I began working on the Waste No Spoons blog in August of 2019, as a way to explore the intersection between my chronic illnesses and my interest in living a zero-waste lifestyle. I’d been exploring living zero-waste for a while, but often ran into conflicts between my health needs and the plastic-free, waste-free mentality. Many of my friends who live with chronic conditions expressed similar frustrations, and thus, Waste No Spoons was born.
Technologies used
- HTML & CSS
- WordPress
What do spoons have to do with this?
Many people with chronic conditions including lupus, diabetes, fibromyalgia, and chronic pain disorders use the Spoon Theory. This metaphor helps us quantify physical, emotional, and mental energy in an accessible and simple shorthand. At its core, the amount of energy you can spend on any given day is your number of “spoons.” If you wake up in pain, you have fewer spoons. If you skip lunch, that costs you a spoon. The goal is to get through your day without spending or losing all your spoons.
I combined the Spoon Theory with the zero-waste movement by extending it into chronic illness: don’t waste your spoons. Medical needs (sterile packaging, catheters, bandages) always trump the plastic-free philosophy. Make small, incremental changes where you can, and don’t waste spoons stressing about the rest. I referred to my mentality as “minimal waste” rather than “zero waste” to reduce the stigma of compromising.
Building the blog
I wanted the design to be:
- Simple
- Clean
- Minimalist
- Easy to read
- Accessible
- Mobile-friendly
- A way for me to expand my skills with WordPress
The first step was developing a logo and brand identity for the blog. You can read more about that here.
After testing out a few different themes and templates, I settled on one that fit all of the above criteria. I also added functionality for users to see the latest posts in my @WasteNoSpoons Instagram feed, and installed a plugin that allowed me to publish low-waste, low-spoons recipes.
Other content
I also had a group of several digital and printable templates I made available to my readers:
- Habits & Tasks Google Sheets template to track consistency of habits and daily recurring tasks
- Symptom Tracker Google Sheets template to track severity and frequency of symptoms as well as triggers and other factors
- Kakeibo Google Sheets template to manage finances and simplify monthly budgeting
- Weekly Planner Downloadable PDF to put the week’s agenda, meal plan, and tasks in one single sheet for an easy “dashboard” view
- Tea Labels Downloadable PDFs for an easy, readable way to label loose leaf tea containers
While the blog had a few hundred monthly views during the period I was regularly updating it, writing new posts and generating new content ended up being more work than I had bandwidth for on top of my full-time day job and managing my online business. I retired the Waste No Spoons blog and Instagram account in July of 2023.