I pampered myself this week and got my hair done at a local salon that uses Organic Color Systems. I love the look of my hair and I am very pleased with the results. It may have been on the expensive side, but it is one of the only thing I indulge in and it is only every 2-3 months!
We needed to purchase a new pair of Tiny Toms for little E. We decide to walk to a restaurant for dinner on Tuesday evening and somehow her left Tiny Tom disappeared. I retraced our steps, but had no luck. Therefore, we had to go and buy a new pair. We located a store (of all places a cowboy store) just outside of Fort Worth that sold Toms shoes- not only Toms shoes, but some of their vegan collection. I was pleased. Little E is definitely styling in her red and white, animal-free, hemp shoes.
All in all, it was a great week. We didn't really produce much trash, we didn't buy anything other than food, and a pair of shoes, and we only went out to eat a few times and spent very little money. We are very determined to build our eco-friendly home and have decided that we need to begin eliminating certain food purchases such as the my tortillas chips and JP’s drink when we eat at Chipotle, and the fresh juice when eating at Spiral Diner – it does taste yummy, but I can make my own for half the price. I think if we really focus on buying what we really need, we can put more money aside in our eco-fund!
What do you purchase that you don’t really need that could save you money in the long run?
1-PURCHASES
CSA basket
- 2 grapefruit
- 3 oranges
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 5 purple potatoes
- 1 bunch of collard greens
- 1 bunch of swiss card
- 1 large bunch of white kale
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 4 small heads of broccoli
- 4 baby bok choy
- 2 large beets
- 5 small beets
- 4 tomatoes
- 2 yellow onions
- 1 purple cabbage head
- 6 lbs of carrots (extra)
Sub-Total: 50.00
Whole Foods
Bulk
- Almonds in bulk (4.74 lbs)
- Yellow/orange/re peppers fair-trade (2.39 lbs)
- Apples (2.95 lbs)
- Cashews (1.99 lbs)
- 1 bunch of Cilantro
- Raisins (2.29 lbs)
- Grapefruit from Tx (1.13 lbs)
- Lemons (1.31 lbs)
- Prunes (0.63 lbs)
- Oranges from Tx (2.89 lbs)
- Banana’s fair-trade (6.48 lbs)
Non-bulk
- 2 glass bottles of kombucha
- 2 pints of blueberries
- 1 pint of strawberries
Sub-Total: 129.30
Non-food items
- I got my hair done at Iona Salon in Fort Worth. I go to this this particular salon because they use Organic Color System hair products and the staff is amazing. It is so worth it. 185.00
- Toms Shoes for little E 32.00
Sub-Total: 217.00
Restaurants
- Tuesday: We packed little E up and walked to Spiral Diner for our anniversary dinner
- Wednesday: J.P had his weekly lunch at Chipotle 9.45 and we went for pizza with my mom and step-dad for dinner Free Thanks Mom and D!
- Sunday: We went to Chipotle for lunch 15.45
Sub-Total: 24.90
Total: 421.20
2-COMPOSTING
Our composting trip to Whole Foods went pretty smooth. All I did was hand them my bag of compost in my biodegradable bag and that was it. Well almost- some of the employees are not the most welcoming when I bring my compost. I have a feeling they are not fond of having the compost behind them all day. Oh well.
My composting bags were full this week. I juiced a lot and saved some of the pulp, but there is only so much pulp I can reuse in one week.
The total weight of our compost was 12.2 lbs.
3-RECYCLING
We purchased 2 pints of blueberries this past week that of course came pre-packaged in plastic. I gave farmer Mark all our blueberry containers from the previous weeks to reuse for berries in the future.
The rest of our recycling consisted of junk paper and random pieces of paper.
4-TRASH
Our trash basket this week was pretty much empty. The last three weeks our trash bin has been almost empty. Our garbage bin comprised of receipts, 2 pieces of plastic from my Kombucha bottles, 1 piece of plastic wrap from tempeh and a few stickers from our fruit and veggies that I was not able to save for little E’s sticker album.
5-TRAVEL
This week, we travelled to whole foods, the DFW airport, Chipotle, around Fort Worth and my mom and step-dad travelled to San Antonio with my car.
The total distance traveled on the TDI was 1212.6 km (753 mi) and we filled up 34 L (9 gal) for 35.00. Therefore, the actual amount of kilometers we personally used is significantly less.
I thought you would like that!!! LOL! 🙂
Very severe! Tee Hee 🙂
Thank you for the kind words. I use organic bags for my produce and the stuff I buy in bulk. I personally hate plastic and do everything I can to avoid it all together. I don’t use an actual basket when I shop because I am with my daughter and she is in the stroller. I usually put all the food on the bottom of the stroller .I do leave some fruit and veggies loose, and just wash them when I get home. If I had to I would put food directly in a basket or cart if I was using one, but I don’t think i would really want to all the time. Can you imagine how dirty those things are? Probably pretty dirty! 🙂
I think I am going to have to follow your lead and start looking at the AMOUNT of trash we produce! Yesterday I noticed that we only had half a bag of trash after two days, normally we have one, so we are doing something right. I think we will take a cue from you and try to reduce more!
Awesome! So happy to hear it. Let me know how u guys do! Would love to hear all about it:)
I’m kind of drooling over how much money you are saving! lol we are pretty lazy about composting in the winter but we are getting back at it now.
Lol, but we buy so mych food and eat it all! Best way to live- minimize purchases and save lots of money! So happy that you compost:)