It is very hard to get out of the habit of running to the grocery store for every little forgotten thing. After repeated failures, I’ve pretty much decided that a new strategy is in order for making sure I can avoid the store altogether. I will say, however, that I’m very good at getting only that which I’ve gone there for, with exception of yesterday, when I took Seth along and he wanted to eat a coconut covered fig (no sugar or anything added) and since we hadn’t had lunch, I caved in. I got myself some caramel pecan clusters, which didn’t taste that great, and in the end, gave me an enormous headache.
My new strategy involves planning out an entire month’s worth of menus – and at Nate’s suggestion, having certain things on certain days of the week, Monday is Leftover day, Tuesday burritos, Wednesday soup/salad, and so on. I will also have to learn to substitute things and use what I get in my weekly produce bin.
My other challenge, replacing shampoo with baking soda seems to have lost it’s luster (as has my hair). The first time it seemed to work great, but subsequent washings left it only slightly less greasy than it was before I washed it. So I cracked and washed my hair with Seth’s baby shampoo. I’m still only showering twice a week, and I’m questioning the wisdom of this in such warm weather. This experiment is turning out to be revealing to me in the sense that I am pushing the limits of what living well is along with doing it frugally. If I look and feel like a bag lady but am saving money, am I really living well? Of course, I’m not quite ready to give up yet. Perhaps the use of the apple cider vinegar rinse will change things (that’s to arrive tomorrow in my bulk order).
As for my goals – well, I haven’t really been creating my own cleaners or body care products, yet. I did run out of laundry detergent and just put a little borax and Dr. Bronner’s Castille soap in and the clothes are clean and don’t smell, but I don’t really know what I’m doing. The book I was using is not organized in a way that makes it easy for me to organize, and it has far to many recipes for just one type of thing. I suppose more serious study is in order.
[On another note, I did find out recently that electricity is cheaper at night, between 10 pm and 6 am. Since we usually go to bed at 10 (although not regularly as of late), I'm going to wait till 10:05 and then run the dishwasher, and get up at 5 am to do laundry. Sounds insane, but we started going to bed so early so that I could get up at 5 am to go for a walk (which hasn't happened at all this week), so I'll just have to be sure to pop in a load in before I head out for my walk.]
I discovered your blog through Rockin Granola. I’m looking forward to reading more about your journey.
If you can write about any successes you are making progress.
One of the things I am doing right now is using up all the cleaners and body product that we currently have on hand. I am using much much less than before. I suspect it will be a long time before we use up what we have.
I need to get better about going to the store. Making a menu for th emonth sounds like a good idea. I need to get better about making a list throughout the week instead of right before I shop.
It is true, what you say, about successes. Be they small, even miniscule, they are progress, nonetheless. I think I put too many expectations on myself this month – 4 habits to change? I’ve already learned that it’s best to change one habit at a time.
I still have some Melaleuca products that we use, which is probably why there’s no urgency for me to create new ones yet.
I generally tend to be rather obsessive with making lists – you’d think I’d be good at creating one for trips to the grocery store. I really need to work on being more organized.
Thanks for the comments!
yay about the electricity! now i will make sure to only do laundry and dishes at night. i am a night owl as is, so i usually do it at night anyway, but sometimes i do run a load or 2 during the day…
and i just found out about this documentary http://www.kilowattours.org/ playing at the baghdad theater on the 27th. thought of you.
I love that you are writing about the failures as well as the successes. I was wondering how the shower and baking soda thing was going to work for you. I tried doing the no poo thing awhile back and it did not work for me at all. I decided that shampoo and conditioner were going to be two of my sacred cows of going green. Thanks for the tip about the electricity. I think I will start doing more baking and laundry at night now. Maybe even start checking emails at night instead of in the morning.
Part of learning is dealing with failure, I think, and since I love to learn, I suppose I ought to love the failures as well
. Most of all, I’m learning to find a place where I feel that I’m simplifying my life, without jeopardizing a certain level of comfort that I’ve grown accustomed to. There’s a fine line when you balance being eco-conscious and living simply/frugally on the precipice of living well. No one will begrudge you your shampoo, Hope, I certainly don’t.
in my effort to decrease the multiple grocery trips and coming home with extras, i’m going to do the ‘once a month cooking’ thing. my f-i-l has a cookbook for this with several options so i’m going to do a 2 week plan and i think with the left overs, that should last nearly a month. so here’s hoping for a MUCH lower grocery bill.
It was interesting reading about the different things you are trying. I have also been trying the no’poo/ using baking soda. I have been doing it since the end of May. I have been using Vingager rinse as well. At first I had really pretty greasy hair but it has gotten much better. I use Baking soda and vinager 3 times a week and then I do take a shower with just rinseing my hair and then cleaning the rest of my body every other day too. My hair looks fine, I have gotten a lot of nice comments but I don’t think it is better than it was before, I am hoping that will come though.
I thought you might be interested in one of my recent posts about substituting stuff in cooking. It helps so that you can avoid extra trips to the grocery store. Here is the link: http://proverbs31living.blogspot.com/2008/07/something-that-has-been-very-helpful-to.html
I have made month long menus many times and really like that method. When I did that I would usually just do one big grocery trip a month and then often only one other time at the 2 week mark unless there was a sale that couldn’t be missed.
This summer I have also started making my own laundry detergent using Washing Soda, Borax and bar soap. It is working pretty well. It has been fun to save money in that area.
Sounds as though we’re on a similar journey! Merry meet!
However, my bulk order was out of apple cider vinegar so I didn’t get my gallon of that. Did you? And, if you did get it, did you notice a difference when you used it on your hair?
I haven’t gone no poo yet, but I’m working hard on the other cleaners. I’m doing what Nina wrote about — carefully using up existing stuff and being very careful about how I replace it.
Mostly, right now, my journey is with the store. What an energy and money suck that is! I don’t want to go to the store ever again. I want to use my pantry carefully and learn to plan meals and order things as I need them. What would my life be like if I did that?
Keep writing. It helps, I think, for you and for us who read.
Yes, I did get my Apple Cider Vinegar, and it has made a noticeable difference, however, my hair still smells like it needs to be washed.
Just surfing around and found your site. May I suggest “The Naturally Clean Home” by Karyn Siegel-Maier? She has TERRIFIC recipes for all sorts of homemade cleaning products. My favorite, and simple, homemade laundry recipe follows:
1 c. washing soda
1 c. baking soda
1 c. grated soap (fells naptha, ivory, zote, etc)
Blend all ingredients and store in a heavy plastic container. Use 1/2 c. for an average laundry load.
For hard water:
1 c. grated soap
1 c. washing soda
1 c. borax
Blend and use as above.
Fabric Softener:
add 1/2 c. white vinegar to rinse cycle
I also use a clothes line to dry our clothes.
A word of encouragement – we worked very hard to get completely out of debt. We have remained debt free for the past 6 years. Believe me all the hard work and effort you all are putting into this is worth the effort. There’s no freedom like debt-free!!
Thank you for the book suggestion, the recipes and most of all, the encouraging words!