Some Spring Reading

Easy Steps To Success

I have been trying to take simple steps to make my life just a little bit less wasteful. One of those was buying and using handkerchiefs instead of Kleenex. I've been using the handkerchiefs for about a week now and am rather pleased with them. I have even been sick and constantly blowing my nose without much of a side effect. I bought them cheep and think that I may upgrade to something a little bit nicer (they were 6 for $5) at some point but for now its kind of nice to not have a trash can overflowing with Kleenex.

Lemonade and Compost

Made a pitcher of lemonade from scratch... yay for using fruit that someone grew in their backyard. Oh, and if you have fruit that just falls and rots I'd be happy to come pick it for you. :-)

The second hand composter is in as well. First round of compost is ready to go!

Life Changes

I promised another post when I had some time and here it is:

When I graduated from high school I had high hopes and dreams of bettering my life in large chunks... that never really happened, but over the last three years I have changed some little chunks. I think that I spent a good year purging my life of material possessions that I had owned for too long. Birthday cards from when I was five, old stuffed animals, broken toys that I “couldn't part with”, clothes that I never wore, you get the idea. When I found out that it was a real possibility to buy a house last fall I spent the next several months packing up everything that I owned into boxes. Eliminating what was left from the purge that I didn't need to carry with me to a new start.

I'm still purging and trying to let go of so many material possessions but I'm on my way. Life now has turned to focus on how I live. I want to live purposefully with every action that I take being a response to thought and decision. Some things I've wanted to do for a long time but haven't been able to living in a house that is not my own and some things I've found as new revelations.

Here are some of things that I've been trying to change in my life (mostly ways to live more simply or more environmentally beneficial ways):

• Not flushing the toilet so often – hopefully soon to be replaced with a low flush toilet
• Riding my bicycle as much as I can – someday to be replaced by selling my car and buying a moped
• Bought a push mower – And I've been using it and love it
• Trying to do bulk shopping – Someday maybe I'll be able to keep to once a month
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (recycling not just CRV) – I'm also trying not to buy things that are packaged to begin with
• Making my own garden/green house – I have visions of living on a half acre.... I also want a rain catching system.
• This includes composting – Never have to buy fertilizer, I've got my own
• Uninstalling all of my game applications – Maybe someday I'll even get rid of my console games
• Only getting on facebook/email once or twice a day – I'm getting close to giving them up as much as is practically
• Trying to eliminate hobbies (can't decide yet which ones to keep) – Maybe keep it to just a few...
• Quitting one of my jobs (the weekend one) – What's more important, time or money? Definitely time.

There is a little glimpse into what I'm up to right now. I'm happy that I can finally make changes that I believe in.