Tag: Zero Waste Changes

Macklemore, Can We Go Thrift Shopping?

I’m gonna pop some tabs….only got $20 in my pocket…

That song used to be my theme song. As in….it was my theme song before it was even a song. I was a hardcore thrift shopper in my 20’s – especially when I lived out in Washington State.

Fun fact – I actually recognize most of the thrift stores in Macklemore’s thrift shopping video because I was a repeat shopper at those thrift stores in Seattle (and for the record Seattle has the most amazing thrift stores ever).

I stopped routine thrifting when I had kids because, well – at thrift stores, you tend to have to be focused and have time to really search. Kids tend to put a stop to all that. Plus, in addition to amazing finds, I was bringing home junk. Impulse buys.

Around this time, I was also reading The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo which meant I was trying to get rid of junk rather than bring it home.

I’m not going to lie; with people being hardcore into her Netflix show right now, it makes me want to go thrifting even more because I imagine there’s some amazing finds right now.

One of my favorite things that we’ve found at a thrift store is our tree table:

And we turned the very wobbly, unstable benches that came with it into raw edge shelves:

Seriously, those benches were really unstable. As in, I fell off them. A lot. I don’t feel anyone else fell off of them…just me. So my husband made them really stable by drilling them into the wall.

My husband and I also got a crummy cedar chest on our 6 year anniversary (we thrift together…it’s sometimes our thing) that I was finally able to sand it down and seal it last summer:



I got my kids’ bunk beds at a yard sale, their train table off Craigslist, and my antique buffet that is our TV console out of my parent’s basement. And loads more. Moral of the story, I’m by no means opposed to bringing home secondhand things. Or dumpster diving. I pulled this kitchen cart out of my parents’ neighbor’s garbage pile one day:

It was in great shape, just needed a little cleaning, and has been super useful for me for these past few years.

But I have a few problem areas in my house right now (including the above kitchen cart). I had been looking for new furniture items to solve these problem areas because I wanted a solution NOW.

My 3 year old is currently very into games, but when games are left out at kid level, they get scattered and destroyed. I’m still finding pieces to Candyland all over the place. So they’ve been regulated to the top of the refrigerator:

I had been looking around online for a bookshelf to put in place of the above dumpster-fished out kitchen cart in order to keep these games out of the reach of tiny, sticky hands.

I was also looking online for a bookshelf to house these books that are stacked up in a corner in our bedroom:

And this area by my front door has become a super annoying dumping ground. We seriously need a better storage solution for backpacks and shoes:

Even though I had been looking for “new” furniture items to problem-solve these areas, my plan now is to start searching thrift stores to try to keep from adding to the “waste stream”.

How ya like that? “Waste stream”. A month ago, I had never heard the term “waste stream”, and now I use it all the time. …Ahem…in my head.

While this isn’t a “hey, check out my solution” kind of blog post, I want to document how I’m trying to change my mindset. Or well, revert it back to what it was previously. I’m planning to live with the “annoyance” of these areas until I can find a viable, second-hand solution. And I do have some ideas of what I’m looking for in all these spots or what I may try to recruit husband to build. 🙂

I also had been looking online for a new picnic table tablecloth for camping this summer, but I’m hoping that I’ll be able to find one second-hand before any trips.

And avoid all the junk while I’m on the hunt. 😉

Is that a roll of nickels in your pocket…?

My stash of “current” chapsticks that my boys raid and scatter all over the house. Like all over.

I am addicted to chapstick. Well, I guess lip balm to be more specific. I tend to refer to any sort of lip product in a tube as Chapstick, but Chapstick really is a name brand and I don’t really prefer Chapstick. I keep a stash of my “current” chapsticks on my nightstand in this awesome bowl made out of old magazine pages that my parents got me one year for Christmas from a fair trade store.

My favorite is Burt’s Bees of the pomegranate variety. I typically pay $3 a tube, but about 4 years ago, I realized that at Target, they had Burt’s Bees pomegranate as a stocking stuffer and the day after Christmas they went on sale for 50% off.

So I bought them out. At several different Target locations.

I think the grand total was in the range of 65ish chapsticks….or maybe it was that I spent $65 on chapstick in one day…the moral is it was A LOT. I got mocked quite a bit by my loving family….mostly because that’s how we roll (Hi, Mom!). But, I didn’t care. And yes, I’ve used most of those.

My stockpile…hoping to use it up & not restock, save some space in my home, and save some money.

It’s actually good they don’t stock it for Christmas anymore, because I would be sad to have that large of a stockpile now that I’m trying to cut plastic out of my life. I usually do have a stash that I keep in a dresser drawer and in my current stockpile I have about 12. I could probably make it through this next year without zero waste lip balm because that is how well-stocked I am.

Which takes me back to why I think I’m going to save money by going zero waste. Because I am going to stop spending money on items that, “I’m ALWAYS going to use so why not buy a bunch now while they’re on sale? I mean, I will never change my mind on this product because I LIKE it so much.” Do you see the irony in this situation or do I need to explain it to you?  

Change your mindset, change your life.

(The bigger irony is that now I am keeping all of my “dead” and used chapsticks in a stash in my basement to send them to Terracycle en masse when I finish all these up, but more on that later…)

My addiction has led to an interesting talent which is that I can uncap, apply, and recap a chapstick ALL with one hand. I perfected it after having to hold a baby in one hand and needing to put on chapstick.

Desperate times call for learning obscure abilities.

So that was all I wanted from a zero waste lip balm…I wanted it to be as similar to chapstick as I could get, which means in a tube. None of that “lip balm in a pot that you stick your finger in it” nonsense for me. I have to be able to hold a child and still apply it.

Goodies from the
FreeWheelin’ Market

Which led me to Etsy and a shop from Dayton, Ohio called FreeWheelin’ Market that makes zero waste lip balm and my first order of zero waste deodorant. Fun fact, if you purchase an order over $5, you get a free gift. I got a free beeswax wrap which is a MUCH, MUCH higher quality than the ones I tried to DIY back in November. And there’s loads more of tubes on Etsy from different shops – I liked the idea of supporting someone in Ohio and getting a deodorant a try too. The lip balm was $4.25, in case you’re wondering and not going to click over to Etsy to check it out.

I ordered the lip balm in roasted coconut and it’s super yummy! I miss the slightly red tint of the Burt’s Bees pomegranate, especially in winter when I’m freezing and my lips turn purple. I was nervous the first day that it would “melt” in my pocket, but while it softened, it didn’t melt in the slightest. Granted it’s 20 degrees Fahrenheit outside right now.

It’s slightly bigger than a regular chapstick, roughly about the size of a roll of nickels. 😉

And I think the entire tube is full of lip balm. Which means it should potentially last longer and may be a much better deal than the Burt’s Bees. As long as my boys don’t hijack it and lose it in their toys. I dated the bottom for the first day of use so I’ll report back on how long it’ll last me.

Some students saw me applying it today and I got asked, “Mrs. Marks! WHAT is that?!?” I told them, “It’s zero waste chapstick – it’s in a cardboard tube instead of plastic so it doesn’t go to a landfill, and it will just break down out in nature.” Blank stares. So I said, “Just think of it as the chapstick of the future.” To which one responded, “That chapstick is from the future??”

🙂

Zero Waste Lady Bits

I had been hoping to travel to Washington DC for the Women’s March this weekend, but winter storm Harper quickly dashed those plans. And while there are many different views on the Women’s March out there, to me this weekend is meant to be a celebration of women.

Which means it’s the perfect time to talk about one of the BEST and EASIEST ways to go zero waste. Reusable menstrual products (*Jazz hands*)!

I know the face you’re making. I’ve seen it. In person.

In fact, I probably made that face the first time I heard about them too.

But I feel so strongly about this that had I made it to the Women’s March, the plan for my sign (on used cardboard) was:

“Respect the Ultimate Woman – Buy a Menstrual Cup! #zerowaste.” (With a picture of the Earth, for those who would have been confused as to who the Ultimate Woman is.) I wanted to get this message out in a big way. Stupid Harper…

Anyways

I made the switch years ago. I hate to spend money and I hated the waste. In fact, I was using applicator-less tampons at that time, which is a great first step if you’re not feeling up to a menstrual cup.

But my curiosity was piqued and a few months later, I bit the bullet and bought a menstrual cup. In a store. (This was pre-Amazon days).

A Diva Cup to be exact. I could NOT believe I was spending $30 on something that I wasn’t sure I would use. Or sure I would WANT to use. It sounds gross and I feel like women are taught to view our periods like they’re gross and taboo rather than something that’s natural. I slightly panicked at spending $30. That was a lot of money to me when I taught outdoor education and barely made $10,000 a year.

Anyhow, that was 2007.

I haven’t bought tampons or pads since. That’s 11+ years. Think of how much money that is! And how much tampon trash that kept out of landfills!

I was looking through my stuff for this post and found some of my tampons from 2007.
WHY am I holding on to tampons from 2007???
What, just in case some 12 year old girl wanders into my yard and starts menstruating?? Geez, sometimes I don’t think about what I hold onto…these guys belong in a museum….

A menstrual cup is so easy to use and in fact, several of the people who gave me “the face” when I first told them about how much I love my Diva Cup eventually have gone out and gotten their own. And they always report back that they love it.

It’s much, MUCH better than shoving a bunch of bleached cotton up your hoo-ha.

I remember in 2009 I flew to Ohio from Washington State (where I was living at the time) to go wedding dress shopping and I started early. I didn’t have my Diva Cup, so I had to use tampons and it was so terrible! I forgot how many times you have to change a tampon during the day! Such an inconvenience…

I vowed to never forget it again.

Anyhow, a menstrual cup is a silicone cup that you insert up into your lady bits, and it catches your “crimson wave” rather than absorbing it like a tampon. When it’s full you dump it out into the toilet, reinsert it, and continue on your merry way. Or not so merry way depending on what emotions accompany your time of the month. I will wash mine about once a day during my period too.

For the Diva Cup, there are 2 types – one for pre-baby women or women who had Cesarean deliveries and one for women post-vaginal deliveries.

One of the glorious things about a menstrual cup is that you can insert it early with no worries of Toxic Shock. No worries of Toxic Shock whatsoever, actually. I typically don’t even have to worry about it during the day (sometimes…if I have really heavy flow I dump it once midday, but usually it’s insert in the morning, dump before bed).

Be warned – it took me some time to get used to inserting it just right because it’s different. And I STUNK at inserting it early on (it made me nervous).  But I’m also crazy stubborn and I’m SO GLAD I stuck with it. 

In my opinion, it’s a game changer.

My “red bag”. …..Did I just make this awkward for anyone who may see me slinking off to the bathroom with this? Eh…it’s time to normalize menstruation

I don’t have any of the special storage containers or cleaners. I store mine in a “red bag” pouch I made myself (with an extra pair of underwear and a reusable cloth menstrual liner, just in case) and when it’s time to use, I wash it with soap and hot water and insert. I do the same every evening (but not every re-insertion).

In addition to my Diva Cup, I also have some cloth menstrual liners. I find these helpful on low flow days at the end of my period and in case I leak. They can shift around too because they don’t adhere to your underwear, but they’re OK. After use, I rinse them in the sink and throw them in the laundry. I have both Luna Pads and some cheaper ones from Amazon.

I would post a picture, but menstrual cups get stained over time. Mine was white to start, turned yellow for awhile, and now after 11 years it’s a nice brownish color. But who cares! – it’s meant to be somewhere people don’t see it!

Let’s do some math, just to see the benefit from one more angle:

I don’t even know the going rate of tampons right now…or even how many are used for an average period. 20 tampons? $10 a box for 40-some tampons? For the sake of Math, let’s use $5 a box per month, since you may not use an entire box a month. You buy your tampons on discount?? Ok, fine….we’ll round down to $4 a month.

$4 a month for 1 year is $48. I’ve had my Diva Cup for 11 years, so using $4 a month, that’s roughly $528 I’ve saved on tampons. And I think that’s a really conservative estimate.

More importantly, it’s LOTS of tampons, pads, and applicators out of landfills.

And to think, I was concerned about spending $30.

Fun Fact: The Diva Cup is now only $25 on Amazon and apparently, there are LOTS more menstrual cups to choose from now.  And in different colors!!

Stop Making That Face – Go read the reviews – give it some time to sink in…then take a chance!

It’s totally worth it!

Edit: A friend shared this quiz with me to find the menstrual cup that’s right for you. It’s pretty cool, apparently the Diva Cup is not my ideal cup, but I’m not switching at this point.

(And if me, talking in-depth about my period on the internet isn’t enough, seriously go read the reviews. The Diva Cup has 5,000+ reviews and is rated 4.3/5. The Women are speaking!!!)