No More: November

I'm a little late on posting this. But better late than never. My 'no more' item for this month is paper products. Not all of them! I am just making a start. So, I am no longer going to buy:

TISSUES

This is simple - use hankies instead. Remember those things? I am ashamed to say that I only own a couple, so I will be making some more out of some material I got from Freecycle recently. Until then we will use up the box of tissues that we have. I'm not sure about visitors... I'm thinking I will have a small container of hankies in the bathroom should anyone need a tissue while they are here. And yes, they can keep it, I won't be asking for it back!

WRAPPING PAPER

I received a present in a material draw-string bag from a friend a while ago. I thought this was a great idea. I've been able to reuse the bag for many things. So, when I have some time, I will make a few bags to have on hand, either from material I've already got around the house, or possibly from the remnants bin at Spotlight. They shouldn't take long to whip up, and I love that the wrapping will be a part of the gift. Now, I do have a small stash of wrapping paper in my cupboard. I will give myself till the end of this month to use it if I wish (I find having a changeover period makes me more likely to stick to these "no more" things). If I haven't used it by then, it will be offered up on Freecycle.

PAPER TOWELS

We use paper towels for draining oily foods, mopping up the occasional spills, wiping mushies... I think that's about it. I was thinking about this and thought how lazy it really is. I mean, is it that much harder to grab a cloth wipe, use it, and throw it in the washing basket? I think not! So, I've already been doing this one for a few weeks, since our last roll of paper ran out. I have a plan to get some cute fabric to make up a bunch of cloth "paper towels". They will be so much more fun to use than dodgy paper :)

FWIW, we already use cloth wipes for our baby and cloth nappies, so no paper products there. And we switched to recycled toilet paper last year (though I did treat myself to some of the extra fluffy, soft stuff after I gave birth). I've thought about going to 'family cloth' but I'm not sure about that just yet. I figure there are other eco-friendly steps I can take before that one!