The Beginning

My journey with the idea of zero waste began with Bae Johnson of zerowastehome.blogspot.com. I began reading her blog around November of 2011, and I quickly read every single post within a few months. I follow it religiously, and in my eyes, she is the goddess of zero waste. Of course, there have surely been people who have practiced zero waste before her, but Bae has exposed a majority of her life to share her story. It has changed my life and began my inspiration for this blog.

However, keep in mind that Bae's blog is very different than what mine will end up as. First of all, I am  a 19 year old sophomore at Louisiana State University. Second of all, I am starting my blog from the very very beginning of my journey. Four days ago, I moved into my very first apartment with my two roommates and a schnauzer. I was going to begin from August 4th, but unfortunately our internet wasn't set up until today, so today will have to do.

So essentially, I'm a complete amateur. If you are looking for a success story, you're in the wrong place. I suggest you check Bae's blog for that. She is years into her journey and is very successful and has great advice. I am nowhere near my goal of zero waste. It will be a hit-and-miss for a very long time.

Now of course, I've had a bit of preparation before today. But there's also a ton of preparation to come within the next month before I can start trying out new ways to reduce my waste. First, I'm starting from the basics. This is what I have so far:

• Two water bottles. One is a simple plastic Nalgene bottle I bought a few years ago that I rediscovered at my mom's house when I was moving out. The other is a Lifefactory glass bottle, and I'm honestly obsessed with it. I found it in a little local shop in Asheville, North Carolina, but you can also buy one here.
• I also have three reusable snack bags that I bought at the same local shop in NC. Those were made locally there, but I found some similar bags here. I'll be bringing lunch on campus a ton this upcoming semester, and these are a great alternative to zip-lock bags.
• At the same store, I found some Fullcircle wash rags to replace sponges (although we do have a few sponges). Once those are no good anymore, I plan on replacing them with a compostable cleaning brush like this doubled with baking soda and castile soap.
• I bought some dish towels and cloth napkins at World Market a couple of days ago to replace our paper towel and napkin use. Unfortunately, all of our parents stocked us up with paper towels, so we're stuck with about 8 rolls. (I assume my roommates and guests will use those though)
• I bought some microfiber cloths at Target for cleaning (like this but Target brand). I've only used them a few times, but they worked great. 
• My roommate Kelcee brought a plastic cover like this for food being heated in the microwave, so we won't be using paper towels or wax paper to cover our food.
• We have a water purifier, but the tap water is great in Baton Rouge, so we're considering giving that away. Water purifiers are a great alternative to disposable water bottles, but can still be wasteful when considering the filters. 

These may be the only things I feel completely honest about to share. Obviously I have a lot of room for improvement, but this is the beginning. My next steps include:

• Buying some mesh bags from this site for the fruits and veggies I will buy at the Farmer's Market (hopefully).
• Finding some mason jars at a thrift shop or antique store that I can use to buy deli and other bulk items with.
• Purchasing a couple of efficient, ergonomic totes for grocery shopping. (I absolutely despise everything about plastic grocery bags)
•  Explore Whole Foods some more and figure out what their bulk items are.
• Buying some compostable tooth brushes.
• Finding a local provider of castile soap.

Thank you for your interest, and I will update soon!