The Rage Diaries

107 in 2007: How I did for the year

Every year when I make this list, I print it out and tape it to the inside of my day planner. This was to remind me of the things I wanted to do, and to help me keep track of what I had done.

In April this year, one of my lunch containers exploded all over the inside of my bag and turned my planner into a soggy mass of post-consumer-recycled paper. I recycled the planner. I didn't print out the list again -- and I think that explains why I managed to stick with some big things, but a lot of the little things got lost.

I am still a bad online citizen -- and am thinking about just abandoning the stuff in myweb.yahoo.com entirely, since I obviously didn't use or miss that mass of bookmarks -- and I let a lot of fun experiences slide into the "not done" column while I worked on the house. However, in reviewing the list now, I have to wonder ... a statistics class?

Anyway, here is my reckoning for 2007.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: The Final Check-In

This is the last post on reduce-reuse-recycle. I'd love to know how all of you did this year -- what habits stuck and what behaviors you're still trying to change.

I know for me personally: My cyclamen found new pots and doing fine, my gifts went out in tins or with reusable tags; my brother and mother's packages were assembled in the same boxes they sent to me (Dec); we went light on the foil and carried a lot of necessary kitchen supplies to Florida instead of buying what we needed once we were there (Nov); I rehung some old shelves in the garage, and although line-drying the towels didn't work, it's fine for tea towels and kitchen linens (Oct); I cannot remember the last time I nuked a frozen meal, my Sigg water bottles go everywhere, and I'm re-using the same plastic baggie for my daily allotment of Kettle chips (see this post); my wonderful husband has hopped on the Tupperware lunch wagon (Jul) and the hardware cloth did save my pumpkins from a summer suntan; I use the water from the shower-warmup to keep my plants happy and hydrated, and the only items in the house that have corn syrup now are the ones we bought before June 1 -- we've even managed to avoid corn chips and popcorn since then (Jun); although the porch demolition didn't take place for another three months after my May vow, we did indeed recycle the materials the porch was made of -- it's just too bad the person who was supposed to pick up our bushes flaked (thanks, Craigslist!) and they ended up dying within a week after our hasty re-planting (May); I have the water bottles and I do use 'em, although I can always do better (Apr); I haven't had a Lean Cusine since early March, and my little cloches did protect my spinach seedlings -- the only March setback was with those sweaters, which I am still trying to reuse somehow (Mar); I haven't used a Swiffer since February (and unloaded the sweeper at a yard sale) and have been refreshing and revitalizing the soil in my containers all year (Feb); and in an amusing call-back to the January post ... I have not had a single Diet Coke since June 20, and I have not had any caffeine at all since June 23. It is sort of amazing how that changed the amount of litter/recyclables I was generating, so it just goes to show ... you can reduce anywhere.

Also, inspired by you all, I have been using fewer paper towels in cleaning and fewer wet wipes; my sponges and tea towels are getting more use and re-use. I'm a tote-bag-totin' fool, and most of the time, I'm telling the cashier, "I don't need a bag for that [book/gift card/ bottle I can slip in my purse]." I'm planning to keep the R-R-R credo alive and going in 2008.

Now tell me about you: what did you do this year? What stuck? What would you like to try next?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Give up the post-holiday report

The ho-ho-ho: We gave a lot of gifts in reusable tins, bought gift certificates, magazine subscriptions, zoo animal sponsorships and hockey tickets in lieu of giving people more stuff (none of the kids in our life got toys), and composted every last scrap of paper and waste from the Christmas feast.

The coal in the stocking: I still used wrapping paper -- actual, bona fide wrapping paper -- on some presents. Although I got rid of some of the guilt by forgoing the usual schmancy additions and tacking on a brightly-painted, wooden stocking as a name tag, the guilt over the wrapping paper, she lingers. And then there's the e-commerce question: because we have many far-flung friends and relatives, I did some online ordering and let the merchants handle the shipping issue. But that's not exactly green, is it?

Overall, I'd give our efforts a C -- we did adequately, but there's always room for improvement. How about your holiday?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: How are you doing this month?

So, how is everyone doing? Are you doing your best to find alternate gift wraps or gift-holding containers? Planning on replanting the tree on December 26? Or are your efforts this month confined to re-using  your wassail glass, reducing the number of Hershey's mint miniatures in the candy dish, and recycling your January resolutions to lay off the Hickory Farms cheese ball?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Who's in for December?

It's the last month of this year's challenge. Y'all have slogged long and hard, schlepped totes and broke down cardboard boxes, re-used foil and reduced paper-towel use. You can hang in for another four weeks!

In keeping with the season, I'll be focusing my efforts around the holidays: I'm going to reduce the amount of new packaging I use when shipping gifts all over the place; I'm going to reuse gift boxes and bags I already have on hand; I'm going to recycle the holiday plants I've got by planting them in the yard (or a non-peppermint-striped pot) when the season's done.

So tell me how you plan to reduce/reuse/recycle around the holidays? What resource-friendly measures will you take? Which holiday traditions are you feeling a little conflicted and guilty over? Are you involving friends and family in your reduce/reuse/recycle efforts?

Where to go in 2008 ...?

I am thinking ahead to 108 in 2008 ... what to put on it, whether I even want to do it, or whether there's another effective way to map out and execute a new project.

The Reduce-Reuse-Recycle challenge worked out really well for a lot of reasons this year: the incremental nature made it easy to incorporate new actions into everyone's lives; the tripartite nature of the challenge let us mix up the activities each month; it was a collaboration where we all shared information; we have somewhat quantifiable net results. I don't think I want to do another reduce-reuse-recycle challenge, but I would like to do another month-by-month venture that picks up the best traits from Reduce-Reuse-Recycle.

What areas do you think we can take this into in 2008? Fiscal fitness? Consumer activism? Conscious commerce? Think about one area you'd like to tackle in 2008 and make your suggestions below.

Reduce, Reuse, Recyle: How are y'all doing?

We're nearly halfway through the month ... check in and tell me what you're up to.

Also, if you'd like to use this time to kvell about your ongoing changes-of-habit, please share.

Alternately, you can kvetch. I am planning on doing some of that myself, as I have not been able to get to the big pile of dirt in my front yard, and now it's sprouting oxalis on me. I would have done so last weekend, but I had better things to do, such as collapse after finishing TWO Prison Break recaps in five days, or get soaked to my skin during the Cal/USC football match, or Bring It at the Container Store when someone gave me guff about wanting to exchange one glass shelf for another. And now ... I look at my muzzy green hillock and I think, "Damn you, non-daylight-savings time! I can't weed in the dark!"

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Who's in for November?

Okay, it's Friday afternoon, I'm staring down a to-do list and I have an old Judy Tenuta routine from the 80s going through the back of my head, but I am going to work through all of those obstacles to rally y'all for the penultimate monthly Reduce-Reuse-Recycle. We have persisted through ten months and we are within reach of the finish line. Take a moment to ponder the cumulative effect of all the small changes you made.

My monthly challenge will be 66.67% holiday-centric, since we are three weeks off from Thanksgiving. I'm going to reduce a wee little bit of consumer consumption by schlepping the necessary spices and specialty kitchen equipment to my brother's place in Florida so he doesn't have to buy allspice berries and a microplane grater for a once-a-year event. I'm going to reuse a lot of the aluminum foil we'll use in preparing the feast. And on the home front, I'm going to recycle the big pile of dirt in our front yard that has been sitting under the construction debris from our (almost) finished porch project.

So what are your reduce-reuse-recycle goals this month? Come, stud-puppets! Share with me your dreams!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: How are you doing this month?

So, hi! How is it going for you this month?

Thank you all for your comments on my crunchy towels last week. I did indeed check by brand, and you will all be interested to note that indeed, my fancy-schmancy towels from Garnet Hill were less crispety-crackly than the whatever-brand towels I picked up from Bed, Bath & Beyond. So the lesson here appears to be that whatever resources and money are saved in line-drying ... will be picked up by the resources and money spent getting spendy towels shipped to your house.

(I say, tongue in cheek.)

Enough about me. How are you all doing? Can you believe we've been at this for ten months now?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: I'm checking in. And you?

Okay, all you line-dryers. I need some troubleshooting here.

I dried my bathroom towels and tub mat on the wooden rack I have and oh my gosh, the texture is unreal. It is like some sinister textile-meets-alchemy experiment, what with the turning of cotton into sandpaper.

So here is the thing: erecting a clothesline in our yard is undoable. Even if we had the space, we live on a corner, where one street is fairly busy. The only place where I can dry laundry and not have it covered in construction dirt (this is the week our contractor's cutting terra cotta tiles) and atmospheric schmutz is in the garage. Clearly, something's missing because I do not end up with fresh laundry, but fresh forms of early morning torture.

Any suggestions on ways to make sure my towels dry into towels and not organic brillos? Or should I start looking for other, compact items that will fit on my drying rack instead?

Tell me. Or tell me about your ongoing reduce/reuse/recycle efforts.