Wasteful Wednesday

[Deleted User]

What do you waste? Do you not recycle all your recyclable items or do you leave the water running when you brush your teeth? What day to day things do you waste? Don't be afraid to admit it lol.

I noticed this morning that we waste a lot of energy in our household with leaving the lights on or not unplugging things like the blender, toaster, coffee maker, etc...I don't know how much that would save us in our electric bill but I figured we aren't doing good by leaving it all on like that. Also I leave the water running when I brush my teeth.

I'm craving a carbonated beverage this morning...I know soda is not particularly the most healthy thing to drink but I want bubbles in my drink!

We have a busy day today, we have someone looking at our house after work to take over our lease, then we are meeting DH's mom for dinner and then we do our final walk through on the house!!! Tomorrow we close and become homeowners!!!!! GET HERE NOW!

[Deleted User]

I find myself throwing away lettuce that gets yucky sometimes, or fruit that we don't eat fast enough.  I always feel bad.  I also drink k-cups, a lot.  I only want one or two cups and it's so much easier than brewing coffee.  I have the insert where I could make my own instead of using k-cups, but I just love the convenience of it. 

We started buying LaCroix for H.  He likes the fizziness of pop but doesn't want to drink it, and he loves these.

Congrats on being a homeowner tomorrow!!  It's so exciting!

Today I have a homemade chocolate chip cookie in my lunch.  GET IN MY BELLY.  I am way too pumped about that.

Peaseblossom55

@Southernpeach89 Yay congrats on being a homeowner tomorrow.  How exciting

@cocobellaF a homemade chocolate chip cookie sounds so good right now.  I'm craving sweets today.

I sometimes waste fruit or vegetables.  I'll buy too much and I won't get to use the food in time before it spoils.  I get so mad at myself when I do that too. 

jenjen047

definitely waste food (mostly produce)....i buy it with the best intentions but like @cocobellaf, if it starts to go bad i toss it. i also leave stuff plugged in when im not using it. i recycle plastic, glass, metal, and cardboard but not paper.

last night i had dinner with an old friend, which was great. lots of boy talk! no plans tonight except laundry (which i actually look forward to) and catching up on TV.

i posted this yesterday but maybe it didnt get seen so im gonna post again....question for the regs on here......how long have you all been posting on
here? and how did so many of you guys come to be friends IRL?

beanbot2002

@southernpeach89 AHHHH!!!! I'm so excited for you! 

We leave our small appliances plugged in, too. And when we wash dishes by hand (which is all the damn time now), I have the bad habit of letting the water run.

Other than that we're pretty good about turning lights off, recycling everything we can, etc.

[Deleted User]

@jenjen047 - I have been on TK since 2009.  A lot of the regs live in the NE part of the country and are able to get together.  I have only met one TK-er IRL...  I live smack-dab in the middle of the country and it's not easy to get to the West Coast or the East Coast.

[Deleted User]

@CocoBellaF I've tried La Croix before wasn't a huge fan... I guess I wanted it to have a little more flavor. Maybe I just tried an icky one. Also that chocolate chip cookie sounds perfect!

@Peaseblossom55 Thanks! I can't wait!

@Jenjen047 I've been on here since December 2012 and just over the years of getting to know each other. I've only met a few ladies on here IRL though. Others have known each other a lot longer.

[Deleted User]

@southernpeach89 - They aren't my favorite either, but H loves them.  I like to take sparkling water and add lemon and lime to it for a "Sprite".  Maybe you'd like that?

[Deleted User]

@CocoBellaF That sounds good! I'll have to try that.

cu97tiger

We definitely waste produce. We're trying to get better at meal planning so that that doesn't happen.

I have a bad habit of turning the shower on, THEN getting undressed, then getting my toothbrush ready (I brush my teeth in the shower). There's definitely a lot of wasted water there.

We're pretty good about turning lights off, and the only appliance we leave plugged in is DH's coffee maker.

@jenjen047 - I believe I started posting in mid-to-late 2010. Over the years, many of us have connected on FB, and been to random G2Gs around the country. With that said, there are still three regs (ahem @goldenpenguin, @hummingbird125, and @labro) that I have yet to meet!

labro

I think we're pretty good on not wasting food. I go shopping frequently and meal plan so it's pretty rare if we don't use up something or eat something before it goes bad. It still happens, but with food we just compost it, and recycle just about everything else so we end up having very little actual garbage.

Our toaster, electric kettle, and coffee grinder are plugged in 24/7....judge me if you will.

I used to run the water while brushing my teeth but H kept on getting on me about that so now I don't. I've also gotten better about hopping in the shower after almost immediately turning on the shower.

I like to leave the main door open when I go outside so fresh air can circulate inside through the screen door. H says I'm wasting energy, but you  know what, it's so nice outside that I doubt a few minutes is going to make a huge difference.

I waste a lot of time on TK.

[Deleted User]

labro said:

I think we're pretty good on not wasting food. I go shopping frequently and meal plan so it's pretty rare if we don't use up something or eat something before it goes bad. It still happens, but with food we just compost it, and recycle just about everything else so we end up having very little actual garbage.

Our toaster, electric kettle, and coffee grinder are plugged in 24/7....judge me if you will.

I used to run the water while brushing my teeth but H kept on getting on me about that so now I don't. I've also gotten better about hopping in the shower after almost immediately turning on the shower.

I like to leave the main door open when I go outside so fresh air can circulate inside through the screen door. H says I'm wasting energy, but you  know what, it's so nice outside that I doubt a few minutes is going to make a huge difference.

I waste a lot of time on TK.

How else would we stalk each other's lives on a day to day basis?

[Deleted User]

I'm so excited for your home purchase @Southernpeach89!

We waste food for sure. Leftovers and produce especially. I tend to buy groceries on Sunday intending to cook and then get lazy during the week. Hopefully after this kiddo gets here and we're settled into a routine I'll get back to my normal cooking ways. I think it's just pregnancy laziness right now.

H wastes a TON of water. We don't pay for water in our condo because our HOA covers it. I keep telling him he's building bad habits for when we get a house and have to pay for our own water.

We also don't recycle at home. I feel guilty about it, but our condo complex doesn't have a company that picks up. If we did, we would recycle. I do recycle at work!

Peaseblossom55

I started posting here the spring of '11. 

[Deleted User]

@allusive007 - Is your due date today?  If so, happy due date!!

Dignity100

Post and run today (hope to be back later)

I waste a lot of produce and left overs.  I also leave a lot of lights on and don't unplug all the things I should.

Nothing really going on here.  Busy with work.  H has been super stressed about his job and just some other stuff going on with his house.

AlPacina

I personallly don't consider it wasteful, but I take baths way too often. They're my jam. But I know they use a ton of water.

As far as wasting other things, I guess I can be blamed as a second-hand waster because I've stopped bugging my BF about his wasteful habits. He doesn't like to collect glass in seperate recycling bins, so he throws it away. He buys too much produce for "juicing" that he hardly ever ends up using. He requires some lights stay on at all times, although I've broken him down to just the stove light at night. It's annoying, but I'd rather save my fights.

@jenjen047 - I think I'm coming up on my one year anniversary on NEY. I've never met any regs IRL. I am facebook friends with one newb that disappeared off this website pretty quickly. But no one else lives on the west coast except @AuroraRose41, it seems, but I might make it down to see her one of these days!

beanbot2002

@jenjen047 I've been here since, I think, 2011? Some of the women here have become my closest, dearest friends. A few are doing me the honor of standing with me when I get hitched later this year

eilis1228

We're pretty wasteful by these standards lol. We always have some small appliances plugged in, we leave the water running while we brush our teeth, produce frequently goes bad before we can eat all of it, and our apartment complex doesn't recycle. Eek! Also, like @labro, I'm a pro at wasting time on TK.

@jenjen047 I started posting about a year ago. The only NEYer I've met IRL is @audrewuh, and that's because she lives in the same city as me. 

[Deleted User]

@eilis1228 - Were you the poster that wanted to hear what I thought about the YL oils?

untouchablets

We actually get fined if we don't recycle every week here in my area so in my house we DO recycle as much as possible, but I waste SO much food. I LOVE eating leftovers so that's not the problem, but I come from a huge family and don't know how to cook for one so a lot of it goes bad before I get a chance to eat it all. My roommate is the same, she cooks these HUGE meals and I don't eat a lot at once so it goes into the fridge to likely be forgotten about. Like others have said, produce is the worst for me. I don't know how to store it to keep it fresh or how long most produce lasts before they go bad. I just threw out a bag of spinach that went bad and I only used it once, I should have just given it to my rabbit before it spoiled but I didn't even think about that. I gotta get better about giving him his veggies more often too!

 I also waste a lot of time AND money on dumb crap I don't need (a book when I have a shelf-full that I haven't read yet, for example), which I am actively trying to change!

I went for a run yesterday and made it just under a mile before I had to stop because my lungs burned so badly! I used my inhaler before and again after and it still took a while to recover. I know it's not my fault that my asthma is really bad and I am treating it but still, I used to run two miles 4 times a week no problem! I might try again today, but I am definitely discouraged. I even bought a new workout outfit yesterday to make me more excited about working out lol

cu97tiger

untouchablets said:

I also waste a lot of time AND money on dumb crap I don't need (a book when I have a shelf-full that I haven't read yet, for example), which I am actively trying to change!

I definitely read this as 'dump crab' the first time through and was thinking 'what the hell?' #ReadingFail

untouchablets

@cu97tiger HAHAHA thats me if I don't have coffee as soon as I wake up. Thank God for the Keurig!

[Deleted User]

cu97tiger said:

untouchablets said:

I also waste a lot of time AND money on dumb crap I don't need (a book when I have a shelf-full that I haven't read yet, for example), which I am actively trying to change!

I definitely read this as 'dump crab' the first time through and was thinking 'what the hell?' #ReadingFail

I read it as that too lol! I was like what is dump crap?

[Deleted User]

@CocoBellaF - Yep! Today is the official due date. (although I don't think it's going to be today.) Hopefully it is soon for DH's sake though - I think his anxiety is getting the better of him recently!

Hummingbird125

Good morning!!

I HATE wasting food, but I do it a lot. I'll regularly buy produce that I don't end up using for whatever reason, so I have been trying to buy frozen veggies whenever I'm not absolutely definitely going to use something within the next couple of days. 

I do usually let the water run while I brush my teeth. Oops.

I had a lovely WFH day yesterday so that I could get my car inspected and so that FI and I could go to the courthouse to get our marriage license!! I didn't think it would feel any different than going to the DMV or the post office or whatever, but it felt...official, or something, and I had definite butterflies. We also bought some more wedding decor stuff online later that day.

Today I'm back in the office, but happy because it is GORGEOUS outside. I'm going to go to the gym right after work, and then go home and heat up the butternut squash/black bean enchiladas I made yesterday for dinner, and sit outside with the pup for a while :-)

I am seriously looking forward to this weekend just because I have my 2nd dress fitting and get to see how the first round of alterations came out! They had to do a good amount of work on my dress, so I'm expecting it to look really different in a good way!

[Deleted User]

@southernpeach89 - AAAAH!  HOUSE!!  Keeping my fingers crossed for a perfectly stress free closing.

@jenjen047 - I've been posting for about 9 months (minus the month of dissertation hell).  I haven't met anybody IRL yet, but I live near @CocoBellaF and so as soon as school is out and I can breathe again I think we should have a G2G!  I wandered over here because I was totally BSC, but posting on NEY regularly really helps me keep that in check.

I'm another one that wastes produce, especially if I don't do really detailed meal plans.  I also use a ton of Ziplock bags, tin foil, etc.  I do recycle (paper, plastic, cardboard, glass), but I didn't do that for a long time.  Now my city has single-stream curbside recycling which makes it so much easier. I also have a bad habit of leaving lights on all over the house.  And, I drive a TON.  I commute 60 miles each way to get to campus, and I also drive about 35 miles each way to take ballet and yoga.  I've put 140,000 miles on my car in the past 5 years.  My carbon footprint is much larger than I would like.

[Deleted User]

@Hummingbird125 Yay for getting your marriage license!!!!

GoldenPenguin

We leave all our small appliances plugged in - I don't even think about it, though I probably should. I also turn the water on in the shower and then get undressed - but the water needs to warm up, dammit! (I also only wear undapants & a t-shirt/tank to bed, so it's not like it takes THAT long to get naked.) 

I use a Keurig at home, but only on the weekends, so I don't feel TOO bad about it, although I know it's wasteful and bad for the environment. But FI doesn't drink coffee, so there's really no point in brewing a WHOLE pot just for my one cup in the morning! 

@jenjen047 - I don't even remember how long I've been on here. Since late 2012 I think (when I was actually dating someone other than my fiance). These ladies supported me through that breakup, dating, and eventually meeting FI and falling in love, getting engaged, and now almost to the wedding day! 

Several of the women here have become my absolute best friends - they are the people I talk to most, every single day, and @swazzle is one of my bridesmaids! I live in the Northeast, close to my besties, so we are able to see each other fairly regularly and often. 

[Deleted User]

@futuremrshistorian - I am all over that!

Hummingbird125

@twodimes - I'll take pictures on Saturday!