food!).

2. If I do buy something new, I will make a huge effort to buy local and buy American. 

3. At the grocery store, whenever possible I will buy in bulk and look for other products that come in packaging that can either be recycled or reused.

4. I will only buy a to-go drink if I have a reusable mug with me.

5. I will refuse plastic bags at the store. If I forget my reusable bag I will carry whatever I've bought.

The Challenge

I will admit up front that this challenge is not an original idea. Last week my sister sent me an email of a blog posting by a friend of hers. At the beginning of 2011, this friend (who had recently moved) decided that she had too much stuff and really wondered if every item in her home had a purpose, or was it just meaningless clutter. So, decided that she would challenge herself to find one item every day to get rid of, 365 items in total.

Here are a few of the rules she gave herself:
1) If something got replaced, it didn’t count.

2) Every item counted as one item. No extra points for big stuff or expensive stuff: whether it was a pair of earrings or a moped, it counted as one.

3) To keep my honest, I’d take a picture of each item. At the end of the year, I should have 365 pictures.

Although I have "purged" a lot of clutter from my home in last year, I know there is still more I can get rid of.  Starting today I am taking on the challenge of getting rid of 365 items during 2012. I am planning to follow the same rules listed above. I will take pictures of all the items before they leave the house so I can keep track of what I decided to get rid of. At the end of the year I will be able to look back and reflect on what I got rid of and what the experience was like.

So, here is to 2012, the year of "out with the old and in with, well, nothing".

Happy New Year!

Less Stuff = More Happines

This video sure does make you think. 

I am never this happy while moving!

That's that I have been doing a lot recently, thinking. Thinking about the things I have in my home. What is all this stuff I have? When did I acquire all of it? Do I even use or wear it? How much money have I spent on stuff that lives in boxes or sits around collecting dust? It is scary to think about- but is something that needs to be looked at closely. Over the years I moved almost 20 times (between shuttling back and forth to college, to jobs out of state and back again), and I am only 27 years old. Each and every time I've moved I have gone through the process of getting rid of stuff. I go through my DVD's, my closet, my books, my kitchen and all the other random stuff in between. I have also gone through phases of getting rid of clothing and other stuff I don't need. This has happened a lot. And times, I will go through my closet and fill a trash bag with clothing I don't want. The next month, I do it again. And on a day when I can't seem to find room for my clean laundry I do it yet again. Each and every time I felt like I got rid of a lot, and yet I always seemed to have the same amount of stuff.  Sound familiar to anyone? I would be flabbergasted to learn that I was the only person in America who has gone through/is going through this!

You cannot tell me that this woman looks happy.

How could that happen to me? How could someone get rid of so much stuff and over time, end up with the same amount? I wish I could say it magically appeared, but that would be a lie. Well, for one, I was a slight "shopping addict". Over time, I have almost recovered from the disease. Almost recovered, but not entirely (I do get the yearning to go buy things every now and then). I bought so much stuff- DVDs at Blockbuster (4 for $20), cute holiday candle-holders or decorations (that were always on a super-sale), and clothes (even though I am not the least bit "trendy" or "fashion forward". I made excuses for why I needed an item- I could never admit that I just plain wanted it. It didn't help that I worked at a sporting goods store for many years (where I got a discount and first dibs on new "fashions", markdowns or the clearance rack). I always say that with the amount of athletic clothing I had, I should be an Olympic Athlete (which I clearly am not)! Shopping was also such a great experience for me, or so I thought. I loved going to the store and picking out things. It fell so great to fill my shopping basket, paying for it with own money (or in my case, own shiny credit card) and bringing it home. Once I got home though, I realized that all those things in the bag didn't actually make me happy - it made me feel empty and a little depressed. Especially when I got my credit card bill.

CC bills and my over-stuffed living space made me feel like this!

I used shopping as a band-aid when I had a bad day or when I was bored. I liked to shop when I was having a good day and even more when I was having a bad day. In the end though - I ended up with a house, dorm room, or apartment overflowing with stuff. Stuff I didn't need, and sometimes didn't even want. Stuff that was made overseas and traveled thousands of miles to get to my house, that took natural resources to make (and ship) and would probably end up in the landfill one day. Now, I didn't really change my view on shopping and consumption until fairly recently. It really started when I started working at my current job. Working in the solid waste management sector you learn a lot about the problem of trash and over-consumption in America. I mean, it wasn't that I never thought about the environment, I did. I grew up recycling and composting and saving every single piece of wrapping paper, tissue paper and gift from birthdays and Christmas. But I guess I never really realized the problem - that every family in the US is not like my family. Now everyone uses reusable water bottles or coffee mugs. Not everyone takes their lunch to school/work in reusable lunch bags in tupperware and with metal utensils. I realized that my adult self had turned into the problem. I was an over-consumer. And this over-consumption had not only resulted in significant credit debt, but also, all of this stuff I had  didn't make me happy - it made me frustrated, because it was everywhere I turned.

I have filled plenty of bags like this recently!

So how have I changed over the past year? Well, for one, I am actively not buying things unless I really need them, being careful to avoid single-serve packaging and items, getting rid of things in my home that I don't need or want, and walking the talk. I can't expect school children to recycle, compost and reduce waste just because I say so. They should know that we are doing this side by side and are all working together toward a common goal. What also motivated me to work harder to simplify my life was Tropical Storm Irene. After the storm hit Vermont this fall, I immediately knew that I could help people. I had a closet full of clothes (most of which I hadn't worn in 6 months or more), and plenty of other household items I could donate. My house was overflowing with stuff and there were Vermonters out there who had just lost everything. So, with this as my motivation I have been working hard to look at what I owe and think about what I really need and want in life.

I would love to work less so I could spend time with my pups!

I recently visited the Cliffs of Moher on a trip to Ireland!

I love hiking and spending time outside- and would rather do that then fill my home with unnecessary stuff!

What do I want in life? To travel, to spend time with my friends and family, to get outside, to start a veggie garden and grow my own food. The less stuff I buy, the more money I can save. With no credit card debt from unnecessary purchases I can save money to go out see the world or to buy my own home with some land. If I can make do with a smaller living space, I may save money on rent or utilities. In turn I may be able to work less and spend more time doing the things I enjoy with the people I love - instead of worrying about my paycheck.


Picture Credits:
Moving - www.movingauthorities.com
Sad Shopper - www.foxbusiness.com
Sad Little Girl - www.shelliebee.blogspot.com
Donations- www.theconfidentmom.com

How Many Tote Bags is Too Many?

Picture from:petronioassociatesblog.com

The reusable tote bag; a wonderful invention, which in the "old days" was just a regular bag. But with the birth of plastic and paper bags, the cloth bag was brushed aside, as many sensible items had been when disposable items exploded onto the market. But with the wave of "green living" washing over the US, the reusable cloth bag has made somewhat of a comeback. I don't think though that it’s the right type of comeback. For one - the cloth bag never disappeared, they have been in existence and been used for what seems like ever. These days reusable tote bags are more than just a sensible item to own (and use), they have become like many things, a fad. It has become a fashion statement and trendy - although not trendy enough for everyone to use instead of using plastic or paper bags.

My tote-bags!

Picture from: www.colortime.com

I can’t say that I have not fallen victim of buying an extra tote bag because it was cute – I definitely have. But, recently I have begun to re-evaluate not only the amount of stuff I have, but what I own and have bought over the years. I am finding that I have a lot of stuff that is just that, stuff- it has not meaning. I want my home to be filled with meaningful things- pictures of friends and family, my Grandfather’s paintings and my Uncle’s wooden duck decoys. I want antiques that my parents collected and copies of my favorite books. What I don’t want is clutter. I don’t want decorative candle holders that cost $1 and were made in China. I want more room in my home friends, family and dogs! So, in taking a look at what I have in my home I looked also at my reusable tote bag collection. And wow – over the years I have acquired quite a collection. I know I didn’t buy all of them- many were free- and everyone knows that it’s very hard to say no to anything free.

Well, all in all I found out that I probably have at least 25 reusable bags. Twenty-five! Seriously – who needs that many tote bags? Although some I have purchased, others I got for free or were given as gifts. I know that some of them I do use for groceries and some for knitting projects, and others are good to have around just in case. But I really realized that I did not need all twenty-five. So, I decided to donate a good handful of them. I am still hoping to further reduce the number I own. I may choose to donate more or re-gift a few. No matter how I choose to reduce the number I own, the one thing I am promising to do – not buy anymore or fall into the trap of the free tote bag. Because, although these bags are reusable, natural resources are still needed to make them and some of these great, trendy reusable bags are made over-seas and sent to the US – using non-renewable natural resources every step of the way. This pledge I am making is just one more step I can make to help and protect the fragile earth we live on. 

More bags - it's never-ending!

 Can you pledge to stop using paper and plastic bags? Can you also pledge to only own a reasonable number of tote bags? If you took this pledge and asked one or two friends to make this pledge also - together we could make a difference.  

P.S. - If you need a tote bag or two, I may be able to help you out!