I’ve been saving my trash in a “plastic audit” since October of 2019. I live a generally plastic-free lifestyle but I’m not 100% plastic-free…yet. So, to see where the last 1% of my trash was coming from, I started keeping track of all of it. At the end of each month, I look to see where I can improve.

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). My husband is not as stringent on plastic as I am, so he buys a weekly tub of yogurt and occasionally some bacon. But again, my husband and kids don’t generate too much more trash than me.

Finally, the city I live in provides compost and recycling along with trash pick-up. Now, given the state of recycling, I only recycle metal, glass, and paper. This generally includes a few cans of tuna and clams a month, a few glass jars of olives or mustard with metal lids, and junk mail. But even so, I try to reduce the amount of metal, glass, and paper we use.

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

Overall, I did ok compared to previous months. One positive thing this month is that we reduced our meat consumption, so I have one less plastic bag and sheet of butcher paper. On a less positive note, you can tell I went to town on chips this month. 😛 I feel like when you deprive yourself of something for so long, that when you open the flood gates you go nuts. You can also see that we’ve also started buying milk again. We’d stopped for a while after my littlest was finished drinking milk in a bottle, but now we have had an occasional half gallon which I buy in a glass bottle.

Some other new things are the eyelash serum. My BFF raves about the serum she got in a stocking stuffer from her mom. Since I rarely wear makeup, I would really like to have longer thicker eyelashes. So, I’m testing this GrandeLASH-MD Eyelash Growth Serum for a few months and will let you know how it goes:

Also, a few months ago, I started taking a Skin, Nails & Hair Vitamins after my hair started falling out due to stress:

I talk more about my hair loss journey in this post:

For next month, I’ll chill on the chips a little. 😛 And now that my hair is growing back, I’ll slow down the vitamins.

What do you think? Are you interested in doing a trash audit? Maybe for a day or a week? Tell me if you do in the comments!

For related and random posts, check out:

• All My Trash for 2020
• My Top 10 Favorite Swaps Since Going Plastic-Free