Day 40

Collection

• Mail

1. Magazine (read/reuse)
2. bill (reuse/file)

• Food and other packaging

1. 3 glass beer/soda bottles and caps (reuse)
2. 1 glass juice bottle and cap (reuse)
3. 1 glass olive oil bottle and cap (reuse)
4. 1 cardboard pasta box (reuse)
5. 1 butter wrapper (garbage)
6. 1 cheese wrapper (garbage)

Day 39

Collection

• Mail

1. Magazine subscription renewal form (return/reuse)
2. Water utility notice postcard requesting voluntary water use reduction (reuse)
3. Catalogue (reuse)

• Food and other packaging

1. Milk carton (reuse)
2. Chocolate bar wrapper (reuse/garbage)
3. Plastic flower bag (reuse)
4. Rubber band (reuse)
5. 2 glass beer bottles and caps (reuse)

Day 38

Collection

• Mail

1. Ad postcard (reuse)

• Food and other packaging

1. 2 glass beer bottles and caps (reuse)
2. 1 plastic medicine bottle (reuse)
3. 1 cardboard medicine box (reuse)
4. 1 plastic medicine seal (garbage)
5. 1 chip bag (garbage)
6. 1 wire twist tie (reuse)
7. 2 plastic bags (reuse)
8. 1 cardboard kleenex box (reuse)

Day 37

Collection

• Mail and other papers

1. 2 preschool flyers (reuse/file)
   
2. 1 insurance offer (reuse)
3. 1 credit card offer (reuse)

• Food and other packaging

1. 2 coffee cups (garbage/reuse)
2. large cardboard box (reuse)
3. large plastic bag (reuse)
4. packing peanuts (reuse)
5. 2 toy packaging boxes, toys, and clothing (use)
6. 4 plastic packaging bag (reuse)
7. 2 candy bar wrappers (garbage/reuse)
8. 1 cookie box (reuse)
9. 8 plastic cookie wrappers (garbage)
10. 3 glass beer bottles and caps (reuse)
    

Day 36

Collection

• No mail
• Food and other packaging

1. 3 beer/soda bottles and bottle caps(reuse)
   
2. 1 pizza box (to hold leftovers--reuse if not too dirty)
3. 1 peanut container (reuse)
   
4. 3 receipts (reuse)
5. 1 botanical garden brochure (reuse)
6. 1 plastic produce bag (reuse)
7. 1 toilet paper roll and paper wrapper for new roll (reuse)
8. 1 buttermilk container (garbage--seems too dirty/filmy on the inside to wash without destroying the container, but ideas for getting around this are welcome as I regularly buy buttermilk)

In other news: I opted out of credit card offers online. This is part of my Month 2 focus on paper. More on that coming soon (on fr(ECO)logism)--I'm still catching up on everything as I reenter life following the recent illnesses in my family.

Day 35

Collection

• No mail!

• Food and other packaging

1. cheese packaging (garbage)
2. pasta box (reuse)
3. milk container seal (reuse)
4. 1 chip bag (reuse)
5. 2 tin cans (reuse)

Also...today I reused some paper scraps, cardboard scraps, and a wire to make a small notebook. It was a decent attempt, although I don't have a small enough hole-punch to have done it well.

Day 34

Collection

• Mail

1. 1 letter (save/reuse)

• Food and other packaging

1. 3 chip bags (garbage)
2. 4 take-out containers (garbage)
3. 1 tissue box (reuse)
4. 1 plastic bag (garbage--already reused once)
5. 1 plastic pharmacy bag (reuse)
   
6. 1 receipt (reuse)
   
7. 1 paper prescription bag and 1 paper prescription insert (reuse)
8. 1 doctor's appointment reminder card (reuse)
9. 1 doctor's appointment copay receipt (reuse)
10. 1 sour cream seal

• Other: One package from the grandparents for Valentine's Day containing 5 books (to keep and read), 4 book covers (to reuse, since my son is very clear about not wanting to keep them on the books), 2 stuffed animals (to keep and play with), 1 boxed game (to play with), 2 heavy duty plastic bags (to reuse), 1 hat and 1 t-shirt (to wear), 1 card (to save/reuse), and packaged in 1 box (to reuse)

Day 33

Collection

• Mail

1. Bank statement (reuse/file)
   

• Food and other packaging

1. 3 glass beer bottles and caps (reuse)
2. 1 chip bag (garbage)
3. 1 peanut container (reuse)
4. 1 cardboard tissue box (reuse)

Day 32

Collection

• Mail

1. 2 cards (save/reuse)
2. 1 tax form (file/reuse)
3. 1 newsletter (read/reuse)

Day 31

Collection

• Mail

1. DVD envelope flap (reuse)
2. donation request (reuse)
   

• Food and other packaging

1. 2 chips bags (reuse)
2. 3 soda bottles and bottlecaps (reuse)
3. 1 plastic bottle (reuse)
4. 1 half gallon milk carton (reuse)

Day 30

Collection

• Mail (all to file and/or reuse)
  

1. Tax form
2. Bank statement
3. Car ad
4. 2 Realty ads (one for me and one for my husband)
5. Sandwich shop ad
6. Bank ad
7. e-file tax ad/info

• Food and other packaging

1. 1 tin can (reuse)
2. rubber band from vegetables (reuse)
3. 1 bread bag (reuse)
4. 3 soda bottles and caps (reuse)

Other: I used some of the vegetable stock I made a couple of weeks ago to make soup. Combined a few ingredients (a dab of dish soap left in the bottom of the bottle, castille soap, essential oils and water) in an old dishsoap bottle to reuse the bottle and to make what I hope will work as dishsoap.

Day 29

Collection

• No mail!!! (Thank God for Sundays.)
• Food and other packaging

1. medicine plastic seal (garbage)
2. yogurt container plastic seal (garbage)
3. grocery receipt (receipt)
   
4. wire twist-tie from a bunch of beets (reuse)
   

Other

• Washed off the new window screen in preparation for papermaking whenever my son feels well enough for me to be off the couch for long enough to do this.
  

Day 28

Collection

• Mail

1. Subscription offer (reuse)
2. Local realtor ad (reuse)
3. Local realtor magazine (reuse)
4. magazine (read and reuse)
   

• Food and other packaging
  

1. 2 beer/soda bottles and bottlecaps (reuse)
   
2. 1 medicine bottle (reuse)
3. 1 medicine box (reuse)
4. plastic medicine dropper wrapper (garbage)
5. tissue box (reuse minus plastic; tissues themselves are in the garbage)
6. wipes plastic packaging (garbage, I think)
7. orange juice gallon container (reuse)
8. plastic cheese wrapper (garbage)
9. plastic bag and receipt (reuse) from grocery store run (our canvas bag didn't hold everything...)
   

Other

• Shopping: I bought new shoes for my growing son. I'll try to find a reuse for the plastic inserts and tag, and put the receipt in the reuse pile. I also bought an old window frame/screen to use for homemade papermaking at a local building supply salvage shop. Not sure what I'll do with the frame once the screen is out...
  

Day 27

Collection

• Mail

1. 2 magazines (subscription--read/reuse)
2. 2 bills (filed/reuse)

• Food and other packaging
  

1. 5 popsicle wrappers (garbage) and sticks (reuse)
2. tissue box (reuse, minus the plastic lining)
3. 2 soda bottles and bottlecaps (reuse)
4. notebook (to write in) in a plastic wrap (garbage) in a plastic bag--a gift for/from my husband that he brought back from a business meeting
   

Day 26

Collection

• Mail

1. magazine subscription renewal notice (reuse)
   
2. magazine subscription offer (reuse)
   

• Food and other packaging

1. 6 popsicle wrappers (garbage) and sticks (reuse)
2. 4 glass beer/soda bottles and caps (reuse)
   

Day 25

Collection

• Mail

1. Valpak savings coupons (reuse)
   
2. insurance offer (reuse)
   
3. 2 magazine offers (reuse)
   
4. An informative letter from my local school district (reuse)
   

• Food and other packaging

1. Medicine bottle (reuse)
2. 3 food cans (reuse)
3. 1 orange juice carton (reuse)
4. pasta box (reuse)
5. popsicle stick (reuse) and wrapper (garbage)
6. cottage cheese seal (garbage)
7. 4 soda/beer bottles and bottle caps (reuse)
8. coffee cup (reuse)
9. small paper bag (reuse)
   

Day 24

Collection

• Mail

1. ADVO mailing (reuse)
   

• Food packaging

1. juice carton (reuse)
   
2. guacamole container (reuse) and lid (garbage)
   

Reuse

Used a couple of eggs cartons as drawer organizers, and a guacamole container to hold some small toy parts.

Day 23

Collection

• Mail

1. Catalogue (reuse)
   
2. Another catalogue (reuse)
   
3. Magazine offer (paper: reuse, plastic wrapping: garbage)
   
4. Bill (reuse/file)
   
5. Bill (reuse/file)

• Food and other packaging

1. juice carton (reuse)
2. medicine bottle (reuse)
3. tissue box (reuse)

Day 22

Collection

• No mail today...if only every day were Sunday!
  

• Food and other packaging

1. orange juice carton (reuse)
   
2. plastic grocery bags (reuse)
3. 1 ginger ale soda bottle and cap (reuse)
4. egg carton (reuse)
5. glass milk bottle (return) and cap (reuse)
   
6. tea bag and packet (reuse/compost)
7. 2 "biodegradable" plastic bags (garbage--already reused once or more and quite well-worn and dirty)
8. plastic seals on 2 resealable plastic bags (garbage)
9. Straws--may reuse the actual straws, but I also cut the bottoms off to get them down to 4-year-old cup size, then cut the straw bottoms into small bits to string onto an old shoe lace. This occupied my sick son for a time.
   

Other: Started up the third tier of my worm compost pile today. I have one tier full of great compost and one tier ready to rest for a while.

I've started sorting through and trying to organize my reuse piles, and to come up with a better system for this so that I don't drive my husband crazy before the end of month 1. My biggest issue is clearly going to be beer and soda bottles, so this will be the first reuse and alternative project I tackle. The main thing I find myself throwing away is plastic wrapping from food and other packaging. Although I am reusing plenty of plastic bagging, I am bringing in more than I can reuse, and much of the plastic isn't suitable for reuse as packaging.

Day 21

Collection

• Mail

1. - 3. 3 generous offers (a.k.a. junk mail)
   

• Food and other packaging

1. toilet paper roll and paper packaging (reuse)
2. orange juice carton (reuse)
3. cheese wrappings (garbage)
4. sour cream container (reuse)
5. 2 medication bottles (reuse)(for my poor sick child)
6. aluminum foil (reuse/garbage)

Other: more cleaning out of my child's room. I used another food can for his crayon stubs, and added some paper bits to the reuse piles. But mostly just hung out on the couch soothing him and his poor running nose and warm body. I can't seem to convince him to use a tissue more than once, so we'll see how he takes it if I ask him to use a handkerchief. He actually preferred a soft cloth over tissues as a baby...