Day 12

Things that I put in the garbage or reuse piles today:

• Mail. All pieces I don't need to keep for my records went into paper reuse pile.
  

1. A credit card offer
2. A bill
3. A postcard verifying that I removed my name from ADVO's mailing list. The postcard gives the details of my "delete status", which is effective for five years, then warns: "Please note that by removing your address you won't receive valuable ShopWise coupons and sale information from area grocery stores and retailers." Yes, that's the idea. I may keep this one for my album rather than putting it in the paper pile.
   

• My son's art: 4 large pieces of paper with paint on one side that we will reuse for more art. 1 small piece of paper that is already used on both sides, put into paper pile. 1 sour cream container lid with sequins glued on it. Hmmm. For now, this is sitting on the end table.
  
• Food packaging, etc.: 2 pasta boxes (to reuse pile), 2 spice packets (garbage), that little plastic seal ring from the milk container (reuse, I guess), a tea packet (reuse?--tea bag went into the compost pile), butter wrapper (garbage), coffee cup (garbage--from a day trip a few days ago), 2 chip bags (garbage), yogurt foil seal lid (garbage), beer bottles (reuse), 2 paper grocery bags (reuse).
  
• Other: some dryer lint (!) (into dryer lint container, i.e., a reused tissue box).

Other things I/we did today: My husband went to the grocery store and took a canvas bag, though also needed two paper bags (mentioned above). He took back a few glass milk bottles. Our local dairy rocks.

A note: This is the first day that I have posted on this blog, although the project began on January 7. I will be backdating posts from previous days--until now I have been jotting things down in my notebook each day. I'll capture the first days of the project as well as I can.

I am still adjusting to this, and working out the logistics of this plan. When do I write things down, for example? When they come into my home, or at the moment I would otherwise be throwing them into the garbage or recycling? For now, I have decided to make a note of mail and other papers, along with any gifts, magazines, and anything else I plan to keep for some period of time on the day they enter my place. Most food packaging and other consumable packaging (e.g., shampoo bottles) I will log on the day I would have thrown them away or recycled them. Similarly, things like toilet paper, tissues, etc., I will log when the roll or box is empty rather than one square or tissue at a time. I will see how that works. Maybe it will be better to log things I am planning to reuse less than daily. This is more difficult that I thought it would be. Try logging everything you put in the garbage for a few days and you will see what I mean.

I wish you all blissful garbage disposal...