The Travel Jar

 Hi! We're moving! The new website is up (yup, I paid Wordpress, now I have a real home for this challenge with a legit URL: 24ecochallenge.com), and I've changed the name of the challenge from the "24/24 Challenge" to the "24 Eco-Challenge... Mostly so that I can keep doing this for years to come, not just in 2024. I want this to be a lifestyle change. But I'm keeping one of the "24"s because I think allowing oneself 24 new items during the year could be helpful for others who like this level of challenge... Not  very easy, but not a total ban. In our society, sometimes we just need to buy a new thing. But, we really don't need  to do it as often as we think we do, and that's why I created this challenge- to see what feels realistic. Hope to see you at the other site!

 Welcome to week 8 of the 24/24 Challenge ! Acquisitions I acquired some cloth drawstring bags from my local Buy Nothing Group in Kansas City South that I will use for bulk shopping, as we slowly become more and more Zero-Waste with our groceries (or, more realistically, Less Waste, for now... It is nigh impossible to find totally plastic-free food. Even the glass jar of peanut butter with the metal lid that I purchased has a plastic ring around the jar opening... Ug.) I popped into Soap Refill Station to refill an empty honey bottle with conditioner, plus grab a new kitchen scrub brush, a sisal soap saver (say that 5 times fast) and a Japanese konjac face sponge (the black item). I learned that sisal is derived from the agave plant, and the konjac sponge is from a porous root vegetable native to Asia. The sisal and konjac items are 100% compostable! So is the scrub brush, minus the metal. I simply added our last wooden scrub brush to our fire pit earlier this week since it's clean...

 Hello from week 7 of the 24/24 Challenge ! I only had a handful acquisitions this week... Items Acquired One of our organizing clients is moving to Florida, so we did a massive purge in her garage earlier this week. She gifted me with some of her cast-offs, including a hummingbird feeder, a peanut feeder (holds peanuts-in-the-shell) for squirrels, 2 bottles of partially used eco-friendly dishwasher gel and some lavender essential oil. All secondhand, weee! I love my clients. Yesterday at Scraps KC , our local creative re-use center, while dropping off client donations, I bought my first (secondhand) china pen for $1- I'm going to see if it's a good item to write on the bottom of jars while I do my Zero-Waste/bulk grocery shopping! I was gifted flowers, cards and Journal 29: Oblivion (third book in a series of EXCELLENT puzzles... Here's the first one . You're welcome.) for Valentines Day from my loves! (Flowers will be composted, card can be recycled but I keep cards, ...

 This was a fun week for the 24/24 Challenge ! I created an instagram account for this- @2424challenge. Follow along! Acquisitions Deck screws! This spring we are rebuilding our back deck, and while I let myself off the hook when I created this challenge when it comes to the deck project, I still wanted to make an effort to get a few supplies secondhand. Success! I found 25 lbs of donated (but never opened!) deck screws at our local ReStore (where Habitat for Humanity sells donated home improvement items). Total cost with tax = $75. New at Home Depot, these would have cost $170. Achievement unlocked, lesson learned the happy way : When planning a house project, shop weeks/months beforehand at ReStore to get better deals on as much of the hardware as possible. Derrick was skeptical but now he's appreciative, and I think he will be glad to have me scour ReStore again for other items we need for the deck, or other future home improvements. 2 days ago I was reviewing our utility bills...

 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 compleme...

 Week 4 of the 24/24 Challenge , where I try to limit myself to only purchasing 24 *new* items for the entire year! Secondhand (thrift/antique/consignment/hand-me-down) does not count, nor does a new product that is Zero Waste (including packaging- which must be 100% compostable). I had another successful week of buying no new items. Here are the items I did get: From my local Buy Nothing Group, I asked for and scored some *secondhand* items from folks in my neighborhood: Kitchen compost bin liners, coffee filters and 2 empty MYRO deodorant sticks (a client gave me 11 refill pods but no sticks, so I got 2 from the group- one for me, one for Derrick). My client offered me a small rectangular container that she was decluttering, which I used to corral all our random Roomba accessories in a deep drawer in our kitchen. Tidbits & Wins Our garbage pickup was delayed a day due to the ice storm... Yet even after 8 days, this is all the trash we accumulated during that period! About hal...

Welcome back to week 3 of my 24/24 Challenge ! Purchases this week I purchased no new items this last week, though I did make plenty of purchases that were secondhand and Zero-Waste... On Wednesday I visited Soap Refill Station  in Waldo for the first time this year. First I presented a bag of empty containers that I had been saving for their in-store "Donation Station" of secondhand vessels. Then I chose 2 containers to refill for the 2 liquids I needed. The staff member weighed my containers before I filled them (they are thoughtful like that), then I filled an old dish soap container with the dishwasher detergent, and a plastic jar that once held sea salt to hold toilet bowl spray. Repurposed vessel = no new plastic created! Toilet Bowl cleaning concentrate     While in the shop, I found a new product to try: Tooth Tabs by un*Paste ! I've tried a different brand & flavor before and didn't care for them but these new ones are *cinnamon* and actually contain fluo...

  Purchases this week I bought no new items this week for my 24/24 challenge , except for medical eye drops (which, being medical, does not count toward the 24 new-item-limit). I did visit Scraps KC to drop off client donations, and while I was there I purchased a lidded storage tote and a laundry basket for $5. Everything sold at Scraps KC is donated/secondhand, so neither item counted toward my limit. The laundry basket is to collect client donations for work, and the tote is to store empty jars and containers in the basement for us to reuse. Then we can take our containers to Soap Refill Station  and fill them with whatever household cleaners or toiletries we need, once we use up what we have at home. Just $5 for both these bad gurlz The wall of containers for sale at Scraps KC- all secondhand, all 25 cents to $4 Tidbits & Wins I started re-reading Zero Waste Home  by Bea Johnson on my Kindle app- I first read the book in 2014. It's mind-boggling how Bea and her f...

 It has been about a week since I came up with my 24/24 challenge , and here's an update! Purchases this week A secondhand  Otterbox case to protect my phone (the old one was cracked after a year plus of use)- got a refurbished one on Amazon and saved $10! Fun fact: I recycled the cracked case in our TerraCycle bin , recycled the cardboard box it came in, and am taking the plastic film it was shipped in to Target's plastic bag recycling station (every Target has one). A trio of fabric swatches from Azazie.com, to eventually purchase a bridesmaid dress for my brother's wedding in August (my brother and I are both getting married this year!). The swatches were free because I used a discount code, however, they are new items and therefore created waste; the primary focus of this challenge is the environment, and my budget is secondary, so unfortunately these swatches count. However ! I have emailed Azazie and asked them if, when I ultimately purchase my bridesmaid dress and re...

This morning I woke up and came up with a fun little challenge for 2024: I will challenge myself to a limit of buying only 24 *new* items this year: 24 because 2024, but also because I can aim to average 2 new items per month. WHY? 1. Because I love the planet and don't want to create more garbage than necessary. 2. Because finances are tight. I started this year with $12,000 (to the cent) of debt- $9,000 still owed on an expensive foundation repair on our house from 2022, and $3,000 still owed from replacing 5 windows in our home last summer. I also owe my Savings account $11K after a decadent year of adventure (2023 rocked , no regrets, now it's time to settle down and repay the funds). We are also getting married in late September, and while we are set up to have an inexpensive wedding (eloping, and trying to stay under $5K), weddings are still weddings and they cost money. My goal is to totally eliminate both debts this year, and completely pay back my Savings. I'm stil...

 Hello! Looks like I haven't blogged in 4 years, lots has happened since then. The major points: *After 5 years of friendship, my friend Derrick and I started dating, bought a house in KCMO together in February 2021, and he is now my fiancé Derrick! We have 2 dogs together- Petri (sweet Petri, who is now 8!) and Ivy, our shiba-inu of 3.5 years. They LOVE each other and play all the day. Derrick and I plan to get married sometime in 2024 in a tiny ceremony. *My wonderful partner Zay and I have been together 6.5 years, and have started going on yearly dive trips together. Earlier this year we went to the Caymans. We have our collective eye on Belize and Guatemala next, possibly in the spring, to catch the whale shark migration. *I completed my life goal of visiting all 7 continents. In October 2019 I solo-ventured in Australia (and met cool people along the way). Last winter I took a month off to join a National Geographic expedition to Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands/Ma...

Hello after so long! I'll jump right into it. I'm going to Croatia and Slovenia with my pal from March 25th - April 3rd. I want to save money for said adventure. Flights and all AirBnBs are booked, so I'm saving for my share of the rental car, meals and miscellaneous fun (like paragliding in Slovenia). So here we go, on another Spending Diet! Unlike a Spending Freeze, a Diet allows me a small budget for wants. Needs this month Rent (utilities included) - $350/month Dog food - $20/month Cell phone bill - $42/month Car & apartment insurance - $109/month Health insurance - $120/month Virtual assistant services to answer business calls and emails, and schedule clients Gym membership - $53/month Gas - approx $70/month Groceries - I have some gift cards for Price Chopper, but I may save them for the spring, so I'll probably spend $30-100 in this category. Personal care - Leg waxing is a need for me. Accountant fee - $275 this month only (I'm self em...

Yesterday morning I paid off the rest of my car. I am now debt free . Over the past 20 months I've paid off about $33K of debt in the form of medical bills, a car loan, and a wee bit of credit card debt. Here are some tips and things I did that were the most helpful during this time: I made a Needs and Wants list. I deviated from this now and then, but I always had it to reference. I used Mint.com to set my monthly budgets, and I logged in 6 days a week, first thing in the morning. I posted a bit about it on Facebook, for accountability. This accomplished two things- It gave a way for people to see me and support me, and it also set expectations and sent a message to friends and family that said "Please don't put me in a position right now to spend money- don't charm me into expensive trips/meals/gifts- I'm trying to take care of myself right now." I went from working five days a week to opening up a sixth day on my calendar. I bartered for free/fresh ...