Weekly diary #41: I bought shoes for 20 cents

Hi there, welcome back to another weekly diary! In these weekly diaries I try to share my journey towards a sustainable lifestyle. And I also just like to writing haha. The past week I celebrated Kings Night (A Dutch holiday), Kings Day (idem dito) and I went through my trash again! Want to read along? Here’s weekly diary #41.

Thursday

I want to share something about yesterday. I went to my boyfriend and I tried some vegan Turkish pizzas. They were very good and I bought them at the supermarket Deen! This morning I went back to Enschede by train because my boyfriend had to work again. Also, tonight is Kings Night! This is a night where we celebrate our King’s birthday (I think it’s ridiculous but I’m always in for a party). Around dinnertime I went to friends, we did some groceries for dinner and snacks and then we went to University Twente, where the party was at. When I bought things at the supermarket for dinner I managed to keep it plastic free. I bought vegan bamischijven (A Dutch snack) in cardboard, pasta in cardboard and pasta-sauce in glass. The drinks were all in tetra packs because we bought those all together and my friends thought that the drinks in glass were too expensive. At the party at the University of Twente I did manage to buy my drinks in my own reusable cup which I had brought with me. I also bought some fries in cardboard. I party plastic free! The party was amazing, especially the performance of Maan was a lot of fun.

Friday

Today was Kings Day, where we also celebrate the birthday of our King. The tradition is that there are flee markets around the country in all cities. We went into the city center of Enschede with our family. I love flee markets! I also bought something myself, shoes. A pair of beautiful summer shoes for only 20 cents. That’s ridiculous, it almost felt like I was robbing the man. If he had asked 5 euros for them I would have also bought them. Oh well.

Saturday

I worked a morning shift from 7AM till noon Because of that I didn’t sleep well because I had to start so early, that happens to me sometimes. I get worried because my alarm is so early. Back at home I went through my trash again to evaluate again. I have a trashcan in my room and so this is exclusively my waste. Below you can see two pictures, the right one is for landfill and the left one plastic to recycle. I also recycle paper but that’s for another time. I will start with the plastic. In the left top you see a broken piece from a hanger. I have a lot of those from my pre-plastic time and I try to use them up. Below that an old jar of body lotion. When I tried to use it, it made my skin itch and so it’s going out. On the right top you see two cards. One was a gift from dad and the other one was a mandatory to visit the casino. Below the gift cards a plastic tray that I used to store cotton buds. I finished the tray but I don’t use cotton buds any longer. I don’t think it’s necessary, I just clean my ears in the shower. Minimalism at its best. On the left of the tray you see the lid of my blush, it broke off. Below that a tray of Facility Management Nederland which I received at school in my first year. I reused for other purposes, like homemade lip balm or something. But now it broke. Below that a bottle of sunscreen. I haven’t found plastic free alternative so far (update 2019: Suntribe). Next to the sunscreen a wrapper from the Aleppo Soap I bought. I am still experimenting with shampoo. I don’t think I will buy it again. On the right bottom an empty bottle of ‘intimate wash’. I used to think I needed that but now I realized that water is just fine. Then on to the right picture, the stuff that goes to landfill. At the top on the left side you see empty strips of birth control pills. I am not searching for an alternative for that, I don’t want a baby haha. Next to that two toothbrushes. These were the brushes I used before starting with the Humble Brush. These will be the last plastic toothbrushes I will ever send to landfill. On the right next to the toothbrushes you see an old make-up brush which is totally used up. Under the brush a make-up bag (read more about that in weekly diary #18). It’s a long stupid story. Next to that is the rest of the clothing hanger I mentioned before. Because this part is black it goes to landfill. At the bottom you see a part of a bag which I once got secondhand, this part broke off. Next time I buy a bag I’ll choose better materials. This was my personal trash of the last 20 weeks.

Sunday

Sunday lazy day! I got up early to go to the gym, but after that it didn’t do much. However, I watched a show on television about the Second World War because the 4th of May is coming up (remembrance day in The Netherlands). Consequently, I learned a lot of things I didn’t know before. Also, I received a package today. I had used up all the blades of my safety razor and had ordered new ones. A while ago I finally found a brand that delivers the blades in cardboard. I now use the brand Astra. I ordered 30 blades at once so that these will last me years. For dinner we ate rice with all sorts of random vegetables in it. Cooking vegan doesn’t have to be difficult!

Monday

I had planned to go to my boyfriend today and that takes about 3 hours from door to door. And so I got up early to go to the gym, take a shower, clean the shower afterwards and go to the library. And then it was already time to go. I went to Harderwijk by train. After dinner we decided to go along with my mother in law to her yoga class. It was very funny since my boyfriend and I really suck at it haha.

Tuesday

Just like last week I decided to go home in the morning already. My boyfriend has to work/graduate. I finished another Dutch book today: ‘Psychologisch handboek voor de niet zo perfecte vrouw’. I lended it at the local library and I finished it quite fast. It was a mwah-book, not that good. A while back I bought local and organic beets at the market. My mom knew a good recipe and so I made a beet salad today. Very simple! The foil you see on the picture below is reusable foil mom bought at the Action. You can rinse it after use and then use it again. It’s an improvement! It’s still plastic but I have to give credits to mom here. At night I even managed to go to the gym still even though I hate going at night. I am proud of myself.

Wednesday

I don’t know what happened, I can’t sleep long anymore? This week I have woken up at 8AM every single day. It feels good! I have so much time in one day. Today I had promised dad to cut the hedge in our garden. Then I went to the gym and took a good shower. For lunch I had leftovers from yesterday’s dinner and after that dad and I biked to grandma and grandpa. I am now writing this weekly diary while dad is making dinner. Ah, it is so nice when someone cooks for you.

My favorite song of this week:

Last Resort

Papa Roach

Yours sincerely,
Romee

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