We are finally settled into our apartment in Fort Worth, Texas where we will call home for the next 6 months. I think this week went rather well. We did need to buy a few things like socket protectors (little E won’t stop putting her fingers in the sockets), energy efficient light bulbs and plumbers tape to stop our faucet and shower head from leaking at the water filter connection. These items were a necessity: water dripping, and saving energy all help the environment and the socket protectors help save little E from a potential electrocution!
1-Purchases:
Food
- 12 Apples
- 1 bunch of Kale
- 1 head of Lettuce
- Potatoes (bulk)
- Carrots (bulk)
- 10 plus tomatoes
- Quinoa (bulk)
- Beans (bulk
- Almonds (bulk)
- Peanut butter (bulk)
- 2 Avocados
- 1 loaf of Millet Bread
- 1 Onion
- 2 glass bottles of Kombucha
- 1 small bunch of Basil
- 1 paper bag of Tortillas
- 2 Green Peppers
- 2 Cucumbers
- 1 bunch of Spinach
- Flax Seeds (bulk)
- 5 Peaches
- 4 bunches of Bananas
- Dates (bulk)
- 1 jar of local Jelly
- 1 carton of Coconut Milk
- 1 jug of Milk
- 2 Squash
- 2 Limes
- 2 lemons
- 1 jug of White Vinegar
Sub-Total:199.89
Miscellaneous:
- 3 sippy cups by “Green Sprouts”
- 1 jug of Mouth Wash
- 1 stick of Deodorant
- 1 bottle of Tylenol
- I Broom made from recycled materials
- 2 boxes of CFL Bulbs
- 1 roll of Plumbers Tap
- 1 box of Socket Protectors
Sub-Total: 58.36
Restaurants:
- On Thursday we went to Mellow Mushroom in honor of little E’s birthday. I wanted to go to Spiral Diner (all vegan/organic), but I think J.P was all spiraled out already and we have only been here a week. Cost 60.00. We tipped extra because the waitress was so accommodating to our zero-waste ways! She seriously was awesome. They gave us the cutlery wrapped in paper napkins, but the waitress found us some that were not wrapped up. How nice is that?
- On Saturday we went to Spiral Diner because there was some a festival going on in the area and Spiral Diner was right smack in the middle of it all. Obviously, we just had to go. Cost 45.00. We splurged and got desert; I got 2 cookies (amazing) and J.P got chocolate cheese cake.
Total amount of money spent: 258.25 (not including restaurant spending) 362.58 (including restaurant spending)
Oh, I forgot to mention that we decided to buy train passes to limit our driving. We got 2 passes for 45.00 each which are good for the rest of the year. We got a great deal through J.P’s works.
All our food was organic except for the millet bread and the white vinegar. J.P likes fresh bread and I haven't had the time to find an organic bakery, so for now we will buy non-organic. I am thinking at least I can reuse the bread bag every time I buy bread.
All the food was of U.S origin, but only a few items were local. With the drought and the fires in Texas, I believe it is going to be hard to find local produce right now in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area, but that doesn't mean I am not going to look around.
This coming week our grocery bill should be lower. We signed up for an organic produce food Co-Op that costs 50.00 every 2 weeks. We are getting a basket this week and we will see how we like it. Many of the food items such as flax seeds, dates, quinoa etc. are all items that will be used over the next several weeks.
2-Composting
All week I was scrambling to find somewhere to compost. We are unable to compost at home because we live in an apartment and it is just not feasible. Once we are back in Montreal, we will compost at home. We already did the worm thing last year and we killed them all. I was even putting my juice pulp aside to make vegetable broth and soup, so my compost bin in the fridge wouldn't overflow.
So with that said, I really needed to find a location. I finally found someone who offered to take my composting to their home. Thank you, Ruby!
Our compost this week weighed a grand total of 10lbs; it would have been more, but we tried to shy away from compost intensive meals.
3-Recycling
We are pretty happy about the recycling situation at our apartment. For the last 3 years, I have been driving our recycling to the recycling plants where we were living. So annoying, but I still did it. At our apartment building now, all we have to do is put our recycling outside our door before 8pm and the recycling fairies take it! The only thing they do not accept is glass and plastics 3-7. I will accumulate our glass and when we have enough I will drive it; for the plastic, we are avoiding it so that shouldn't be a problem.
This week we had an ok amount of recycling; mostly paper actually.
4-Trash
So, here is the lowdown on the trash: we have decided it is just too hard to keep track of the trash separately. Besides, most of the trash we do create is shared. We do not really create trash individually.
We are going to keep our trash until we leave Fort Worth in 6 months and will continue to weigh it weekly. This week, our trash was not heavy enough to pick up on the scale. Once we have accumulated enough trash to tip the scales, we will start keeping numerical tabs – hopefully that will never happen.
Our waste this week was receipts, the stupid stickers on fruit/veggies (we had so many), the cousin of the stupid sticker – the tie wrap on veggies, random pieces of plastic from the socket protectors and Kombucha caps that can’t be recycled because they do not have a number on them.
5-Travel
We only have one car with us in Fort Worth. We decided that J.P will take the train to work everyday or carpool with two of his colleagues depending on the day and I will keep the car. Hence, the train passes. This way we are going to cut down on the amount of money we spend on gas and decrease our environmental impact ever so slightly. Every bit helps, right?
This week we travelled a total of approximately 100km (160mi) and did not fill up the gas tank at all. Therefore, we did not spend any money on gas.
The last 5 weeks have been challenging for us, but I think we are doing a great job at sticking to our guns and doing what we feel is best. It has also been an adjustment period for our friends and family as well. It is not always easy explaining our zero-waste and crazy lifestyle to others.
I just want to finish by saying that I couldn't be happier to be experiencing Project Green Foot with a more understanding and wonderful person, J.P! He seriously has accepted me and all my environmental quirks. I am not sure many people would go along and understand my passion for the environment on a day to day basis. I guess I am just lucky!
You are really dedicated! I love what you are doing.
Thank you Michael Ann!! 🙂
Thank you, Adriana! I am so happy to hear you will be composting! 🙂