Category Archives: 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess

Green is probably my favorite color (if I had to pick one). I’m really excited about the fact that Emerald is the color of the year! Maybe I’ll see more green stones as engagement rings like mine?? Okay but really this month of 7 is all about eliminating waste. Which in my mind translates to helping the environment. I’m not going to lie, I’m a little bit really jealous of Jen (the book’s author). Because you see, she lives in Austin, Texas. They gardened for this month, started composting, regularly recycled, etc. And well…it’s 25 degrees here in Chicago right now. The trash truck dumps both the recycling bin and the trash bin into the same truck. Media month last month was kind of a disaster for me. And honestly, I’m just not feeling motivated about this month. Yes…it’s already the 7th and I leave on the 21st to travel with my mom. I have exactly two weeks from today left at home for this month, so this is what I’m doing.

1. I’m eliminating paper from my business and going online with everything I possibly can.

2. I’m taking 5 minute showers.

3. I’m taking my reusable bags with me to the grocery.

4. I’m trying to eat all the leftovers and not throw any food away.

5. I’m recycling my old electronics that don’t get used and I probably couldn’t sell.

6. I’m saving up for a Nest thermostat.

7. I’m taking a big trip of cardboard (aka amazon boxes) to the closest recycling center.

What are you some green things you do? This is an area I know I really need to grow in!

If you’d like to know more about why I’m trying to eliminate waste this month, you might want to start at the beginning of my 7 adventure.

//If you haven’t filled out the reader survey yet, please do! XXOO\\

I had hoped by now that I would have a pretty picture like this to show you of a million things we’ve eliminated from our home this month. The truth is, today is the 14th, we leave for a week long trip that will take us almost to the end of the month in six days. I need to get on it. The first week of this month we got rid of, sold, and donated over 75 things from our “junk” room which is now a music room. I have started a stack of my clothing and accessories to pass down that is also in the 50+ itens range (and I’m just getting started). I have two secret bags hidden of Wil’s old old clothing that I’m going to wait a few months to see if he misses (then I will ask him before donating). So that leaves us with less than 50 items to go. The thing is though that I’m kind of discouraged because I know that last 50 won’t really make a difference. Our home isn’t going to look any less cluttered. I don’t know how many things we’d have to get rid of to accomplish that.

Stuff isn’t important. It isn’t hard for me to part with things. It’s really hard for me to take the time to sort through which things are worth keeping. I don’t want to eliminate anything we’d have to buy again. I do want to say this though, I’m really excited to be noticing this for the first time. And I am happy to be moving my thought process about this stuff even if it doesn’t seem like I’m doing as much as I should be on the outside.

I have to give a HUGE props to Beth from 3UpAdventures who posted her list of 224 items in our 7 facebook group on November 2nd. She and her husband just had a crazy epic wedding and are leaving soon to go live in a van for a year and tour the US of A. If you like adventure, you should check her blog out :-)
picture from Pinterest

**If you’re curious as to why I’m eliminating 210 things this month, you might want to start at the beginning of my 7 adventure**

Here we are! It’s the last day of the second month of my 7 challenge (I promise it’s worth reading back if you have no idea what I’m talking about). Well last time I checked in, I’d only worn five of my seven dresses for the month. That lasted until my birthday on the 20th. Crazy, right? I wore the dress up top on the left for my birthday (I purchased that dress from Caché in Vegas to shoot Jeremy & Ashley’s elopement in!)  and then last Monday (the 22nd) I woke up and was over this whole wearing the same things over and over and over bit and wanted to wear something new! Thankfully I still had one spot left, and last week was warm, so I picked this cute short-sleeved number (purchased at Club Monaco on our Miami trip).

As a general wrap-up I think this month went really well. It was WAY easier than giving up coffee last month, it didn’t inhibit anything about my lifestyle, and I don’t think anyone would have actually noticed if I didn’t tell them about it. I did cheat once, last Saturday night, I was just dying to wear jeans and a gold sweater out…so I called it a “Halloween” night to dress up, gave myself the one free pass, and had fun.

I just want to quickly remind both you and myself that a big part of why I’m doing this is because there are millions of people in this world who have even less than what I’m limiting myself to in these months. The amount of excess we live in is both astonishing and kind of disgusting. I’m going to bet right now that after eliminating all the things next month (210 to be exact) that our house won’t even look different. As I get further into this  I realize even more-so how much stuff we (both Wil and I, and we as a culture) really have and it’s appalling. I’m going to do my best to think about this even more, and go beyond what this challenge originally called for. I always find peace in simplicity, and since that’s a huge goal of mine for this year…let’s get to it! Happy Wednesday friends :-) XXOO

It is officially October first. The first day of the best month of the year! My birthday month. And the day I can drink coffee again. Me, dramatic? Psh no. If you’ve been following along with my 7 adventures, you know that today is the start of the clothes month. And yes, I am just wearing 7 dresses for the month, but that’s another blog post coming soon. What this really means is I CAN DRINK COFFEE AGAIN!!!! Yes, I am extremely excited. I plan on walking up to Starbucks shortly to order and consequently savor my grande nonfat latte. Here’s a rundown of how September went with my food goals.

1. Cutting coffee. Folks, I did it. I didn’t cheat once, even though I really want to almost every day. It was a TERRIBLE idea to start this in the middle of a double header wedding weekend, but somehow I chugged enough black tea and survived. 

2. Eliminating alcohol (except the occasional glass of red wine). I didn’t ever go to the bar and order a gin and tonic. Buuuut I serve drinks with my meetings and viewings and if there’s champagne open….I’m such a sucker! I definitely wasn’t perfect here, but it was a good challenge and I still feel good about it.

3. Cutting coke/soda/pop. So my goal for this month is to drink 99% water and tea. Bam. Success. Honestly I thought this one would be easier….but since I had cut out coffee (including ICED coffee) I really wanted a diet coke in the afternoon for caffeine. Anyway, I didn’t cheat here either, and I think I’m permanently done with coke.

4. Eliminating anything with high fructose corn syrup. Yep! Done. 

5. Not buying anything at the grocer with more than 7 ingredients.  :-( well….this one was hard. A lot harder than I thought it was going to be (should have researched more). It definitely made me read every single label before buying things (which I try to do anyway, but I guess some of my regular purchases had missed out on prior scrutinization). When I needed to buy something and only had options with 8 or more ingredients I would either make it fresh or pick the option with the least ingredients. Progress in the right direction. Also, I wish Whole Foods was closer to my house…this would be a whole lot easier there.

I really wanted to add a couple healthy habits too!

So 6. is making my own bread.  Yes yes yes! And it was so delicious! I’ve been making at least one loaf a week and I don’t plan to stop anytime soon. Here’s a yummy recipe for Apple Chunk Bread if you’re interested.

7. is to not let food in our house go bad for this month. I am not good at this. But I did WAY better than normal and actually ate all leftovers and tried to use everything before it went bad. Consequently I bought less at the grocery…which probably isn’t a bad thing. This is definitely something I plan to keep trying at :-)

Whew! Quick reflections, I wish I would have made one of my goals to drink more water. I’m happy I didn’t cheat with coffee or coke, but I really wish I had done better with the drinks and not letting stuff go bad. The good news is that this adventure isn’t about being perfect, it’s about eliminating excess and living with less.

To celebrate my drinking coffee again today!!!! I’m giving away a $25 Starbucks card to one lucky commenter. Tell me your drink of choice below, and I’ll announce the winner at the end of the week!