24/24 - Week 5 - Hello February

 I made it to February! All of January, I only bought 1.5 new items that count toward my 24/24 Eco-Challenge, which is detailed here.

Items I acquired this week:

• Secondhand lightbulbs from my local BNG (the Buy Nothing Group). One of the bulbs in our living room track lighting fixture went out, so I snapped a photo of it and asked my group- turns out somebody who lives 13 minutes from us had 5 of the exact type we needed! He was thrilled to be rid of them, and gave us all five: 4 of them used (but still working), 1 still in the package. Derrick installed one of the used ones and we put the rest into our Lightbulb bin in the basement. These should last us many years! Best of all, I recycled the old/dead bulb in our TerraCycle box.

Weird little lightbulb

• A chapstick from the dentist when I went to get my Invisalign. Normally this would count toward the 24, however I needed it for medical reasons- my lips were about to tear and bleed from the expanders. They gave me a complementary chapstick when I asked for one, which I'll use up and toss it in my TerraCycle box when it's empty.
• Invisalign, which is a medical item. And, I can recycle the old trays at my dentist's office when I'm done, because they have a Terracycle bin specifically for Invisalign!
• Got a secondhand freebie at work, with my client's blessing of course: A hummingbird feeder! I'll try it out in April when the little guys start migrating back north.
• While coffee beans are a grocery item and don't count in this challenge anyway, I did repurpose a 16 oz takeout container at Sprouts earlier this week, weighed it on arrival, then filled it with Derrick's favorite coffee beans. So easy! I know I'll get hooked on buying in bulk, and I cannot wait.

First ever bulk coffee purchase

• I made my own mouthwash this morning. I am normally not a mouthwash user, but with Invisalign it's a necessity. Simple recipe: 8 oz of purified water and essential oils (4 drops of Peppermint and 2 drops of Cassia/cinnamon) in a repurposed glass bottle. It tastes great!

Feeling good that I ended January with 1.5 new items! It gives me a bit more wiggle room going forward. In other fun news we did not put our trash out this week: We are really reducing our garbage thanks to this challenge, plus our TerraCycle bin, plus the habit of donating or listing items on BNG to keep them out of the landfill.