Day 3 Plastic No More

Here it is Day 3 of the Plastic No More Challenge.  I have done a really good job of limiting or eliminating plastic coming in to my home so far.  Here's the lowdown on how I have fared.

1. I haven't had to grocery shop yet.  So that is good.

2. I have dedicated a small bucket to collect any plastic that I do end up with and will take pics of it so you can see what I am dealing with.  For example, the first thing to go in the bucket is the plastic pull strip from around the top of the frozen juice concentrate paper can thing.  The paper gets composted, leaving just the tear strip and the two metal ends to dispose of.

3. When we run out of frozen juice to use, I am buying a bag of oranges and setting them and the juicer out on the counter.  You want juice?  Cut yourself 2 oranges and squeeze them.  Now, wasn't that fast and easy!  Not to mention, good tasting and better for you.

4. I am going to have to go back to making my own laundry detergent when I run out of the liquid we currently have.  The borax and the washing soda are in paper board cartons but the soap to grate is in a clear plastic wrapper.  Alternatively, I can buy a box of Tide powder, but it comes with a plastic scoop inside.  Either way, there will be a bit of plastic to go in the bucket.

5. When we run out of milk, I will have to decide which is the lesser of the evils.
     A. Gallon of milk in a plastic jug, cheaper cost-wise.
     B. Half gallons in the waxed paper cartons, but they have a plastic spigot and cap.
     C. Tetra-pak liters that are completely non-recyclable and still have a plastic top.
     D. Can of evaporated milk and dilute it.  Cost-wise this isn't bad, but taste-wise?  Gaaahhgg!
     E. Box of powdered milk.  I like the Nido milk from Mexico that is whole milk rather than the non-fat kind they sell here in the U.S.  It comes in a metal can with a metal top.  So this might be the way to go. I am the only one who drinks milk or puts it on cereal, so I am just pleasing myself anyway.

****Ding ding ding!!! We might have a winner on this deal!

6. Yesterday I bought 6 books in Japanese from my local used book store to gift my nephew who is studying Japanese in college.  And before my brain had kicked into gear I was out the door with all those books in a damn plastic bag.  Grrrrr.

I am blaming the lady who was in line behind me.  She distracted me by being a wiener and being wrong.  Here's what happened:  She walked in whilst I was at the check-out counter having the guy look up the ISBN number of all these Japanese books to make sure they were in fact Japanese and not Chinese.  Also to make sure they weren't porn or something I didn't want to be gifting my nephew.  So the lady walks in and looks all impatient and stands there with a paper.  The dude working there  looks up from the computer and says to her, "I'll be right with you."

She says "I am looking for books by (consults her paper) Maud Lucy Montgomery"

He says "Who????"

I butt in and said "She wrote the Anne of Green Gable series. They should be in young teenager section back there" and pointed in the right direction.

Then I said "I believe her name is Lucy Maud Montgomery, in case you can't find it the way you have it".

She looked me straight in the eye and said "No.  Her name was Maud.  She just went by LUCY!"

Okaay.

Which is what I said to her. And then went back to my business of making sure I had Japanese and not Chinese and not porn.

So see what I mean about being flustered when I grabbed my bag and left?

Anyhoo, get this.  I went next door to the Bubble Tea place and met up with the rest of my group and we decided to head over to Goodwill.  So I go and put my books in the car and backed out of my parking space and was headed up the aisle of the parking lot when the same lady was coming towards me in her car waved me down.  I rolled down my window and she said, "I found what I was looking for. And I wanted to apologize for correcting you.  You were right."

Awwww.  Wasn't that nice?  Most people would never bother to do that.  Afterwards I said to myself, I should have apologized to her for butting my fat nose into her business in the first place.

I get to Goodwill and what did I find?  A 20th Anniversary edition of Trivial Pursuit in very good, damn near brand-new condition.  That's what I found!

In case you don't know this about me, I love games.  And I love, love, love Trivial Pursuit games.  And I don't have this edition.  And it was marked 1.99.

Who do you think got herself a new Trivial Pursuit game?  And who do you think played the game with Sparky last night and WON?

And who do you think remembered to tell the GW clerk to keep her plastic bag and carried her own game out in her own little hands?

Have a great plastic-free day!

Count so far:
Plastic - 2 items