Soraya Castaneda

This week, I focused on reducing my consumption of material goods. Out of 7 days, I only made 2 purchases. Both purchases were under $3. I did this by staying home as much as possible, which was easy since it was rainy and cold. I also took advantage of my grocery trip last week to cook at home and reduce my chances of ordering takeout.

Our focus on transportation last week was at the forefront of my mind since our car was at the shop the whole time. I only use the car to get around when I run long-distance errands or when visiting friends and family outside the neighborhood. My partner works a condensed schedule so he uses the car 3 to 4 days a week. Our car gets ok gas mileage at 28mpg combined but we still try and keep our driving to a minimum. Last week, our car's starter went out and we could not drive it anywhere anyway. This would have been much more detrimental to our daily routines had we still been living in suburbia. However, we still had access to all our essential needs within walking distance of our home. We purchased groceries for dinner at the market across the street and used a carshare service a couple of times to go further outside the neighborhood. We were even able to select an eco-friendly ride to reduce our emissions even more. We are fortunate to have advocates across the metro area who prioritize multimodal transportation instead of relying on car-centric infrastructure. Having easy-to-use alternatives to driving isn't as common across the country, but I'm glad that it is one thing we continue to value in the PNW.

On Valentine's Day, my partner and I were heading out the door for a late lunch. All of a sudden, the fire alarm starts blaring as we are on our way to the parking garage. We have had a few false alarms go off in recent months with the ice and snow triggering them. For a moment, we thought it was going to be another drill and we would be fine continuing with our plans. When we made it to the parking lot, we saw that there was smoke billowing out from a unit on the 4th floor of our building. This is when a bit of panic set in. You see, our building is very pet-friendly. We are fortunate that our leasing agents and building management take the time to get to know the residents and their pets. Upon learning about the fire, two leasing agents rushed to rescue Luna, the dog of the tenant whose apartment was ablaze.

Before the fire trucks even arrived, many of our building's residents were outside with their cats in carriers and their dogs in their arms. My partner and I took the time to check in with neighbors who looked distressed. We bonded with new neighbors we had never met and strengthened connections with people we were already friendly with. We are very fortunate that it was a minor fire that mostly affected one apartment. This week's goal of building community showed me how important it is to know more about our neighbors in case of an emergency. The dog's owner was on shift at the hospital across the street. If it hadn't been for the brave actions and knowledge of two leasing agents, I don't know if Luna would have made it out alive. I feel so fortunate that we live in a community that cares for the people and the pets that reside here. Although we missed going to brunch, it was worth it to comfort and care for those who needed it at the moment. This helped us grow closer to our community and appreciate the friends we have made so far.

This week, I challenged myself to take 5-minute showers and to find other ways to conserve water around the house. As I looked through the suggested actions, I found I already do many of the things listed regularly. We already have low-flow faucet attachments and a low-flow showerhead installed in our apartment. I was recently gifted a Brita water filter but I am looking into a stainless steel one with a ceramic filter in the future. This helps me drink more water at home and be able to take a water bottle with me instead of buying one at the convenience store. I never buy bottled water for our household but I have found that when I do buy a bottle of water, it's because I didn't plan accordingly.

The 5-minute showers were fairly easy as I turned the water off between lathering and rinsing. I now see it like turning off the tap when I brush my teeth. There really isn't a reason why the water should be running if I'm not using it at the moment. I'm going to try and use this mindset as I use water when I do dishes, wash my hands, etc. Overall, the activities this week made me realize I do an ok job conserving water already, however, I think my biggest impact on water use is around the food and beverages I consume. I will be looking more into how I can further reduce my water use by choosing more sustainable food options in the future.

My focus this week was to use ingredients I already had in my fridge, freezer, and pantry to meal prep. I supplemented with a few fresh items but overall, it was pretty doable. Last night we had spaghetti with marinara sauce and garlic bread made from some leftover rolls. Earlier in the week, my partner and I had what we call "Leftover Surprise" where we reheat our leftovers and find creative ways to make new dishes. Another one of our lunches this week was made by combining leftover chili and leftover mac and cheese to make chili mac. I used zero-waste recipe generators including SuperCook.com and MyFridgeFood to find meals I could make with things I already had on hand. Overall, it was a pretty successful and cost-effective method to prevent food waste.

One source of food waste for us is sliced bread. I live with my partner and we struggle to go through an entire loaf of bread before it goes bad. However, tomorrow I plan on making a french toast bake or some bread pudding to prevent this loaf from going to waste. I also found some other recipes that use sliced bread as a main ingredient. We are fortunate to live in a building that has composting services available but we still try to reduce our waste as much as possible. I enjoyed getting creative in the kitchen and I plan on continuing the trend for the foreseeable future.

This week's focus on energy was a bit challenging to undertake, as apartment living doesn't allow you the most options to reduce your energy use. Right now, we do our best to keep the blinds closed to insulate our space. We also no longer use the poor in-wall heating units built into our apartment. We are fortunate to have an Energy Star-rated portable heating and cooling unit that is much more efficient. I also found that I was already doing several of the actions listed like using cold water to wash clothes, replacing traditional lightbulbs with LEDs, and turning down the thermostat in favor of bundling up. Overall, it was great to see all the new technologies that exist to help us curb our energy use and still maintain our creature comforts. In our future home, I plan on implementing even more energy-saving strategies and technologies to ensure we are not wasting valuable resources.

Earlier today, I took my neighbor to the local donation center. I had a bag of things I had been meaning to donate as well. I plan on decluttering my home again soon and giving away or swapping some old hobby/crafting supplies I have.