The Useless Consumer

This has been a bit of an intense week, hence the lack of posts.  Broke up with my boyfriend, had some medical stuff to deal with, intensities at work and school, and now I'm down at the Oregon coast for my brother's wedding.  Which has put a bit of a kink into my whole project.  It is really hard to only spend money one day a week when you are travelling.  I suppose I could've been more diligent, but I haven't.  So, hear I sit with my iced latte that I paid money for, in a disposable cup, such a failure.  :(  But I am not giving up!  I intend to be solidly back on the wagon by Sunday, and to do my best until then.

I thought now would be a good little chance for a recap, on how everything is doing.

From Week 1:

• Get rid of 5 things a week via craigslist.org, freecycle, etc.

       The first week I barely slid by, as I reported, getting rid of three bags of clothes, one pair of shoes, and a smelly bath mat (of note, because of that posting, apparently I come up first when you google "ortlieb cat pee".  Which, apparently somebody did.  Why???  Bizarre.)  The second week, I only got rid of my ortlieb bike bags.  I meant to sell a lot of books that weekend, but that is when I broke up with my boyfriend, and everything kinda got put on hold as I dealt with all the emotional crap.  Which has led me into this week, Week 3, and I haven't done a damn thing.  I suppose I still have Sunday, but I'm not really going to fool myself there.  But!  I could grab my five items and post them on craigslist, and hopefully have things back on track for Week 4.  Who knows, maybe I'll go crazy and put 10 items to try to catch up.

• Gather all waste I create (whether it will be thrown out or recycled) and display it in my house for 1 week

       I know, I still have to post the pictures.  They're coming.  Probably the next post.  Then I think I will try this experiment again in Week 5, to see how things have changed.

From Week 2:

• Only spend money one day a week (probably either Saturday or Sunday)

       For the most part, this has been working out quite well.  Last Sunday, the only thing I ended up buying for groceries were more bagels & cream cheese, as I realized I still had plenty of food from the week before, and didn't need to buy any more.  Also, I find it oddly stress relieving.  I often feel overwhelmed with the amount of choices of things to buy, and the pressure that I must buy something or I will regret not having it later, whatever it is.  That somehow this thing is going to impove my life, and make things better.  But then really, I just end up with a lot of crap and a lot of debt.

• Recharge as many of my electronics as possible with solar power

       I'm struggling with this one, which is sad, because I was so excited at first!  I'll post more about this later, with a pretty little picture of the device that I use.  I was able to recharge my phone, a bit awkwardly, but not able to recharge my iPod, and ended up having to hook it to my computer to recharge.

From Week 3: 

• No more paper napkins, disposable plates/cups, or tissues

      Aside from two coffee cups on this coastal trip, I've been doing quite well on this.  :)  Nothing too exciting to say.  I use plates.  Done.

• Use my bike as my main transportation

       This is great, a good reason to get back on my bike.  Now, of course I didn't bike down to Oregon, I took the train to Portland, and then carpooled to the coast.  But, I have been biking back and forth to work, which I haven't done for awhile.  I'm excited to get my leg muscles back!  And, I always love how great/happy/energetic I feel after riding my bike!

 

So, that is the story so far.  I'll hopefully be able to grab some more time for more updates soon!!