Values

How I function in the world displays clearly what I value. The clothes I wear send a message about who I am. What I chose to eat, and how I chose to grocery shop is a message about values. I don't eat at my parents expense anymore, so I have to make choices for myself about how I want to consume. Is the way I shop ethical and sustainable? Do I have more than I need while others are in want? How can I use my privilege to promote equality?

Waste:
Do you ever think about landfills? Until I watched a video of a man who wore all the garbage he created for a month I never thought about them. It was disgusting. Within the first day he had collected a couple pounds of trash. To-go coffee mugs, granola bar wrappers, chip bags, plastic bags, it just kept coming. It never really crossed my mind how much waste I produce everyday. It was a very tangible example of how much garbage a single person sends to a landfill in a short period of time. Gross. After this I started thinking about landfills.

I have a lot of spare time right now, so I read a lot of blogs. I stumbled on a zero-waste blog. The first thing I saw was a picture of the author holding a large glass jar with some trash in it. That was the entirety  of the trash she had created in a year! I kept thinking about landfills.

I don't want to go from being 'wearing my garbage man' to 'my garbage is literally non existent lady' in a day. But I want to move towards being a more responsible consumer. The landfill is full enough without the 47 cups of coffee I drink every single day, the paper towel I use to clean my counters, and the plastic bags I horde from the grocery store. It may be more work to become 'zero-waste', but I think it's worth it.

Food:
One of the steepest learning curves of being married and adulthood has been eating/grocery shopping/cooking. What works for me and Josh in regards to meal planning? How can we save money on food and still eat stuff we like? What is healthy but also reasonable for our lifestyle? What is our lifestyle? We are learning.

Clothes:
A couple years ago I lived out of a suitcase for a month. Just for kicks. I wanted to challenge myself, to be more aware of what I need and what I can do without. The problem was that after that month I didn't donate the clothes I hadn't worn to the thrift store or change my shopping habits. I would walk to the thrift store near my house regularly and return with a pair of shoes or a sweater or some pants that I NEEDED. It didn't matter that I already had six of the same thing already at home. It wouldn't cross my mind that someone else may need that thing more then me. And I never thought about how my clothes were made, or who made them. The suitcase experiment was a failure because it didn't translate into real change.

I am trying to change my shopping habits, to reduce the amount of clothes I have. And so purchase 'slow fashion' items and second hand. Sustainable, ethical, fashionable.


Josh thinks I'm just a hippy who loves the earth. I don't see the problem.

I want to share my journey with others of what it looks like for me to reduce waste, grocery shop responsibly , and dress sustainably.