Making a List, Checking it Twice

Oh, there are so many reasons to make a list;
Shopping
Home repairs
Projects
Parties
Holidays
And this list goes on, and on

I love a good list, and make them often. One of the challenges for zero waste is not using so much paper though, so what about my list?

When I first became interested in zero waste a couple of years ago, I took a class at a convention that I was at, and it made me think of all the places we could cut back in the office. One of the huge ones was paper.

People of my generation are totally on board with this idea, and modern technology with computers and email make this so much easier. But where I knew the problems to my plan would exist is with the old school guys, oh boy.

I started watching everyone, and took over control of the office supplies, which in turn earned me the name "Supply Nazi". Whatever, it will pay off in the end. I noticed that we were blowing through these 5x7 yellow notebooks, so I investigated where they were being used.

I discovered that the notebooks were used for several reasons, among them was to take phone messages at the front desk, and writing a list of problems on an airplane for the mechanics.

In turn, we would get a bunch of junk faxes from people, and things that had been misprinted. So I started having everyone save those papers, and cut them up to make notepads to use instead. I did however get complaints from mister old school about how embarrassing it was if a customer saw we were up cycling our paper, but I think this is untrue. Most of the customers are business owners themselves, and a probably have started some of the same practices that we had. I told him that all the cool kids are doing it, but I'm not sure if I will ever win that battle.



Any-who, I only go grocery shopping every other week, so needless to say my list is long, and I like to have been making as i had seen the needs arise over the previous last two weeks. So I do keep a notepad on the counter to write my grocery list. I do however make my notepads out of my old store receipts that they insist on giving you, so at least I have up cycled those. But as I have learned in this venture, anything smaller than your fist is not recyclable, so I use my paper lists to the fullest.



For other lists, I try and use my notepad app on my phone as much as possible. It is the most used app on my phone. And as for the list that hangs around forever of chores and home repairs, I use a whiteboard for that.



So go ahead and make your list, it feels great to keep checking things off.

- Monica