The Bottomline

Hi everyone! This is Bea's husband, Scott.

This is a note to the people that may be standing on the sideline, deciding whether or not this lifestyle or these changes make sense. Or maybe it is a note to the doubters that are thinking this is just a waste of time or money...or maybe it is to the husbands out there that are thinking this is just a big hassle. (I know because I was one of them at first...)

After some prodding from Bea, I went back over our expenses - in detail - from a few years ago (our "old life" in 2005) vs. our expenses now ("zero waste" lifestyle in 2010). To compare apples to apples, so to speak, I also took into account that our two boys are eating significantly more (ages 8 & 10 in 2010 vs. ages 3 & 5 in 2005). I could eat more than both of them put together in 2005 - now, Max eats as much as me - maybe more some days. (Note: Bea has always eaten more than me :)

The bottomline: It looks like we are saving even more than we thought...

> On food we are saving 36% overall:

• Groceries are down 33%
• Farmer's market is up over 1000% (from almost nothing to being a core part of our meals)
• Restaurants are down 67%

> On "drug stores" (like Target, Rite Aid, CVS Pharmacy, etc.) our spending is down 76% (We can't even remember what the heck we were buying there!?)> Overall - our spending is down almost 40% across those categories!!! (not counting for inflation)

I attribute these savings to:

• Shopping the outer rim of the store vs. the aisles
• Less meat for dinner (once per week vs. most days)
• More vegetables (we are spending a lot more at the Farmers Market every week)
• Less dinners out / more family dinners in... (sure some of that is due to the economy)
• Drug store purchases are way down - we don't buy all the "throw-aways"

And this does not factor in any of the time savings - fewer trips to the store, less time spent in the store, less time driving to/from the store...more time with my family, doing the things that we like to do.

Ok - back to Bea for the regularly scheduled program next week...(probably something on how to reuse turnip peels to degrease your stove :)