Pros and Cons of the Zero Waste life

6 Advantages:
- The obvious one: Feeling good about helping the Earth
- Inspiring others to join in
- Being healthier: Bulk foods are in general healthier than packaged or processed foods
- Being more creative: In finding the supplier for the packaged goods you miss, in making the table pretty with what you have, in coming up with different ways to reuse your leftovers… by the way, foraged moss in lieu of toilet paper does not work for everyday use.
- Not dealing with the smell of trash (compost is odorless), and not having to take it out to the curb (what a motivation for our kids to go Zero Waste!)
- Adopting a more meaningful life with less, one that is not based on consumerism (stuffff)

6 Disadvantages:- My husband misses canned tuna sandwich (I keep reminding him… who needs mercury and MSG’s in their diet?)
- Malls and the middle aisles of grocery stores make me nauseous
- Having to turn down wine at a party because it is served in a disposable cup (my own fault, I should always remember to bring my collapsible stainless cup)
- Having to run past food samples served in disposables (finger foods are OK) when I make the mistake of going grocery shopping on an empty stomach
- Sometimes having to pay more for unpackaged: At Whole Foods, potatoes cost less in a plastic bag than bulk
- Realizing that people you care about are unwilling to sacrifice the present (change their current habits) for a better future

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Zero Waste Bathroom

The fastest way to get to Zero Waste here, is to find alternatives to your disposables: Remove your bathroom trash can...whatever lands on the floor is what calls for an ersatz. Here are the changes we've made.

-Toilet paper: Yes, we still use it, at least until we get solar on the house and drying washlets on the toilet bowls. For now, it's TP; 100%recycled and unbleached, individually wrapped in paper to bypass the common plastic wrapper on multiples, while we wait for better packaging options to come up on the market. Evergreen is packaged in cardboard but is only sold online.

-Antiperspirant: Switch to a solution of baking soda/water/lavender essential oil in a stainless spray bottle or an alum stone (I bought mine in bulk in France, but you can find some here too). The latter lasts a year and also works on healing small razor cuts.

-Razors: Lucky me, I got it all lazered off six years ago (well before we tried to reduce our waste), but my husband still grows facial hair. He shaves with a reusable stainless razor handle and dries his disposable razor heads after each use, that way, each one lasts 6 months. When he has used his last disposable head, he'll switch to a safety razor. With solar, he'd probably go electric. 2/10/12 Scott has been using a double edge razor for a couple of years now. By drying the blade between uses, a pack of 10 blades should last 5 years.

-Shaving cream: Switch to a rich soap, shaving soap (wrapped in paper) or soap of Alep (I found mine in bulk in France, but middle eastern stores would carry it).

-Shampoo and Conditioner: Switch to bulk, I refill liter size bottles. If your hair is short, you also have the “no-poo” option: rinse your hair, massage baking soda in, then rinse, with vinegar for shine. I gave up after a 6 months trial on my long hair... I now “poo”.

-Body/face soap: Switch to bulk liquid castile soap or a package-free hard soap (best option since less packaging is involved in the making and selling)

-Toothbrush: There are no right answers out there yet. The choice is yours. Recycline (made of yogurt cups, packaged in a travel case, recyclable #5, but plastic), Terradent (replaceable bristle pads on a plastic handle, over packaged), Radius (replaceable plastic head on a recycled handle, too much non-recyclable packaging), and Swissco (wooden and packaged in a travel case but not a US product).

-Toothpaste tube: switch to a homemade tooth powder with baking soda and stevia (see recipes), in a glass parmesan dispenser.

-Dental Floss: Switch to a brass gum stimulator with a rubber tip.

-Cosmetics: Reduce. Cosmetics are my biggest Zero Waste issue, but I have reduced it down to 5 packaged items (cream, kohl powder, brown pencil, mascara, sunscreen powder) and 2 homemade substitute (cocoa powder bronzer and homemade vitamin E balm). While I have yet to find the first 5 items in bulk (on my on-going research list), I can recycle their containers at Origins. Read your labels, watch out for the dirty dozen, and check your cosmetics score on skin deep. If it’s good to you it’s good to the Earth too. 2/10/12 I thought this required a much needed update... The only thing I now purchase in packaging is a glass bottle of SPF tinted moisturizer. The rest, I either make (mascara, kohl eyeliner) or have eliminated (powder, brown pencil). What can I say? I am a work in progress;)

-Nail Polish : Switch to a nail clipper, stainless file and balm. After 15 years of using nail polish, I've gone naked and noticed that the ridges on my nails have miraculously disappeared. A bonus, since I can now also forego the buffer. My homemade vitamin E balm makes my nails shiny on demand and works on eyes, lips and hair. Nail clippers and stainless files come package free at the beauty supply store.

-Q-tips: Forget about them, they are not good for you anyways. Do your research.

-Feminine products: Switch to the Diva Cup and Glad Rags (I made mine from an old flannel shirt): Do I see some frowning? These require an up-front investment and take a couple months getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, you won't go back to disposables.

-Hairspray: Switch to lemon water in a spray bottle (see recipes). Amazingly simple and simply amazing.

-Exfoliators: Switch to baking soda or oatmeal for the face and salt for the body, all found in bulk.

-Mask: Switch to bulk clays (French, Kaolin, Bentonite, etc...), mixed with water or apple cider vinegar.

-Contact lenses: My husband is still attached to his (laser can sadly not cure his condition), the packaging of the lenses and that of the cleaning solution are recyclable and by using them only on occasions, he doubles their wearability.

You can also...

• Compost hair and nail clippings: My son believes that he is greener than the rest of us because he bites his nails and does not waste them :)
• Put a brick in your toilet tank, it will reduce the amount of water used every time you flush. You won’t notice a difference (until you see your water bill) and you’ll forget it’s in there.
• Collect water in a bucket while your shower heats, water your plants with it.
• Use zero waste cleaning: Microfiber cloths for mirrors, hydrogen peroxide white vinegar for mold, baking soda as scrub, a mix of baking soda and vinegar as drain cleaner (see Zero Waste Cleaning).

Your turn to Zero Waste your bathroom.
Ready, set, mellow! ...if it's yellow.

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Zero Waste’s #1 rule

REFUSE, REFUSE, REFUSE: Zero Waste’s #1 rule. We have all been programmed to accept and take whatever is given to us. Every bit we accept and take, creates demand. Zero Waste starts by chasing and changing those habits, one by one. Here are seven ideas to get you started:
- Refuse that plastic bag!: Even if the item, that you have not yet paid for, is already bagged. You know that the bag is probably going to end up in the can but you can let that one go: You’ll feel horrible seeing it go to waste (it will help you remember next time) and refusing helps cashiers change their compulsive bagging habits. De-bagging being a time waster, only our incessant reminding will get them deprogrammed.
- Refuse that bottle of water that you get handed for no reason, my husband went to a sports bar last month, the next day I found a bottle of water in his car (!!!) (#&%@%$#!)... He explained to me that although he barely drank, the bartender gave it to him, and that he felt bad saying no… come on! Show some strength, Love! Did he twist your arm to take his bottle of water? Were they out of tap water at the bar? …
- Refuse freebies from parties, events, festivals, etc. (including green parties, green events and green festivals): I can hear you: “oh, but it’s free!”… well not really, nothing in life is free. Stop the demand for swag bags (and whatever crap it contains).
- Refuse excessive packaging or toxic ingredients and write a letter to those that you wish would change (I try to write a letter of feedback every other day): I believe that consumers can change the world if they let manufacturers know what they want. Remember, you vote every time you buy…
- Refuse the food/drinks served in disposables: Tough, I know, but if you had brought your own, you’d be drinking and eating… you won’t make that mistake more that a couple of times.
- Refuse to let junk mail go from your mailbox straight to your recycling can: you need to cancel those pesky mailings one by one (see “Junk Mail War”)
- Refuse the extra school papers that come home: talk to your kids teachers and request less paper. I used to get a copy of the Community Center Activities Catalog from both my boy’s classes. What a waste, when the catalog is already sent out to all residents and can also be viewed online… at the beginning of the year, I opted-out with the kids teachers and they have been most cooperative.

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Zero Waste Grocery Shopping

While I plan on blogging about my local grocery stores and the bulk they carry, here is my general guide on Zero Waste grocery shopping:

- Only shop once a week: If you run all your errands on the same day and with a list (written on single-side printed paper or receipts), it saves on gas and impulse shopping. For maximum fuel efficiency, start with the furthest stop.

- Always have a few shopping baskets in your trunk: I like the straw French market baskets (I have lined them with an old sheet to make them stronger). One is filled with cloth and produce bags. I also have a rigid tote that I keep in a corner of the kitchen to store/carry milk and “wet items” jars to/from the grocery store.

- Use 2 sizes of cloth bags (10 of each should do) to transport grains and small items available in bulk (flour, sugar, beans, cereal, cookies, spices, etc…): You can buy these bags in the bulk section of your store (tucked in a dark corner…). Since I had a specific design idea in mind, I made mine from old sheets, with a fabric tie to eliminate metal ties, with their tare stamped on, and with a washable marker handy to note the item number directly on the fabric. I also use laundry mesh bags for produce (the cashier can read produce item numbers through it).

HOW: If your bags do not have a tare (weight of your empty bag) printed on them, they can be weighed at the customer service counter. In the bulk section, you then fill your bag and write its item number either on a tie (trash!) or directly on your bag (better, zero waste). At home, you'll pour your grains in see-through airtight containers. Don’t forget to put your cloth bags back in your shopping basket and car!

- Bring jars (French Le Parfait are my favorite) for wet items such as meat, fish, cheese, and deli from the counter or honey, peanut butter, pickles, etc from bulk: I like to use 1 liter jars for counter items (for my family of 2 adults and 2 kids, I use about 5 x 1liter jars a week: 2 meat, 1 fish, 1 cheese, 1 deli). Obviously life would be easier if we had succeeded in becoming vegetarians, and even easier if we were vegans (have not tried that yet).
HOW: For bulk items, get your jar weighed for its tare, fill it and write the item number on the available stickers. For counter items, simply ask the counter associate to fill your jar with your chosen, meat/fish/deli/cheese (the price sticker goes onto the jar and can be easily removed later). Some ask if your jar is clean, others ask why you’re doing this. After you've gone to the same store and talked to the same associates for consecutive weeks (same day of the week), they'll stop asking questions (see Difficult trip to WF) and you’ll get through shopping faster. Interesting fact: To this day, the Safeway cheese counter has never questioned my jars.

- Bring a large bread bag to the bakery for your bread order: I made a bag from the same old sheet.
HOW: I order my bread from Whole Foods Bakery as soon as I enter the store, I insist on no bread sleeve, and my baguettes bake while I shop. When I am done shopping, they slide the baguettes into my bag and give me one sleeve (for its barcode) to take to the store cashier with the rest of my groceries (make sure you refuse that sleeve! so they can reuse it and be reminded of the unnecessary packaging, see “what can my grocery store do to reduce packaging”). When I I get home, I binge on warm bread and freeze the rest… 15 baguettes every other week (incl. 2lbs of carbs on my belly)

- Refill liter or gallon size glass bottles with bulk castile soap, shampoo, conditioner, soy, vinegar, maple syrup...: I simply reuse empty 1 liter Whole Foods white vinegar bottles (I have not found white vinegar in bulk yet) for this purpose. I bought the gallon size at Rainbow grocery for olive and cooking oils.
HOW: These bottles also need to be weighed before you fill them with your chosen liquid and stick an item number on them. You won't be bringing these along to the store on a weekly basis. Bulk liquids are harder to find than counter products or grains, but once you find your supply, you’ll figure out your household monthly needs and the capacity of bottles needed. Again, the less you use on an everyday basis, the less you’ll need to refill, the smaller your footprint.

- Buy milk that comes in a glass jar: Depending on where you live you can either get it from a local dairy with delivery service or simply find your nearest Straus vendor. I get mine from Whole foods (your regular grocery store does not want to bother with the hassle of bottle redemption). With a recyclable cap and ring, the bottle can be returned to the store and then to the producer for reuse. I like to leave the cap on, it keeps the rinsing water in and reminds Straus to come up with a non-plastic cap.
HOW: If you buy Straus from your dairy aisle, you'll be charged a $1.50 deposit on your grocery bill. When you've drank all the yummy cream top milk, you rinse the bottle, take it back to your store (or any Straus vendor)'s customer service for a store credit slip.

- Bring your jar or cloth bag to a specialty store for a refill, such as ice-cream, candy, dog food: OK, this one is not easy, and will get you the most turn downs. But business in a jar is still business! And many are open to it

HOW: Choose a small business, Rite Aid will not refill your jar with ice cream (they are bound to too many corporate rules, but, hey, that's for the better: I doubt of its ice cream quality anyways). A small family-owned store will most likely accept. My local gelato joint has done so. For health license reasons, they have to sterilize my jar before filling it, which means that I have to drop it off and pick it up a few hours later. It does not come cheap and one cannot binge on ice cream (PMS) at this price, but the ingredients, seasonal flavors and palate excitement are worth every penny.

- Shop at the farmers market for (1) the egg stand who takes back its empty egg cartons, and (2) the sticker free produce!

- Refill your clean empty wine bottles with your everyday wine at a local winery bottling event: We like the reuse screw top wine bottles for this, no corks wasted. I’ll go into detail later about the 2 wineries I found locally, wine refilling is hard to find.
HOW: Research/contact wineries about refilling your bottles. The one winery that we like most, offers a bottling event 4 times a year. This is how they organize it: You are greeted at a table and fill a form, then move to the cashier counter and pay for the amount of bottles that you brought, then move to bottling: bottle line up, wine filling, corking or screwing, and labeling. We forego the latter, unlabeled wine is a more sustainable wine. It’s also a great way to start people talking about Zero Waste at a dinner party.

- Bring a refillable beer jug to your local brewery: some breweries carry them. We only get beer on occasions, when we’re scheduled to entertain beer drinkers, since it goes flat faster than bottled.
HOW: Look for a local brewery that will provide such service. Call around. If you get turned down, your inquiring will at least get them thinking about it. At my local brewery, I choose my beer from a long menu, the bartender fills the jug from the chosen beer tap and I pay for it, all at the counter.

One item at a time, you can "Zero Waste" your grocery shopping too.

Got milk? ... (in a glass jar only, please)

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Zero Waste Kitchen

Friends have asked me to blog about what they can do to reduce their household waste. I think its time that I wrote about what we did and are doing in our house. Let's start with the kitchen (I'll use the 1st person, because that's really my territory):

- I do not buy single-use products: They are not worth it (paper towels, garbage liners, wax paper, aluminum sheets, disposable plates, cups, etc...). I swapped paper towels for reusable rags, I chose microfiber because they do an amazing job and have eliminated many cleaning products (see Zero Waste Cleaning). I swapped sandwich baggies for kitchen towels (I made a bunch from an old french linen sheet). We dropped garbage liners all together, the wet items in waste are mostly compostable anyways (tomatoes for example). If you don't buy these disposable products, you will realize that you can very easily live without them. Try it for a while.

- I buy in bulk or at the counter (see Zero Waste Grocery Shopping), I bring reusable bags and jars for oils, vinegar, dry goods, spices, nuts, meat, fish, cheese, olives, etc.: no disposable or recyclable (because so little of what goes into the recycling can actually gets recycled) food packaging and containers allowed in the kitchen. I shop at my local Whole Foods, Mill Valley Market, Good Earth, Berkeley Bowl, New Leaf, Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco (the mecca) and seldomly Safeway (they have never questioned a jar at the cheese counter).

- "Exception makes the rule" above: butter (see below) and special occasion wines (we reuse some of the bottles for refills and recycle the corks). Our everyday wine we do get refilled at a local winery (Guglielmo Winery). 1-10-11 update: we get out wine refilled in French or Italian lemonade bottles that have flip tops (.75l) to reduce our cork usage.- If an item is not available in bulk, I make it (yogurt, mustard, soy milk, salad dressing, pickles, hot sauce, jams, OJ, hummus, sometimes cookies). I will post recipes for these later. 1-10-11 update: For simplifying reasons, I do not make yogurt or soy milk anymore. I purchase St Bemoit yogurt instead, which reuses their containers (deposit at the store).- If I can't make an item or am too lazy to go that route, I find a supplier and show up with my jar (ice cream shop, candy store)... I filled my travel tea mug with ketchup from a fast food joint once. 1-10-11 update: We get our beer refilled at the local brewery (you buy a growler and get it refilled at the bar when needed), but that only really works when you are ready to drink down 2 liters of beer at once (it will get flat overnight).
- I buy eggs and produce (I bring reusable produce bags) at the farmer's market (Mill Valley Friday Farmer's Market), the egg carton is reusable there and you won't likely find your cauliflower or cucumber shrink wrapped, your potatoes in a plastic bag, your fruit with stickers on them, or your carrots bundled with a plastic/metal tie.

- If a veggie is going to be out of season and I have learned through the past year that I cannot live without it, I'll can it (instead of getting a store-bought can later). Example: Tomatoes! (that's the only veggie that I really can't live without).

- Whole Foods bakery will bake 15 baguettes at a time for me and put it into my large bread bag (to bypass the pesky baguette sleeve), I throw them in the freezer as soon as I get home. 1-10-11 update: I freeze enough baguettes to last us a week (these days, it's 10), cut them in half and freeze them in a pillowcase.

- We use yummy tap water in stainless steel bottles: not only great to travel with but also to avoid chasing and washing the tons of empty dirty glasses that I used to find on my counter.

- I choose a compostable cleaning brush (a wooden one with natural hair), and a compostable scrubby (I have used loofah or have knitted a scrubby from sisal twine). 1-10-11 update: I substituted the latter for a stainless scrubby, it gets the job done easier.
- I buy in bulk both castile soap as a dish/hand cleaner (Dr Bronner's) and baking soda as a scrubber (in a stainless Parmesan dispenser). I do still buy my dishwasher detergent (Seventh Generation) in a box, because the one that I have found in bulk is liquid and comes out of a gallon size plastic container. I believe that powder in a recyclable cardboard box is greener (plastic only gets recycled once, cardboard many times). 1-10-11 update: I now buy my detergent in bulk at Good Earth (see Bulk Shopping in and around Mill Valley).- I have turned what used to be our trash can into a big compost keeper (it makes composting easy and at the reach of the kids, before we take it outside on a weekly basis), I use another one for recycling and a tiny bucket for trash (items to put on my to do list of improvements- the less I have in there, the more free time I get!). 1-10-11 update: The tiny bucket took up too much room, I now store our trash items in the under-counter paper towel holder.

- I store all our food in Le Parfait french glass canning jars (not just because I am french, I promise). No more plastic leaching Tupperware. I now have about 150 of those in different sizes (I am addicted). I use them for canning, storing, freezing, transporting, they are so versatile and interchangeable, just love them.

- All leftovers get eaten as-is, reinvented in new dishes, or frozen (the dog sometimes gets some too!) and I make stock from meat bones and veggie scraps.

- I keep my kitchen drawers and cabinets very minimal, with strong metal accessories (no plastic), the stronger and less you have, the less will break, the less will end up, well... you know where. I also have allowed only 2 I-cannot-live-without small electrical appliances: a toaster, and an immersion blender (with chopper and mixer attachments). I agree, simplifying could be the subject of a whole new blog for me... (but I just started this one!)

- I reuse single-side printed paper for grocery shopping and errands lists, and write on them with refillable stainless mechanical pencils.

-My biggest pet peeve??? Non recyclable wax paper butter wrappers. I have made some from scratch but at the price of Straus cream and the amount of butter we use (my boys need their daily cookie), it became way too expensive. I have called a bunch of places and got a recent lead but nothing for sure yet. Straus can actually sell a large container of butter, but only to businesses... Rainbow Grocery or any bulk vendor is yet to offer it (I picture blocks of butter, pre-cut tofu size, that could be picked up with tongues and put in my reusable jar). While I wait to find butter in bulk or, at default, compost its wrappers in our upcoming city compost, I am collecting our wax papers for a future art piece; it helps being a recycling artist :) . 1-10-11 update: I now compost the butter wrappers.All of this might seems like a lot of work, but if you start small, one step at a time, you'll be hooked to Zero Waste. One small resolution to yourself such as: "I will not bring another plastic bag into this house"... will bring on another and before you know it, you'll ready to move on to another room.

"One small step for man, but a giant step for mankind" Neil Armstrong.

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Junk mail war: still on!

I started my fight against junk mail 5 years ago, when I signed up for the "do not mail" list on dmachoice.org.

Last year, however, I decided that enough was enough. I declared: "I shall attack EVERY PIECE OF UNWANTED MAIL that finds its way into our mailbox". Not an easy task, one that has changed my relationship with the mailbox forever. I no longer run to it to look for the latest Pottery Barn catalog, but to count how many crap mail pieces I have landed and have to fight.
It's been a part-time job ever since. At the time when the kids need my attention for their homework (kids get home from school at the same time that mail is delivered), I am usually holding on the phone to talk to a customer service representative or emailing some unknown company to be taken off their mailing list. The number has declined overtime, but I would have thought to be free of it by now. Yesterday I landed 4! 2 of these are particularly pesky.

• United Visa application: After numerous mail and call attempts, I have managed to cancel the weekly thick applications that each one of us used to receive (incl. my 7 and 9 years old boys!) but yesterday I landed one that was addressed to the previous owner. UGH
• Local Community College Catalog: I should have a choice to receive these by email instead. Because they are not directly addressed to one of us but the the "postal customer", the mailman has to deliver them. A few months ago, I called my post office to see what I could do about it. They told me to talk to the community college directly. Once I found the (very nice and understanding) person in charge of mailings at the community college, she told me that the post office had the possibility of returning catalogs to them for reuse. I went back to the post office with that piece of information and was granted the right to write "refused" on such mailings... it then only took a long and frustrating conversation with my mailman, another trip to the post office, and another call to the post office for my mailman to actually pick one up... Now if everyone in my town would refuse their Community Catalogs, that would be the end of them.

Here is what you can do to stop your junk mail:

• Go to http://www.dmachoice.org/ (direct mail) and http://www.optoutprescreen.com/ (credit and insurance offers), it's made a big difference.
• Go to http://www.catalogchoice.org/, they cancel catalogs for you. You can also call the catalogs directly.
• Do not open unwanted 1st and 2nd class mail: their postage includes return service, so you can write "Return to Sender" (front of envelope) and "take me off your mailing list" (back), I keep a pen in my mailbox for that effect. Note as of 2-2-11: 2nd class is for catalogs, these need to be cancelled by contacting the catalog directly or by using the link above.
• Open the 3rd class presorted standard mail to find a contact info, then Call/email/write to be taken off their mailing list (that includes any phone directories such as Yellow Pages, from which you can also opt out, by clicking here) Note as of 2-2-11: 3rd class mail with "return address requested" can be refused and sent back to the sender.
• Write "Refused" on the mailings that are not addressed to your specific name or address, they usually are addressed to "postal customer"(such asCommunity Catalogs: Community Education, Classes, Events). No matter what, these will end up in your mailbox, all you can do is refuse them so your mailman take them back (if he does not, call your post office and talk to the carrier supervisor) Note as of 2-2-11: Please understand that if your mailman does take it, it will only be disposed/recycled by him with no further impact on the source. Because such mailings do not include return to sender, refusing them will not stop them from being sent in the first place. It is best to contact the sender directly to propose an alternative way of advertising.

Note: If these steps are too much for you to handle at once, you can let 41Pounds.org handle the bulk of it (fee of $41). You'll just have to tackle the rest.

To reduce your mail paper consumption/waste/recycling further:

• Cancel your magazine subscriptions (for Vogue, calling was best)
• Sign up for electronic bills and statements
• Reuse envelopes
• Reuse one sided mail paper for printing or to make notepads (grocery lists, errands lists...)
• Reuse double sided mail paper to wrap presents or make paper (great for presents and occasional cards/envelopes)
• Recycle or compost as a last resort

REFUSE 1st, REDUCE 2nd, REUSE 3rd, RECYCLE last

Wait! Before I end this posting, let me make something clear... I never was a Pottery Barn fan anyways. I confess that, at one point, I was inspired by their clever home organization ideas. After a decade of receiving, god only knows, how many trees in my mailbox from PB, I have only bought a couple of blankets (at the store, not thru the catalog) to keep the heating bills down the first winter evening that cold hit our new home. Were a couple of sales worth deforestation? I believe that claiming independence from such catalogs has helped me keep a simpler, minimalist, non over-consuming lifestyle. Eradicating junk mail is only for the better.

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Difficult trip to Whole Foods

Just got back from Whole Foods. Exhausted.
I usually shop on Thursdays. Those who work there that day know the drill with my refillable jars. But we were gone over the New Years weekend and came back to an empty pantry and refrigerator. I had to go shopping today, Monday...
- The cheese guy stared at me and my 2 jars as I read in his eyes that he believed I was mad. After 10 minutes of debating, cutting one type of cheese from its wheel and fitting it in the 1st jar, I ask for Parmesan... to make it easier on himself, he unwraps a cling wrapped piece and puts it in my 2nd jar. I give up with this guy. That's cheating, I know!
- The deli guy came to me with my ham wrapped in a plastic baggie... what in "please put one pound of ham in this jar" as I handed him an empty, did he not get?
- The meat guy told me to go talk to the "shifty" at customer service to inquire whether putting a whole chicken in the oilcloth bags that I plan on making would meet their health standards.
- The "shifty" told me that she had to check into it, and would call me back within a few days. No answer comes easy...
- The cashier guy got the tare of the shrimp filled jar off by 1lb, glad I caught that one (a $10 difference)
- Boy! do I find these stares and questions tiring: sometimes I just wish the world of shopping would change instantly... I just want to shop anonymously...

Well, at least the beginning of the morning went well. I returned the few new items I received for Xmas, dropped off a large bag of clothes and house miscellaneous at Goodwill, took some packing material to UPS for them to reuse, and stopped at Ben Franklin for some candle wicks (they sell it by the yard and I need to make more votives) and that oilcloth I had been looking for. I bought a yard of it and if Whole Foods gets back to me with the bad news that an oilcloth bag (with a fabric insert) could not be used to wrap a whole chicken, then I'll use it to make lunch bags and baguette sandwich wraps for my kids and hubby. More on that later.

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