I’ve been keeping my trash for a few months now in a sort of “plastic audit“. While I generally live a plastic-free life, I’m not 100% plastic-free…yet. So, to figure out where that last 1% of plastic is coming from, I started documenting my trash to see where I could improve.

Last month, after pulling out the plastic bristles from my bamboo toothbrush so I could compost the handle, I decided to switch to a toothbrush with boar bristles.

In November, I vowed to finally give up shopping at Trader Joe’s and I started making fresh pasta. And finally, October being the first month I started this project, my biggest takeaway was that I needed to simplify my routines and recipes to avoid extra waste.

A few reminders of the rules. This is just my trash not my whole family’s (although they don’t generate too much more than this). I do not include my family’s trash because I am not with them 24 hours a day. So, I can’t expect them to be vigilant about saving their trash.

I do however save any trash generated from feeding my family meals at home. So, while I don’t drink milk (being basically lactose intolerant) my kids drink a lot of milk. So, the milk caps are technically trash that my kids generate but I add them to my trash since I decide what they eat at home.

So, now that we’ve covered the ground rules, let’s dive in! Here’s all my trash for the month of January!

Overall, it’s very satisfying seeing my trash collection shrink each month. It makes me feel like I’ve made real progress!

The biggest lesson I learned was that everyone needs a little wiggle room. And for me…that wiggle room was a frozen burrito. It was delicious and I don’t regret it one bit.

It’s hard being 100% anything. It means there’s no messing up and no room for error if something happens. So, building in a little breathing room is essential because we’re humans and we’re not perfect.

Let’s look at each week and see what else I learned.

WEEK 1

Last month I resolved to search harder for things in-store before purchasing on Amazon. OF COURSE, something I had ordered before making this resolution arrived right after I made the resolution…in a big ole’ plastic bubble bag. I was not amused.

But besides that, I’ve been trying to cook more authentic Asian meals and luckily nearly all the different liquids such as oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, are generally sold in glass. They do, however, have tiny plastic seals that you need to pull out or that are wrapped around the cap. Not 100% plastic-free but I’ll take it any day over a fully plastic bottle.

WEEK 2

Not going to lie, when I see weeks like this that only have a few items, I do a little happy dance.

This week, I made a goal to find more local coffees in bulk. My local Sprouts has a lot of great options, so I went to try a few after this bag of coffee ran out.

The difficult part is that this coffee bag contains my absolute favorite coffee and it’s loaded with good feelings. It’s an organic water-process decaf coffee from Cafe Moto in San Diego. I discovered Cafe Moto coffee while having brunch at one of my favorite restaurants Solace at the Moonlight Lounge (which is now closed).

So, the coffee is organic, and since I only drink decaf it’s important that it’s water-processed instead of chemically processed. I don’t need more chemicals…thanks. And to top it off it reminds me of home and having brunch with some of my best friends. Like it said…loaded with good feelings.

But, in the spirit of going plastic-free, I bought a few bulk options at Sprouts and I found a water-processed decaf coffee called Mocca-Java at my local Pete’s Coffee that I’ll try next. At Pete’s they have huge bags of coffee which they weight out in smaller portions, so I bring a cloth produce bag and ask for a pound of coffee. They are more than happy to dump it in my produce bag. My husband loves their coffee so I get coffee beans in bulk for him there.

Most likely, during my next trip home to San Diego, I’ll drive down to Cafe Moto, bring my produce bags, and load up on their coffee. What can I say, there’s no place like home.

WEEK 3

This week is yet another reminder that I need to stop ordering items online where I’m not 100% sure of the packaging. It’s tough. Stores can’t carry an infinite about of stock and people can’t spend an infinite amount of time driving all across town to locate the perfect item. So, to get the perfect bracelet that I found online, I paid the price with the foam pad and plastic bag. In the end it was worth me not spending countless hours going store to store looking for a bracelet.

WEEK 4

This was a good week. As I talked about in “The 5 Outfits I Wear to Work“, I wear a lot of the same thing. I only have one belt. It’s cheetah print. I love it and wear it all the time. So, when I found it again, I bought another one as a spare since my current one is starting to wear out.

As you see in “A Day in My Plastic-Free Life: Part 1“, I usually start the day with a cup of tea. Sometimes I’ll end up drinking three cups of decaf tea each day. So, naturally, I have a lot of bulk tea. Nearly all tea bags contain plastic–even the papery feeling ones. Studies show that tea bags can release billions of microplastic particles into your tea. So, bulk tea is the way to go.

I’ve been buying bulk tea online for years but recently, to avoid the large plastic bag I’ve been getting bulk teas at my local Safeway or at a local tea shop. Once I work through the remaining big bags, I’ll only get teas in bulk.

One of the things I learned this week was despite all the planning I do, sometimes I miss things. I normally make my kids homemade mac and cheese for lunch on the weekends but this week I was planning to go grab cheese on Monday. So, left with no cheese I had to dig into my backup stash of boxed mac and cheese. Like I said, I’m not perfect and this will motivate me to more aware of our cheese supply!

Finally, the burrito bag probably sticks out like a sore thumb. Let me explain. This is probably the only prepared food item in my house. Nearly everything is a whole food like fruit and vegetables, or staple grain item like bread or tortillas. So, if you’re hungry for more than fruits and veggies there’s some preparation involved. These frozen burritos are the only exception. My parents always had these in the freezer when I was growing up and I continued that tradition when I moved to DC. (They reminded me of home.)

These days, I keep it around for my husband and kids. I almost never eat them. But after a long day and seeing my husband eat two, I had a glass of wine and one of these burritos while watching the Bachelor. I was happy as a clam.

Like I mentioned at the beginning, you need a little wiggle room…and this month, a delicious frozen burrito was mine.

What do you think? What are your wiggle room items? Tell me in the comments!

For related and random posts, check out:

• 3 Easy Swaps to Make in 2020
• What Plastic-Free Living and Being a Contestant on the Bachelor Have in Common