This EcoChallenge has been a challenging one for me. Schedules have been tight but somehow I've managed to squeeze in some actions! A quick summary: 

Decluttering: made progress, excited for the upcoming winter months to do more. 

Recycling:

Options for Redbudsuds: 

As always, I'm grateful opportunity to have a few weeks, even though they've been busy, to reflect and have a little extra accountability towards changing some habits for the health of the earth and my community.  If we wait until we "have the time," we could make excuses forever. So three cheers to making it happen. Thanks EcoChallenge and Team Redbudsuds!

Loving the EcoChallenge even more this year. I see it as a conscious way to reset and work at improving my "green-ness". I collected all of my trash last year and hulled it around with me for two weeks and that experience has impacted me throughout the year. Competitions like this keep it fun, but force you (if you allow it to) to think long and hard about the reasons we do what we do.
   My husband and I are seriously considering trading in our family van for an electric vehicle. I don't say that at all in a prideful way, but if we aren't willing to make sacrifices, who will? 

  The word of the Lorax seems perfectly clear...

All the best,
Krista 

So maybe I picked too many things to start off with, but my goals with this challenge:

1. Add consistency to my excersize. I just got back from a month long yoga training in Costa Rica and every morning we practiced 2 hours of Ashtanga Yoga. While I don’t have 2 hours every morning, I’d like to keep up this daily consistency of making sure I really practice every day to some capacity. 

2. Use more reusable mugs. I love our local coffee shop but so often forget my reusable coffee mug. A simple thing to add to my morning that I’ve done before, but should be doing more often.

3. Use my reusable bags! I am the queen of having reusable shopping bags but forgetting to bring them with me. Time to remember!

4. De-clutter! I started this week with a huge box of clothes I’m ready to part with. I have many drawers that need “gone through” so I want to keep that up!

Seems like a lot but I think the goals are totally doable since I’ve already begun them to some degree. Excited for the challenge!

Already mid-October, what!? The EcoChallenge starts tomorrow!? Bring it on.

As I've been anticipating the beginning of my challenge to declutter, I've noticed how excited I've gotten at being more proactive. I was determined to start the challenge with my desk cleaned off so I could start working on simplifying more... and wouldn't you know, I did it! It was no small undertaking, but it feels like a huge weight off my chest to have it clear and ready for action. Now, can we keep it that way? ;)  I aim to do something to declutter every day during the challenge. To create a habit that sticks. I'm looking forward to seeing where this leads.

Thanks everyone for your support and for joining the challenge. Rock on in your own awesome ways!

This year I'm going to do a few smaller challenges and I"m excited to see where they take me. 
-Energy: I realized that I have a habit of just leaving my computer on, though I do close it, it is still using energy. I'll be reading news or articles and open up a bunch of tabs and when I realize that I don't have or want to take the time "right now" to read them I just keep the tabs open, which means leaving the computer on so I don't lose them. Kind of unnecessary b/c there are things called Folders/Bookmarks for a reason. :) One of my challenges is to be more mindful about turning off or powering down devices. I'm going to scour the house for devices that can be shut down when not being used and create a habit of turning devices off on a regular basis. 
-Nature: As I have run throughout the summer, I have enjoyed seeing new areas in my community (in Kidron, in Wayne County, and in Ohio)... but as I've done so I'm also realizing how many parks/trails there are that I've never been to. So, I'm committing to visiting at least 1 new park/hiking trail near by. 
-Nature/Simplify: Last fall I enjoyed sleeping out in my tent in my backyard for at least a month - and its that time of year again. This year I commit to sleeping out in my tent at least one night during the EcoChallenge and posting a gratitude list from that night. 
Can't wait to see how everyone else on Team REDBUDSUDS is going to engage in this EcoChallenge. You are all inspiring! 

I'm looking to do my bit to recover this incredible Earth!

By typing this, I've achieved 5 bonus points. You can too!

I had a lot of fun with the EcoChallenge last year, and I am excited to start again! This year, I am going to try to limit my social media to once/day. This is going to be tough! I tend to peek at Facebook when something on my computer is loading... or swipe through Snapchat in boredom. If I were to add it up, I am sure that it would be a nice chunk of time. I've decided that my goal will be to use each site at most once per day. If I logged on to Facebook in the morning before work, that is it for the day; but I can get on Snapchat (just once!) to say hi to my sisters before bed. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram are the main culprits. 
I very much hope I can make a habit out of this! 

It's taken me a lot of reflecting to come up with my challenges this year, but I finally feel really good about what I've chosen.

1. Decluttering: I'm constantly stressed out by how much paper is all over my desk, all the time. I'm going to take this time to really hone in on cleaning out files and clearing the heaps of paper that have accumulated over the course of the busy summer months. But so they don't pile up again, I'm also going to create a strategy so that there is less paper even entering my house. Evernote is my friend. :) Th article "Does it Spark Joy is the Wrong Decluttering Question" from Becoming Minimalist inspired me, check it out (especially as a Marie Kondo fan!).

2. Yep. I've got a huge box of weird # plastics and have been too lazy to figure out what to do with it. Laziness ends now! ;)

3. When it comes to my business, I'm always looking for ways to improve our sustainability. Giving customers an opportunity to give our fun, playful packaging new life seemed an obvious next step. I also think it would be fun to create a social media campaign inviting photos of how fans have reused their Redbudsuds boxes in creative ways. I'm looking forward to seeing where this takes us!

And I'm looking forward to seeing what other habits people are wanting to change. I love how it brings us all together, and helps me use my reflective tendencies in the fall towards a good purpose.

Cheers and good luck, everyone!

The weather is starting to change (yummy cooler, cardigan days), the days are getting shorter (get out the candles or maybe go to bed earlier), and we're so close to the start of the 2017 EcoChallenge. Yippee! One of my goals this year is to get at least 2 new people to participate that have never done this challenge before! So glad to be celebrating the Earth with all of you on Team REDBUDSUDS!