Category: reduce

Planning for Pesach Already?

Pesach is one of the biggest projects we undertake as frum families. One of the most powerful planning tools in my toolkit—one I use for managing projects both at work and at home—is the after-action report. While any project or endeavor I will undertake again in the future is fresh in my mind, I make notes about what worked, what didn’t work, and what could have worked better with a little bit of tweaking. This way, I can reduce, reuse, and refuse my way to a more sustainable, less stressful holiday.

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What About That Milk?

There’s a funny story that involves HaShem asking an angel about some human behavior He’s observed. “What are they doing down there?” He asks. “They’re making milk from nuts,” the angel replies.  “But I gave them animals to get milk from: cows, goats, sheep, even buffalo.”  “They don’t like that milk,” the animal explains. When... Continue Reading →

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Eat-It-Up Muffins

I’m sitting down to write this blog post with a cup of chai at one elbow and a muffin at the other. I’ve been on a muffin kick as of late, spurred by the discovery that we had not one, not two, but three bags of dried apricots in our pantry.

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Good to the Last Drop

One thing that often happens when people get interested in lowering their environmental impact is that they will run into a lot of bloggers, Instagrammers, and ads telling them about products they have to have for their low-waste efforts.

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No New Clothes?!?!

I usually go into chagim and chol hamoed all caught up on laundry. But the week leading up to the Nine Days, and I started off with three full loads of dirty laundry that will have to wait until next week. Luckily, I had enough time to get them sorted and ready to go. I’ve... Continue Reading →

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Fast-Forward

Back when I first started paying attention to how much trash my family of five generated over a year ago, we were averaging three 13-gallon bags each week (plus recycling). I had certain ideas and goals about how I would tackle trimming that down, but of course, the last year has been nothing if not... Continue Reading →

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Z’ man Simchateinu

Last week I went somewhere I haven’t been since before Pesach, the party goods store, a place I used to visit at least once a month. Earlier this year, my family kicked the disposable tableware habit. When I started, I wasn’t sure how we’d do. We don’t have a dishwasher— I’m waiting for next year’s... Continue Reading →

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Direction, Not Perfection

This week I reached out to a mentor of mine, Ruchi Koval (she’s an inspiring author and speaker), with a question about teshuvah. How should I approach doing teshuva for not having kept a mitzvah 100 percent if I still don’t think 100 percent is achievable for me in 5781, I asked. She wrote back,... Continue Reading →

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