The patriarch of our commune is very “waste conscious”. Basically, he walks around and wonders what we are wasting and how it can go unwasted. We recycle. We save every container to use for storage or whatever.
Last week, my mom came to visit. She made it known that she was not, in fact, here to see me, but to visit my sister and my niece. Thanks, Mom.
On her last night in Raleigh, my brother decided that he wanted to eat at Golden Corral. I am not a fan of the Golden Corral. The fact that the word “corral” is in the name of a restaurant is disturbing enough (we won’t get into my dislike for “Dress Barn”).
While sitting to dinner with my family, I watched waiters and waitresses clean up half-eaten plates of food, only to find the the patron was returning to the table with another plate of something else that he may 
or may not finish. So much food is wasted. I watched entire plats of food get thrown into the trash before the dishes were returned to the kitchen for washing. This bothered me. This still bothers me. I keep thinking (and estimating) how many people could benefit from all of the food that we throw away everyday. How many people can benefit from the stuff that accrues in every home? We have so much, yet we actually need so little of it.
I have been trying to figure out the best ways to not waste anything. I have been critical of those who are wasteful, including myself. I have begun purging again… trying to find new homes for things that I have not used in the months that I have been at the commune. I am pledging to only buy what is absolutely needed for the rest of my time here. I know that I need a new laptop, but I only need a functional one… nothing fancy. I also pledge to get rid of at least one thing every week that I don’t use. I’m hoping to donate something to a shelter or a family in need. I want my stuff to be useful to someone else… because it’s just sucking up space in my life.
I’m antsy, and ready to head to India.
This is a BEAUTIFUL blog! I actually really appreciate you writing it! Although I can think of much more wasteful people than me, I am still a very wasteful person. I don’t finish my plate of food half the time. We throw out refrigerated left overs a lot that we ended up never eating. Our fruits and vegetables go bad, bc we have left them in there too long without eating them and they’ve gone bad! I often leave the water running. I throw away recyclable (sp) materials. I have more clothes than I could possibly need. Half of these clothes I don’t even wear, but I keep “just in case” You have inspired me to challenge myself not to waste so much.
There are people out there that could use these things more than I could! Thank you!
Note: I accidently said our fruits and vegetables go bad twice