Liana Lounsbury

I don't have a lot of free time currently so this can be a hindrance for me to spend time outside. However, I want to start taking walks around the block at least once a day again. Especially with the weather being as nice as it is. I only had a chance to walk outside twice this week. However, I took time to put my phone away and really appreciate being outside and to feel the breeze on me and stuff. I hope to start doing this at least 3-4 times a week.

So this week I cleaned out my room of clothes that I do not wear and just other stuff that is basically creating clutter. I want to donate everything. I would like to see if anyone could use the clothes first before I donate any of them. So I will ask around to a couple people that I know. This way if someone needs something or wants something they can just have it! I may do that with the other larger items as well. I would rather just give something to people so they don't have to pay for it.

I always enjoy doing a "spring cleaning" or "decluttering". Not only does it make my space feel more open. I can also pass gentley used items to someone else so they can use and enjoy it!

What I have been doing the last week is planning with a friend to drive both of us to the places we need to go. We planned it out where we would go to every place we needed to while going between my home and theirs. This not only saved time but it was also saved gas. I may start doing this more often. Plus it is nice to have company when driving around doing errands!

So I have engaged with at least two people where I did not agree with their perspective or point of view over the last week. We have had a difficult week regarding finances and family matters. To say the least, I have had to have multiple hard conversations and it is safe to say that the people who I spoke with did not agree with me several times during the conversation. So I am proud of myself for how I handled it. In the past, I have shut down and had difficulty communicating in situations like this. However, I engaged in active listening and I heard their perspective. I then spoke up about how I felt. I used facts, and I tried to stay objective. Not letting the conversation turn into basically bickering and badmouthing one another.

Unfortunately I cant go into details because both of the conversations were about highly personal information. I can say that we did reach an understanding both times. I wouldn't say an agreement was reached because several of the things that we were discussing have not been fully resolved. However, I feel like solutions were reached that will make the situations more fair in the future and that is better than nothing.

For my image this week, I decided to share a few ways one can engage in active listening:

For the challenge this week I decided to plan our family meals so that I could cut down on food waste. It can be hard because we simply do not eat that much. I also do not know if my family members will eat the leftovers that I make. I try to eat them but I am one person and can only consume so much. I have started simply buying less of the ingredients as a result and making smaller meals. This helps a lot but we do still have some food waste unfortunately. Listed below are the meals I made Monday - Thursday and the ingredients I boght at the store that we didn't already have in the pantry to make them.

So I calculated my personal water footprint at about 1,512 gallons of water per day. Per day! That is so much more than I thought it would be. So on that note, I would like to include a few ideas that I would like to try implementing:

1. Doing laundry less often - This would include waiting until I have loads of lights, darks, towels to actually fill the washer so I don't waste water washing just a few items. I have reduced my laundry to about 3 loads per week. I just can's wash my lights and darks together.
2. The website I used recommended putting a bucket in the shower to collect extra water to water my plants with. Did this. It is a great idea!
3. Turning off the shower when I shave. I fill the base of the tub with water and use that to rinse my razor. I do not have a traditional bathtub but the tub is deep enough for a foot or so of water which is plenty!