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Plastic Free Laundry Routine
How did you develop your laundry routine? Is it something that you’ve thought about or do you maybe do what your family did growing up? Maybe you are drawn to certain scents and make your detergent and dryer sheet decisions around that? That was certainly me! I gave very little thought to what my laundry routine might be doing to the materials I wore right next to my skin or to the environment that we all live within. That all changed after reading Slow Death By Rubber Duck* about 10 years ago which caused me to start re-evaluating many of the products used in my home using the ThinkDirty app.…
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Plastic Free Bathroom
So Much Plastic Once you start looking, there is plastic everywhere! Shampoo and conditioner bottles, medicine bottles, make up containers, packaging, toilet paper packaging, toothpaste, toothbrushes… It can feel overwhelming to look at an extensive list of items that include plastic! My plastic free bathroom journey is still a work in progress. Things like pill or vitamin containers and even my hair comb are items that don’t look to be replaced in the short term. What matters most to me in this process is continuing to take steps forward. So here are some things I’ve been doing so far. Feminine Hygiene The Swap: Disposable Sanitary Pads for Reusable Cotton Pads…
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Bluebird Pads – A Plastic Free Period
When we were gifted some products from Blushing Bluebird Essentials, we were hopeful but skeptical about whether we were going to like using a reusable, cotton sanitary pad. (Spoiler alert: we loved them so much that Krista has already purchased more with her own money and I have plans to.) Even though we were skeptical, we were motivated by the reality of period waste. Plastic Free July has had us examining areas of our lives that we don’t necessarily look that closely at and a plastic free period was one of them. According to the Huff Post, “On average, a woman has her period from three to seven days and the…
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Plastic Free July: Food
This is my downfall! When I look through my trash and recycling there are so many food containers, wrappers, cartons, bags, and the list goes on. I don’t buy a lot of convenience foods, or so I thought, but looking at my grocery list this week it’s clear that many of the foods I buy are delivered in plastic containers. I generally buy big yogurt containers and do my best to portion out smaller amounts for snacks and baking, but that’s still a plastic container in my bin. We like to eat wraps or quesadillas but where do you find wraps not in a plastic bag? Alison has struggled to…
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Plastic Free Kitchen
As a write this I am watching “A Plastic Ocean” and continue to be saddened by what our practices with respect to plastic have done (and continue to do) to our oceans. I attempted to find statistics regarding specific plastics used in the kitchen but it was difficult to narrow down data for the items listed below. Plastic bottles, straws, cups, toothbrushes have been well documented but there are insidious bits of plastic that we use daily in our kitchens that can be easily identified and replaced with plastic-free alternatives! This is by no means a complete list, but somewhere to start. Please feel free to add to the discussion…
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Make Your Own Deodorant
Why Make Your Own Deodorant? A little over 10 years ago I started learning more about the toxins in the products that we use in our homes, on our bodies, and in our food and it was alarming. If you’re at all curious, download the “Think Dirty” app and scan some of the products around your home to see how your favourite products rank. It was then that I realized my deodorant, among other products in my home, was ranked very poorly so I started switching to healthier options in all areas. Unfortunately some of the alternatives proved to be quite a bit more expensive than their conventional versions and…
