A St. Louis family realized how much waste they produce and decided to try and cut WAY back. They challenge all of us to try it for a day, week, month or even a year as they are doing.
How much waste do you think you or your household generates in a day? Check out The Waste Diet and see how you compare to them. I always feel good when we only have two bags of garbage a week and four bins of recyclables. Some of our neighbors have mountains of waste towering at the curb on garbage pick up days. We're one of the least garbage generating families on our block, and it still feels like a huge amount.
Recently, I heard about a woman who wanted to feel how much garbage she generated in a day and so she required herself to have to carry all of the garbage she created. She was shocked. I think that would be a very difficult challenge. What about kleenex?
What is handkerchief etiquette? Is there handkerchief etiquette? There must be some polite, not at all gross way to use them. Are there any older readers who do use them or grew up using them who can explain it to me? I know it must seem simple and obvious, but it seems gross. I'd like to start using a cloth handkerchief for myself and my kids and at least stop wasting kleenex all day long.
Oh, venerable non-wasting-kleenex-all-the-time-one. I am your disciple--teach me.
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6 comments:
I'd love to know hankie etiquette too! Something I've actually thought about.
I use other cloth personal products, yet have not been able to take the plunge to hankies.
It just seems so, well, germy.
Jessica
I have really worked on recycling these last two years. I'm amazed at how little "garbage" we have now. I'm tormented by how many napkins my kids go through every day so I have a stack of cloth napkins sitting on my sewing machine waiting to get hemmed. Honestly I'm dreading the extra laundry! I think I will have the kids fold them to help remind them use less.
I found this on a website
Handkerchief etiquette
Use it only once. As soon as you can, please change it. If possible, carry more than one, particularly if you will be gone for several hours or if you have a cold.
While silk handkerchiefs are great for style, it is best to have a cotton handkerchief for actually using it.
There is no rule that men should carry only dull, white handkerchiefs but it is generally expected that men will not be using the types popular among women (frilly, flower-patterns, feminine colors, etc.)
Thanks neo-agrarian! The use it only once principle makes sense. I guess you have to have a few on you, if you're going to need them more than one time in a day.
Jessica, that seems to take out the gross factor doesn't it?
Maybe get those really thin delicate handkerchiefs, so you could have more than one on you and it wouldn't be too bulky.
I think I'm going to try.
Lazy/Lara we use cloth napkins too. A friend of mine, Unnamed, said that she thinks she'll buy some regular size ones and cut them into smaller ones and hem the edges. She doesn't think they need to be that big. I think that's a great idea, but I already had bought a bunch when she told me that...
I have been using a hanky this winter. I wash it daily, I guess I should be using more than one. It is not when I am sick however, I think those germs need to be thrown away.
As for the garbage, we keep it small 1-1/2 garbage bags the rest recycling. In the near future we plan to put the organic materials in my Vita-mix and compost it. I hope it works.
Hi swimmermom,
Will you add the vitamix slurry to a compost pile, or put it directly in the garden? How does that work?
Thanks.
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