Not to side track again, but I have been thinking of learning how to do bookbinding. Just because. 
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I used to; I think it’s really fun and meditative.
In my pre-healthcare-worker life (when I was just a high healthcare consumer, ha) I was quite the book/word/art creator 
It’s fun to remember those decades - and it’s surreal that it’s only the last five years I don’t identify with creating art.
– now that was a sidetrack 
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(Makes mental note to bother you for advice.)
I bought pears from the local grocers and remembered my own string bag.
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Question for the group: I’m gonna need new sneakers soon. I could look for secondhand, but not optimistic about finding ones that work for me and aren’t too worn out already. Anyone know good low-waste options available in the US? ETA: Ooohh I like these:
Day 18: All the / free food (Say it ain’t so)
Wins
- So much free/foraged/no waste food - blackberries as usual, BN fruit, bulk bin/no receipt chocolate, leftover meals, getting food scraps from my roommate to make veggie bouillon
Used/Obtained (new) 
- Nothing!
Used (existing, consumable only)
- Multivitamin, hand soap, shampoo, deodorant, dishwashing liquid, Windex, sneakers
Avoided
- Thermal receipt, food packaging
You could also have both plastic items and good actions on the list. So instead of a -1 (or some other code) for avoiding a plastic bag, you could have “brought produce bags” or “used Tupperware for restaurant leftovers” as a line item, then mark when you did those things. Would need an extra flag for whether it’s negative (plastic) or positive (avoidance action).
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Day 18
Used/purchased
-
plastic poop bag (existing) - Doggo poop patrol x2 + kitty litter box scoop out
-
packaging for socket set (NEW) - I needed to buy a socket wrench so that I could replace the blade on my lawnmower and lacked any wrenches except an adjustable, which was not able to do the job. I ended up just buying a set with a 3/8" ratchet, and the slightly nicer material one as well, which mean $35 I was not really planning on spending on this, but this is the second time I have needed a socket wrench and not had one, so I figure it is worth the expense. Trying not to think about how I could have bought single wrenches for like 10% the cost. (But it helps me be less “clutterful” also to not have a bunch of different random socket wrenches, plus ratcheting socket wrenches are nice!) The plastic packaging was actually pretty minimal, and I can put the pieces in a storage thing I keep some other random tools in.
-
lawn mower blade (NEW-ish) - I bought the blade (which I could only find via Amazon because it is the smallest size and is not carried a lot of places) more than a month ago, but just replaced it. The Amazon box was cardboard with paper tape and packaging, but the blade was in a plastic clamshell. Not really any way around this because my old blade was bent and beat up to hell, other than just wait until August (but my lawn could not wait until August to be mowed, for real).
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Day 19
Used/purchased
-
plastic poop bag (existing) - Doggo poop patrol
-
dog food bag (NEW) - Doggo is trying a different food and I bought the smallest size to try it out. Cut the top off (plastic packaging) but will keep the bag until empty
-
shipping tape (NEW) - Doggo’s food (plus cat food) came from Chewy. Most of their packaging is cardboard/paper, but because (I assume) the box was so heavy it had plastic packing tape, not paper.
-
ibuprofin (existing) - HEADACHE
Nothing new purchased. Hm, I guess that’s not technically true.
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Our grocery shop was not a plastic free event this week… BUT… We have been 100% cloth nappies for 5 days now! Not a single disposable 
I have to wash every second day at the moment which is annoying. Our laundry is accessed by going out the front door and walking all the way around the house 
. Extra nappies are arriving tomorrow to help.
The in-laws are staying later this week. I’m looking forward to their reaction to the open nappy dry pail in the bathroom (we only have one bathroom).
Wipes are next. They seem like a bigger challenge to me, I don’t know why.
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Also a win on the new nappies. They arrived in home compostable packaging! They look good. I need to wash the inserts a bunch of times before they will work properly and will do that as I do other washing, so probably won’t get to use them properly for a while. The covers will work with our other inserts though.
My hair is currently covered in dye and wrapped in an old towel. If this works, and I can get the henna out without using bottled conditioner, I’ll also have a plastic free hair dye solution going forward.
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My hair seems no different to when I do it wrapped in plastic. It was less drippy using just a towel too so I also didn’t use any paper towels like I usually would. And it washed out just fine with the solid shampoo and conditioner. That’s another change I’ve made this month which I will keep going forward. 
(The cat approves too)
Edit: I washed the old towel I wrapped my head in, it went into the machine soaked in henna after sitting around for over 24 hours, and came out completely stain free. 
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That is excellent!
I went to buy new dishwasher detergent, and discovered that unlike clothes detergent it only comes in plastic packaging. The one we normally buy seemed the best of the options, with only a small amount of plastic inside the box. So - what’s better, a thin plastic bag holding my cubes of detergent, or a recyclable plastic tub holding what I assume was a powder? I’ll see if any bulk places sell it too.
ETA: I’ve started using metal pegs for hanging clothes. I think when the plastic ones need to be replaced we’ll get a mix of stainless steel and high quality wooden pegs, as the plastic or wood ones are easier for small children to use.
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We have used Aldi tablets in the past and they are in a cardboard box with individual dissolvable wrappers. I’d love to know what the wrappers dissolve into the water. Potentially it is a good option but maybe it’s terrible.
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We’re using the earth choice which are similar but still have a plastic bag inside. I don’t shop at Aldi (it is quite far out of our way).
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Is there some brand in particular you use? And method? That color is quite close to what I dye mine to, especially after the purple fades out, and if I could figure it out on my own it would be a lot cheaper!! It looks really lovely. How to you keep from dying your scalp? I assume it covers grey?
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@pancakes the henna turns a gorgeous colour on you!
My plastic resolutions were hugely challenged by vacation. First by a bunch of eat in restaurants plastic straw ing me. And I forgot to bring my cutlery, but did reuse plastic forks a few times (not every time). And then bubble tea is essential to survival so I need to buy a reusable bubble tea set up
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My housemate bought me a pint of ice cream yesterday. I’m totally eating it.
I also waited way too long to eat at work and bought a bag of chips from the vending machine before heading home. That bag alone is a bigger volume of plastic trash than the rest of the month so far, so I’m happy with my progress.
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Crossposting this question here:
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Uhhhhh… a few days behind here…
Day 20
Used/purchased
-
plastic poop bag (existing) - Doggo poop patrol
-
tissue box (existing) - finished the box, there’s a small window of plastic
-
fertilizer (existing) - fertilizing day
-
cider vinegar (existing) - made vinaigrette for salad
-
brown sugar (existing) - made vinaigrette for salad
-
oil (existing) - made vinaigrette for salad
Nothing new purchased.
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Day 21
Used/purchased
-
plastic poop bag (existing) - Doggo poop patrol x2
-
Petromalt (existing) - for cats hairball prevention
-
Shampoo/conditioner (existing) - today was a wash my hair day.
Nothing new purchased.
Plastic used up this week:
Not a whole lot. The empty Viralys bottle, packing tape from the Chewy shipment, the top of the new dog food bag, packaging for lawnmower blade and socket wrench set, and one of the packets of fertilizer (finished). I also started cutting the windows out of mail (although I hadn’t been the previous two weeks).
This week I put my green waste bin out (almost full again with bindweed and blackberry canes). I put the garbage bin out, but I didn’t actually empty the kitchen garbage because it is nearly empty and there is no wet waste in it, so the bin pretty much contained dog poop and kitty litter. I don’t want to keep it around in the summer though, it’s so hot.
ETA: I forgot, the giant dog food back was also part of the “garbage” generated this week as I completely emptied it into the smaller one, so that will be included at the end.
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Day 22
Used/purchased
-
maple syrup (existing) - on pancakes, I finished up the jam I was using, and I could have opened a new jar of jam, but I didn’t
-
plastic poop bag (existing) - Doggo poop patrol
Nothing new purchased.
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