Cravings: Nothing. I have no appetite. I appear to be in some kind of shock.
Mood: Out-of-it
For those wondering why we skipped days 29 and 30, I’ll explain. Day 1 was actually posted on Day 3, so all the posts were off by two days. I really wanted to do the experiment for 32 days so that it wouldn’t look like I was cheating, BUT I JUST CAN’T HANDLE IT ANYMORE. So as of right now, I am the Post-Freegan Girl. If I wanted to, I could not only eat a cheeseburger, I could buy it. Some of you are probably thinking; “She’s already waited 30 days for a cheeseburger. What’s two more days?” Well let me tell you--it is a lot. As a matter of fact, I’m fairly sure that if I had to do this for even one more day, I would go stark raving mad. I mean it. I’d make the shenanigans of Britney, Paris, Lindsey and Nicole look like Sunday School fun. Anyway, I’m done; but e-mail me if you don’t trust me and require an official affidavit from some Newsweek big-wig.
Despite yesterday’s panic, I am not completely turning my back on my Freegan lifestyles. Right now, as of day zero, here are the things I’m planning to keep up and the things I’m dropping like a hot rock:
1. I am determined to limit my buying. So one pair of fall shoes won’t break my budget or make me feel guilty but 12 pairs would--a distinction that I would not have been able to make four weeks ago. I’ve also vowed not to buy weird-looking clothes just because they’re on sale and I thought I might try my clothes on before I buy them. That should prevent me from buying (over and over again) those cropped pants that make me look like a knish.
2. I’m through being a vegan. Life seems very long and sad without the hope of ice cream or cheese. Call me a bleeding heart if you must; but I will try to only buy meat and dairy that is certified humane. I don’t know what to do about eating out.
3. I’m going to try and keep up with the organic and local buying, keeping in mind that local is more important since it has a smaller carbon footprint (less driving) and it tastes much much better then any of the mass-produced equivalents. That’s true, you know--locally grown tastes better. I just didn’t want to tell you that during the experiment. You would have instantly accused me of fanaticism and closed your mind to me.
4. I will continue to scrupulously recycle and reuse or rather my husband will since he does most of it anyway. The composting thing is over thanks to my cats; but let me say that if you limit the buying and buy local instead of canned, you produce a lot less garbage.
5. And you can be absolutely sure that I will not, on pain of death, throw away what I already have and buy "green" items. Shoot, I’m not going to create garbage in order to help the environment--what sense would that make? Think about that when you feel pressured to buy the eco-variety of anything, it works. And keep your guard up, because the Green Marketing Machine is going to really kick in for the Holidays.
6. I’m going to keep up the energy conservation which is an extremely easy thing to do considering summer is over BUT I’ve decided that each electricity bill must be cheaper then the next or I will be extremely disappointed in myself. Electricity is my enemy! Don’t you wish I could stick around and let you know how that goes? Oh, by the way, I haven’t gotten my latest electricity bill yet but if it’s under $100, I will make a special effort to post it on YouTube so you can see it!
7. Eco-Friendly Transportation is just the thing for me! As it turns out, I don’t mind taking the subway rather then a taxi because as it turns out, if you’re running late, the subway is always faster! Taxis just feel faster. As for the bus, I only ever took one when I was too lazy to walk. I will try not to be so lazy. Of course, my husband just picked his car from the repair shop so temptation does loom.
8. I absolutely love the idea of a Freedom Savings Account. Just forget that’s it’s an account to shave years off your employment history. Think of it as funding your dreams. My total saved after 4 weeks was about $1200; which is about $300 a week which seems about right. Between meals out, cabs, Target and assorted drugstores, I probably do spend that much every week. So, I think I should keep saving, keep taking my lunch to work and stay out of drugstores. I can’t desert Target--I love Target. It’s lame to love a store so much, but I just do. Of course, the Freedom Savings Account went toward the cost of repairing the car. When life gives you lemonade, you get lemons!
9. I really thought that being mindful of my impact on the Earth would drive me crazy but, in the end, it was the most valuable thing I did over the whole 30 days. The more you know about where your food, clothing, entertainment and shelter comes from, the easier it is to make buying decisions in line with your conscience and in turn, save the polar bears.
Stay tuned for tomorrow: Post-Freegan Girl will breathlessly report the experience of her first cheeseburger.
Good News: I ate M&M’s and they tasted like little round pieces of Heaven. Really.
Bad News: Milk tastes funny now.
Worries: What me, worry?
