Hi, I’m Andrea; a kindergarten/first grade teacher living in sunny California, married, with two boys. I love to spend time with my family, enjoy nature, and travel as much as possible.
And as of late…
My 2015 New Year’s resolution was to live “zero waste”, but as soon as I began making changes, I was like, This should be called *Near*-O waste because ZERO is pretty much impossible!
Our family of four has undergone a major year-long transition full of trial-and-error, and we’re finally living very close to “zero”. We’ve adopted minimalism along the way, and have simplified our life, taking away the obsession with stuff, and focusing on family and enjoying the precious time we have together. We hope our lifestyle will teach our children how to be healthy, how to take care of the planet, and how to value love and adventure over material possessions.
I’m completely passionate about our lifestyle and all its amazing benefits, both for our family and the earth. I started small, then I couldn’t stop! I love to write about our adventures, and I invite you to read about them on my blog and Facebook page. You can also contact me via email at teacherscreatures@comcast.net.
3, 2, 1, Near-O!
Near-O Waste 
Hi There, I’d like to invite you to the ‘Zero Waste Bloggers Network’ but can’t find contact details on here. If your interested in details around the group, please send me an email (mentioning your real name and your blog name) to inge [ at ] gruenish [dot ] com.
Cheers,
Inge
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Showed your blog to a friend when she said, that there is a term ‘Near-o waste”. She loved your blog and also your N.O.W. abbreviation 🙂
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That’s awesome!! Thanks, Inge 🙂
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I think it’s great you are trying to use less paper and packaging, but what about the fact that you drive a car everywhere? To me, the use of the fossil fuels is a far bigger problem than a few pieces of paper. How do you justify that?
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There’s no denying the negative effects of driving and flying. I don’t live close enough to my workplace to walk or bike, so driving is a necessity. Giving up traveling is not a consideration for our family and I feel no need to justify that. I am saving far more than a few pieces of paper and the small difference I’m making would be *huge* if more people reduced their trash and consumption as drastically as we have. The amount of resources that would be saved (and the pollution that would be prevented) if people stopped over consuming, buying packaging, and using disposables would be earth-changing. I think, for most people (at least in the United States), reducing waste is more attainable and realistic than vowing to spend the rest of their life in a radius that doesn’t take them farther from home than they’re able to pedal.
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Thanks for blogging about living a less waste lifestyle, there’s just so many names out there about this topic, and I also agree with you that zero waste is impossible. I like the N.O.W abbreviation, I am writing my own blog and call it minimal waste lifestyle instead of zero waste lifestyle. But the more everyone does the better the planet will become 🙂 Keep up the great work!
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Awesome! Love your blog name 🙂 And yes, every little bit helps!
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