Once your aware, its just plain scary.

When I first started to reduce my plastic habit, I was thinking that I could just get rid of my Tupperware, maybe some reusable plastic Glad containers and a few other things. That would get all the plastic out of my house right? Um yeah....no. It was like chores around your house. Once you start cleaning you stumble upon another mess, clean that mess up and find more mess. On and on and on. Its a never ending cycle. Well that's basically the same thing with plastic. 

I donated all my Tupperware (sniff sniff) with the exception of my smaller ones because I use them to freeze food in. I really do not have the cash to replace all those with glass. Slowly....it will be done. Well then I decided to try out no plastic in our personal things. No hair sprays, no gels, no hair product of any kind if possible. This has given me so much storage back. It looked like we were stocking up for a war or something. I had way too much crap under our cabinets and pretty much wasted our money buying them. Ugg!  But now its just shampoo/conditioner, bar's of soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes. 

Then it was onto all my samples/freebies. Did I sign up for everything? You would think so by looking into my closet. Everything not natural is OUT! Everything was given to friends/family or donated to a local shelter.  From now on I think before I sign up for any samples.  Is this natural? What kind of packaging will this be in? Can I really use this? If you answer anything no then I do not sign up for it. 

Same goes for when i'm shopping. I look for glass bottles, all natural and organic, and if its made locally.  Because I do not buy all that plastic crap anymore (saving me money) I can pick and choose what I want to spend a little extra on.  For example:I donated all my favorite VS lotions, body spray, and perfumes (sniff sniff). I bought a all natural unscented lotion from Whole Foods and use that instead. I then searched, asked around and researched a good brand of lotion that I liked and bought it. Before I never would of spent $9 on a bottle of lotion. I could make 2 meals for the family with that money!  Well since I save so much money now avoiding plastic, I can splurge $9 on a good healthy type of lotion. I use it  when its a special occasion since I do not have a perfume anymore. That will be my next splurge. 

The problem I am having now is shopping. Trying to get my girls school supplies and such is getting to be scary for me. Everywhere you look there's plastic. No numbers to look to see if its recyclable, barely any recycled products to buy, and barely any Eco friendly choices. I'm on the hunt for a fabric pencil pouch. One would of thought this would be easy but nooooooo. Cannot find anything!  Were about to make our own because its an exhausting search.  Next time your in the store just stop. Stop and look around. About 80% of everything in the store is made of some form of plastic. From clothing, to shoes, to even dishes. Makes me sick to my stomach. Seriously. 

So I avoid going to the stores. I'm turning into a granola hermit. I get groceries about once a month except for if I need milk. I really do not like shopping anymore. Plastic is sucking the life out of me. It makes me sad, scared and sick. Sad to know animals are dying because of our plastic habits getting into their habitats. Scared because I know all i'm gonna find is plastic everything. Sick because of all the health concerns of plastic. I am really scared for our children. They will be the ones who have to deal with our past problems. Its not fair. They should be learning new things, exploring new things and living a wonderful life. But lately all it seems is that they will have to fight global warming and deal with issues later from oil spills. I'm feeling very scared for my children.

Nuff said

What about all of you? 

How are you handling all the plastic in your life?