The Three Rs

I've been thinking a lot lately about our stuff.  Maybe it's the impending overseas move that has me thinking.  After all, the first of our three sets of movers comes on Thursday.  Anyway, I've been thinking of all our stuff and thinking of the famous Rs made so by the environmental people that want us to stop being so wasteful.

Now, we really don't have that much stuff, considering.  I am a purger, so much so that it has come to haunt me a couple times when I looked for something I had already gotten rid of.  To this day my husband swears I threw out a bunch of his t-shirts when we were moving.  The reality is that he chose to store said t-shirts in a trash bag, and one of our friends who graciously helped us in exchange for pizza probably threw it away in the spirit of helpfulness.  But to get back on track, I know we have thousands of pounds less than some of our other friends (when you move, you become acquainted with the weight of all that stuff).  We definitely use what we have.  But I've been trying to think of ways to carry less with us, by

1.  Reducing (our bulk)
2.  Reusing (items in new ways)
3.  Recycling (what I no longer need)

This has started to make sense to me in a couple tangible ways.  First, we've bought silicone covers for containers that come in various sizes and stretch to fit.  Silicone is considered to be much safer than plastic, and can be endlessly reused.  Now I can use a bowl or coffee mug for food leftovers without using plastic wrap, which I hate.  This covers #1 and 2 on my list, because by reusing dishes for storage I can reduce tupperware type containers.  And the other day I saw a man at the pool with one of those blue Ikea bags that you buy to put your stuff in since they don't provide bags.  I always use it when we go to the park, but it's not a daily thing.  And when I saw this man using the bag I thought it was a perfect idea.  I don't need a dedicated pool bag any more than I need a dedicated park bag.  Reduce 1 pool bag, reuse 1 Ikea bag.

Finally, recycle.  Not just putting glass and plastic in the nice green bins your trash company provides.  I've decided that instead of automatically purging something, I try to see if someone else in my family could use it.  Usually this is my children.  And usually they are all too happy to have a new container for their animal friends or rock collection.

We'll see how this little experiment works out, but so far, so good.  Anyone else have any great ideas to reduce, reuse, or recycle?