Mission: Accomplished

So we've spent this week abstaining from eating fast food - no quick trips anywhere, except once or twice to the grocery to pick up little bits.  It was actually a lot easier that I had anticipated, since we were doing it as a family.  I realised that much of my logic for eating out was that Nathan was doing it, too, so why couldn't I?  Not so mature, but that's where I was, nonetheless.

We will be trying it again this week to see how it works.  It really is simply a matter of planning - making sure that there will be enough left over from dinner for Nathan to take to work the next day, making sure that there are enough raw materials for breakfast (fast or slow, depending on how late we sleep), and enough snacks for the girls and I throughout the day (as we usually graze our way through to dinner).

We've also been able to consult on some of the other weekly challenges we want to try.  I thought I'd share them here, to see if anyone had any other ideas, or if you've tried any of these yourself:

1. Waste Not Week - we will be measuring our waste, both organic and inorganic, for one week.  We will see how much trash we produce, and how much we can recycle or compost or the like.  Any ideas about how we can compost without earth?
2. It's Electric (boogey woogie woogie) Week - We will be seeing how little electricity we can use.  We will try to have lights out at dusk, so that we can naturally fall asleep, and plan our days around this.  Also, we will try to limit our computer/television use during the day.
   
3. Water Water Everywhere Week - We will practice the art of washing dishes as frugally as possible (we don't have a dishwasher anyway), by not letting the water run (which is my usual method).  We may also dabble a bit into the method of washing popular in Japan, in which a little water is used to scrub and rinse, and after which one tub of hot water is used by the family to soak.

(photo courtesy of Cedric Sam on Flickr)

I had a few more ideas, but I can't remember them now.  Basically, the goal is to gradually make the life we want to be living by adopting new lifestyles one at a time.  We shall see how it goes!