No More Dollar Store

This week our Godson is staying with us, as he has the last few summers. During previous visits as a treat I would take him to the Dollar Store and let him pick out a few toys. This visit we will not be going to the Dollar Store. A big part of going Green for me has been drastically changing my buying habits. I now do everything I can to either buy used or buy from socially responsible sources. I would still like to take him to get a toy or two that he can have fun with during his visit here and then have to take home with him. I think we will either do a trip to the second hand store down the street, or, go the Kindred, the fair trade store in downtown Santa Rosa that I love. Or heck, maybe both. He's nine and a very smart boy. I'll explain why we are not going to the Dollar Store this year, and why we are going somewhere else instead. I have a feeling that whatever he picks out will mean a lot more to him than another cheep toy from the Dollar Store.

Bulk Peanut Butter

I am so in love with Community Market. I love just about everything about that little store. After the post Erica did awhile back about all the things that we think can be recycled but can't (but I still really want to do the tour with our local recycler to find out what the deal is locally) it got me wanting to reduce waste even more. I'm really enjoying shopping in the bulk section and I feel good about all the packaging that saves.

Today I brought in my empty unwashed peanut butter jar (that we had just finished) and had them weigh it, then filled it up with bulk peanut butter. Plus it was kind of fun to use that grind-up-the-peanuts-machine. Another bonus- natural peanut butter that you don't have to stir!!!

Green Pen

I was doing some cleaning today of my tin of pens from years past.
I came across 2 Green Pen's and thought I would research and see if I could find them.
I did!
http://www.apartment1g.com/green_pen__biodegradable_recyclable__made_from_corn__mater_bi__2b.htm
I have the original one that is at the bottom of the webpage.
Check out the rest of the web site. It seems pretty cool. They even have a corn mug that is made in the USA. They even do fundraising too!

Trader Joe's

We did it! Our first trip to TJ's. We bought 25 items for a total of $58. That's not bad really. Little over $2 per item. We went to the one in the Costco center. I felt weird and not in my zone. I was a bit shocked that they didn't have more produce. My receipt says 4 of the items are organic. Have you tried their pizza dough? We bought the whole wheat one. I'm thinking to save gas, we will just stick to Oliver's Market, but if we are in Santa Rosa and need some food, we will stop by TJ's. I still want to check out Whole Foods though.
Oh! we also got soy ice cream too. Mainly for me and Victoria. Dan doesn't like soy. The taste brought back memories of when I had soy ice cream as a kid. I was on soy as a kid cause I was allergic to milk. Not so much now. Can't wait to try the dessert Dan picked out that is from France, chocolate mousse cake. Yum!

Bulk

I finally did it. I set us up to buy in bulk. This is something I've been wanting to do for quite a while. I plan to buy nuts, cereal, pasta, crackers, dried fruit, snacks, etc.

I was having trouble deciding on the best way to do it. I called Community Market because they have a really big bulk foods section and I wanted to get some tips. I asked if there was a good system to bring your own containers in. They said most people just use the plastic bags because they are so much less bulky than bringing in any kind of container. They said a lot of people re-use their bags over and over again. They said most people use Mason jars which they sell there.

I decided to head to Michael's Crafts (since I had a store credit I've been carrying around forever) and see what kind of jars they had. They had the Mason jars, but I decided on the ones I got because I like the lids better. The guy at Community Market also suggested reusing jars. So as I have a pasta sauce jar, or whatever, that is a nice size I'll wash that and use that too.

I'm really excited about all the packaging I'll be saving. I still need to figure out a good system to reuse the bags, but even worse case, I recycle them, it's still a big reduction in waste. I'm not very good at calculating this kind of thing out (I've noticed you are Sarah Michele- if you do the switch you should do a cost comparison!), but I'm pretty sure there will be a cost savings. And the selection in the bulk is almost always more whole foods and organic selections compared to elsewhere in the store.

And the final bonus is how organized my pantry is. I am loving not having all those half empty boxes crammed in there!

I am still looking for some good cereal sized containers. Sarah M., I looked for the ones from Ikea online but didn't see them. Did you get them at the store?

One at a Time

I'm enjoying the process of looking at my buying habits in a new light. Like Erica, I'm going slowly. Using up what I have. But future purchases will go through a new filter. I know these changes will take time, but I know I can be too focused on the future sometimes, so I'm trying to enjoy the process.