Triumphs and Failures with Eco Friendly Living

Living a more eco friendly life is more of a mindset than anything. There are a lot of little changes that make a big difference. Things as little as using handkerchiefs instead of tissues, towels instead of disposable paper towels or napkins, washable face wipes instead of disposable, bringing a thermos to Starbucks instead of getting a single use product to toss when you’re finished…

That being said, I am not perfect.

This week has been especially wasteful for me! There have been a number of things just out of my control. In certain moments, the need to feed and nourish my body trump the need to be waste free.

I helped my friend move some items into his new apartment! Yay! The only problem is we ended up walking over to Grand Central Market to get food and I didn’t have a reusable thermos or silverware and had a hard time finding a food spot that was waste free and had something that sounded yummy. It was SO hot, so I was feeling more of a veggie vibe and ended up ultimately getting sushi. It came in plastic. With disposable chopsticks. With a disposable napkin, with a single use soy sauce packet. I also got a pressed juice which was in plastic. Sigh. I did take it home to rinse and recycle, though!

Then another day, I went to a game night with some friends. I wasn’t well prepared and didn’t eat much before. Of course, the food served was on plastic plates. I didn’t take silverware or a napkin, though, so only had the disposable plate at the end.

Also, I shadowed someone watching a baby and we took a little walk to Starbucks! I had containers in my car for coffee, but was pushing a stroller and walking two dogs, so I just went along my way and decided it was okay if I just brought the reusable container next time.

The point of living an eco friendly life is NOT to judge anyone including yourself. It’s about caring about the environment and being more aware.

At the end of the day, this week has not been a complete failure. I may have not made all of the waste free choices I would have liked to, but it wasn’t the end of the world. It’s okay to not be perfect. No one is perfect. When you’re living a life without a solid routine, it is harder to be smart about your eco friendly choices- routine just makes that all easier to plan for! So here’s to not being frustrated. Here’s to continuing to be aware. Here’s to continuing to make little changes and be better.

Waste Free Kitchen

There are some little things that are super easy to swap when it comes to having a waste free kitchen!

Paper Towels

Paper towels are one of the main things that get used and thrown away like crazy. And honestly, it gets kind of expensive to keep buying the paper product!

Easy swap is towels!! I have a bunch of dish towels from ikea that I have rolled up in a drawer in my kitchen! Other people have found it fun to find little dish and hand towels at thrift stores and from family! It’s fun to have a variety. You can use the same sort of towels for Napkins, too! (Napkins doesn’t get its own category because I have literally never bought Napkins!! I’ve always used paper towels as Napkins, too)

If you’re married to the concept of a roll of towels, there are companies that make snap together fabric ones to really replace your paper towels!!!

One thing that helps me use towels in the kitchen is a bin to throw the dirty ones into. It’s as close as the trash, but it gets washed and reused 🙌🏻

Cleaning Product

Vinegar and water has been my go to kitchen cleaner. You can scent it with essential oils if you’d like or add orange peels to vinegar. You can buy vinegar in glass containers and use tap water and put it into a metal or glass spray bottle!

This is easy to keep refilling and avoids buying more things in plastic.

Dish soap

I still haven’t found an ideal alternative for dish soap! So I just stick to eco friendly brands and keep my eyes peeled for options every time I’m out and about!

Dish Brush

I bought an eco friendly dish brush that is wood! Some companies even make them with replaceable heads that are also wood and are compostable. For now, I feel better with my wood brush than I did with all my plastic one.

Utensils

I try to find more wood handled products or metal and less plastic!! Easy swaps and super stylish. Nordstrom rack even has some adorable options with metal/stainless steel handles at very affordable prices.

Food

I’ll keep this section brief for now!! Grocery shopping needs it’s own blog, but it’s necessary to mention it here because groceries and food packaging are what make up SO much waste!!! So get yourself a compost bin and get yourself up on waste free grocery shopping.

Buy milk in glass, buy produce without plastic, etc!

Food Storage

Food storage is important, too!!! I’ve been buying up ceramic dishes with lids and metal containers (like the one featured in the blog photo). That one is from Package Free! I saw a few at REI, too. It’s become so important to find non plastic alternatives. I bought some dishwasher safe, reusable zip lock bags that I have. I also have beeswax wrap to replace cling wrap. Mason jars are also great for food storage 🙌🏻 Lots of people find glass containers secondhand or just reuse glass containers that other products came in. Good ways to reduce reuse recycle.

A lot of these things are simple swaps that anyone could make with very little effort! It just takes some extra awareness and attention.

How I Do: Beauty Products

Waste free and eco friendly bathroom and beauty options are some of the hardest transitions because you really have to seek out the options!! Here’s where I’m at as of now! Still more to find and explore, but keep reading to find my current products!

Makeup Removal:

All through college and after, I was obsessed with pre-moistened face wipes! I had whole YouTube videos comparing brands and what I liked and disliked. The thing is, they come in disposable packs of 15-30 single use wipes. That’s a lot of daily items going into the trash! It occurred to me over the past year or so that I don’t need them!

I ordered a set of Norwex baby cloths from a friend- so three microfiber and super soft cloths that can be used with just water to wash a face! I started out with using them to really remove my eye makeup, but it’s really hard to wash the black out of the cloths (they are machine washable, but I do hang dry them!) So I got more into using Coconut Oil as a makeup remover and using my fingers, then wetting the cloth to do a final wipe down. I also bought the Makeup Rounds from Package Free! Website to buy HERE

Those simple swaps have made me able to avoid plastic packaging and disposable single use products to remove my makeup and wash my face!

Face Cleansers:

I am low key into essential oils. I use Young Living. Young Living site (Disclaimer: I am technically a distributor for Young Living and would financially benefit if you were to buy a kit/sign up from that link) I got really into figuring out what I could make for myself! One of my favorites is my Foaming Face Wash.

I bought three foaming soap dispensers off of Amazon. They ARE plastic (yikes) but I already had them and will continue to use them! I’m sure glass alternative are obtainable. I make my own hand soap (Castile soap, essential oil for scent, and water) and had one leftover dispenser! I decided to use it to make a face wash and see if I liked it!

I was really into my Kiehls Ultra Facial Cleanser and saw that it had avocado oil, so I bought avocado oil for my face wash! My recipe is a mix of Castile soap, avocado oil, frankincense, tea tree, and lavender essential oils, and water.

In the morning, I use an Ahava toning cleanser. It is NOT plastic free, so I am using it until it’s gone and will have to find a swap when that time comes!

Face Toner:

I have never been big on too many facial products, but I recently started putting Apple Cider Vinegar on one of my cotton rounds and using it as a toner! Weird smell to get used to, but it works great!

Moisturizer:

So I still have Enrich face moisturizer with SPF in it from Trader Joe’s, which is NOT plastic free, but again, I’ll use it up until I have to find a new swap! It’s really gentle and inexpensive which is great.

At night, I use coconut oil or argan oil! I put some drops into my hand and gently massage into my face. Other people love grape seed or jojoba or olive oil! I have an aloe plant that I may use in the summer when I’m getting more sun!!

Hair:

For shampoo, I use a shampoo and conditioner bar from Lush. The workers are all super helpful and they have a lot of options! You can buy tins to put them in and they are an easy waste free, plastic free swap! I’ve been really happy with the shampoo and conditioner bars! I tried making my own shampoo and conditioner and they were serious recipe FAILS! Even with a vinegar rinse. So much ick. I wore my hair in braids a lot when I was trying recipes. Lol

Body:

Bar soap is a winner! You can buy it waste free from farmers markets or order from Etsy… a lot of people make soap!! I made a bunch of soap at Christmas, so used my own bar for a bit, but it also bought some bar soaps from Lush.

Shaving:

I use the Sultana Soap from Lush for shaving! It’s amazing. I also have used coconut oil and olive oil- both great options. Just be sure to run hot water down the drains if you’re using coconut oil so it doesn’t clog the drains!

Razor wise, I’m still using one from the dollar shave club, but might switch to a safety razor? Not sure yet.

Makeup:

This is the hard one!! So far, I’ve found a plastic free mascara from Besame Cosmetics. It does come with a tiny plastic brush in a tiny plastic bag, but is otherwise a metal tin and has no plastic! It also doubles as an eyeliner! I bought the black, but the girls at the store told me the brown could be used to fill in eyebrows, too! It’s a cake mascara, so a little vintage and different to get used to.

As far as other products go, pencils are comparable and able to be sharpened! I try to find wood brushes instead of plastic. I don’t wear a lot of makeup, so I’m still looking for more makeup options to fit the waste free/plastic free bill!

Lip balm can be made in tins pretty easy and I know people have made eyeshadows and blushes too! For now, I’m on the lookout for options to share or recipes.

Deodorant:

I just found a deodorant bar from Lush and have a metal tin for it! It honestly works SO well!!! I was pleasantly surprised. And the whole thing is plastic free and waste free.

As of now, this is where I’m at in my waste free/eco friendly beauty journey! Follow along for more!

More photos on my Instagram site My Instagram!!

My Why

Hi! This is me (photo above) ^

I’m just your average Minnesota girl who packed up her 2006 Subaru and drove it to Los Angeles to pursue her acting dream. Super average. So where does my eco friendly part come in?

Minnesota is a great state! Lots of environmental efforts and a big familiarity with the DNR and their efforts to keep non-native species out. I moved to Los Angeles where veganism is the new environmentalism and no one cares that palm trees are a non native species.

Nature is different out here and recycling is different. I LOVE to pieces that plastic bags are an extra charge, encouraging people to bring bags from home!

When I was in college, I went to an awesome lecture called Radical Menstruation. Yep. We’re going there. (Kind of) Basically, it was a super informative lecture that opened my eyes to options outside of your standard pads and tampons. (We’re getting slightly personal here, lol)—> I honestly don’t bleed enough for tampons and to be super real, pads are SO uncomfortable and are disgusting if you’re doing anything active. SO I was first introduced to the world of the menstrual cup. Omg. Game changer. It lasts for super long and is $20 on Amazon. (I have the Diva Cup)- absolutely zero waste. You wash it and reuse it. And, once you’re used to it, it’s literally the BEST. I took SO many dance classes in college and this made all of that so much better. So this was my first endeavor into discovering waste free and more eco friendly products.

Yep. A menstrual cup changed my life. Ladies, seriously-TRY ONE!

Moving on-

I moved to Los Angeles annnnnd basically just lived my life as a starving artist. I started to notice that I was buying so much Starbucks and take-out and the trash was overflowing every other day. So frustrating! I made baby steps to buy local coffee instead and bring a reusable cup sometimes, but nothing major. Just baby steps!

Then, I got into essential oils. Not in a crazy suburban Mom kind of way, although if that is you, that’s great! I liked essential oils because I could create my own products. I love it all for my DIY projects. I can make soaps and body scrubs….

Going down the Pinterest rabbit hole on DIY projects brought up a lot of waste free pins and I realized I liked the thought of trying to live better and be better about my effect on the world.

Buying stuff in plastic is out. I look for glass, especially if I can use it again! I’ve been making my purchases bit by bit for reusable and non-plastic products. Towels for the kitchen. Lots of towels (to replace disposable paper towels). Stainless steel mason jar covers for stainless steel straws to put water in and bring with me. Thermoses for coffee shop stops. Stainless steel containers to replace tupperware. Washable cloth rounds for makeup removal and toner application. Apple cider vinegar (in glass) to use as a face toner. Coconut oil (in glass) as a makeup remover and moisturizer. Norwex baby cloths for face washing and makeup removal. Plants for natural air cleaners. The list goes on and on. Blog to come with more details on all of these things and other DIY products.

Lots of purchases!!! Also I’ve changed my eating habits! A LOT less eating out! (I even made a page in my bullet journal to track days when I don’t eat out at all- coffee stops don’t count). I’ve been doing more grocery shopping and have been more aware. I found that Sprouts has bulk bins and EatalyLA has a bulk olive oil fill spot. I bring my own bags and I seek out products with little to no plastic. I’ve been hitting up the farmers market and buying produce from local people! It’s actually so nice to connect differently with the people who actually grow the product. Whenever they see I’m filling my own bags instead of taking one of their plastic ones, sometimes they give a discount!

These are all just beginnings, and they have not been easy changes. It’s a lot of mind over matter and me hauling containers and bags around and knowing I’m going to take up extra space and time when I’m filling things up at bulk bins. But, I think these are simple steps that anyone can take.

A lot of the eco friendly options I’m taking will save me money. They also save the world from a lot of trash. No more plastic bags and plastic silverware and to-go containers. And I’m getting more involved with my food by cooking it for myself and finding things I like.

This is the start of my Eco Friendly // Waste Free-ish journey! Follow along if you’d like.