Summary day 3

Day 3 Summary

Not a hard day today in fact I had a rewarding day handing out items to up-cycle then my husband returns home from the supermarket totally plastic free. My kids are supporting my journey to plastic free and one way came to light tonight when my 12 year old shows me his up-cycled the squash bottle with diluted new squash to put in the fridge.

Ice pops are back in for tomorrow after school and trifle has been eaten. The kids are getting used to homemade treats and my kitchen is becoming a social place where kids are cooking and discussing tomorrow treat ideas. The dinners are getting eaten and food waste is down.

I’ve started listing shopping ingredients and the difference in the costs, where I have brought them in the past and waiting to see where I buy them in the future.

My house is becoming organised and people are benefiting from it and I’m meeting people in the process.

I will keep going, I’ve had some great comments with ideas on Facebook but could you comment on my blog instead so others can see them. Plus follow by pressing the follow button.
Thanks

Tomorrow I clean out my black bag bin (general waste) it will be interesting to see what goes back in it over the next fortnight. Tomorrow it’s collected with 3 bags from 2 weeks,  hopefully it will be less in two weeks time.

Over the last year I have been reducing this waste, before they would both be full  going to landfill or being incinerated

The husband went to the supermarket hilarious

July 3rd 2019

I get a phone call from my husband who has passed by Aldi to get himself some beers after his hard day at work. I said in my previous post how amazed I was at the kids going plastic free and supporting this challenge.
Well the husband called to ask what the signs on the back of the packaging mean as he wanted dry roasted peanuts to go with his beer. Guess what he didn't buy any as they were all in plastic but what he came home with was truly amazing and so supportive. From the pictures below he found chocolate without plastic wrapping, bottled beers which were more expensive which he liked to point out and my tinned larger in a box and not a plastic ring. £15.85 spent

I'm so proud of him and the kids were delighted to get chocolate back in the house.

I will price this up against the others I used to buy and it can be viewed later.



kids loved it

reecycled material inside

no plastic in sight love him

again this would be at least £30-£40 normally when hubby shops

Day 3 menu

Day 3 menu fun

July 3rd 2019

So breakfast was easy as we are using up the cereal and my son 8 years old decided he wanted an omelette on toast.

Lunch was sandwiches with the bread i needed to use up from the freezer and the filling/salad was what I needed to use up from the fridge.

Another thing to add to my list when I replace it is cucumbers that are not wrapped in plastic. I am going to add a shopping list page to my blog so that you can see day by day what I’m stumbling upon to replace with a plastic free alternative.

Dinner was fab, as for the first time ever I made Cornish pasties from scratch with home made chips. This might not seem difficult to some people but I always brought them in packaging. The kids loved my pasties so I’m delighted and one successful dinner I will add to my success list.

Pudding this evening is trifle my last box in the cupboard so again the alternative will be making my own. Finding out how replace jelly that’s not wrapped in plastic will be interesting too next how do I make jelly.

I’m loving the fact that my kids are taking my challenge on board, they are so supportive and remind me daily that they did not use or buy plastic either.

Tonight my son ran to the freezer to try out the home made ice lollies and I have not heard from him since but can hear the sucking slopping noise you hear when a child is enjoying what they are eating. Again another success.

I think this week is going to be my easiest week of July as the food is all here needing to be used up from my shopping in June. Replacing, reusing and cooking from scratch is the challenging parts of this Plastic free July.

Keep your ideas coming on the comments section below so others can see and get ideas from you too.

Homemade coleslaw

Homemade Chips

squash ice pops

Homemade Cornish pasties

My spends this week, one item from Tesco 69p spent its usually about £80 every time I walk through their door, £14.60 in total. winning so far bank account wise

my last Trifle box from the cupboard I had to use it as I did not want to waste it.

Day 3 July 2019 Up-Cycling STUFF

3rd July 2019

 

So my house today was all about up-cycling some items that would have gone to the tip normally.

I stumbled across a great way to up-cycle reusable items on Facebook through Worcestershir waste exchange. So far everything but the mower has gone and I only posted this morning what was avalible and then everyone who wanted them, collected them and I did not have to move out the house. Brilliantly done.

 

Just sitting in my garden not now

I hope the children make good use of this as my kids have done in the past

Too many (22) for me to use up myself dog and cat flea treatments flew off my facebook post.

This is still avalible bottom plate needs fixng apart from that engine great.

Day 2 summary, wow what an eye opening day so much plastic in my house.

Day 2 summary 2nd July 2019

Wow what a day, I have just sat down at 21.30 after going crazy on my cupboards today.

Making lists of what I have, how I’m going to replace these items once I’ve used them and pricing up what spends I will be doing.

I’ve decided to take the month of July 2018 as my starting point, calculate  what was my total amount spent in supermarkets over the month of July 2018 and compare this to July 2019.

For July I’m keeping all my receipts and tallying up at the end the difference between each month. If there is a real difference in price as feedback is plastic free is more expensive. I beg to differ at the moment but I could be wrong.

But the real test will be my recycling bin and general waste bin. Once they have been emptied from June’s waste I can wash them and start what I hope will be an recycle tins, boxes and cans. (No plastic)

Making items like dishwasher tablets, toothpaste, washing powder, soaps and shampoos will be an exciting messy fun thing to do with the kids.

Today (as a summary) though really opened my eyes to the amount of unnecessary stuff I own, wasteful too and what can be  up-cycle in my community.

The car  boot was a success as I brought up-cycled equipment I need to help me with this challenge.

The whole idea is that I don’t support the unnecessary single plastic industry, I maybe only one person trying this out but my money will be spent on alternatives.

If you have any ideas that may help me please comment on my blogs, like and share please and of course follow my journey through July 2019 by pressing the follow button. Your support will keep me going on what I know is going to be a tough time consuming challenge.

Car boot cordial alternative £1 per bottle and my kids love it, plus I can  use the  bottles  after. 

An easy change made today

Just some ideas from today. Day 2

Simple and easy changes

Today I went to a car boot sale, everything I brought was second hand and that means I recycle it.

This is an easy change for me, take away plastic ice bags for reusable trays. Trays brought at car boot for £2 for four trays. Bargain. 

Two oil bottles that I can take to be refilled at the eco shop and another jar which I will put to good use. The ice pops are silicon And I  will now make homemade ice lilies, plastic free wrapping and reusable options. Cheaper too. 

My old yogurt pots have been made into moulds for winter bird feed and I use my fat dripping from the pans and grill to hold the feed together. 

My cleaning cupboard is full of plastic what can I do?

So it’s only fair that I hit the cleaning cupboards to find out how simple it would be to go plastic free.

Once again BOOM too must stuff already there that I’m not prepared to waste. Therefore plastic free for July will mean that I am not purchasing the plastic agin but finding refillable or homemade cleaning recipes and reuse the bottles I have.

Once I find the alternatives I will of course share my finds on this blog. 

This is an amazing amount of cleaning products, I need to reduce my usage and box a bit cleverly. 

Toilet rolled are cheaper in bulk but after this pack is used I won’t be able to buy plastic again, so I’m  sourcing an alternative and will update this post in due course. 

The laundry products once again I have too much already that I am not going to waste. I will find an alternative even if I make them myself. There must be something. Ideas always welcome too please.