Well, it is the final week of my Eco Chic Lifestyle Change. To remind everyone what my SMART goal was, here it is below...
"I will use a cloth napkin for 2 out of the 3 meals I eat daily in my home for the next 10 weeks."
This past week I did GREAT in achieving my SMART goal and did not use any paper napkins in my apartment at all. This was a very hard challenge to meet, and I did struggle a few times, like when I spilled my glass of water at lunch and paper napkins were also close to me. But I did end up going for towels so I did not use the paper napkins, and I still used my cloth napkin for the meal. I kept cloth napkins on the table before I even started my meals, and that really helped me accomplish my goal.
Through this all, I learned that if you have cloth napkins at the ready, you will use them. I also learned to perservere even in rough situations. I also plan to continue this goal as long as I am able since it is very helpful to the environment and economically convientinet also.
The Entire Process
So throughout this entire time period, my SMART goal has remained the same ("I will use a cloth napkin for 2 out of the 3 meals I eat daily in my home for the next 10 weeks."). My goal was acievable by me doing certain things to help myself, such as putting cloth napkins in convenient places (such as on the kitchen table), or not putting any paper napkins in an easy-to-reach spot.
Some things did get in my way, though. These things included me not having any clean cloth napkins, not having one near me in an "emergency" when I spilled a liquid, or things such as that. To fix these issues in the future, I will always have cloth napkins out at the ready on my kitchen table.
This goal for me was great: it made me feel good about my impact on the environment as well as feeling better about my kitchen since the coth napkins looked so spiffy on it. By not buying paper napkins, I cut back on my material waste, helped save trees, and lessened my environmental impact.Because of all these positive impacts of my SMART goal, I will definitely continue to use cloth napkins in the future and will give cloth napkins as presents so that others can also use them and help reduce their own environmental footprint.
