I decided to demonstrate what I mean by piles of stuff by sharing with you a few images of a couple of my piles.

First, this is my plastic two litter bottle pile. It’s really not that bad. It’s been much larger in the past. There’s only six bottles in the photo, but really I had seven. Seems I overlooked a bottle that I hadn’t added with the rest of my stash yet.

Second, I have plastic bags galore. I didn’t bother to count all the bags. There’s a lot. Bags from Schnucks, Shop n’ Save, Riverview Dairy, Garden Ridge, Wal-Mart, Target, Hancock’s Fabrics, KFC, and plastic potato sacks, etc. It’s a record of our shopping habits and it seems like madness. It will take work to reduce this pile.

Third, I have 80 aluminum cans. I have grown to love aluminum cans. One can do so much with a few cans. But even so, 80 is a high number to get down to zero.

ZERO. This is my goal. For each and every pile. I want to turn all this stuff in these pile into something else and be left with no piles. Hopefully documenting my progress (or lack of it) will help keep me on track.

Today I decided to try to eliminate the soda bottle pile. I cut all my soda bottles into strips that I plan to sew together.

I also began to reduce the plastic bag pile by making ‘plarn’ out of my blue and pink plastic bags. One day in the future, these items will be transformed into something awesome. I just need time. Stay tuned.