It started with my bin. It’s always full, bursting,
overloading with trash, every single day. How could I have so much rubbish?
Sure, my kid is still wearing night time nappies which are virtually wet
sandbags by the morning, but outside of this what was filling my bin to the
point of explosion every day?
It was simply waste. So much waste I was starting to
question my wastefulness. Which is exactly what I did.
Having become a single parent in my mid-thirties has made me
think about my budget and what I’m spending. Removing a whole second wage from
my bank account came as a shock, but not as big a shock as the discovery of the
waste I was creating in my own little household bin.
My bin was filled with food scraps, left overs, wrappers,
plastic bags, old clothes, broken shit and of course those shockingly heavy
night time nappies (seriously, at what age do kids stop wearing these?)
It was somewhat refreshing seeing my bin in this state. I
needed to make a change and stop throwing my money in the, well, bin. The food
wastage was a big one for me.
I started with eating my fridge and pantry down. I wanted a
clean slate. Start afresh, become a vegan, only drink green juice, be a better
person, stop swearing, pat dogs. All the things.
It was hard to start. I had to become creative with my
cooking through using grains, rice and pasta and finding fun and interesting
ways to use the vegies in the crisper. Instead of throwing out the vegies
starting to turn to scrap, I made soup. I used all my canned legumes in soups,
salads and chilli. I froze any large cook ups to eat in desperate times and
then came the day where I simply had run out of food.
I cleaned my pantry and I ordered a sweet box of seasonal
fruit and veg from a local greengrocer. It was delivered a day later and it was
enough to get me through my week. I wrote a menu on the back of an envelope for
the week based on my fruit and veg and bam, I felt like Suzy Homemaker. The box
of fruit and veg cost me a grand total of $28 and teamed with a few extra items
from the local supermarket, I was now on my way to smashing out a pineapple ($50)
for a grocery bill each week.
And I felt smart for it.
There’s something else that has been bothering me about my
waste. It was my clothes. In between my crazy full time hours, the full time
parenting, the swimming lessons, the kinder pick ups and drop offs, the cooking
(and eating down my pantry) and of course the dating, I’d become a slave to
fast fashion. A slave to the e-newsletters offering free delivery, sales, ‘hot
looks this winter’, ‘Buy 2 get 1 free’, 20% discount for 20 hours. Gah! It’s
all a little overwhelming, but the marketing had been working on me. A little
too well.
So I cleansed my wardrobe, removing the clothing I hadn’t
worn in years (do I seriously need maternity clothes as a single mum with a
four year old?) and sold or donated what I didn’t want, wear, or just didn’t
fit anymore (see above reason as to why). I created a rule for myself – no
purchasing of new clothes for a month, maybe two and see how I survive. And so
far, I’m still alive with only a receipt highlighting a purchase for some new
undies in the pile.
 |
| Homemade dress from a Ken Done curtain, $4 wool jacket from the local Vinnies, $5 leather boots from eBay. FUN! |
Don’t get me wrong, I like a good shop but for me it’s about
the hunt. Online shopping is just too easy, the sales are too accessible, the
click throughs are too available, I think the models wearing the clothes look
just so ‘similar’ to me (in my dreams). So I’ve turned to op-shopping. It’s
fun, it’s entertaining for my kid and now my home is filled with miscellaneous treasures
that tell a story. From the eighties skateboard linen on my son’s bed, to my
dress made from a Ken Done curtain, life shouldn’t be about throwing out stuff
for waste’s sake. It should be fun, colourful and filled with rad stories and
adventure.
It’s been an interesting experiment and it seems I’m not
alone. With so much inspiration behind the ABC’s recent War on Waste program
and hearing my mates discuss their wasteful waste, it’s nice to hear of plans to
diminish the size of our bin loads. My bin is looking a lot healthier as is my
fridge and pantry and my purse is giving me the thumbs up for it.
I’ve still got a long way to go, but the best thing about
recognising my bin is a disaster is knowing my bin is a disaster. I’d love to
swap stories of saving, sharing and recycling. So let’s not waste any more time
on waste.
Follow me at www.houseofwebb.blogspot.com
or on Instagram or Facebook @houseofwebb and let’s do this together.
