In the process of buying food, I wind up with more reusable bags and containers than I can possibly use. I am admittedly not a regular dishwasher which is not to say that I leave a mess of dishes in my sink or all over the counters. I carefully rinse everything and set things aside to wait for a good washing.
As such, I often find myself washing a combination of more than 30 reusable (in my estimation) containers and plastic bags. It is a pain in the ass drying out the bags and ensuring that they are sanitary. Is it worth it in the big scheme of things? Is it a waste of water? I don’t know but it is worth it to me.
I am also terrible about the use of tissues, paper napkins and paper towels…and when I say terrible I mean I keep and use them until they are totally useless. I go through lots of tissues due to allergies and such but not nearly as many as most people might. I think that in the 4.5 years I have lived in this apartment I haven’t had to buy any napkins and might have bought one additional roll of paper towels due to that which I had already on hand.