End of week one!

Well, my plans changed a tad this week. I first realized that I only needed to do the project 2 days the first week, not the 4 I initially thought. So I decided to do the technology fast on Tuesday/Thursday, and the water reduction/waste reduction on Wednesday/Saturday.
Water reduction definitely has been the easiest of the three. While collecting our baseline data, I noted I took approximately 8 minute showers, which I deemed to be pretty darn fast compared to many other girls my age. However, my suitemates and I have a habit of turning on the bathtub faucet whenever we're using the toilet, as to reduce any potential embarassment. I decided to just suck it up and stop doing that for Wednesday and today. Really, I didn't realize that while it made me feel more comfortable for those couple of minutes, I was wasting SO MUCH water. The bathtub faucet pumps out water at such a rapid rate that I guess I never processed it. Also, I always practiced turning the sink off while brushing my teeth, but every once in a while, I got really lazy and just left it on. I'm determined by the end of this project to have perfected doing that naturally.
Trash reduction has been moderately difficult. Like Dr. Van Horn mentioned, gum is my biggest challenge! That, and the little packets of sugar I put in my oatmeal every morning. While it's terribly tempting to just ignore those, because they're small and seemingly insignificant, I realized I can totally live without gum and sugar packets for a day. Instead, I put salt in my oatmeal which is comparably tasty, and I brush my teeth more often (which probably defeats the purpose of my water reduction, but at least I'm thinking of alternatives to gum, yeah?)
And finally, living without my cell phone and laptop has actually proven to be extremely liberating! While I still instinctively reach for my pocket to check the time, or want to check my mysouthwestern in the mornings, I think this part of my lifestyle project will be extremely beneficial. Luckily, this week has been absolutely gorgeous outside, and instead of going back to my dorm to read MLIA's between classes, I go outside and read or people watch. And not having my cell phone has actually paid off a couple of times when I really wanted to relax and not stress about the calendar stored in my phone or people calling me while I'm napping. While my mother loathes the fact that she can't get in instant contact with me, I think she'll come around if I talk it up to her enough. Of course, it's posed some problems as well. Tuesday night, I had to stay up till midnight to wait and turn my laptop on so I could do some homework I forgot about that needed to be turned in online and I had saved on here. Fortunately, that was a result of my forgetfulness, so with better planning, that should be avoidable. And, it's not like I wouldn't have stayed up past midnight anyway. However, I cringe at the thought of Thanksgiving break when I'm dying to talk to my friends from here while I'm home and I won't be able to. No pain, no gain, right?

I hope everyone's week went as well as mine did. Every keep an open mind, I think this project is an awesome eye opener :)