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Well the thirty day challenge has come and gone and I can't believe how easy it really was to stick with it. You know they're right when they say if you can stick with a new routine for thirty days it will become a regular part of your behavior. I really don't even think about using baggies anymore. It has really become kind of fun (in an I'm-a-mom-and-don't-get-out-anymore kind of way) to plan lunches and see which containers would work best for the foods that I'm packing. Now I really notice waste all around us. The other day we got take out for dinner and at the end of the meal I was shocked to see the pile of waste from this one meal. I think before this I really didn't take notice of those kinds of things and I thank the great folks that allowed our family to be part of this challenge for our change in perspective.

You'll see I have posted some pictures from our local fair that we enjoyed together and even while surrounded by the wonderfully sinful snacks at the fair my kids were still happy to enjoy their healthy snacks from their "Do The Reuse Challenge" containers.

Well I suppose this will be the last update on "Energy Girl" but an interesting new twist has been her learning about reusing items. She now has taken upon herself to rescue items from the recycling bin as she decides new and exciting ways to "reuse" bottles and boxes. Well I can't say this has been a thrilling update as these items are finding their way around my house, but you gotta love her commitment. No worries here - not only am I seeing the difference in packing waste-free but we all know Energy Girl is going keep this family on track!

To all of you out there I say give it thirty days - what do you have to lose? If I can do it anyone can.

Deana

So I've mentioned before how my daughter is learning about living a green lifestyle at school and is very committed to enforcing those principles in our house. But what I didn't mention is that she is really and truely the green police these days. We can no longer even think about using a plastic water bottle because she will say "Mom that's not good for the earth, here you can borrow one of my bottles and fill it from the sink." Then the other day when my sister stepped out of her house for a minute and left the TV on my little one says "Auntie you need to turn your TV off that's not good for the earth." I guess what I'm saying is that she is really inspiring and monitoring my commitment to the challenge. Interesting how much it's the role of the younger generation to keep all of us honest about these efforts.

On a side note, I've decided to harness some of her energy and everyday, as we rush out of the house for work and school, I say "Energy Girl to the rescue!" and she goes through the house and turns off all of the lights we have left on.

Deana

So we made it through the first week of school and I accomplished the entire week with waste free lunches! Hooray for us!

So after week one I have noticed that packing lunches this way does seem to save money not only on the baggies but it's much cheaper to buy the larger bags of chips, crackers, trail mix etc rather than paying for the individual portions. Also, in the beginning it's much more challenging than one would think - I really have to think about what I'm packing and how I'm going to pack it before starting lunches. On one hand this is nice because it is making me be much more intentional but on the other when will I find the time to keep this up? I am continuing to pack at night whenever possible and have found that if I'm just too tired to pack at night I at least write a little menu down on a scrap piece of paper and this keeps me from spinning my wheels in the early morning hours.

I should mention that at my daughter's preschool there are very exact rules about lunch packing and every lunch should include a protein, grain and two servings of fruits/vegs. Standard child care and school nutrition rules, but again makes it necessary to be much more intentional. Although that is an admirable goal it can be a little challenging on mornings around this house. I do continue to turn to the nine piece lunch kit from aladdin (Sustain Recycled & Recyclable Lunch Set) most days for my daughters lunch as the size of the smaller containers works well for her food. I have posted a picture of her lunch this morning - nothing too exciting but as you can see the entire lunch fit into two of the containers with a separate container for her chocolate milk.

Also, I posted a picture of the kids because, as every family knows, in the middle of chaos you have those moments of clarity when it all makes sense again and my most recent moment was at the park watching the two of them enjoy the beautiful fall weather we have found upon us already.

It's getting late and lots of things still left to do so it looks like this might be a make-a-list-night, but either way this is a short week and the weekend is already in sight, so I'm thinking we might be able to pull of week two of waste free lunches after all. Only time will tell.

Deana