Tomorrow is trash day in our neighborhood, which always has me thinking about our trash output. As I mentioned before, we are not exactly without waste, but we are making improvements. Today’s improvement happened to have a visual impact.

We have had a large black trash can in our kitchen since Brett and I got married 7.5 years ago. I don’t actually remember buying it [maybe it was a wedding gift], but it is one of the few possessions that have stood the test of time [others being our wedding rings and childhood photos], until now.

[I should mention as a side note how pathetic it is that we have had so few belongings actually last seven years. It is proof that we have spent most of our married lives prioritizing the cost over the quality and it is further proof of our desire for a constant influx of new “stuff.” Sad, but true – until recently.]

Anyway, today we gave the old friend a demotion and have sent him to the basement, where he won’t collect any garbage at all, but just sit around waiting for us to determine his fate [anyone need a trash can]?

After collecting the trash this week, we realized that we no longer need a tall trash can. [I also realized that we have a lot of trash cans sitting around not collecting any trash at all.] So, we took a small can from another room in the house and put it under the sink. The size difference is significant. But how nice not to have this huge trash can in our kitchen anymore!

This is partly a big win, and partly a leap of faith. Will our trash for a whole week actually fit into this teeny-weeny can? We will see, I guess. Worst case scenario, we have to change the bag mid-week…but I’m not planning on giving myself permission to do that. I’m just going to go for it.

It’s like I always tell my personal training clients – you’ll never know what you’re able to do unless you give it a try.

[Nearly] zero waste, here we come.

Karis