Day 13

Ok so it's been a few days since we were near a computer, so lots to catch up on!
Last week we went on a mission to find some coffee, so we stopped in at a few local cafes to find something in paper. We had seen some at the Farmer's market so knew it shouldn't be too hard to come by. We ended up at Mazagran, a tiny little cafe and roastery around the back of the Art Gallery. It had a great ambience and delicious smell of fresh roast coffee. On the shelf were giant jars of beans to choose from, it was like being in an old fashioned sweet shop, but with coffee beans instead... We sniffed our way through the selection and chose one (oh no I can't remember the name!) But we gotta say it is THE BEST coffee we have ever bought for our trusty little blue stovetop! And it was a generous 200g so should get us through the week.
I (Ceire) also took a trip to Lush to see which of their products come in friendly packaging. If you have never been to a Lush store you should try and find one. It is definitely a sensory overload, and you can smell it from a mile away. Good smell, that is! So they had lots of goodies to offer -shampoo and conditioner bars, serem bars which could replace packaged moisturiser, and little toning tabs that dissolve in water like bath bombs. So we plan to go there when our current stuff runs out.
This week had the added challenge of a trip away, since we are on holidays from Uni we headed over to Queenstown/Wanaka for some snowboarding. Before we left we headed to the supermarket to stock up on goodies for the weekend. We found that the bakery and pik'n'mix sections only have plastic bags (I guess so that it is easier for the checkout person to see what you are buying) and when we went to find the paper mushroom bags they were only available at the checkout. This means that if you are buying mushrooms you have to first put them in a plastic bag, and then only pick up a mushroom bag at the end (this is really stupid). But we got some and used them for our baked goods and lollies, and didn't get any weird looks at the checkout so maybe other people do it too!
So the weekend went well, not too many temptations, and people are generally accommodating when we ask for paper instead of plastic.

To answer the last question re. if we are spending less or more... it's funny cos we were expecting to be spending more money since alternatives to plastic are usually more expensive, but its been the opposite. It seems that we have cut out a lot of impulse and unnecessary spending (like snacks etc) since they are usually only in plastic, so by thinking about what we are buying has translated into how we spend our money too, which is an unexpected twist! I've also noticed that I'm eating way more fruit than normal, and snacking on carrot sticks instead of chips (Oh I miss you chips...)

I did make a slipup this morning.... I got a takeaway coffee and put a (plastic) lid on it. It was too late by the time I realised. First morning back at uni, 8am lecture so I wasn't thinking straight I guess ...whoops!