Have you seen the ad of Tru Earth Laundry Eco-Strips?
After watching this video – you will know more than enough about Tru Earth laundry eco-strips and you will be sold. We definitely are!
Tag: less garbage
How much garbage do we really create?
You are what you eat, but how about how much garbage you create? Let’s dig into our little garbage container and peek what is in the three bags.
Why love your soap bar?
Should you grab that soap bar? Yes, definitely, if you want to save money and eliminate plastic in your bathroom! Don’t worry about the germs!
Trying to use less plastic may be quite an adventure in the beginning. Especially when you haven’t done any research and just come up with your own stuff, as in our case. Soap is probably the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of a bathroom. Also perhaps the first thing to cross your mind, when you enter your completely empty washroom. Soap bar can become really handy first not just washing your hands, but also to do some quick laundry if needed.
Skip the plastic package
Bar soaps, used to be on sale without packaging, then came paper and then plastic. Now we are going hopefully, back the same way: we should skip the plastic and then look soaps in a cardboard box. Or even better without any packaging.
Soaps without packaging are common in health or really rustic hardware stores, which have a section for all kinds of cleaning products. Those products are not only environmentally friendlier, but they are always very cost-effective. Bar soap lasts for a long time. Way longer than its partner in a liquid form in a plastic container.
We used our first bar soap daily for washing our hands, up in six months. Do the math, with one soap you a family of two can use it for a whole year!
The downside of bar soap or is there one really?
The one thing about soap, what people have said is not so fun, is that it tends to dry the hands. I have to disagree, as I do not get dry hands at home. I get dry hands when I am traveling and washing hands at the airports. The soaps used there are liquid and come in dispensers with a pump. Even the foamy ones are really drying.
When I started using bar soap, I was really worried about the fact, that I will get dry hands. But I worried without a reason. Just to be sure and to take care of our guests, we have a little jar of coconut oil in our bathroom. We are using this for our hands and body after taking a shower. I am sure we will talk more about coconut oil in the future, but I just want to write it down now, that coconut oil is not suggested to use on your face. As it has a more delicate and different pore system, which doesn’t respond so well to very oily coconut oil.
While showering, we use, yes, you guessed it right, luxury body soap, a birthday gift that came in as a set of three in a cardboard box wrapped separately in a thin handicraft paper. Just a little remark, keep your soap on a higher shelf near the shower or on the other side of the bathtub. The more water it gets, the faster the soap will disappear and the softer it will turn. Have a good soap holder to avoid problems. Or even better, make your own.
Are bar soaps dirty?
There is a false understanding circulating around that bar soaps are dirty, as they are publicly used as door handles, counters, taps, but studies that prove that it’s the other way around. The bar soap gets some bacteria from each user, then it gets washed off by a next user, as well, drying the soap seems to eliminate the bacteria. What is known is that soap doesn’t store bacteria after each use by different people.
Soap bars are perfectly safe, better for the environment and easy on your wallet, just go ahead and soap away! Even in public spaces.
First steps on shopping plastic-free
A year ago we decided to cut down bringing plastic into our home. How did we do on our first trying plastic-free shopping more than a year ago? We are glad to admit, that we are glad past is not present!
What about organic waste?
I didn’t tackle the organic waste subject in my previous post. From several ways how to manage your organic waste, with our little tips below, you can easily find yours!
Sorting garbage in the kitchen
With little space in a small household, it is smart to come up with creative ways how to sort garbage. Read below, what option we came up with?
With a new home usually comes emptiness, also in the garbage and in the recycling section. With a limited place and a buy less mindset, we decided that we need really a little section for the waste. Moreover, if we are looking more into a zero-waste and plastic-free household.
We would need three containers for the garbage: paper/cardboard, waste, and packages. Yep, just three sections, as this is what the rules are in our building. Usually, there should be also a fourth section for organic waste. We were used to collecting it. I guess we have to come up with something if we want to keep the garbage container emptier.
Working out a simple solution
The other day I was doing grocery shopping and I put my purchase in a cardboard box. I found a suitable one in the middle of the aisle, laying on the floor. The stores are oftentimes giving these away by the cash checkouts, some can be found by the bins and at the end of aisles. In bigger stores, you can find workers constantly stocking up the shelves, just like I got ours. Luck was at my side, as the box I had brought home was just enough to fit all three small plastic bags for our sorting purposes.
We are trying to become plastic-free step by step. But we do not believe in trashing bags and containers that we already have just to be free of them. Instead, we are using up all the suitable plastic we have somehow brought home with purchased food. We are getting the weekly specials of many stores weekly. I find the idea of such bundles great, but the papers come in a plastic sleeve. For some time it was fun to go through the offers, recycling them and using the sleeve for the garbage collecting.
We do not really like the weekly bundles, so I guess we will put out a sign not to receive any advertising, as this is just too much. So we will start receiving less garbage in the mail.
A small box is all you need!
The little cardboard box has enough room to fit three little bags. We really do not fill them much, as we really do not have much garbage or packaging. Cardboard or paper is something we gather the most. Good thing is that it all gets nicely recycled. When the plastic bag is full, we do not throw it away but reuse the plastic as long as possible. With waste and packaging, we can’t always practice it, due to messy contents. If there is an option we will do that, so we can reuse plastic more times.
The ideal would be to fold three boxes out of the newspaper and keep the garbage area organized that way. I guess something to try out in the future!
*UPDATE: before going to our summer holidays we taped a sign outside of the box saying: “No ads!”. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.
* Fall UPDATE: we added to the sign: “and no free newspapers!” As many free papers come with ads in between. It worked this time. This little hand-made sign of cut-out letters from the store booklets saves paper and more plastic coming into our home.
… A note from Eve:
I am proud of our garbage system! It’s encouraging to see how little garbage we make as a family of 2. When we walk on our street home, we are baffled by the bags and bags on trash sitting out. We are glad that we know is a better way, and we are living proof of this! By not buying much processed and packaged food, we have cut our garbage down considerably.
Cleaning your mattress is easy as baking soda
Is this okay to get a free used bed? Can you really make something out of it? Yes, with a box of baking soda!