Dispatches from Dufferin Street

Consumption

 Steps to take today

• create list of things we need to obtain this week, see what we can eliminate and figure out ways to get everything else without purchasing new items

• don’t buy anything new!

• track a normal day’s garbage creation by collecting each family member’s garbage for one day (trash, recyclables and food waste)

9:30 am, 4°C outside, 17°C inside

(We hadn’t sparked the furnace before this week, we figured we may as well tough it out until the end of the experiment)

I am the first to put something in my garbage collection bag – damn! Didn’t even think about the kleenex I used to blow my nose. However, this reminded me that last week I threw out a queen-sized bed sheet that had a tear in it. Luckily, that garbage can didn’t have anything else in it, and hadn’t been emptied this week. Retrieved the sheet, and now it’s in the laundry, and the kids and I are going to make it into handkerchiefs this afternoon. Lesson learned!

Not sure about collecting compostables in our little bags – won’t it be smelly? What is the point of keeping the food waste if we’re already composting it? I guess we can attempt to use more of the food that we eat, and put less in the compost. I already usually keep carrot, celery, onion peelings and ends in the freezer to make stock, but for example, how can we re-purpose an apple core? Anyway, we’re in for the full experience, so we’ll do this, although we might keep our food waste in the freezer so the house doesn’t start to smell like the compost heap. (It’s so freakin’ cold in here, though, I’m not sure the food would go bad… maybe we *could* get rid of the fridge if we never turn on the heat.)

12:45 pm, 8°C outside, 17°C inside

Created more garbage by making our own handkerchiefs, but just a little – the elasticized corners of the old queen-sized sheet. I’m ready to cut, but the sheet on the floor is currently being used for an exuberant game of Indiana Jones Goes To Akator, which seems to involve Leo running around the first floor, jumping and thumping loudly, and occasionally waving “the key to Akator” (a hideous coconut monkey head Matt bought at a thrift store last year and spray painted gold to be the idol in an Indiana Jones scavenger hunt). The thing is disgusting, so I’m sad/happy to report that this secondhand purchase is still kicking around. Photo evidence below.

Done! 59 hankies – just like that. Maybe when we get to the no-TV, candlelight portion of our week, I can embroider pretty little things on them. And, well, maybe not.

End of day report

6:30 pm, 8°C outside, 18°C inside

Meals, drinks, snacks

Coffee, hot chocolate with milk

Breakfast: Bagels with cheese, butter, honey; homemade granola with soy (Matt) and cow (Kate) milk.

Snacks: Cookies, apples

Lunch: Trashy mac and cheese (Kate and kids)

Supper: Chicken/tofu fajitas with cheese, guacamole and salsa.

Purchases

Zero! I think this particular challenge may not be too much of a stretch for us. Accustomed to living within modest means, we rarely buy anything new, and my tendency toward sparseness around the house means we don’t generally do a lot of shopping unless something is really necessary. Which isn’t to minimize how much I lust after cute running gear and new fall outfits for all of us, not to mention the ROLLER SKATES I desperately want, but usually, those kinds of purchases are just not in the cards. Maybe as the week progresses, this will prove to be a harder step.

We did make a list of things we need this week, but it’s pretty short – I feel I must be forgetting something. Max needs new gloves, which I’m hoping I can find at Value Village, while I’m still driving, and we need to pick up a couple prints at the photo-finishing place for Matt’s parents who are about to leave for the winter. Not sure how we’ll deal with the latter yet…

 Garbage collected

• One foil butter wrapper (Garbage. Unavoidable if we want to keep eating butter, which we emphatically do.)

• One 2L milk carton (Recyclable. Switch to returnable glass jars? Do milk bags create less waste? Would we be able to use this much milk before it goes bad? Research this.)

• One avocado bag (Garbage. Buy avocados in reused bags from home.)

• One macaroni and cheese box (Recyclable. Buy macaroni in bulk in reused bags.)

• One cheese sauce bag (Garbage. Buy the powder in bulk in reused bags.)

• One Premier Fitness flyer (Recyclable. Make No Junk Mail sign for mailbox. Done!)

• Two plastic tofu wrappers (Garbage. Buy another kind of tofu – bulk, in our own containers.)

• One bed sheet elastic and bits of spare fabric (Garbage. Make mummy wrappers for dress-up box with extra fabric.)

• Four apple cores (Compost. Unavoidable, but we could probably eat more of each apple, and compost less.)

• Four avocado pits (Compost. Unavoidable. We’re likely to eliminate this purchase when we start local shopping.)

• Peel from four avocados (Compost. Unavoidable.)

• Three bits of chicken fat (Compost. Unavoidable.)

• Two tea bags (Compost. Could switch to loose tea, but still composting tea leaves.)

We’re feeling pretty good about the garbage today, but I have no doubt this will become harder when I do the big grocery shop this week.

Random questions that popped into my mind as I plan the rest of our week

Can we get rides with other people if they’re going to the same place we’re going anyway?

Can we cheat on eating locally rules when we’re at someone else’s house for supper?

(I figure both of these things are allowable in the name of a) carpooling and b) common courtesy, but I don’t know… probably if I was really hardcore I’d say no to both.)

Looking ahead

No new purchases, PLUS no garbage tomorrow… deep breath….

No problem!