90 Percent Project - Weeks 33 & 34

Catching up on my weekly values for Weeks 33 (January 11-17) and 34 (January 18-24) of the 90 Percent Project....

Electricity
Week 33: 23 kWh used
Week 34: 35 kWh used

Week 34 was not a stellar week. The day that I washed and dried 4 loads of laundry contributed 17 kWh to the weekly total. That’s a lot.
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Gasoline purchased (for 2 people)
Week 33: 0 gallons
Week 34: 6.397 (3.20 gallons/person)

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Water (for 2 people)
Week 33: 201.987 gallons (100.993 gallons/person)
Week 34: 336.645 gallons (168.32 gallons/person)

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Natural Gas
Week 33: 2 CCF
Week 34: 2 CCF

WHOOOHOO!!!

Turning off the gas pilot light on the furnace has cut use down by 2-3 CCF per week. That’s a huge savings for one pilot light. Wow.

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Trash (for 2 people)
Week 33: 6.8 lbs. (3.4 lbs per person)
Week 34: 65.8 lbs. (32.9 lbs per person)

Week 34 was all about swapping bedrooms and cleaning stuff out. It doesn’t help the over all tally very much, but life happens.

What struck me, however, is that the average American routinely deposits 31.5 pounds of stuff into the trash EACH week. We managed to deposit 1.4 pounds more than that this week after a major cleaning project. I looked at all that trash and, truly, wondered how in the world the average American can find that much trash to throw out on a weekly basis. The statistics seem to back that figure up, but it’s hard for me to believe it.

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Consumer Goods
Week 33: $0
Week 34: $0

Week 34 represents the 4th consecutive week of not buying consumer goods. Nothing. I think this is a milestone in my life. I have avoided stores like the plague. I don’t currently need anything and, therefore, if I don’t go to a store, I can’t buy anything on impulse.

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Food
This week was a disaster for food. A young lad with a voracious appetite can go through a lot of pizza and boxes of macaroni and cheese and Mountain Dew Code Red when he’s hungry...two hours after a meal. Plus friends coming over and a party and what not. Some battles are worth fighting, but I ran out of energy on this one.