Green Goblins
30/06/2024 10:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaIt's that time of the year again in Oz.
The last day of the financial year or as I like to call it, Goblin New Year's Eve.
I didn't achieve my Number 1 goal - to start the year with the plastic fantastic in the black.
But I'm a bit more organised with some other stuff.
While I have automatic deductions for the seperate account I use for bills, I do need to assess if I need to top it up.
It sure helps having solar panels & not having a car (those things just eat money)
I have found a sneaky trick to save money & reign in my hoarding habit.
I'm not doing Camp Nano but I will be doing Plastic Free July.
The rules are simple but definitely not easy.
No single use plastic for the month.
Which basically means a lot less food shopping, using up stuff in the pantry & making more meals from scratch.
And of course, a LOT less junk food since chips, biscuits and most snacks come in plastic.
It also means no cheese unless it's a shop that cuts from the wheel and wraps produce in wax paper.
I don't think it's possible regards milk since milk in glass bottles seems to have gone the way of the dinosaurs.
Petunia used to insist on milk in proper glass bottles and her local grocery store did have it on stock as did mine.
But not anymore
Pretty much most of the weekly catalogues of the 2 main supermarkets are not kosher in Plastic Free July.
It's funny how motivating deadlines can be.
I did a bit of a blitz in the loop & laundry & made sure the garden table is clean & empty for the beginning of the new month.
That was helped by all the planting I did yesterday.
The other thing that really sucks is how hard it is to find a fee free ATM these days.
I refuse to do internet banking or direct debit for utilities no matter how much the banks,gas & water keep pestering me.
I'm off to do a Goblin toast.
The last day of the financial year or as I like to call it, Goblin New Year's Eve.
I didn't achieve my Number 1 goal - to start the year with the plastic fantastic in the black.
But I'm a bit more organised with some other stuff.
While I have automatic deductions for the seperate account I use for bills, I do need to assess if I need to top it up.
It sure helps having solar panels & not having a car (those things just eat money)
I have found a sneaky trick to save money & reign in my hoarding habit.
I'm not doing Camp Nano but I will be doing Plastic Free July.
The rules are simple but definitely not easy.
No single use plastic for the month.
Which basically means a lot less food shopping, using up stuff in the pantry & making more meals from scratch.
And of course, a LOT less junk food since chips, biscuits and most snacks come in plastic.
It also means no cheese unless it's a shop that cuts from the wheel and wraps produce in wax paper.
I don't think it's possible regards milk since milk in glass bottles seems to have gone the way of the dinosaurs.
Petunia used to insist on milk in proper glass bottles and her local grocery store did have it on stock as did mine.
But not anymore
Pretty much most of the weekly catalogues of the 2 main supermarkets are not kosher in Plastic Free July.
It's funny how motivating deadlines can be.
I did a bit of a blitz in the loop & laundry & made sure the garden table is clean & empty for the beginning of the new month.
That was helped by all the planting I did yesterday.
The other thing that really sucks is how hard it is to find a fee free ATM these days.
I refuse to do internet banking or direct debit for utilities no matter how much the banks,gas & water keep pestering me.
I'm off to do a Goblin toast.
no subject
Date: 2024-07-01 04:00 am (UTC)I guess modern "paper" milk cartons aren't fully paper, are they? I can think of one brand here that does the glass bottles but even then they use plastic caps. Time to find someone with a cow you can milk straight into an old jug 🙃
Do you have any "cash back" system where if you use a debit card to pay at a grocery till you can also withdraw cash at the same time? That's about the only way I've found to get fee-free cash without going to the bank.
Plastic free days
Date: 2024-07-04 01:48 pm (UTC)Like you said with the vegetarian food, it makes it easier to keep doing once you've got the initial hurdle of starting out of the way.
It always takes so much longer to do anything the first time around.
Paper milk cartons are definitely not kosher. Same with take away coffee cups. They have to go to landfill because the paper is mixed with the plastic lining that makes it waterproof.
So far I'm doing fine but on Tuesday, I ordered a coffee at San Churro and in spite of clearly specifying Dine In & the barista confirming it, they still brought a take away cup to my table.
Normally I always bring my own mug for precisely this reason, but San Churro usually use really lovely pumpkin shaped mugs for dine in.
But this time they didn't.
Occasionally I resort to using the supermarket cash out option as an alternative to the ever rarer ATM but the big disadvantage is you don't get a balance on your receipt.
I keep a running total of what I think I have in the account and like to verify it as often as possible especially since the bank recently switched for 2 to 6 monthly statements.
They really are going out of their way to make customers use online banking which I just refuse to do.