The Conscious Shopper: extreme challenge

Showing posts with label extreme challenge. Show all posts

>> Thursday, June 3, 2010

Another month, another extreme challenge!

Buy Nothing New

Have you all heard of The Compact? They're a group of people who pledge to buy nothing new for a year. Be happy I'm not asking you to go that extreme, but we will be following their rules, which are:

As agreed, The Compact has several aims (more or less prioritized below):

1) to go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of U.S. consumer culture, to resist global corporatism, and to support local businesses, farms, etc. -- a step, we hope, inherits the revolutionary impulse of the Mayflower Compact

2) to reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er)

3) to simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)

So, here goes for the rules:

First principle - don't buy new products of any kind (from stores, web sites, etc.)
Second principle - borrow or buy used.

A few exceptions - using the "fair and reasonable person" standard -- i.e., you'll know in your heart when you're rationalizing a violation:
food, drink, and necessary medicine (no elective treatments like Viagra or Botox)
necessary cleaning products, but not equipment (don't go out and buy the Dyson Animal, for example).
socks and underwear (utilitarian--non-couture or ornamental) pajamas for the children
Utilitarian services (plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, veterinarians, dog/house-sitters, fire/paramedics, dry cleaners, house cleaners, etc.) -- Support local and encourage used parts (rebuilt transmission, salvaged headlight unit, etc.)
Recreational services (massage, etc.) & local artisanal items - Good sources for gifts, but should not be over-indulged in for personal gratification
Charitable contributions(Seva, Heifer, and the like) - an even better source for gifts
Plants and cut flowers - Whenever possible, cultivate from free cuttings or seeds. Ok in extreme moderation (yo, incoming oxy) when purchased from local businesses (i.e., not the Target Garden Shop)--and again, within reason
Art supplies - First line of attack: SCRAP. When absolutely necessary (for the professionals and talented amateurs in the group), from local businesses
Magazines, newspapers, Netflix - renewals only, no new subscriptions. Even better to consume online Video rentals and downloadable music files (non-material) -- freely shared and legal, please

My family will be doing our best to buy nothing new this month, even while we take a trip to the beach this weekend and to Tennessee later this month. Can we do it? We're going to try our best!

Will you accept the June Extreme Challenge to buy nothing new for a month? Let me know in the comments what your family will be doing.

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You have hereby been challenged to go green in a year without going broke! Check out the last challenge, or view the whole list of Challengicious Mondays. Sign up for my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, and join my "Go Green without Going Broke" group on Facebook!

>> Thursday, May 27, 2010

Last night as my husband and I were getting into bed, I made him listen to me gripe about no poo for 15 minutes, and when I finished, I said, "That was the post I was going to write tonight but I didn't get around to it. So now you can write it for me!" He refused. :(

So now let's see if I can remember everything I told him...

I'm going on seven weeks of no poo. Here are a few of my Twitter and Facebook updates to give you an idea of how it's been going:

Day 5 of no poo - my hair looks good but feels nasty. Even hubby noticed.
Day 22 of no poo. I bought a boar bristle brush that has made all the difference. Starting to like my hair again. However, the new brush cost $10 - so far no poo has not saved me money.
Colored my hair this morning, and strangely, it has done wonders for my no poo hair. Feels so soft and "normal"!
Over a month #nopoo, I can go two days between washes but on third day I seem to have dandruff??!!

It hasn't been all bad. Here's what I LIKE about no poo:

Saving money - about $60 if I don't buy shampoo or conditioner for a year.
I don't have to pay attention to whether or not I'm about to run out of shampoo and conditioner or make a special trip out to the Lush store at Crabtree Valley Mall.
I don't have to squint at the back of shampoo bottles or try to translate scientific jargon.
I can pretty successfully skip a day between washing my hair now.

This picture was taken on the day I colored my hair.

This is today. On the days I don't wash my hair, I get rid of bedhead by curling it. The grease holds the curl better than any hairspray. :)

A front shot of today. For some reason when I take pictures of myself I get a weird expression on my face.

Here's what I DISLIKE about no poo:

Even after almost two months, my hair still gets nasty greasy if I try to go more than two days between washings.
Before the grease phase, my hair has a "thick" feeling to it, as if I put hair styling products in it even though I don't. The boar bristle brush helped a lot with that, but the only time my hair really felt good was the three or four days after I colored it. (I'm guessing the harsh chemicals stripped everything out of my hair. Other people who color their hair might know what I'm talking about when i say that my hair always feels softest right after I've colored it, as oxymoronic as that may sound.)
When I brush my hair with the boar bristle brush, it gets coated in a greyish white powder. For the past couple weeks, I've been seeing that in my hair. At first I thought it was dandruff (see Twitter post above), but my husband who actually has dandruff says it's not. So now we're thinking it's baking soda residue???

The white residue is most noticeable on the black bristles.

I feel like I've gone so far now, I might as well keep it up for awhile. But unlike a few others of you that I've already heard back from, I am not having the magical results people often describe after going no poo. Here are a few of the thoughts that have been running through my head:

Has my hair returned to it's "normal" state and I just don't like normal?

Does hair really return to "normal" on no poo, or do people just get used to the change?

If this is really more natural than using shampoo, why is it taking so long for my body to adjust? It seems like if it's natural, my body would catch on pretty fast! It would be like, "Finally you've stopped dousing me in unnecessary chemicals and now I can do my job like I'm meant to."

My husband's about out of shampoo. Since my no poo experience hasn't been completely positive, I'll never convince him to go no poo. Guess I have to make a trip to Crabtree Valley Mall...:(

No poo readers: I need your advice. What am I doing wrong?

Final note: There's no use even bothering to lecture me about how I shouldn't color my hair. I know, I know, I know. It's on my list of eco-changes to make eventually, but like cheap chocolate, it's one that's not going to die easily. I've had red hair so long, some people don't even know I'm not a natural redhead! And yes, I do plan to try henna eventually.

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May Extreme Challenge

>> Tuesday, May 4, 2010

It was 88 degrees in my house on Sunday. We had all windows and doors open, shades closed on the sunny side, fans whirling. It didn't help. Our house is not well designed for no air-conditioning. The windows aren't well positioned, and there's no way to get a good breeze going. The one thing I can say for it is that it has porches on both the east and west sides, and the east porch has a fan, making it a good spot to sit and read on warm afternoons.

An 88 degree house in humid North Carolina is not fun. An 88 degree house with three whiny boys is miserable. Trying to sleep in an 88 degree house in a bed with a very sweaty husband is torture.

And 88 degrees isn't even close to how hot it can get around here in the peak of summer.

I had originally planned for May's extreme challenge to be the "no car" month, but after Sunday I decided to be realistic. I might be able to make it through May without turning on the A/C, but I'd suffer through June, and I'm not going to make it through the whole summer. I'm sorry, people, but I live in the freakin' South.

So your extreme challenge for May is...

Go Without Air Conditioning

As usual, you can modify the challenge to fit your family's needs, but try to push yourself. See how long you can go without turning on your A/C this year. For many of you up north, the month of May should be no problem, and you might even be able to go longer. You might be able to go the whole summer. I remember one summer I spent with my grandparents in Utah where it would get so cool in the evenings, I would have to wear a jacket.

For those of us in the humid parts of the country, one month might be enough. My family is committing to May, and we'll see how it goes from there.

Will you accept the May Extreme Challenge to go without A/C for a month?

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image by cat's_101

April Extreme Challenge

>> Saturday, April 3, 2010

Here's your extreme challenge for April:

Go No 'Poo

"No 'poo" is slang in the green world for "no shampoo." What it really means is that you wash your hair with baking soda and rinse with apple cider vinegar, and you wash your hair less often.

Why go no poo?

To save money. Compare a $5 bottle of shampoo to a $1 box of baking soda.
To save packaging. Shampoo and conditioner usually come in plastic bottles, and even if you recycle those, their next life is probably a park bench. Baking soda comes in a cardboard box and vinegar in a glass jar, and because you only use a small amount each time you wash your hair, you end up using a lot less packaging.
To avoid potentially harmful chemicals. Although there are plenty of eco-friendly, less toxic shampoos and conditioners on the market, what could be less harmful than baking soda and vinegar?
To live naturally. Hey parents, have you ever noticed how long you can go without washing your kids hair? Supposedly, that's how hair is supposed to be, and if you wash it less and put fewer chemicals on it, your hair can look that natural, luscious, and shiny too.

Those are the main reasons I've thought of. If you've gone no poo, why did you do it?

There are several methods for going no poo. Here's one:

Obtain a couple old squirt bottles such as old shampoo bottles, salad dressing bottles, or sports bottles.
Fill one bottle with a ratio of 1 Tbsp. baking soda to 1 c. water. Fill the other bottle with a ratio of 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar to 1 c. water. If desired, you can add a few drops of essential oil to the apple cider vinegar solution to cover the smell.
Squeeze some of the baking soda solution on to your scalp and massage for a few seconds. You're aiming to clean your scalp, not your hair. Leave on while you wash your body and then rinse out.
Squeeze some of the vinegar solution on to your hair. Leave on for a few seconds and then rinse.

I've read that there's an "adjustment period" while your hair returns to it's natural state and starts producing less grease. Then you'll be able to wash your hair less and less - some people go as long as a week!

Want to see no poo in action? Here are a few bloggy friends that have gone no poo:

Here's what my family will be doing:

Last month's challenge was easy peasy. This one, I'm not excited about. At all.

I'm starting this challenge late this month because of spring break, but I'm committing to try no poo for at least a month. I'm really nervous about it because of the supposed adjustment period. I'm also skeptical.

My sister the cosmetologist only washes her hair every other day, or even every third day, and she has gorgeous hair. She told me that if you stop washing your hair so often, your body will adjust and produce less grease, and that hair is healthier when it's not washed so much. So I gave it a go...For a whole year, I gave it a go! I kept thinking, "Soon my head will catch on that it doesn't need to make so much grease." But it never did! Finally after a year, I was tired of looking awful every other day, and I went back to daily washings. And that is why I don't believe no poo will work for me. But we'll see!

Will you accept the April Extreme Challenge to go no poo for a month? Let me know in the comments what your family will be doing.

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image by hansvandenberg30

Great Snack Experiment: Kale Chips

>> Thursday, March 18, 2010

I serendipitously stumbled on several recipes for kale chips recently in a way that made me feel like the universe was trying to nudge me into making them. Now I feel like I owe the universe an apology for waiting so long. As strange as they sound, these are surprisingly good and so easy.

Kale is one of the greens my kids eat without complaint (along with spinach), but even if you usually have to force feed greens to your kids, you should still give these a try. They're kind of in the same vein as popcorn - vegetable-based so relatively healthy, but also covered in fat and salt so not really healthy, making them a good snack.

Kale Chips

MAKES: about 4 servings (though you could easily eat them all by yourself in one sitting)
COST: $.81 per serving*

1 bunch of kale
1 Tbsp. oil
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
sea salt to taste

Preheat your oven. Every recipe I've seen for kale chips lists a different oven temperature - somewhere between 350 and 450. I baked mine at 375 (not so coincidentally, the same temp I bake bread at).

Cut curly kale leaves off of the tough stems. Discard the stems.

Wash kale and dry thoroughly - either by patting with a towel or spinning in a salad spinner. It's very important to get the kale dry, or you'll end up with steamed kale instead of baked kale chips.

Toss kale with oil and vinegar. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Spread the kale evenly onto a baking sheet. Bake for 5 minutes, stir, bake 5 minutes more, etc. until kale is crispy but not burnt. I baked mine for 20 minutes, and I think they're just slightly overdone.

*Note that all costs are estimates based on prices in my area and that I use organic ingredients whenever possible. Your costs may vary.

This post stems from my experiment in February to stop buying store-bought crackers and make my own snacks from scratch. For other snack ideas, check out the following:

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This recipe was shared at Tasty Tuesdays and DIY Day

Great Snack Experiment: Non-Animal Crackers and Granola Bars

>> Sunday, March 7, 2010

Aldi has the best animal crackers in the whole world. Normally, I don't snack during the day, but sometimes I can't help myself with Aldi's animal crackers. So in my attempt to make all of our food from scratch last month, one of the first recipes I went looking for was an animal cracker recipe.

I was inspired by this recipe for Animal Cracker Cookies from 101 Cookbooks. In a dream world, I would also own those animal cookie cutters from Williams and Sonoma, but in reality, I am both too cheap and too lazy to bother shaping the crackers into animal shapes. So we call them Non-Animal Crackers. Of all the cracker recipes I tried this month, these are the only ones my kids have requested that I make again. That should give you a pretty good indication of their tastiness.

Non-Animal Crackers

MAKES: 2 dozen cookies
COST: $2.99 with coconut oil ($2.25 with butter)*

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup walnuts (ground in a food processor or chopped very fine)
1/2 cup unsweetened finely shredded coconut (also ground in a food processor or chopped very fine)
1/4 cup extra-virgin coconut oil, softened (butter can be substituted, but will affect the taste)
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten

In a medium bowl, cream together the coconut oil, sugar, and salt. Beat in the egg.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, walnuts, and coconut.
Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture.
Knead the dough a couple times until it forms a ball.
Divide the ball in half, wrap tightly, and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
The original recipe suggests lining your baking sheets with parchment paper. Since I don't have parchment paper, I just greased my pans, and I didn't have a problem with sticking. But if you have parchment paper, you might as well use it.
Roll each ball of dough out until it is 1/8 inch thick. Cut into cracker shapes (or animal shapes if you're adventurous) and place on baking sheets.
Bake 7 or 8 minutes until lightly browned at the edges.

I packed the non-animal crackers in Third Son's lunch for church (our congregation meets at a strange time). His nursery leader snuck a bite, and then emailed me for the recipe. In exchange, she sent me the following recipe for granola bars, which have been a huge hit around here:

Granola Bars

MAKES: 2 dozen
COST: $4.50 before adding extra goodies*

3 1/2 cups folled oats
1 cup Rice Krispies (or other cereal, or just more oats)
1 cup wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup honey
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup extra goodies of your choice (raisins, dried apples, chocolate chips, etc.)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9 X 13 inch dish.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except chocolate chips. Then stir in the chocolate chips, if using.
Firmly press mixture into the prepared pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown.
Let cool for 10 minutes, then cut into bars. Let bars cool completely before removing from the pan.

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This post was shared at Tasty Tuesdays and DIY Day

March Extreme Challenge

>> Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Here's your extreme challenge for March:

Give Up Disposable Paper Products

If you've been working on greening your paper products since the challenge a couple weeks ago, now's your chance to push yourself to find your sweet spot.

You can take this challenge as extreme as you want, but here are a few suggestions:

Replace paper napkins with cloth napkins.

Clean with rags instead of paper towels.

Use kitchen towels, washcloths, and sponges in the kitchen instead of paper towels.

Use cloth bags instead of wrapping paper to wrap gifts.

Switch to handkerchiefs instead of facial tissue.

Try cloth wipes instead of toilet paper.

For one month, see how far you can go. Just make sure you:

Make a plan.
Write it down.
Post it somewhere you'll see it.

Here's what my family will be doing:

After last month's super extreme challenge, I think we're going to take it relatively easy this month. No paper napkins, paper towels, or facial tissue, and if we have any need to give gifts this month, I think I can commit to cloth. I might do cloth wipes sporadically, but I'm not going to force it on the rest of my family.

I think the biggest challenge here will be our spring break vacation later this month. We'll see how it goes!

Will you accept the March Extreme Challenge to give up disposable paper products for a month? Let me know in the comments what your family will be doing.

____________________

You have hereby been challenged to go green in a year without going broke! Check out the last challenge, or view the whole list of Challengicious Mondays.

Like what you see? Sign up for my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, and join my "Go Green without Going Broke" group on Facebook! You can also find me over at The Green Phone Booth.

image by Margot Wolf

The Great Snack Experiment: Parmesan Crackers

>> Saturday, February 20, 2010

For my February Extreme Challenge, I stopped buying crackers for the month (along with a few other processed foods that have been lingering around in our diet). Crackers - specifically Goldfish crackers - have been my family's go-to snack since First Son was old enough for solids. There are so many things to love about a storebought cracker: they're cheap, easy, small, self-serve, and don't make too much of a mess. But my family has greened our diet and trimmed our waste-line, and crackers no longer fit the bill.

I've discovered this month, though, that deciding to cut out those lingering processed foods without coming up with a back-up plan is a disastrous way to go about it. We've been experiencing a domino effect of food shortages. Toast for breakfast leads to no bread for lunch, leading to no muffins for snacks, and so on. It's been tough to keep up with all of the from-scratch food needs around here, and after the month is over, I'm not sure how much I'll stick with it.

In the meantime, I've been trying out several homemade goodies and wanted to share a few with you, starting with this one:

Parmesan Crackers

MAKES: 2 dozen crackers

COST: $2.17*

3/4 c. whole-wheat flour
3/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 T milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Stir together the flour and salt. Cut in the butter (like when you're making biscuits), and then stir in the cheese.
Add the milk, one tablespoon at a time until the mixture holds together.
Roll out the dough onto a floured surface until very thin. Cut into squares and place on a baking sheet.
Bake 12-15 minutes until lightly browned. After you remove them from the oven, the crackers will continue to crisp up as they cool. They don't ever get as crispy as wheat thins, but they're similar with a cheesy flavor.

*Note that all costs are estimates based on prices in my area. Your costs may vary.

UPDATE: I tried this recipe again but substituted cheddar for the parmesan. It went over much better with the kids.

This recipe is based on fresh365's Parmesan and Cracked-Pepper Crackers and Smitten Kitchen's Parmesan Cream Crackers. I used all whole wheat flour and left out the cracked pepper because I knew my kids would refuse to eat them with pepper. Turned out that they refused to eat them anyway (parmesan is not their favorite cheese), but I thought the crackers were really tasty. So tasty that I ate them all within two days. And that, dear readers, is part of the reason I like storebought crackers. I am never ever tempted to snack on Goldfish.

And by the way, if you don't know about fresh365 or Smitten Kitchen, you need to check them out right now. They both take the most mouthwatering photos (and make very yummy food).

So that's my first snack recipe. If you have a favorite snack recipe you think I should try, send it my way!

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This post was shared at Tasty Tuesdays at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam and DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land

February Extreme Challenge

>> Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Here's your extreme challenge for February:

Give Up Processed/Packaged Foods for a Month

To complete this challenge, you can...

BABY STEPS

Give up your biggest processed/packaged downfalls. Two types of processed foods that I just haven't been able to let go of are cold cereal and crackers. Maybe for you it's frozen pizza or ice cream. Just for one month, try giving them up.

JOGGING STRIDE

Give up processed foods. Try spending a month making as much food as you can from scratch. Don't think you have time? Check out my Keep It Simple Stupid method of cooking, and later this month, I'll have more tips for saving time when cooking from scratch.

MARATHON RUNNER

Give up all foods that come in packaging. Remember, it's just for one month, so push yourself to the limit. You might discover that giving up cheese makes your family miserable, or the extreme might force you to find a way to obtain cheese without packaging. Either way, you'll have a better idea of where your family's sweet spot is.

As always, you can modify these suggestions to meet your family's needs. Just make sure you:

Make a plan.
Write it down.
Post it somewhere you'll see it.

Here's what my family will be doing:

We've already purged ourselves of most processed/packaged foods. The main culprits that are still hanging around are crackers, cereal, tortillas, macaroni and cheese, and ramen noodles. Just for one month, I'm going to try feeding my family without those old standbys.

On the other hand, most of our other food packaging comes from milk, cheese, and butter, and my family will not be giving up those foods. We are mostly vegetarian, so I feel like those foods are very important for my family's health.

Will you accept the February Extreme Challenge to give up processed/packaged foods for a month? Let me know in the comments what your family will be doing.

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End of the Week Round-up

>> Sunday, January 31, 2010

We have two challenges rounding up this week:

the weekly challenge: Start Using a Reusable Water Bottle/Thermos
and the January Extreme Challenge: Stop Eating Out for a Month

How'd you do on this week's challenge?

I'm a Marathon Runner on this challenge. Except for remembering to take a thermos with me for Starbucks hot chocolate runs (which I didn't have to worry about this month because of the extreme challenge). But my solution is that I'm going to stick a couple clean thermoses in the car, so they'll always be there when I need them. Works for cloth bags, should work for hot chocolate.

a family of water bottles

Thoughts on the extreme challenge:

So if you remember, the point of the extreme challenges is to push yourself a little bit farther than you would normally go so you can find your sweet spot. If you struggled with your challenge throughout the month, you probably need to wind it back a little bit to get to your sweet spot. If you had no trouble at all, see if you can stick with it going forward.

My family had decided to...

Me and the kids - go the full extreme and try not to eat out all month.
My husband - keep up the habit of eating out with his co-workers, but they committed to only patronizing local restaurants for the month.

My big issue with eating out is the quick runs to Starbucks for hot apple cider and Krispy Kreme for hot chocolate (or to Cookout for shakes in the summer). And I admit it was tough sometimes. But I focused on making more hot chocolate at home, and for times that I really want a hot apple cider, I just need to take my own thermos in the future.

I think avoiding fast food restaurants helped us stay in the budget this month - even though we've always paid lip service to avoiding fast food restaurants, a fast food run always sneaks in somehow. I'm really going to try not to go to fast food restaurants in the future (with possible exceptions while on vacation).

I did miss eating out in general and am really looking forward to getting to go out to eat with my husband at some of our fave local restaurants. But we're going to work on bringing our own take-out containers to lessen the impact of eating out.

My husband says he had no trouble at all...except when he was traveling. That's definitely a nice thing about living downtown.

What about you?

And don't forget about this week's giveaway: ECOBAGS produce bags!

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Avoid Temptation to Eat Out by Donating to a Good Cause

>> Thursday, January 21, 2010

A few days ago on the Go Green without Going Broke group on Facebook, I wrote:

Thought I'd check in and see how people are doing with this month's extreme challenge: Stop Eating Out for a Month. I've been doing great, but I just learned that several of my favorite restaurants in Raleigh are donating all profits on Tuesday to relief efforts in Haiti. I think that might warrant going out to eat. What do you all think?

Almost immediately after I posted it, I came to my senses. If I'd already been planning to eat out on Tuesday, then choosing one of those restaurants would have been a great plan. But since I'm choosing not to eat out this month, going to a restaurant just to help Haiti is kind of backward. Instead, why not skip the restaurant and go straight to helping Haiti?

So that's what I did. I estimated how much I would have spent eating out at a restaurant and donated that amount to the Red Cross.

Why Did I Choose the Red Cross?

There are numerous ways to donate both money and other goods to Haiti. One Green Generation has a decent round-up of ways to help, and Cheri at Renaissance Garden (who has been blogging about Haiti long before the earthquake) makes a good argument for not donating to the Red Cross.

But as I kept seeing mention of the Red Cross and Haiti in the news, it reminded me of a day seven and a half years ago when I came home from work to find police cars and fire trucks surrounding my apartment building and yellow caution tape all around the front of my own apartment. The apartment above ours had caught fire, and though very few of our belongings were lost (thank you so much, amazing firemen!), the apartment itself was completely ruined due to water damage. We weren't even allowed to enter the apartment to grab a toothbrush or a change of clothes.

Enter the Red Cross, which set us up for the night in a motel along with a bag of toiletries and food.

That minor crisis in our life was a drop in the bucket compared to what the Haitians are facing, but I know from personal experience that the Red Cross does good work in times of need, and I'm actually embarrassed that it's taken me this long to pay them back.

How Can You Donate?

If you'd like to donate to the Red Cross's Haiti relief efforts, simply text "Haiti" to 90999. $10 will automatically be charged to your phone bill. (Please note that your phone company takes no money from the transaction.)

If you want to donate more than $10 or if you don't have free texting, you can also donate through the American Red Cross' website.

January Extreme Challenge

>> Thursday, January 7, 2010

Here's your extreme challenge for January:

Stop Eating Out for a Month

To complete this challenge, you can...

BABY STEPS

Give up fast food for a month. Fast food restaurants are the biggest culprits in eating out - from the napkins, straws, and wrappers to the over-sized food choices, sodas, and factory-farmed meat. Try opting out of fast food just for one month.

JOGGING STRIDE

Only eat at locally-owned restaurants for a month. Even if you're dining habits still result in lots of trash and food waste, at least you'll be supporting the businesses in your community and maintaining your city's individuality. You could also take this challenge a step further and support only restaurants that serve local, sustainable, and organic dishes by searching the Eat Well Guide.

MARATHON RUNNER

Only eat home-cooked foods for a month. You can do it! Go a whole month without eating out.

As always, you can modify these suggestions to meet your family's needs. Just make sure you:

Make a plan.
Write it down.
Post it somewhere you'll see it.

My husband and I have completely different weaknesses when it comes to eating out. Of the two of us, I'm a billion times more likely to be in the car with three grumpy little people and suddenly realize, "Oh, crap, it's lunchtime." My husband, on the other hand, goes out to a sit-down restaurant once a week with his co-workers and orders something meaty. That ritual is one of the few times my non-vegetarian husband gets to eat meat, and it's important to him. I like to see my man happy.

So our plan is...

I'll be going the full extreme and trying not to eat out all month.
My husband will keep up the habit of eating out with his co-workers, but they've committed to only patronizing local restaurants for the month.

Will you accept the January Extreme Challenge to stop eating out for a month? Let me know in the comments what your family will be doing.

____________________

You have hereby been challenged to go green in a year without going broke! Check out the latest challenge, or view the whole list of Challengicious Mondays.

Like what you see? Sign up for my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, and join my "Go Green without Going Broke" group on Facebook! You can also find me over at The Green Phone Booth.

Photo by ebruli
This post was included in the Festival of Frugality #212

Find the Sweet Spot

>> Wednesday, January 6, 2010

One of my green blogger heroes is Colin Beavan aka No Impact Man, who spent a year trying to produce no environmental impact. He conducted his experiment in phases, starting with trash and then moving on to transportation, eating, shopping, etc. in an attempt to move gradually toward zero impact.

At one point near the end of his experiment - when his family had turned off the electricity, given up toilet paper, and were washing clothes in their bathtub - his young daughter got sick and threw up in her bed. Beavan stripped off the sheets but (understandably) couldn't bring himself to wash them in the bathtub, so down into the basement washer and dryer they went. With that, Beavan realized that there was a point in going green that was too far - a point where a green lifestyle feels too much like a sacrifice.

Beavan later noted in an interview with the Christian Science Monitor that "with either extremely high or very low resource use, quality of life was poor. But there was a virtual sweet spot, right at the peak, when they had enough to be happy but not so much that they were weighed down."

The point is to find that sweet spot.

Going Green = Being Happy

I've always maintained that going green shouldn't make you miserable. If you're sacrificing to save the planet and it's making you unhappy, you've gone too far. But on the other hand, I also think we can get complacent about certain behaviors that feel comfortable to us - certain aspects of our lives that we're not as willing to work on or give up because we're so used to them.

It's possible that giving them up might be too uncomfortable - as handwashing clothes turned out to be for Beavan. But it's also possible that we're holding on to those things out of habit rather than need, and that we could actually give them up and still be happy.

In fact, except for occasionally feeling like my green lifestyle changes are more time-consuming, every change I've made so far in the name of going green has either made me happier or made no impact on my life whatsoever.

Push Yourself to Find Your Sweet Spot

So in addition to the weekly challenges in the Conscious Shopper Challenge, I will also be doing a monthly Extreme Challenge to work on some of those habits that are dying hard.

The basic idea is just to give up one thing for one month (but nothing as extreme as turning off the electricity or handwashing clothes!) and then at the end of the month, analyze how we felt. If we didn't mind the change, we'll stick with it, but if it was too much of a sacrifice, we'll know we went too far.

Here's the list of Extreme Challenges, I'll be working on this year:

give up eating out
give up processed/pre-packaged foods
give up disposable paper products
try no 'poo
go car-free
go without A/C
give up TV
buy nothing new
be a locavore
limit special occasion foods
freeze your buns

The point is not to make me or my family miserable but to push ourselves so we can find our sweet spot.

As with all of my challenges, there will be varying degrees and ways to modify the challenge to fit your lifestyle. I hope you'll join me!

The Conscious Shopper

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June Extreme Challenge

>> Thursday, June 3, 2010

Seven Weeks of No Poo

>> Thursday, May 27, 2010

May Extreme Challenge

>> Tuesday, May 4, 2010

April Extreme Challenge

>> Saturday, April 3, 2010

Great Snack Experiment: Kale Chips

>> Thursday, March 18, 2010

Great Snack Experiment: Non-Animal Crackers and Granola Bars

>> Sunday, March 7, 2010

March Extreme Challenge

>> Tuesday, March 2, 2010

The Great Snack Experiment: Parmesan Crackers

>> Saturday, February 20, 2010

February Extreme Challenge

>> Tuesday, February 2, 2010

End of the Week Round-up

>> Sunday, January 31, 2010

Avoid Temptation to Eat Out by Donating to a Good Cause

>> Thursday, January 21, 2010

January Extreme Challenge

>> Thursday, January 7, 2010

Find the Sweet Spot

>> Wednesday, January 6, 2010

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