Less Waste // What we're trying

House cleaning has been going in cycles. But the simple tricks are definitely helping. Still, it seems like no matter what we do, we get one area clean . . . move to the next . . . and then it just starts all over. Obviously this is what happens, but why is it so darned frustrating? I've turned my nesting to things that we need to check off the list before baby comes, like cleaning car seats and getting our van setup for three kids versus two. I also made a quadruple batch of naan bread for our freezer yesterday afternoon.

But today I wanted to share a quick post because some of you have requested it. For my birthday this year, I decided to get more serious about lowering our waste. I bought a few things that have actually helped quite a bit! And I get lots of questions about what they are, where I got them, and if they're working, so I figured I'd just give you the low-down here.

Silpat Mat

We do a lot of baking in our house, and -- as a result -- I go through a lot of parchment paper. I had used a Silpat Mat years ago but then ruined it doing so very high heat baking (bagels on 550+ degrees). One of my friends posted a picture of hers and I decided to give it another try. It's a silicone baking mat that you can use up to 480 degrees F. I use it every single day! So, as long as you don't bake really high temps (consider getting a pizza stone for that), I'd highly recommend this mat.

Cloth Bags

I have expanded our fleet of cloth zippered bags for snacks and lunches. So much better than using countless Zip-Lock bags that are used for five seconds for Cheerio's or pretzels and then tossed in the trash. They're cute, too. C'mon, you know they are. Mine are from Planet Wise and BumKins. I tend to get the sandwich size bags, but I may get some of the small snack baggies too.

I also see that Planet Wise now makes clear baggies, and I love that idea for more everyday things in my fridge.

Which leads to . . .

Silicone Bags

Then I needed reusable bags for all the refrigerated stuff -- leftover chickpeas, opened cheeses, stray avocados, etc. -- and I've always had such a hard time figuring out what to do. I did the whole beeswax wrap thing for a while and it worked OK. But I never totally got on board. Then I found these Silicone Bags . . . and they are MAGIC. They're the product I'm most enthusiastic about because they work really well and things don't spill. They're also very thick and you can use them for freezing, steaming, cooking, and even Sous Vide (which I don't have). But still, cool.

Also -- Amazon has many similar bags for sale, but the ones I got (and linked to) seem to have the best reviews. I have read it matters which ones you get. I have used mine daily for over a month and have absolutely no tearing or other issues.

Bowl Covers

Lots of baking, again, leads to lots of plastic wrap usage. I was using tea towels as well, but decided to up my game and get some proper bowl covers. I got two different types of sets. One that's breathable -- Earth Bunny 100% cotton -- and one that's more like wet bag material -- Wegreeco. Of the two, I actually use the Wegreeco (less expensive) more because it's air-tight in the fridge and helps create a nice moist rising environment for breads. But the fabric ones let air through and are good for popping over baked goods like muffins. Stephen also uses the largest one to put over his kombucha brew.

Each set came with a large, medium, and small. And they are all currently in use! I toss the Earth Bunny in with the wash and rise the Wegreeco out in the sink and let air-dry.

Lunch Box

Every year I cheap out on lunch boxes. And every year I am frustrated because I find myself packing the same old thing over and over again for lack of proper storage options. I decided to indulge in a YumBox Bento Box  for Ada after seeing a snack-sized box in person at an L.L. Bean outlet this summer. I actually bought the snack box on the spot because it was so well made and really seems to be a tight seal. Ada's has five compartments and the specific design I got for her labels different food groups so that she can get involved with packing her own lunch.

She's really excited about this box, and I will report back on how it works from week to week. I read countless bento box reviews and this one consistently gets the highest ratings from parents. I may even want to get a second one, but they are $30, so I'll wait and see if just one will work for now.

Silicone Straws

The most awesome thing of all? The straws we're using now. I had used metal straws was liked them OK . . . and kind of cringed at the thought of glass straws. But I happened to find Silikids silicone straws at Target on clearance once day. Brilliant. They've been a total game-changer. They come in different sizes so they fit all our cups. I immediately went and bought another set on Amazon. I also got a few of their silicone cup toppers because all my Boon cup toppers have torn. These ones seem like they'll last a lot longer. I just rinse them out ASAP and let them dry standing up in our grass drying mat.

I'll be back soon with some thoughts on sending Eloise to "school" this fall and more nesting notes. It's getting crazy over here. In a good way.

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Green in 15 // Living a More Sustainable Life

When I was deep into my college years, I was taking mostly writing + anthropology classes. I also flirted with a minor in environmental studies. Over and over again, we'd calculate our ecological footprint and then spend a lot of time talking about ways to be more sustainable. It was a practice I completed often. And -- at the time -- my footprint was impressively small.

I've toured pioneering co-housing communities, interviewed people who have built their own straw-bale houses, lived in a town where composting has been mainstream even at restaurants, farmers markets, and beyond for years longer than I've been alive. Where local food and farm-to-table seems like the natural choice.

It's funny how moving an hour or so away can make sure a difference . . . but when you don't have a community set up for cultivating this type of lifestyle, it's much more difficult to do it on your own.

So, I thought I'd revisit this whole activity of calculating my carbon footprint. (Here's how you can, too. It takes less than 15 minutes!) The quiz is sort of difficult and required a bit of estimation on my part. Anyway, our family's result was 35 tons of CO2/year. That's actually pretty good. Apparently 44 percent better than average. Before I pat myself on the back, I think a lot of that has to do with not doing any air travel or travel in general, basically ever.

If you're not thrilled with your results or -- like me -- you just want to do better, there are tons of little tweaks you can make in your routine to get there. These are the absolute basics. Consider it a refresher course. In other words, we ALL know this stuff and just need reminding.

If you eat meat, you can try eating less of it. 

Obviously, this is a vegetarian site, so you know I'm all about loving plant foods and all. I think our family could shift to a more plant-based diet because we do get dairy heavy from time to time. Even people who are hardcore carnivores can make a big impact by going meat-free at least some of the time. If you do choose to eat meat and animal products, try choosing local sources as often as possible.

Do the waste-free thing. 

One of my professors used to carry around a fork and spoon inside of a clean napkin everywhere he went. That way, he wouldn't need to use plastic utensils AND he'd have some easy "packaging" if he wanted to take something home. And the man even used that large napkin to bring salad greens home -- sans dressing, of course.

I've written more about our quest to create less waste, so if you're interested you should give it a read.

Some of my favorite waste-free tools include:

• Earthwise Mesh Produce Bags ($11 for set of 9)
• ECO Hip Grocery Bags ($13 for set of 3)
• Ball Jars in assorted sizes for storing, drinking, bulk buying, etc.
• Wax Food Wrap (or you can make your own)
• Utopia Bar Rags ($12.50 for 24 -- for no-paper towel system) 

Use your car less often. 

This seems like an obvious, but if you live in an area like we do -- public transportation (or alternative modes, like biking or walking) isn't so friendly. Small communities like Ithaca and large cities have it figured out. But where we live, the routes are spotty (and dangerous) between areas and at times quite inconvenient. Still, this is an area where we could surely improve. I'm trying to group my shopping trips with other errands so we don't need to head out on multiple occasions, for example.

I also try to walk as much as possible to run errands despite not living in a very pedestrian friendly area overall. Our neighborhood, though, does have some spots that are handy and close-by. For example, we've changed our pharmacy to the one that's closest to our home, we use the vet that's closest, we use the doctor (for Stephen and myself) that's closest, we chose the preschool that was closest so I could walk, etc., we often go to the diner that's a half mile away simply because we can walk there.

Turn out the lights.

One thing I always find funny (and I mention this because they're coming today), is that my in-laws are always turning all the lights on in our home. I never notice it being dark or too dim when they aren't here. We just . . . don't turn on many lights. Maybe in the kitchen while we're cooking. Otherwise, I try to rely on the daylight and as few lamps as possible. We've also moved to LED bulbs in many rooms.

Now that the daylight hours are longer, this one is an easy change! At very least, turn out the lights when you leave the room.

Buy less, want less, etc.

This whole minimalism trend (because you have to admit, it's become a trend) does have something worthwhile inside of it. And I know not everyone does minimalism because it's the "cool" thing -- but all the videos on YouTube may make you scratch your head. Anyway, buying less is great for your footprint. Or if you do buy, maybe consider buying more items second-hand. (Poshmark, ThredUp, and other online shops make this easier, too. But I still favor my local stores because they are the least expensive.)

Here's an outfit I wore this week that was entirely second-hand, save the VT-made bag I bought on Etsy from my talented internet-friend Tessa at Foliage.


Of course, always try your best to reuse and repurpose your stuff before buying, too. I'll be back in the future with some more specific ways you can move toward sustainability in your home. If you're new to the blog, check out my Green in 15 series, my homesteading posts, and some of the related links below. There's tons of good reads in the archives!

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Homesteading // Zero Waste Family

I got very much off track from my original posting plan for this week. I hope you don't mind if I skip around a bit. I get compelled to go in different directions depending on what's pulling me most in my everyday life. Right now, it's simplification and minimalization. I am pretending that's a word. And actually, these have been homesteading goals of mine for several years. Executing them with kids, though, proves difficult in my book.

I'm sure you've noticed that I've flirted with zero waste in the past. It's a goal of mine that I keep highly regarded in my head. And when it comes to actually doing it, I make good efforts. But it falls flat because life is hectic and -- let's face it -- cutting down on garbage and other waste is really difficult.

Strides we've made:

• Bringing our own bags for grocery and other shopping. Including produce bags. (Here are more ways we've tried eliminating plastics.)
• Buying produce from a CSA where we fill a huge bag with the foods versus getting them packaged in the store.
• Using DIY "plastic" wrap to cover goods in the refrigerator.
• Trying to buy foods in bulk when possible. But I'll get to that in a moment.
• Cloth diapering -- at least some of the time. Again, I'll get to that.
• Using or fixing the things we have versus always going out and buying new.
• Carrying our own water bottles (always) and coffee mugs (when we remember).
• Using a cloth towel system versus paper towels.
• Making many of our own cleaners, like laundry detergent, dish washing detergent, and all-purpose spray.

Even with sticking to most of these changes most of the time, we still have way more recycling and garbage than I'd like to admit. I am happy that we have made the efforts and at least lessened our impact. That's a start. So, in 2017 . . . I'm looking to keep this conversation going. I'm looking to do better. And I've love hearing from you.


Here are the three areas we struggle with the most.

• Buying all or even most of our foods in bulk isn't possible. I did visit some local mom + pops, and the prices were too high. The ingredients are high-quality, that's for sure. I have to stick within our budget AND try to lessen waste. And sometimes these things are at odds. Aldi, for example, has such great deals on food. But it seems like everything is packaged up in boxes upon boxes. When I come home, I always feel like our recycling bin is bursting.
• Cloth diapering is a love/hate thing over here. I wrote about it yesterday on Instagram. We actually had stopped doing cloth in Eloise's third month because life got crazy. I am attempting to start back up, but I have trouble committing because she doesn't seem as comfortable in the diapers. I also cannot seem to get the best wash process down with our extremely hard water. That said, diapers are SUCH an awful thing to keep tossing in the trash if I have cloth diapers just sitting in drawers. I hope to do an update after this month's trial goes.
• Being out and about just seems to invite waste, like coffee cups, takeout containers, and etc. I am thinking some of this stuff will naturally lean out once we're making most of our own meals again and not spending as much on entertainment money. (Yup! This is the month we are finally starting to make sense of our debt!)

I've decided that my best bet is to set one goal each month to see if we can smash it. This month, I'd like to work on meal planning in such a way that we aren't using as many foods in packages (pasta, cooked beans, frozen veggies, etc.). This includes baby food, which I have definitely gotten lazy about. I've been buying tubs of it versus just mashing my own. It's so easy and would save a lot of money.

Anyway, accomplishing this goal obviously won't eliminate all our waste, but my goal is to see if we can go a whole week before filling the garbage and recycling bins.

I'll give an update in March along with my next goal!

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Green in 15: Dishwasher Tabs

It's been a while since I did a Green in 15 post. If you're new to this series, so far I've covered how to revamp your cleaning with natural supplies and all the details about our no more paper towels system.

I've been making our own dishwasher detergent for quite a while now. We keep it in powder form in a small jar near the dishwasher. We fill the rinse dispenser with vinegar and occasionally add essential oils for extra punch. The thing is, even with my airtight container, the mixture gets clumpier than I'd like. Plus, I eventually decided we needed to change our formula to help with water stains from our hard water.

So, I searched around on Pinterest and found basically 10,000 slight variations on this recipe. The epsom salt helps with hard water while the addition of vinegar and essential oils help bind everything together and get dishes smelling great.

DIY DISHWASHER TABS

What you'll need . . .

• 2 cups washing soda (or baking soda)
• 2 cups borax
• 1/2 cup epsom salts (or kosher salt)
• 1/2 cup white vinegar 
• 20 drops lemon essential oil
• 2 ice cube trays
• Airtight container for storage

Method . . . 

1. Simply mix together all the dry ingredients and then add the wet. It will start clumping on its own -- just make sure it's well incorporated.
2. Then press mixture into your ice cube trays and packed as it will go.
3. Let dry 24 hours (I found that overnight was long enough for me) before popping out of the molds.
4. Store in airtight container.

To use:

Put one tab in your machine's slot. Pour 1/4 to 1/2 vinegar in the bottom of the machine to act as an extra rise aid (again -- we have really hard water, I just do this anyway). And run the machine as usual. These tabs work well even on my machine's eco-setting that doesn't use super hot water or drying.

// RELATED

Green in 15: No More Paper Towels
Green in 15: Revamping Your Cleaning
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5 Green Cleaners That Work
5-Minute Homemade Deodorant
8 Ways We've Eliminated Plastics
Cleaning Produce The Natural Way
Chemical-Free Clean With Castile Soap

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

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Green in 15: No More Paper Towels

I've been meaning to post about our no paper towels system for ages. It's not that it's complicated or fussy. It was laziness on getting a good photo. I figured I need to get over that part and just post about it already! So, here's my latest installment of Green in 15, all about banishing paper towels from your home.

Here you go:

NO MORE PAPER TOWELS

• Basically, we have 25-35 assorted towels. Some are flour sacks, some are nubby bar cloths, some are tea towels, and there are a few stray rags and washcloths in there, too.
• We hung a fabric tote (similar to this one) containing all towels using some hooks in the closet right off the kitchen. I think this space was originally a utility closet, but it's quite small. Our vacuum doesn't fit very well, so I like using it for this purpose.
• Underneath, we have a slim Simple Human Trash Can lined with a diaper pail liner to collect all the dirty rags.
• You take a clean rag, use it up, and when it's dirty -- toss it into the bin. Easy, right? 
• When the bin gets full, we grab the liner and take it downstairs to wash everything. We usually have a good stock of towels to use on wash day (and only do laundry once or twice a week).
• We don't take the time to fold the towels. We simply toss them into the bin. We use the towels for general kitchen cleanup, napkins at dinner, and general cleaning tasks. 
• Though they're all tossed in together, we use the nubbier cloths to do heavy cleaning, the flour sacks for everyday kitchen spills and even helping bread rise (in place of plastic wrap), and the tea towels for napkins. It's not always perfect, but it works.
• To wash, we use our homemade laundry detergent and pour some vinegar into the rinse. They don't smell, though some do have stains from heavy use.

And that's really it!

You may already have towels on hand and some of the other supplies you need to get a system like this going. Mostly it's a matter of finding nooks and crannies to store everything into. You could probably sneak something like this on a smaller scale underneath your kitchen sink or in an unoccupied kitchen cabinet.

Those of you who don't use paper towels, what do your system look like?

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Cleaning Produce The Natural Way
Chemical-Free Clean With Castile Soap

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

Read more...

Green in 15: Revamping Your Cleaning

So, I had this idea the other day. It came out of a conversation I had with a woman at the grocery store when I was buying a gallon jug of vinegar (on sale for $2.50!). She asked: "What in the world are you planning to do with all that vinegar?" And I was like "What CAN'T I do with it?!" I proceeded to list off all my uses, and I think she got a bit freaked out by my enthusiasm.

When people think about making all their cleaning supplies from scratch, it can become overwhelming. It's a lot like cooking everything from scratch. But with a little practice and some smart recipes -- it becomes second nature. We've been using vinegar, baking soda, and some other basic cleansers to do the bulk of our home cleaning for several years now. It takes very little effort to make the switch.

Green in 15 is a new series of sorts I'll be sharing that gives you some activities you can finish in just 15 minutes (or fewer) that will lead you in the right direction. Today, I thought I'd start with the absolute basics: Greening your all-purpose cleaning processes using vinegar. While you're at it, you can also start banishing paper towels with a few tips.

THE SUPPLIES

• Vinegar (approx $3 per gallon, or less)
• Water (free-ish?)
• Isopropol alcohol (got mine at the $1 store)
• Rags (free if you have 'em or $12 for a pack of 24)
• Old spray bottles (free if you have 'em)

COST: Between $4 and $16

THE RECIPES 

#1: All-Purpose Cleaner -- Just fill up half an old spray bottle (you can also buy them on Amazon -- here's a 3-pack of plastic or some nice glass ones) with vinegar and the rest with water and maybe a few essential oil drops. Give a good shake and use for cleaning countertops, tabletops, and -- really -- anywhere else. It's ALL PURPOSE!

#2: Window Cleaner -- I add a bit of alcohol to the all-purpose mix (a few tablespoons works -- I make a smaller spray bottle of it for this purpose) and that helps windows stay streak-free!

#3: Dish Rinse -- I mentioned in our 5 Green Cleaners That Actually Work post that we make our own dishwasher detergent. We fill our rinse basin with plain vinegar mixed with essential oils. Works like a charm and takes two seconds.

#4: Veggie Wash -- If you don't like the Castile Soap Method for cleaning fruits and vegetables, you can make an easy spray wash using around 3 parts water, 1 part vinegar (hmm, sounds a lot like the dilution above -- score for multi-purpose!)

#5: Bathtub Cleaner, Etc. -- I also use full-strength vinegar in our bathroom for most cleaning (tub, tiles, shower surround, sink. For tough jobs, I combine with our natural scouring scrub.

Want more in-depth info? Check out my homesteading post about Cleaning with Vinegar. It includes these recipes plus 10 more uses for your gallon of the stuff.

CLOTH VERSUS PAPER

For most of your cleaning tasks, a good, nubby washcloth or rag will do the heavy lifting. We keep a bin of the clean ones in the kitchen utility closet. We keep a bag of the dirty ones hanging on the door of that closet. Then we wash them every couple days. Keeping around 24 rags is a good number if you're wiping down surfaces regularly. You may find you need more or less depending on the size of your home and your cleaning habits.

Just grab a clean rag and get to cleaning as you normally would.

Oh! Someone had asked me how we deal with occasional cat episodes. We use our rags (we have a few that have been around longer and are dirtier). We just rinse them out well after cleaning the cat mess and clean them with the rest.

I'll be sure to snap some photos and share more about switching from paper to cloth soon. It's dreadfully dark and rainy here today and all my shots are coming out quite depressing.

// RELATED

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Cleaning with Vinegar
5 Green Cleaners That Work
5-Minute Homemade Deodorant
8 Ways We've Eliminated Plastics
Cleaning Produce The Natural Way
Chemical-Free Clean With Castile Soap

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

Read more...