An amendment to Week #3

Some of you might not have me on Facebook, so here is an overview on my 52 Weeks of Simplicity so far. Friends who have already read this feel free to skim ahead. ;)

52 Weeks of Simplicity, Week 1: I might as well start with a bang, right? Those of you who know me can attest to how much I love (aka. am addicted to) coffee. Therefore, I am reducing my coffee intake to 1 (or none at all) homemade cup per day (fair trade, locally roasted, and brewed in my French press). That means no more coffee on the go (even if you bring a reusable coffee mug, you are still supporting the waste the establishment creates. And most places do not have fair trade, locally roasted coffee). Why is this so important? Coffee is an excessive addiction that is terrible for humans and the environment. Period. I don't even want to think about the hours of my life I have wasted by making coffee. I can certainly use that time towards something more beneficial to myself and my family. I intend to wean off completely, but will realistically need to do it in steps. The purpose of simplification is to enjoy life, not to create all sorts of cravings and resentment. It is a process that is best eased into.

Week 2: Lately I have been suffering from clutter cringes, mostly of the laundry variety. I have piles of clean laundry around the house, and a fair amount of dirty piles too. This week, I'm going to pare down my clothes and linens. A more simple wardrobe will mean less time trying to decide what to wear, less laundry and less of a struggle to put things away (I swear I have to fold origami style for everything to fit).
Week 1 update, the switch to only 1 cup of coffee per day: The first two days were tricky but I found that reaching for my water glass, when my taste buds nudged me to drink coffee, was surprisingly effective! Admittedly I cheated once and had a second cup of coffee; who can say no to their daddy? 

Week 3 (posted one week late): Getting back on track after a week of house sickness, unngh. This week I am going to tackle hidden clutter in my house. I am going to secure the clutter goggles, arm myself with de-cluttering equipment and wish my house good luck fighting back.

I would like to make an amendment to Week 3: I have been attacking the odd clutter-splosion. But, I have been focusing much more on listening to my inner voice, and asking myself what I need in order to be happy. I knew that if I listened hard enough I would be able to hear that tiny little voice. Everyone has one, and we have all become so accustomed to ignoring it for some bizarre reason. Pull out that sound amplifier and take a listen. I am confident that your answer will be there too.

For me it happens to be that I need more time away from my 17 month old daughter, and that I need to take some time for myself (2 days of work at my old desk gig + 1 day to focus on Sewfully Cycled). Being a full time stay at home mom is not reasonable for me to handle, and I had to allow myself to not meet the standards I had set for myself. Once I was able to step off my self judgement pedistal, I was able to see things more clearly.

On that branch, I feel that it's important to put this out there, because more people need to speak out about mental health. I have suffered for many years from:
- post-traumatic stress disorder
- anxiety
- postpartum depression, and 
- separation anxiety coupled with trust issues; all due to very marking events of my past (I won't get into that here, but if you would like to hear my story I am more than happy to share it.)

Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I recognised that I had a problem that was out of my hands, and started seeing a psychologist. This was one of the smartest decisions I have made in my life, honest to goodness. There is absolutely nothing wrong with suffering from mental health issues. Join me in squashing the taboo and allowing more people to learn how to heal. Releasing events from your brain, allowing your mind to be at peace and simple allows you to feel happier.

This road to simplicity truly is working for me! If I haven't yet convinced you that it's worthwhile to start making changes in your life, I hope to get you more evidence soon. :)

Part 2: Simple Ways to Simplify; More things I do

Thanks for the genuine interest in my blog! I am happy that people are reading it, and are hungry for more tips. I thought of a whole other list of simple things I do; ways to help you connect with nature, yourself, and free up some time to use on more important things.

- Reuse clothes and towels
I hate doing laundry. It is one of those time sucking chores that I really could do without, and I am always looking for ways to spend less time on. Firstly, I almost never throw a piece of clothing in the laundry hamper after 1 use, unless it has been a particularly messy or sweaty day (I do live with a toddler, after all). I wear my clothes until they truly do need to be washed (when wiping with a wet cloth just isn't cutting it anymore). I also reuse my bath towel quite a few times. A towel's purpose is to dry off the water from your clean body. I hang it to dry immediately after use (letting a wet towel sit in a crumpled pile is an open invitation for our friend "musty scent" to come hang). When it no longer passes the sniff test, I toss it in the wash.

- Reuse and share dishes.
I am not a fan of wasting time on dishes either. I generally use the same cup/plate/bowl/spoon/knife all day, and sometimes even the next day. I use a little water to rinse them off after each use so that it's (relatively) clean for my next use. I think we have become quite germ obsessed; all the sterilising, cleaning and stressing. I am certainly not going to get sick from my own germs. ;) We also use a communal plate at dinner time. ie. We all eat from the same plate. Both of these things drastically cut down on the dishes I have to do at the end of the day.

- Buy bulk soap and cleaner.
I used to buy a new disposable hand soap, dish soap and all-purpose cleaner once I ran out. Now I buy Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap and dilute it for hand soap (I didn't even buy a fancy dispenser; I am using the dispensers from the last "disposable" soap I bought), Terra 20's dish soap (we buy the 2L jug and fill up the counter top sized bottle, also leftover from the last "disposable" dish soap I bought) and Live for Tomorrow's all purpose cleaner for everything else (diluted in, yup, you guessed it, the last spray bottle from cleaner I bought years ago). The Terra 20 and Live for Tomorrow packaging can be returned to the store to be cleaned and used again.

- No battery operated toys.
Not only do I find them loud and annoying, but in my (educated) opinion, children don't develop any special skills from them. Whatever "education" a battery operated toy provides them can be better developed through other activities, contrary to what advertisements will have you believe. The added perk to this decision is that I am not adding to electronic and battery waste on our over-electrified planet.

- Turn off the oven 10 min early.
The oven takes quite some time to cool down, especially if you leave the door closed. Turn it off 10 min before your dish is supposed to come out of the oven; your food will keep cooking, and you'll save energy = money = time (more money in your pocket means less work. Obviously you will need more money saving tricks before you can cut back on your work hours/salary, but it is absolutely achievable).

- Rearrange your furniture/stuff.
This one probably seems confusing. I can practically hear your eyes rolling; That is MORE work! But I have been using this trick for quite a few years. Any time I would feel the lull of dull, I would run out and buy something new to paw over. Until I discovered that I can just rearrange my stuff (furniture, book shelf, or any other home organisation). The idea is that by rearranging the stuff you already have, you give the illusion of  "new". It works every, single, time. That means I didn't have to waste my time shopping for something to buy (think of all the red lights and line ups I DIDN'T have to wait at), and I save money.

- Bring a snack and water when you go out.
This will help to avoid purchasing something while you are out. This saves you money and packaging.

- Spend time outside/in nature every day.
Even if it's only for 10 min, it's really important for humans to breathe fresh air and appreciate nature every day. It also allows you to be 'present'; the more you connect with nature, the more likely you are to be mindful in other areas of your life.

- Plant a garden.
I have only positive things to say about having a garden. There is nothing more satisfying and delicious then eating crops that you grew yourself. If you don't have a yard, or gardening skills, no problem! Check out these tools:

Garden sharing program in the west end of Ottawa
http://www.slowest.ca/projects/growslow-gardens

Community gardening and classes
http://justfood.ca/community-gardening-network/

- Only buy good quality items.
This is an addition to a point I made on the first list. By spending your money wisely, in this case on a good quality item that you absolutely love, you decrease the likeliness of needing to buy such an item again. Spending less money on a cheaply made item does not actually save you money; initially yes, the item costs less, but you will have to replace that item when the crummy quality unmasks itself.

- Put your unwanted items on the curb for someone to snatch up.
I often hear people say that they don't have the time to donate items, so they throw them in the trash or recycle bin instead. I almost never go farther than the end of my driveway when I want to get rid of an item. A few days before garbage day, I put my unwanted items at the edge of my yard. With the exception of one time, the items are always snatched up (I recycled the one item that was not taken; it would have been thrown in the trash had I donated it). It's actually a really fun game; people take the strangest things. haha

- Use a machine washable shower curtain, and no 'liner'.
We use one shower curtain. I can't understand the use of the plastic liner. Unless you are splashing buckets full of water at your shower curtain, it's safe to use the water resistant outer curtain on its own. Not to mention how annoying those plastic liners are. Despite manufacturing efforts, they always mange to stick to your body while taking a shower (I'm sure you're familiar with the shower curtain swoop away move). We use a machine washable curtain, and throw it in the wash every few months.

- Junk and unnecessary paper mail.
I make every possible effort to ensure that the mail placed in my mailbox is mail I want to receive. Call Canada Post to be put on their 'no junk mail' list, put a 'No Junk Mail' sign on your mailbox and call to be removed from mailing lists that you aren't interested in, or can receive electronically. Reducing the mail in your box puts more time on your plate.

Tips to simplify your life; What I've done so far

52 Weeks of Simplicity.  What a crazy idea, right? How many things can one person do towards simplifying their life? I am about to find out. I wrote out a list of things I have done so far. Each one has simplified my life because it has either allowed me more time, more money and/or a stronger connection with the planet and other living beings, so that I myself am living more simply, or simply allowing another to live.

- Don't buy anything at all, or buy used items.
This one took me a long time to finally master. It is REALLY hard to go upstream from mainstream. Advertisements truly are everywhere (despite the fact that I don't watch tv) and we have been "trained" to want to buy things all the time. I started with a simple rule: Never buy anything new unless I am absolutely in love with it (on very rare occasions I buy new). If there is anything about it that I don't like, don't buy it. Why? I started noticing a trend with my purchasing; whenever I settled on an item, I always ended up buying something else to try to compensate for the disappointment. I can always reason with myself that if I have gone this long in my life without that item, how badly do I really need it? In order to "fill the void" of shopping, I settled for buying used. That way, I am only indirectly impacting the environment. The additional perk? Not buying anything at all means 100% more money than had I bought something, and buying used means only spending a fraction of what I would have spend on a new item. This frees up money to use on more important and needed items. We have zero recreational debt (ie. We only owe for the house and car).

- Follow a vegetarian lifestyle.
I won't get too much into this one here. A few of my other blog posts touch on this topic already. Now, that being said, I fell of my path to vegan, but you can bet you'll see that one on one of my 52 Weeks of Simplicity.

- Cut back on washing my hair.
 While in hairstyling school I learnt that your scalp produces the exact right amount of oil for your hair. When you wash your hair, you are sending your scalp a message that it needs to produce more oil. More washing literally means more oil. Once your hair finds a good balance (aka. There is an adjustment period as your scalp learns to produce less oil, but it will!) you only need to wash it every once in a while (I do it once a week, but I once went 3 months. I plan to wean off more).

- Cut back on showering.
I also realised that taking a shower every single day in our society (unless your job leaves you feeling like a dirty sock at the end of the day) is pretty pointless, for me anyhow. I used to think that I would feel dirty if I didn't shower every day until I realised that was all in my head. There is nothing wrong with smelling like your natural self. I'm not sure of the history to smelling "fresh" all the time, but I just don't buy it anymore. It's a huge waste of water and products.

- Stopped dying my hair, putting product in my hair, and wearing makeup.
I am literally au natural. I don't even pluck my eyebrows anymore (I won't make this its own category so as not to draw too much attention to it, but I don't shave either). I feel as though I look 'presentable' and feel good, and think others would agree (unless everyone is just being overly polite... haha). And don't tell me that I just naturally "look good". I truly believe that everyone is beautiful, and making ourselves look different is not doing oneself justice. Looking good comes from feeling good.

-  Switched to legitimate (manufactured) environmentally friendly products.
The products I do use are truly better for the environment that most other manufactured products (all purpose cleaner, dish detergent, laundry soap, hand and body soap, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, tampons, deodorant, face cream. These are all the products we use. Everything else has been deemed not important or needed enough to warrant consuming them).  I don't trust that a product labelled "all natural" "enviro ____" or "eco____" actually is environmentally friendly. I read labels and make an effort to truly understand each ingredient. I have read lists of harmful ingredients, and take note of them. During my 52 Weeks of Simplicity, I will be switching to making many of them on my own.

- Learnt to sew.
With this new skill, I plan to repair and make our clothes, and make/sell products that will reduce the waste on our planet. In addition to that, I am only using unwanted resources (with the exception of thread at the moment). I will be weighing the benefits buying specialty materials in order to make things that will truly help the planet (reusable menstrual pads, cloth diapers and wetsacs, "paper" towels, food storage bags, hankies, etc.) I may need to break the "no new" rule for these items if the product will counteract the emissions from producing the material from replacing items that pollute.

- Walk or take the bus within the city.
I rarely break this rule, but I am human, and also have a 16 month old.

- Use reusable bags.
I make sure to have my reusable produce and grocery bags with me when I do groceries.

- Responsible coffee choices.
I will not ague that I need coffee, and plan to give it up on my 52 Weeks of Simplicity journey. However what I have done to lessen my impact is only buy locally roasted and fair trade coffee. I make it in a french press (regular drip or fancy single cup coffee makers have loads of unnecessary waste, AND you have to buy more stuff).

- Don't buy products made with GMO's.
This is a topic on its own. If you don't know what GMO's are, I strongly encourage you to inform yourself. You can check out this link if you would like to learn a little:
http://davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/queen-of-green/faqs/food/understanding-gmo/

- Rescue items from the curb.
Since I walk a lot, I have found some pretty crazy things that were heading to a landfill. I rescue as much as I can, and rehome what I don't need myself.

- Purged my "stuff".
I made a rule for myself about 10 years ago: I do regular clean ups of my stuff. If I find something that I haven't used or thought about in over a year then I give away, sell or donate it.

- Use cloth diapers and wipes for my baby.
This is fabulous because I don't have to stress about going to the store for diapers and wipes, nor do I have to worry about what is touching/sitting on my baby's skin. I will admit that they were a complete disaster for night time use for us, so we use biodegradable diapers at night (which we compost).

Phew! For those of you who actually read through this list, congratulations, and thank you. :) It has been an incredible journey so far, and I am looking forward to further simplifying my life.

My Quest for Simplistic Living

Blog Highlight: Caring about living a more simple life, a life free from the chains of consumerism, can be the answer to helping you feel happier, more fulfilled and connected with the people around you.
 
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Howdy! Having a baby sure does eat up ALL your free time! Thankfully I haven't gone astray from my journey to "save the planet". I'm still up to my ears in do-gooderness. :)

I recently picked up a book that I have had on my bookshelf for a few years now called Less is More: Embracing Simplicity for a Healthy Planet, a Caring Economy and Lasting Happiness by Wanda Urbanska. 12 pages in and I'm hooked. It is singing a tune that I recognize, and have motivated me to start blogging once again about living a more compassionate, sustainable and simplified life. Another book I'm reading, This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein, scares the whiskers off of me, but in a good way. It is fueling a powerful movement inside of me that I hope to share with others. I welcome ideas, support and critisim; anything that gets people thinking and talking about the nescessary change we all need. 

The message that I am piecing together from the two books is this: consumerism is one of the key players in our depleting eco-systems and accelerating climate change. But how can that be? After much reflection and introspection I finally understand exactly how these things are interrelated.

You recycle, so you're doing your part to counteract your purchase right? Not quite. We all know that the merchandise in stores got there somehow, but have you ever really stopped to think about the impact that keeping stores stocked with such a variety of merchandise has on our environment? They require:
- production
- transportation
- maitaining property
- destruction (even recycling produces loads of emissions; trucks pick up your recycling, which is then dumped and processed at a plant, all of which burns fuel that would not have been used if we hadn't consumed in the first place).

My very basic knowledge of science is enough to understand the (potentially radical) impact; the vehicles used to transport goods all produce emissions (which are presumably the cause of climate change). When you see a label you probably think "Cool! This came from Spain/Italy/Mexico" etc. Yet somehow it never really occured to me that by purchasing that item, I am supporting an unmeasurable amout of emissions being injected into our air.

The definition of consumerism, promoting of consumer spending for the economic benefit of society, leaves me feeling puzzled and annoyed. I did not find any definition that included satisfaction, happiness or contentment. It seems there is really nothing benefial, at a core level, for the consumer. So why do we continue to fall into the consumer trap, allowing profitable corporations to dictate what we need to be happy? Becau$e there are million$ of people employed in the adverti$ing indu$try who are being paid to fabricate creative way$ of $elling you thing$ that you don't actually need. Think of it this way, if you really need something, your body will tell you? You don't need someone (especially one who is profiting from you) to tell you that you need it.

It has been proven, statistically and through unilateral personal experiences, that wealth, monitary and paraphernalic, do not amount to happiness. I personally find keeping up with trends exhausting; the endless expectation to look a certain way or posses certain things in order to belong or feel good. When we allow ourselves to consume to our heart's content, we somehow always want more. If we instead take only what we need in order to survive, anything extra then becomes a treat, and therefore makes us feel happier about it. This can apply to everything.

But why should you care about any of this if you don't believe in climate change? Caring about living a more simple life, a life free from the chains of consumerism, can be the answer to helping you feel happier, more fulfilled and connected with the people around you. If we stop allowing the consumer market to tell us what we need to be happy, we can instead focus our attention on building a stronger community. However far fetched it seems, it is possible.

My plan: I am now on a quest to simplic living. Each week, I will make a change in my life. Some will be easy, others will be difficult, but all will be working towards living a more sustainable life. My goal of writing this all down, in my limited free time, is to motivate others to change as well. We all have everything to gain from making these changes, whether you are a beleiver or non-believer.

What Makes a Carnivore a Vegan?

*** You may learn some things that are not easy to swallow. But please keep reading. Ignoring facts will not stop these terrible things from happening. There is a happy story along the way. :)***

When you lose someone or something that has been an integral part of your life, your natural coping response is to grieve. The path to veganism has been one that I have had to grieve throughout. All of my favorite dishes contained meat, eggs or dairy, and so in making the decision to become a vegan I have had to detach myself from positive associations with animal products. The big question is "why would someone do such a thing? Isn't it easier to just keep living your normal life?" Yes, it most definitely would have been easier to continue living as I had been.

The reality, however, is that the more I learned about factory farming, the less I could bear to support it. Are you aware that "free range" chickens must share their "open space" with hundreds of other chickens? Not to mention that most of them can't walk because they have been so severely neglected, and pumped with hormones to drastically increase their growth period to expedite the product to the shelf (aka. quicker growth + less time and money to feed the livestock = more money for the industry). $$$. That's what is numero uno. Has no one else noticed the correlation between our hormone infused food and the giant "next generation"? Human and animal health and well being are of no concern to the meat, egg and dairy industries.

Eggs. Oh eggs; since boy chicks are useless to the egg industry, their future is a device much like a wood chipper. All the little chicks are sent down a conveyor belt and are checked, by employees, to determine their sex. The females are sent to the factory to be neglected, abused and then slaughtered once they are no longer laying eggs (their meat can not be eaten because of the years of neglect). The male chicks are crushed alive.

I am an active volunteer for a farm refuge, Teja's. The owner is living in poverty to save animals from factory farms. It is absolutely heartbreaking to see the state of the animals coming from our local farms.

Happy Story Time!The last time I was at Teja's I was petting an enormous pig (he was pumped with hormones during his "stay" on the factory farm). He was enjoying his little pat down so much that I put him to sleep. The best part, however, was when an other pig trotted over to get in on the petting action, and immediately dropped to the ground, rolled over and demanded that I rub his belly (very much the same behaviours as dogs)!! When I briefly stopped petting pig number 1, he nuzzled me with his snout to let me know that he was not finished being petted. :D

When exposed to real live factory farm animals, who have incredible personalities and affection, it is absolutely crushing to imagine their initial fate, and the fate of those who have not been rescued. How is it that we can disconnect ourselves from the animals on our plate, but pour so much love into our pets? The animals on your plate are little different from those living under your roof.

I strongly encourage you to make informed decisions when supporting these industries. There are 2 excellent documentaries that are eye opening and informative and I would be eternally grateful if you find the courage to watch one or both.  Although based in the United States, Canada has similar if not identical problems that are outlined in both of these documentaries.

Food Inc.:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food,_Inc.

Forks Over Knives:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forks_Over_Knives

Although I have had to grieve the loss of my habits and favorite foods, I no longer have to grieve for the animals who suffered beyond imagination to provide me with such empty pleasure. I still, however, have to grieve for those animals on others' behalf.

Once Upon a Landfill...

The movie WALL-E is meant to be an eye opener.  Talking robots aside, WALL-E is a pretty accurate depiction of the future of our wasteful ways. Unless we stop producing so much waste, we’re going to run out of convenient locations to hide our consumerism.

What is a landfill? Picture it. Have you seen one in person before? Step back and really think about what a landfill is; in my opinion, it’s an enabler to humans’ wasteful ways.  What if you were to instead throw your garbage in your backyard or your living room?  That’s out of the question, right? So why are we okay throwing our trash into a landfill?

Let me ask you the question again; what is a landfill? Before humans decide that they wanted their trash out of sight, those landfills were forests or meadows. Land inhabited by plants, animals, and rich in ecosystems.  Not to mention the people who live in the area.

Until I truly comprehended “throwing something out”, I had every excuse in the book; “I can’t find a recycle bin” or “I don’t have time to think about it” or “I don’t know the difference”. Then the harsh reality hit me; ever single item that I am placing in a garbage can is finding a quaint new home in a landfill.

Did you know that disposable coffee cups are compostable (in Ottawa)? Familiarize yourself with your city’s acceptable compostable and recyclable items. Here is a link for all your Ottawa dwellers:

Recyclables:

http://ottawa.ca/en/garbage_recycle/recycling/bluebox/index.html (Blue box)

http://ottawa.ca/en/garbage_recycle/recycling/blackbox/index.html (Black box)

Compostables:

http://ottawa.ca/en/garbage_recycle/greenbin_yard/green_contents/index.html .

Pay special attention to the “Other Acceptable Items”. Some of them may surprise you!

Green Bin tips:

http://ottawa.ca/en/garbage_recycle/greenbin_yard/bin_cleaning/index.html

Other tips:

1.  Stop making excuses. If something does not belong in a landfill, do not allow it to go there.  Yes, I said it. Carry it with you until you find a compost or recycle bin, donate it, or just stop buying it if it’s not actually necessary.

2. Bring an empty food container with you if you’re going out for dinner to save those tasty leftovers without creating more waste. Along the same line, bite the bullet and buy yourself a darn reusable coffee mug, and use it!

3. Reduce the amount of prepared/packaged foods you consume. The age old excuse “I don’t have time to cook for myself” just doesn’t cut it. Everyone has the time. Plan it into your schedule.

4. Rescue items from the curb. Many people throw away usable items.  Remove the stigma attached to “garbage picking” and realize that if it’s left on the curb, it will end up in a landfill. Either keep it for yourself, or donate it. (ps. I’m not suggesting that you tear open people’s garbage bags to find treasures…)

5. Buy used items. Buying things new means that you have contributed to the packaging necessary to ship the item to the store. Bonus: Used items are usually cheaper, and just as good as the new items! 

The Fourth R

You know when you hear something that rings true, that makes you enthusiastically proclaim “YES!!!”? I had that moment the other day when my best friend pointed out that there are 4 R’s, not 3.

I would love to know the history of the 3 R’s. Was the intention for us to follow them in order? To me, that’s what makes the most sense. Their purpose is to minimize the amount of waste we are creating. However, we seem to put all of our focus on recycling. We’re doing our part right? But if the 3 R’s were meant to be followed in the order we recite them, why do we skip to step 3? It would make sense to, before recycling: 

1. Reduce consumption (select items you need, and go for those that have been produced sustainably, have less packaging, etc.) 

2. Reuse anything you have consumed to maximize the wasted resource (before tossing that glass jam jar in the recycle bin, turn it into a portable juice cup! Or save bread bags and bring them with you to the grocery store to use as produce bags. Be creative!), only then should we 

3. Recycle; when all other options have been exhausted, and there is nothing left to do. Here is where the fourth R comes into play;

Rethink! It’s so easy to go into auto-pilot and do things the way we’ve always done them. 

Stepping outside of yourself to contemplate exactly what you are doing, what impact you are truly making is challenging but necessary. Take into consideration that a factory produced the items you seek, and another factory processes all the recycling. Those 2 factories create an immense amount of greenhouse gasses, so let’s all work together to avoid supporting those factories! They are in it for money. C’est tout. They don’t care about us, or the environment. Just one simple, extra step will make all of the difference.

Rethink. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.