Party for the Planet

I was fortunate enough to have school off yesterday and I really wanted to take my boys to do an Earth Day activity. I had been thinking heading up to Lake Erie to do a beach clean-up, but rain + sand + little boys who are already snotty = miserable mom.

But ironically, even though I wanted to help out Mother Nature, she had other plans….namely, rain and colder weather. And although it was the type of weather where I like to stay in my pajamas and in bed all day, having small children does not permit that kind of behavior in moms.

So we loaded up in the mini-van and headed to the zoo.

Little did we know….the zoo had an Earth Day party planned.

And we were right on time!

They had a bunch of vendors all around the zoo talking about different eco-friendly initiatives that they’re implementing. Honestly, when I first looked at the list, I thought they looked a little boring!

They almost all had free things to give away – reusable grocery bags, magnets, stickers, pencils…. – something my 4 year old picked up on right away. He kept asking to go find “more tents” – and what’s funny, he had a tendency to take the brochures instead of the fun things. Like magnets or pencils.

Oh, silly toddlers.

Don’t get me wrong – we still got magnets and pencils. We got zoo animal trading cards (a HUGE hit with my one year old), I declined taking 3 reusable grocery bags since we have SO MANY, but we got pencils, a key chain, and many many packets of wildflower seeds. Plus lots of ideas for my gardens and outdoor stuff.

I struggled because this was one of those moments where I wanted to decline some items because they were made of plastic and in my mind “junky”, but I didn’t want to deprive my children of what they may consider a fun experience and inadvertently turn them into super-villains. No mom wants that for their child, especially me.

For example, there was a big crowd around a tent from Frogwatch and after waiting to see what was the fuss, it was decorating a blue, plastic SOLO cup for a toad home. Which of course my 4 year old wanted to do while I cringed inside at the thought of decorating something single-use plastic.

The idea for it is super cool – it’s a “Toad Abode” and you bury the cup about a third or half-way in soil and the toads can use it for a shelter in your flower beds. As my 4 year old was decorating his single-use killing the Earth plastic cup with plastic foam stickers, the people gave me an informational sheet on how to make an actual toad abode with clay pots. In my head I was like, “wow….that makes so much more sense….because I don’t think I would put this plastic cup out in my garden for it to get crushed and blown away….”

I have plenty of extra clay pots because I tend to pick them up any time I see them at Goodwill so I’m thinking once I really begin to tackle my outdoor flower beds in the next few weeks (for the first and really only time of the year), I will get my kids to help me set up some toad abodes.

Oh, and the plastic cup caused quite a ruckus later with my boys when I put my one year old’s zoo animal trading cards in the cup and he proceeded to carry the cup around with his cards in it, holding it so tightly for fear someone would take it out of his hands without his approval, smashing it in half and breaking it….in turn causing tears and whining from my four year old.

Isn’t the first toddler fight, won’t be the last.

I also had a great talk with the people from Hiram College about making my garden/yard more bee friendly – which I’ve been wanting to do for awhile now. In fact, for awhile, the husband and I toyed with getting our own bees but decided we had enough going on already.

They had one of these bee houses on display and we talked about how to DIY one….but I have a feeling that if I want one, I’ll end up buying one.

One time, my sister and I were at a hardware store and saw one of these bee houses and she told me how they give her the hee-bee-gee-bees. Which made me giggle because it’s just a birdhouse with a bunch of holes. But she walked away really quickly which is no laughing matter because she has really long legs and I have to sprint to keep up with her. But now every time I see one of these houses, I think of her and laugh.

To be fair, she finds my fear of spiders comical. And spiders are NO laughing matter.

Anyways, I’m going to post some more information about being bee friendly later as we begin to put some of these practices into action, because the husband and I have been discussing a few things that we want to do.

We got lots of bee friendly seed packets that I plan on attempting to plant, but my luck of growing plants from seeds is well….laughable. It seems like they always sprout up and I get so hopeful and then they die…..

So as disappointed as I was in the weather this weekend to be able to do an Earth day activity (admittedly today was beautiful, even if a little chilly – but we had other things going on today), we’re postponing it for next weekend. As my husband put it, “Is picking up trash any less important next weekend?”

No.

Every day should be Earth Day.

Plogging and Composting

I’ve been a little absent lately from the blog. For good reasons. And some not great reasons. But I’m not done yet with zero waste. Or sharing it on the internet.

I was up in the middle of the night recently and decided to take the opportunity to learn more about how to use a compost tumbler. Because although I had researched different ways to make one, I didn’t know much about maintaining it.

I learned that you only want to tumble it 2-3 days a week so as to get more oxygen to the pile, but without disrupting the heat inside too much. It’s important to keep it moist and it can compost within 3-6 weeks. It’ll break down a bunch too.

When we filled our barrel to the top and to be fair, some of the material that we put in was already composted because we just took everything we had in our old pile and put it in the composter.

The thing is, it’s already broken down quite a bit for what we put in. It’s impressive!

I’ve been starting to run again lately and when I’ve been cooling down, I’ve been walking by the tumbler and putting my hands on it to feel the warmth. The first few times, I would open the lid and peek inside….until I learned that taking the lid off frequently lets the heat out and that’s not so good. So I had to stop. 😦

I realize I’m geekin’ out about it. As in……if I talk about composting too much in conjunction with my adoration of Harry Potter and my excitement over Game of Thrones Season 8 that I could lose friends. And while I’m at it, I should probably never let anyone see me turning my compost tumbler in my Harry Potter cloak….

But….sniff….I wouldn’t want those friends anyways!

I’m way too excited to see how long it takes things like cardboard, Chipotle bowls, my silk dental floss, and even the compostable plastic bags to break down. Like ridiculously excited.

We’ve agreed to turn the compost on Wednesdays and Sundays so as to not “turn it too much”. And I REALLY want another tumbler. Like right now. And a compost thermometer. Which probably isn’t necessary. Therefore, I’m going to resist the temptation to buy one.

I haven’t been able to find a listing on Craigslist for a food safe barrel with a removable lid so that I can go buy 3 more. Yet.

…..Sigh……

In other news, I also saw on the news a segment about “plogging”. Yes – plogging.

Plogging is a Swedish activity that combines running with picking up litter (from the Swedish: Plocka Upp). It’s now made it’s way to Ohio which means that the rest of the world has probably already experienced plogging in a big way.

I think generally, it’s done in a group, and you run with a plastic bag and nitrile gloves with the main purpose of picking up trash while you get a work out.

BUT…..I was doing it before it was cool. Or had a name.

I am one of those crazies who likes to go out for long distance runs. I know….it’s weird to look forward to an hour long run, but I do. I like being in that kind of shape.

I prefer to run in the woods too.

My disapproval of garbage has been around WAY before I took up any sort of zero waste initiative, so it wasn’t uncommon for me to be running through the woods and pick up some trash or recyclables and carry them on my run.

I’m not perfect – I don’t do it all the time and my picking up of trash DEFINITELY depends on A) how far I’m going B) how soon into my run I am, and C) my mood.

I’ve never taken a bag or worn a glove for it because I’ve never gone out on a run with the sole purpose to pick up trash. Picking up trash is just a side gig for my run. A way to give back to the nature that I like to run through.

And I make sure I wash my hands really well afterwards. Like, sing the ABC’s twice through kinda hand-washin’ experience.

One of my more memorable items I picked up on a run was a liter glass bottle of malt liquor that had several mice that had crawled inside, gotten stuck (and drunk!), and died. I only had to carry it for like the last 400 meters of my run and I didn’t see the mice before I grabbed it and I was committed at that point.

Another time I picked up a beer bottle that started rattling and I realized that a snail had crawled inside. Poor little drunk snail…..I dumped him out, but I wonder if he ever sobered up….

I pick up trash so often that my toddler now does it. Which a part of me loves and I have so much pride in him for noticing and wanting to pick it up…..but the mom in me tends to discourage it because toddler fingers are just always in mouths and stuff….I have a tendency to throw my body dramatically in front of him while yelling, “Let me get it!!!”

But this Earth Day, I hope to take him out with some gloves and teach him a little more about the importance of keeping trash off the ground (and doing our part).

While my runs are for me and I don’t always pick up trash, I think I may try to give up a few of my runs for the specific purpose of going out to pick up trash. As in, I’ll wear a glove and bring a bag and stop at every piece of trash I see and not be as focused on my run.

It’s a new spring and summer fitness goal of mine. Not every run.

Oh, and this is also the week that I send my husband to Mr. Bulky’s for the first time in preparation for Easter. Yeah….it’s a big deal around here. Not as much Easter…..the going to a bulk candy store.

Our First Tumbler

You guys….it’s happened!!!

WE HAVE OUR FIRST COMPOST TUMBLER!!!

Yes, I’m hoping it’s the first and we will soon make another because we actually have this one filled already. But let’s go back….

I finally nagged discussed it enough with my husband to get the ball rolling this past weekend and get this puppy made. We’ve had this barrel for about a year sitting in our yard and in the last month, it actually blew away in the high winds and somehow ended up back on the side of our house. I’m assuming one of our neighbors put it back there because neither my husband or I moved it.

And it was super easy to make!

….Once again says the girl who had no job in making it except for barking orders and directing her husband to a youtube video……

Ok, it didn’t take a long time to make.

I had honestly wanted to make it all myself, but I was feeling really rotten by the end of last week and he was a sweetheart and took up the charge. I just took some pictures occasionally.

And I am using the “free” WordPress website which means I can’t upload videos, which means you don’t get to see the awesome video of this guy flipping around (unless you follow me on Facebook).

We used the plans almost directly from this youtube video that I found on Pinterest.

And we watched it about 50 times mulling over things like, “What is this fence post axle pipe he’s talking about?” We did a lot of guessing, and well, I think it looks great! Especially in comparison to what we were previously operating with (finally a picture not covered in snow):

How about that random bungee cord no longer holding a lid on??

Seriously, when it came to the axle pipe, we ended up buying a bit of PVC pipe for it to spin on, but when we got home, we found a one inch diameter wooden dowel rod that we used instead. We figure we’ll save the PVC for the next one.

We gave the PVC glue/cement 24 hours to dry before we took a shovel to our falling apart compost bin, and shoveled all that compost into our new barrel.

Yeah….we filled it. And it is REALLY hard to turn it while it’s full. It’s led to new questions:

Husband: “How many holes do we put in it?” Me: “No idea.” Husband: “How full do we fill it?” Me: “No idea.” Husband: “How long does it take to compost?” Me: “No idea.” Husband: “Do we keep adding to it?” Me: “No idea.”

So expect some more research and reviews to come. Because we clearly have no idea what we’re doing here, but it’s part of the fun!

But it does look much better now along our shed and I can imagine a partner right beside it for them to spin together in perfect harmony, during beautiful summer sunsets because this teacher is dreaming of summer like you wouldn’t believe.

My goal is to make 2 more – at least one more for us and I’d like to make one for the Portage Trail Sierra Club’s yearly auction in March next year (my dad is the Chairperson and I think it’d be a cool thing for people to bid on). I’m using that term loosely too because there’s a very good chance that my husband will be doing the legwork on any future tumblers. I just need to start the task of finding some barrels with removable lids on Craigslist. 🙂

For the record, our lid is removable, but nowhere near as easily removable as the tumbler in the video. #newcomposttumblergoal

Kitchen Pantry

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to go to Mr. Bulky’s and buy a lot of things in bulk.

I didn’t really have my act together and have glass jars that were empty and clean for the amount of items that I wanted to buy, so I grabbed a stack of already used (and washed) Ziploc bags and headed out.

I didn’t really ask about using my own bags beforehand…..they’re a bulk store that’s been around for awhile and I assumed that they get people who use their own containers.

I bought all sorts of spices, nuts, and candy. And I thought it was a little ironic that the majority of the spices I was refilling was for my taco seasoning recipe and Mr. Bulky’s has a taco seasoning mix that you can buy in bulk. I’ll have to keep that in mind for next time.

I debated for a long time what would be the best container for the powdery spices. I have a plethora of small canvas bags from some Pura Vida bracelets that I bought, but using a canvas bag with something like chili powder……eh…..

I think if I didn’t have already used Ziploc bags and wanted to go plastic free, then little glass jars would be the way to go.

On my Ziploc bags, I wrote the bin number and item with my Sharpie that I had with me. For the bigger items in my reusable bags (rice, M&Ms, corn chips, raisins), I wrote the bin number on my shopping list paper that I could recycle instead of on their little twist ties (which I have no idea if they’re recyclable).

When I got to the register, I began my spiel (which I’ve learned is best to start by stating my goal)…..“so, I have a question – I’m trying to cut out single use plastics out of my life, despite my use of Ziploc bags today…..but if I had had my act together and brought containers, can I just bring them up first for the tare weight and then fill them?”

Before I finished that plea, another worker had walked up and they were both bobbing their heads to say yes and even responded, “yes, absolutely – we actually prefer if customers bring their own containers”.

Huzzah!!!!!

I’m wondering if I’ll also start saving my plastic sour cream containers and cottage cheese containers since for bulk use also.

Now I do have to say, my plain white sugar has little bits of coconut in it since that’s the bin right next door and the raisins were a little hard from probably being old.

I tried a raisin in the store before filling my bag and felt they were OK for my kids who will find a raisin or craisin on the floor from who knows when and eat it anyways.

It’s cool seeing the change in my pantry. Here’s a shot from January 1:

And here it is now:

I feel like I’m starting to see the change to items in bulk and less plastic packaging which is exciting.

I recently finished off a jar of peanut butter and I am looking forward to refilling it at one of the “nut stations” in the bulk section.

Has anyone tried one of those??? Actually now that I’m thinking about it, maybe I should use a glass jar and save the peanut butter jar for catching fireflies this summer.

And yes, I had just cleaned the pantry before that picture. 😊

I’ve been bad about writing consistently lately, but I have a bunch of things I still want to write about so don’t go thinking this is over yet. ‘Til next time….

More Elation

I’ve had my Elate mascara and full size foundation for over a week now. However, last week I was on Spring Break and I really tend to avoid wearing make-up unless I’m at work. So I got it, wore it one day as a test run and then didn’t touch it again until today.

I wore all zero-waste make-up yesterday which was kind of a cool milestone! Wait – that’s a lie. My eyeliner is still in a plastic tube. Still…

Ok, I’m terrible at selfies. And trying to get close-ups of my make-up to post…well…I just look weird and old and wrinkley and I’m not putting them online.

Oh – and my current hair washing is from my Lush shampoo bar and conditioner bar because finishing off my bottles has not been fun. I feel like my hair gets greasy WAY faster than with my Lush bar! I decided I wanted to give my hair a bit of a break from the commercial stuff and it was a nice hair-cation.

But back to the Elate cosmetics. I took a leap of faith and ordered a new shade that they had in their Uplift Full Tint line (Ecru) because it was one step up from the super pale sampler and the next shade up which was too dark. Miraculously, I feel it blends really well for my skin! And the jar has a bamboo lid and a glass container.

Not being a make-up connoisseur in ANY regards….I like the coverage and don’t think I feel or look overly greasy. Now, yesterday I went to the Cleveland Indians Home Opener and got terribly wind-burned so my face was quite red and hot all day. This did nothing to hide that, but I’ve never had a foundation that would have hidden that.

Based on how long my foundation samples lasted me, I think this could last quite a while.

If you recall my failed attempts from homemade Etsy mascaras, you’ll remember that I’m on my 3rd attempt with zero waste mascara. And this mascara technically is not entirely zero waste – I’ll have to donate the cleaned wand to help clean baby birds and otters from oil spills and I believe clean out the inner plastic tube and recycle it. After smashing off and composting the bamboo outer portion. (Is it weird I’m kinda looking forward to trying that step?) But at least the inner plastic tube is recyclable.

It is SO MUCH better than the homemade stuff. It’s actual mascara. I recently asked my sister-in-law (who I consider to be a make-up connoisseur in comparison to me) what makes a mascara good in her mind. She said that the best mascara she ever had only took one application for really long lashes – none of that multiple coats stuff.

So with that designation in mind, the Elate mascara requires multiple coats and multiple blinks through the mascara wand. But after multiple applications, I feel it looks good.

I’m a little picky about mascara wands, but I haven’t thought about it enough to know concretely what specific features I prefer in my mascara wand. I just feel like when I use one, I know if I like it or not. I’m not the biggest fan of this mascara wand, but I couldn’t say why exactly. It’s too big? It’s too generic? I think I’ll get used to it.

I’m sure it would probably look better on me if I curled my eyelashes too, but my eyelash curler is a tool that I keep, but haven’t used in years. Marie Kondo would certainly tell me to thank it for it’s service and pass it along because it does not bring me joy.

I’m still keeping it. Nobody with a Netflix show and best-selling book is going to boss me around.

So for right now, I’m considering my quest for zero waste mascara complete. I will certainly update if the honeymoon ends and I determine I would like to divorce it and decide to date around. I feel I need to take it out in the rain or for a swim or take it to a Marley & Me style movie since I don’t think it’s waterproof. Or smudge-proof.

I promise to update with time.

Oh – My make-up bag makes me look like a complete Elate loyalist!

And the loose powder is still great – still easy to use – and works well with the foundation. I even wore my Lush facial moisturizer bar (Amazon Primer) under my make-up both yesterday and today and was pleased with it.

Usually at this point in the day, my face is super greasy and it doesn’t feel as greasy as it normally does. Once again, I’ll update if that changes.

Any other good zero waste make-up brands out there to try? Anyone have success with a different product? Let me know!

Scrub a dub dub

Lately, I’ve been hearing Jeff Foxworthy’s voice in my head but instead of saying, “You might be a redneck if…” it goes something like….

You might be a zero waster if you carry your own reusable straws in your purse.

You might be a zero-waster if you feel the need to take pictures of the wasteful over use of single-use plastics like this:

If you could eat your deodorant and not have to call poison control, then YOU might be a zero-waster.

You might be a zero-waster if you have dreams about getting horrible sunburns from zero waste sunscreen.

(Post coming soon….no actual sunburns, just an irrational fear manifesting in my dreams)

If you spend your precious free time sewing butt towels for your bidet from you old pajama pants, then YOU might be a zero-waster!

Much like Jeff Foxworthy, I am owning my newly determined classification.

The one that inspired this post is, “You might be a crazy zero-waster when you start obsessing over bamboo kitchen dish scrubbers”.

Because that’s what’s happened.

I’ve been online window shopping for all sorts of new kitchen scrubbers.

Never in my life did I think I would be using Pinterest to pin tools for cleaning and be genuinely excited about it.

I’ve always been a “sponge with a scrubby side kinda girl” and it’s the sort of thing that I tend to ask for in my Christmas stocking.

And I have A LOT of them stockpiled because I tend to use sponges way past their prime.

In fact, I’ve been known to hide my current sponge if I know family is coming over and pull out a new one just for that event because I always feel like there’s more life in it and I don’t want comments about how I should throw out my sponge. 😊. Then they leave and we go back to old sponge for awhile.

I have a shark sponge holder that I happen to adore and a plethora of plastic water bottle scrub brushes and vegetable scrubbers.

I have a massive stockpile of 3 reusable seventh generation refills that are actually like 2 bottles of dish soap in one. Enough to last me the rest of the year, if not well into the year 2020.

I have no need for new kitchen scrub stuff.

I just want it.

And so I’ve been on Pinterrst pinning pictures like crazy of beautiful glass jars of bamboo brushes like this:

And as I’ve mulled over a change in dish soap (keeping in mind….I probably don’t need to switch until 2020!!!), I keep wondering if I could make the switch to a bar of Castile dish soap and keep it on my counter in a beautiful ceramic bowl with little pebbles in it like this:

I mean….does a bar of soap even work on dishes??? Does it work well?

My stockpile be damned, I’m feeling I may have to try that this year for the sake of science and for this journey!

If I find a cute hand thrown pottery bowl at Goodwill any time soon, I’m taking that as a sign I need to try it.

I’ve also become intrigued by these unsponges every where. An unsponge is made out of all compostable materials (cotton fabric) with a “scrubby side” made out of a variety of materials (Terry cloth, netting from produce packaging, hemp or burlap).

I’ve had plans to make some this entire spring break with every intent of including my experience with it in this post. That was kinda the point of this post actually.

It’s Friday now and I have had no such luck. Just no time. So now that may be another post, another day. But that’s my life right now. I’m busy and tired.

So unsponges coming soon.

Have you tried a bar for dish soap? Do you have bamboo kitchen scrubbers? Better yet, what’s your favorite “You might be a zero-waster if…”? I’d love to hear them!

Trial Run Easter Baskets

Am I the only nerdy mom who does a “trial run” of Easter Baskets and stockings to make sure things fit? It’s probably just the excessive-worrier in me, but I would hate to get to the morning of and have too little or too much.

That’s right – after I have amassed enough “things” and my kids are in bed, I creep down into my basement to do a mock-up of their baskets. I mean, I’m only 4 years into this whole parenting thing…maybe I’ll be more confident in the future.

The Easter baskets this year are NOT entirely plastic-free.

I’d like to eventually go that route, but for now, I’m happy that it’s at least no NEW plastic.

When I went shopping with my sister last Saturday, I picked up a few things at Goodwill that I thought my boys would like.

Before I had my first child, I was very much into getting “new” things for my baby that were going to be well-cared for etc. etc.

Buuuuuuuut…….after being a parent for awhile, you realize that kids destroy things.

And not like a little glob of jelly or peanut butter here or there, I mean things ripped to shreds and blown apart. You know in horror movies when a normal person gets taken over by a different “being” or “alien creature” and the heroes try to reason to the human side of their previous friend so that said friend won’t use their newly acquired claws and rows of teeth to tear them to shreds? When in all actuality, that time being spent trying to reason would be WAY better spent running away in an attempt of self-preservation? Know what I’m talking about?

I feel like that sums up life with toddler boys.

I have encountered numerous times where one of my children will have random pieces and cards to something, say Candyland, and I’m chasing them and they pause and I try to calmly tell them to put the parts down. And they get that glint in their eye and proceed to not only rip and bend the cards, but throw the little gingerbread man game pieces across the room- to completely separate areas of the room – while yelling maniacally.

And while you chase down the pieces, they take their reign of terror back to the living room to start using the cardboard box as a sled and when they realize it’s not a sled, they hulk out and destroy it. With their teeth.

My littlest had a favorite book with moving animal pieces that he LOVED so much that he wanted to make sure NO ONE else could love it. I’m still finding frogs and bunnies and turning wheels with bugs on it because he shredded it.

This is really just a long way to say that my kids don’t take care of things. YET. (I’m still hoping for a better tomorrow.) Which means, I’m more than OK with buying things that are already used at a cheaper price because my kids will destroy them anyhow.

So I acquired several things at Goodwill for them including a new in wrapping puzzle of London (my oldest is really into puzzles right now), a package of sidewalk chalk for the littlest monster boy, and a new in package Mickey Mouse Hot wheel car as we are also really into Hot wheels right now.

Both boys are getting Lush Easter bath bombs – with a bubble animal inside. And the rest of the items are honestly previous presents from Christmas that I ended up hiding from my kids because they get SO many presents for Christmas.

I tuck excess presents away in the closet so that when we get stir crazy in the middle of winter, I can pull out something new. I always forget! My husband reminds me to look when their birthdays approach and then I re-gift them for their birthdays.

It’s a win for mommy and the environment this way.

Today I ordered stainless steel straw cups because all the plastic cups that I asked for for Christmas are pretty much broken. Sigh….and I’m tired of them and their brokenness. So each kid may get a cup in their Easter basket too.

Maybe I’ll fill them with something.

They’ll also get these jeweled eggs filled with bulk candy scattered about their baskets, and maybe some coins.

I’m finding I’m more apt to give them coins or actual money because they LOVE putting it in their piggy bank and it usually goes to their college fund instead of to plastic toys that break.

Boy, I am getting old and crotchety! Maybe I’ll just solidify this and give out butterscotch candies too! And start yelling at them for running on my lawn!

I’m trying to focus on experiences over things……experiences over things.

Speaking of which, we have the big FOUR birthday approaching in our house and besides the Lush turtle jelly bomb I splurged on, we got a zoo family pass (“It’s YOUR present!! Happy Birthday!!!!!”), and everything else was regifted or leftover from Christmas.

Yep, still at the point where not everything gets opened at Christmas.

Maybe next year, the baskets will be full of all plastic-free goodies, but this is where I’m at this year.

What zero waste things are going into your Easter baskets?

More Bulk

Last Saturday, my sister and I spent the day shopping. We hit up Lush where I got some Easter bath bombs for my boys, a jelly bath bomb for my oldest’s 4th birthday on Friday, and I got myself a facial moisturizer. And I walked away from MANY other products that I wanted to buy, but somehow had the strength to walk away from.

Amazon Primer – from Lush

We spent the rest of the day checking out other bulk stores that we could find in the Montrose/Cuyahoga Falls area and went to several Goodwill stores also.

On the tip of a friend, we went to Mr. Bulky’s on Howe Road in Cuyahoga Falls. As the name suggests, Mr. Bulky’s is a massive bulk store specializing mostly in candy. In fact, when we first walked in, I was so overwhelmed by all the pretty colors and treats that I had trouble remembering why we went in there.

They have ALL sorts of candy in bulk – runts, jelly belly’s, chocolates, gumballs, rock candy, M & M’s – you name it, they probably have it. I remember going there as a kid (different location) and feeling like I had just stepped into Wonka’s Factory.

Total heave for a kid.

I don’t have a big sweet tooth though, and like I said – with the sweet, intoxicating smell of sugar in the air, I could not remember why we were there exactly until we made our way to the back of the store.

In addition to candy, Mr. Bulky’s also sells spices, flour, nuts, rice, etc. in bulk. As my friend had mentioned to me, you can buy plain white flour in bulk. Plain salt in bulk. And at REALLY good prices.

It’s the first place I’ve found where I can buy regular yeast in bulk for making bread (which we’re still doing and REALLY like it still):

Honestly, so far – it may be my favorite bulk store. Not only because they had such a wide variety of products that I currently use, but it’s also on my husband’s way home from work. So I’ll be able to send him in there. Which will be terrible because he has the BIGGEST sweet tooth ever and he will come home with loads of candy. Even my sister was saying as we got in the car, “You can’t send [husband] there – he’ll buy all the candy”.

Yes, yes he will. Just as long as he brings home the required spices and stuff, we’ll make it work.

You should see their sprinkle section in the back – they were oh, so so pretty!

And there’s a part of me that’s happy that I don’t have to make my husband stop buying sprinkles or candy. But we could seriously cut back too (right, dear?). I was ready to buy bulk candy for my kid’s Easter baskets, but then I remembered that Easter is a month away and it was silly to buy it now.

I also liked the Mr. Bulky’s seemed to have more “savory” treats in bulk, even if – as my sister put it, none of them looked any good. I think I’ll still be willing to give them a try (like the Corn Chips with Flax Seed!).

We also checked out the Giant Eagle Market District in Cuyahoga Falls which has a similar bulk section to both Fresh Thyme and Earth Fare – flours, grains, spices, teas, vinegars, oils, nut butters etc.

To me, Cuyahoga Falls is the place to go around here for buying in bulk. I can only hope that more stores will start to incorporate more bulk items – and then some! I found this saved on Pinterest and became immediately jealous that someone has this type of bulk store available to them:

And that’s to buy ingredients to make your own beauty products!! – I’d be happy just to find a refill station around here to purchase beauty products in bulk/refill form! My friend was telling me of a store in Montana where people donate their used containers (like cottage cheese, sour cream) and the store washes them, weighs them, and they set them out for their customers to use instead of using new plastic products. So cool!

What neat bulk stores can you find around you?

Little Updates

Lately, buying zero waste items has become retail therapy for me.

One thing that I had planned on putting on my birthday list was a “holster” for my safety razor. Buuuuuut…..there was a 20% off coupon for it on Amazon…..so I bought it for myself.

The brand is Hide & Drink and it’s leather (so not vegan) and even though it came in this gorgeous cotton bag with no plastic on it, the entire thing came wrapped in plastic which I imagine Amazon did for their warehouse categorizing purposes.

Ugh. I need to go leave some packaging feedback for Amazon.

But as you can tell, it holds my Merkur safety razor beautifully and I’m excited to have this for travel purposes so that I don’t just have a double-edged blade hanging around in my travel kit.

Along with my Wyatt Earp-style holster, I also ordered some Bumkin reusable snack bags. Which of course, came wrapped in plastic.

Does Amazon do this on purpose? Wrapping zero waste items in plastic? Do they just not know? Or are workers in an Amazon Warehouse somewhere just giggling at my assumed (and correct!) irritation?

Anyhow, I got the Outdoors and Wildlife bags (raise your hand if you saw THAT one coming!). They’re adorable and look better NOT in plastic. I’ve washed them but I have NO idea how this happened, but I’m out of Cheddar Puffs. So I haven’t been able to experiment with them yet. But if I still like ’em, I may request that the Easter Bunny bring the ocean ones or the bird & bikes ones to my kids.

While I haven’t confirmed the Bumkin bags or experimented with them on the stale scale, I have a feeling they’re going to be the best option.

Awhile back, I purchased a new brand of zero waste, super good for me deodorant from Etsy Shop Hammond Herb. I got a two pack of their deodorant – Lemongrass & Peppermint and Tea Tree & Lavender.

The first few times I wore it, I was not a fan. This brand has baking soda in it and it felt so scratchy and irritable….blech….not for me. I spent so much on it though, that I was determined to power through it. After the first few applications, I really liked it!

I liked it enough to start wearing it again at work! I’m feeling like it’s lasting a little longer than my first zero waste deodorant. And one day at work, I was in my little broom-closet sized office testing some kids and they were like, “Mrs. Marks – your office smells like Jolly Ranchers!” I’m convinced it was my deodorant.

Etee just came out with vegan wraps today that don’t include beeswax. You know, I wasn’t concerned about beeswax in products or being “vegan” (hello, I eat meat), but I read the email from Etee about why they created “beeswax-less” wraps and they posted comments from vegans requesting Etee finding an alternative to beeswax, and I may try to start avoiding beeswax.

I’ll eat meat, but man, I hate to mess with those little honeybees. They do so much for us and there is a scary bee shortage going on. My husband and I toy all the time with the idea of getting our own bees.

Oh, and it’s my Spring Break and we’ve been making plans to make a compost tumbler!

Woot Woot!

That’s all for some little updates, but yesterday, my sister and I went on a MASSIVE bulk store scouting trip/thrifting adventure/Lush visit and we found some good stuff that I can’t wait to share.

Anyone else have any good zero waste updates? And if anyone still wants to be included in the Love Your Mother (Earth) Facebook group to hear from others, just let me know and I’ll make sure you get invited!

Snack Bags. Part 1.

But first an update…we are still using the Dropps dishwashing pods and they’re still doing great on my glassware and Fiestaware, but it is undeniable now: They do leave a residue on plastic items. Particularly, my cheaper plastic items.

Ugh…yet another reason to hate plastic.

Although I have a stash in my pantry and my basement, I really don’t use ziplock bags or plastic sandwich baggies all that often. I tend to use them for storage of items that I need to keep long term – like keeping my Harry Potter Lego sets together or storing all the leftover pieces from the assembly of a bookshelf and I have no idea why I have so many extra pieces. I throw them in a ziplock bag, label it, and throw it in my basement.

Typically if it’s summer and I take my boys out for the day, I pack sandwiches in (plastic) containers inside a cooler so they don’t get squished. For preschool, I will pack my toddler’s lunch in a reusable bag that I purchased from Target about 10 years ago, but with wear and tear, they are swiftly falling apart.

I’m still in the process of learning that sometimes it is better to spend more on quality materials than to keep buying cheap junk that breaks easily.

While searching for a good storage baggie solution, I was trying to stick to this idea and be a true, blue zero-waster. What would be the best completely non-plastic option for food storage bags? Why that would be some beeswaxed bags, of course!

I ordered 2 bags on Etsy from Rainbow Bee Design and of course, I took my sweet time laboring over the decision of which fun fabric I wanted to be mine.

….and then went with the most plain and boring of them all – a dark green canvas zippered bag.

I was going for “timeless” and don’t regret my decision at all. I don’t know what it is about these bags, but I am just enamored with it. I think it may just be the little rainbow tag.

They have a lovely scent of honey! I had read reviews from someone who ordered the medium size and didn’t like it, so I ordered a large and a small. Naturally, I find myself thinking that I think the medium would have been perfect for me.

I knew that they would be stiff from the beeswax based on my own experience of making beeswax wraps. And the reviews. When I got them, I just started trying to break them in. So naturally, I started with an experiment.

I grabbed our bag of white cheddar puffs, which in all honesty probably wasn’t a fair food tester since it is NOT zero waste. If I were really dedicated to this zero waste thing, I should probably be picking a nice trail mix or some mixed nuts. But I went with kids cheddar puffs. Because I happen to like them.

I filled up the little pouch, zipped it shut, and left them on my kitchen table for 1-2 hours. When I opened the pouch to try one, they were pretty stale. On the stale scale, they were about an 8.

And with how porous cheddar puffs are, they absorbed some of the honey taste to them too. I mean, I still ate them all even if they were stale and tainted by honey, but I am disappointed that they went stale so fast.

Not quite a viable solution for all foods and outings.

Later, I tried some cashews in the pouch which did not go stale, but they also seemed to have a hint of honey after their incarceration. It’s important to note that my kids found the pouch when it was full of cashews and ate them all. And fought over them. So…that’s a win. I think.

When we went to Fresh Thyme last weekend, I noticed that the Keep Lead reusable bags and sandwich wrap that I had my eye on from before was on sale. I’m a sucker for a sale….

I tried both of them out in my son’s lunches this week. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the sandwich wrap and cheddar puffs in the baggie.

Weirdly, he didn’t eat either in his lunch so they got to be analyzed about 12 hours later by my team of experts. I took on the painstaking task of devouring analyzing the cheddar puffs myself.

And they were a little stale, but I would rate them as like a 2 or 3 on the stale scale.

Now, the bread on his sandwich also seemed a little stale but it did not stop him from gobbling it down when he was reminded that his PB & J existed.

And amazingly, the sandwich mat cleaned up PERFECTLY despite red, raspberry jam and peanut butter globs all over it. It looked brand new with only minor wiping. Score!!!

My sister has several Bumkins brand zippered, reusable food pouches and I have been witness to their amazingness in action. I was so tempted to get some about a month ago, but I was trying to be full-on zero waste with my beeswax bags that could be composted when they die. And I’m not giving up on them. I still like them and hope to break them in a little bit more and monitor the honey-flavoring as time goes by.

Nevertheless, I did order a set of the Bumkins pouches yesterday on Amazon and they’ll be arriving tomorrow. For the sake of Science. And possibly for the sake of Easter baskets. (And because they are like $7 for 2 little snack bags.)

I’d still really like to try the Etee bags too and see what they’re like, so I feel this venture has only just begun. Onward to non-stale, zero-waste, food-storage, glory!

Anyone recommendations on reusable food bags? Leave a comment if there’s something else you like to use!