If it seems like this Seven Project is lasting forever, well, that would be because…
it is.
Seriously, last month was Media, and I still haven’t caught up on all the things I missed. Of course, it’s possible that if I am trying to cram all the information back into my life after the screen time break, I might have missed the point of the pause.
However, I can say this with confidence:
All the things people say about fasting from media are true.
You have more time for people and things that really matter.
Less distractions = more productivity.
No one emailed me wondering where I was or why my clever tweets/pretty pictures were absent from their feeds.
In other words, if I drop my phone in the pool tomorrow and go back to filling up notebooks instead of internet feeds, the only thing that would suffer is my Klout score.
Who cares, right? Apparently, I do, because I’m back.
Moving forward.
Month 5 is Waste.
Waste involves being friendlier to the planet. Trying to steward instead of consume.
Of all of the seven months, this one might be the one with which I am already the most on board. We already love the earth a LOT!
Even so, it was not that difficult to come up with seven new ways we can be wasting less at the Chino House.
So here they are, the seven habits beyond the recycling, composting and cloth napkin folding we already do:
1. Walk to church/work. We live close. We go there a lot. We’re trying to walk it. But it’s hot y’all!
2. Walk to walk. Almost every day, I drive to a lake that is about a mile from my house to go for a walk. For this month, I am leaving my car parked and walking to walk. (Mind blowing, eh?) It’s not as pretty, I have to go through a major intersection and someone usually tries to pick me up (Need a lift, Sweetie?), but I’m getting extra exercise and using my car less.
3. Pick up trash. I live on the trashy side of the river. You would not believe the junk people throw on the ground. Seriously, I can fill a bag of trash on my walk to the lake. So now I look like a bag lady! Extra points for people thinking you are crazy!
4. Recycle MORE! That little, empty toilet paper roll that you want to toss in the bathroom trash? Take it to the cans.
5. Community Garden. Work in somebody else’s garden because we don’t have one. It’s just not happening in our backyard this year, but I can pull weeds in a friend’s yard!
6. Zero paper products. Take our own everywhere. Coffee cups, water bottles, to go containers.
7. Use a clothesline. Hang dry our clothes and save on our dryer use. Every summer I try to do this with varying levels of success. Here we go again!
I’m enjoying this month already and it feels more fun to be doing NEW things instead of NOT doing Media.
What are some of the little extra things you do to be a better steward of our earth’s precious resources? I would love to know!