I could use some help with all the mail I get. I’m a little scared to do everything on-line (banking especially). I get a lot of mail from outfits I don’t even know. I have twice called the cable co. to stop the mailings and they are still coming (yes, Comcast we still use a converter box and do not want cable)

Location:Minnepolis, Minnesota, United States

Name: Nan

Week: 2

Personal Info:

Nan’s personal blog:

List of plastic items REFUSED this week. (Yay!)
plastic bag for bread
cup for soup (hooray the coop now has option of reusable soup bowls)
can of soup
take out container (was a bit desperate due to working an expected mandatory double, but decided not to use this as an excuse and found something without plastic, but still with some paper waster)

Total items collected: 28

Total weight: 4.1 oz

Items: Recyclable
2 plastic bags- newspaper and phone book
1 frozen veggie bag
2 bottles from supplements
plastic from packaging from tea order

Items: Nonrecyclable
2 caps from supplement bottles
gift bag from gift received – too worn to reuse now
razor
3 Emergen-c packets
1 tea envelope
3 chocolate candy wrappers -gift from mom and very yummy
1 banadage and wrapper
2 plastic safety wrappers from supplements
5 plastic windows from envelopes
1 zinc lozenge wrapper
plastic backing to calendar (gift)
plastic tape from packaging from tea order

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
candy
razor – currently have several left though
frozen veggies
tea envelope
packaging from tea order (hard to control sometimes, but could buy at coop in bulk, but there bulk tea does come in plastic originally, or could find a source that will send without plastic)
zinc lozenges – I have made my own in the past, but I have a bag left so will use those for now
phone book bag (due to phone co. problems I received 3 sets of phone books!)
some of the window envelopes

What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic free alternative doesn’t exist?
Emergen-C – I found a home for my stash so will just keep a few for myself

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
bandages
some supplements (working on taking less and finding the rest in glass)

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
work towards reducing mailings
plan ahead to get my own veggies frozen during the summer

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
candy

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
This is harder than I thought it would be and I thought it would be hard, but I’m actually enjoying the challenge right now. I really need to plan ahead. Making soup from scratch is not too hard. Kitty likes to chew on plastic (not probably too good) so he insisted on being in the tally photo