OMG. We Bought A House.

Welp, no more moving every year for me. We are officially home owners. Sure I wanted to convert a van or build a tiny house, but sadly TN doesn’t allow those as permanent living areas right now. Maybe one day.

Our house is cute and tiny and literally everything I could ever want. Huge fenced in  yard for puppies and my own garden. It came with a clothes line in the back plus an adorable shed. (So I’m mainly in love with backyard).

It’s literally a short bike ride to the local farmers market, a 25 minute drive to the bigger city farmers market, and they have a huge recycling facility like 2 miles away. It’s perfect in every way.

This also allows me to be able to make as many Zero Waste updates as possible. No more wondering if my neighbors will get upset, or if the landlord will allow it. I can literally do whatever I want. The choices are endless.

Updates to come soon.

Enjoy this picture of my clothes line and adorable shed!

 

Who Gives A Crap.

I try real hard not to use paper products in my house, but unfortunately I live with a roommate who’s just not that interested in Zero Waste life. (I mean I feel like we ALL have one of these humans in our lives, we can’t change everyone).

But luckily I have found the company “Who Gives A Crap”. Their products are made without using trees. I have personally purchased their forest friendly paper towels the most, and honestly that’s just because I have ordered the toilet paper a while ago and I still have plenty of rolls. (and I only bought the 24 pack) I’m also lucky enough that I don’t get sick that often so the tissues haven’t been needed at my house. (But when the day comes I do need them, I already know where I’m getting them.)

PLUS 50% of their profits go to building toilets in areas that need them. I’m telling you this company is doing amazing things and their products are worth it. Even though I only started buying their paper towels as a compromise with my roommate, I’m glad I did.

I’m still working towards convincing my roommates to just use my unpaper towels, this is a stepping stone. I don’t feel totally guilty when I see them use the paper towel instead of the rag I have conveniently laid out for them.

So if you’re like me and have stubborn roommates/family members, please use this company. You won’t regret it.

Also, here’s a link to save you $10. You’re welcome.

https://www.talkable.com/x/qLA8Od

Never Hurts to Ask

Sorry I’ve been MIA my beautiful Earth loving humans!

I’ve recently started school again and have been flooded with school projects and essays. Plus I got a full time job again so that takes away any free time I thought I had.

I haven’t really had any new Zero Waste updates. Sadly. But I have had some questions.

Are there any other zero waste college students out there? What do you do to help cut back on the waste universities tend to make you cause. Between pencils, scantrons, pens, notes, binders, books, you name it I probably have it.

I do carry my own water bottle and coffee cup but I know I can do so much better than that. I just need help.

Also, we recently just bought a house! Our very own little home. Thank god, I’m so tired of the moving every year. It’s down the road from a farmers market, a huge yard for my own garden and compost, plus it came with a clothes line! Score!

So again, need help with zero waste moving tips and school tips. Please don’t let me down. Me and the Earth need you.

 

Things in jars.

Hello Beautiful Earth Loving Mermaids!

I want to talk about something. That something is salads. Not just any normal salad, but salad in jars. I recently started making these for lunches at work, and let me tell you I love them. They’re so easy, they save so much money, PLUS no dumb plastic. I’m so upset that I haven’t started making these before. What was I even thinking? Now my next challenge is trying to figure out how to get other meals in jars. We can do like sushi in a jar, cheeseburgers in a jar, maybe tacos in a jar. The possibility are endless.

Here’s a lovely photo of what my salads in a jar look like. (This is after I shook it up, I forgot to take one before. I just get so excited. The shaking is so fun.)

So the layout is pretty simple. First you want to add you dressings. Vinaigrette’s work best, but I also use different dressing. Whatever you’re in the mood for. Next step is you want to add NON-ABSORBENT vegetables/items. This is so your lettuce and other food items don’t get all soggy and gross. I usually use cucumbers because they’re my favorite on salads, but others have used asparagus. Just do a quick google search of non-absorbent vegetables. There’s a bunch of options. Next you put other vegetables, then proteins (like eggs, cheese, meats, or beans). Finally your greens. I then top it off with fried onions, but that’s my liking.

Here’s a fun picture summing it up. Remember it, love it, live by it. Love and live by the salad in a jar. It’s the best thing pinterest has to offer. By far my favorite lunch.

What’s some other things you put in jars for meals? Let’s talk about it.

Back to the Roots

Hello My Earth Loving Humans!

This Christmas I got my boyfriend a Back to the Roots Mushroom Kit. Now if you’re thinking “What in hell is a mushroom kit?” Don’t worry my confused friends. I’ll add a picture.

Organic Mushroom Farm

 

Cool huh? The idea of this particular item is having the ability to grow edible mushrooms in like 1-2 weeks, and it’s amazing. I’m not a huge fan of mushrooms but watching these things grow is fascinating. The box comes with two different sides, so after you harvest one side, you can go for the other. The instructions of incredibly easy to follow. I love this products and the good news is they have a bunch of different ones! They have a garden in cans, tomato plants in mason jars, water gardens, and they even have organic cereal (because why not).

I have no farming/plant knowledge but I managed to grow perfect little mushrooms, plus they are really fun. Makes me want to start a full garden once we finally get moved into our house.

If you’re looking for a gift for someone, a new hobby, or just want to try growing your own food and have no idea where to start, get something from Back to the Roots. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

Unfortunately, we harvested them before I could take a picture of my cute little mushrooms. But lucky for us, we have a whole other side. So there’ll be another post about my cute little shrooms in about 10 days.

No Plastic In 2018..hopefully.

Hello My Earth Loving Humans!

I have already failed at the posting every Wednesday thing for 2018 and we are literally only in the 2nd week of January. I’m killing the new year already.

For Michelle news! I got a dope ass camera for Christmas. (not second hand so some dumb plastic but not as much as I was expecting, plus I’ve been wanting it for like ever so I think I get a pass) What dope presents did you get? Zero Waste or not, I want to hear it. This blog is like Planet Fitness, a judgement free zone.

For Zero Waste news, my family loved their Zero Waste intro bags! So there’s more people who are helping with our plastic problems. Also, sometime soon I plan on trying to make bread from scratch (pray for me). I’ll post instructions plus pictures and the final products, so stay tuned.

Yepp, just a post saying I’ll try harder. Big things are happening so stay with me!

Happy New Years! Love you!

Can One Eat Meat Zero Waste?

Hello, My Beautiful Earth Loving Humans!

I’ve been really failing at this whole “posting every Wednesday” thing, but it’s almost a new year, so that means I get to do the whole “new year new me” junk and try it again.

Today I want to talk about apparently the rareness of a zero waster who’s NOT a vegan/vegetarian . I’ve been thinking about becoming Pescaterian-someone who eats seafood but no other meat- but I haven’t 100% made up my mind plus I want my boyfriend to decide to cut his meat consumption on his own. The whole controlling another human being isn’t really my thing but I do make suggestions.  I want to bring this up because one of my main waste causers while grocery shopping is the meat section. I ask butchers if they can put it in a jar I have for meats, I have separate ones for separate meats, (one for seafood, one for beef, one for pork etc etc). A lot of butchers look at me funny and say it’s against health code. I know this is not true for I used to date someone who worked in the meat department I asked him, plus I googled it. I’ve had more luck at local grocery stores than at chain stores.

I wish that meat eating zero wasters were more accepted in zero waste communities, and I wish it was easier to be one in the zero waste life style.

What are your thoughts about this?

My Christmas Plans!

Happy Holidays My Beautiful Earth Loving Humans!

As we all know the holidays are arriving and it’s probably one of the biggest waste causers out there. There’s decorations, gift wrap, one-use single serve dinner platters, most family dinners serve plastic silverware, all the toys and gifts that’ll be used twice and forgotten about, plus not to mention all the shopping for gits and toys that come in so much plastic that we end up putting in another plastic bag, So as you can tell, tons of waste and useless plastic.

My biggest issue is always gift giving. I love giving gifts but the problem is, every thing that people ask for are usually covered in tons of waste, SO for this Christmas I’m making Zero Waste Intro Bags! These are for my friends and family that have expressed interest in the Zero Waste life. So I’m gonna list all of the things I plan on putting in there, I’ll make an updated post when I actually get everything together.

First thing is the the first Zero Waste product I bought! A bamboo toothbrush! I have ordered these from packagefreeshop.com. (Like most of the items on this list) I love this brand of toothbrush and I mean everyone needs a toothbrush.

Bamboo Toothbrush – Adult

Next item is another dental health necessity, refillable dental floss (again bought at packagefreeshop.com) I actually haven’t tried these yet but I’ve read great reviews on them (so I bought myself one as well). My friends and family will have great dental health but will be producing no waste.

Refillable Dental Floss

Next item is something I deem is the easiest and one of the most useful swaps out there, a bamboo straw! When I first started using my own straw, I had a pack of the Starbucks usable cold cup straws (which I still have) but once I bought these I fell in love. So I got each person their own bamboo straw. I haven’t tried metal straws yet, but I kind of love the looks of these so I just bought these for them.

Bamboo Drinking Straw

Another super easy swap is the produce bags. I absolutely hate the plastic produce bags that the grocery store gives you and I used to just not use them which made my produce buying kind of small. Now that I have produce bags, I’ve been able to buy all of the produce.  (Again got them at packagefreeshop.com BUT you can literally buy these anywhere, like anywhere.)

Drawstring Produce Bag Cotton Large

Now if you known ANYTHING about me, it’s that I am totally in love with Lush. Every product I have tried from there I become obsessed with.  So I had to put some love from Lush in here.  I only bought these items for my sisters, just because I know how they like their hair and what their hair type is, BUT for the others I got them gift cards so they can go get their own.

First I got the round tin. I use this for my Shampoo Bar and I love it. It’s easy to just throw in your bag when you’re traveling (which I do a lot) and once it’s empty you just wash it out and go to Lush and get another one. Easy peasy.  And for the actual shampoo bar I got, I got them the “Honey I Washed My Hair”. This was the first shampoo bar I bought. It’s probably one of my most favorite things I bought there. The scent lasts FOREVER. (I know you the Copperhead bar, it has henna and coffee grounds in it which helps with red hair, but I go back and forth between these two). So yeah, if you buy ANYTHING from this list. Buy this.

https://www.lushusa.com/gifts/accessories/round-tin/22016.html

https://www.lushusa.com/hair/shampoo-bars/honey-i-washed-my-hair/05563.html

Again we’re going to dental health, (its a very important thing, so I’m always gonna be talking about it). I love my toothy tabs. I personally use Limelight and Bling, but they have strange non-traditional flavors so for these bags I just got them the basic mint ones. (I did get my sisters a sample of the Boom tabs, they have charcoal in it, and it makes your mouth all black, kind of cool but not for everyone.)

https://www.lushusa.com/face/teeth/dirty/04392.html

Another thing is reusable coffee cups! I just went to my local Starbucks and asked for the reusable coffee cups they have in the back. They’re like $2 and only come in grande size but no one REALLY needs any size bigger. My friends and family (like most humans now) are in love with Starbucks so this one was a pretty basic thing I had to get them. Plus Starbucks will give you a 10 cent discount if you bring your own cup. Save the environment and some money. Its a win/win. I don’t have a link for this but you literally just have to walk in (or drive thru) and ask for the reusable coffee cups. That’s all.

I also included one mason jar (instructions on how to bulk shop) and its all packed in a reusable shopping bag. I love these gifts. I was going to include deodorant bars/cream but I feel like that’s a decision that they need to make since there are different strengths and I don’t really know how much they sweat and junk.

What gifts are you planning on giving this Zero Waste Christmas?

No Straw November

I saw a video about someone going around having people sign a form saying that for the entire month of November they would say no to straws whenever they would go out. I thought it was an amazing idea so I did it for mine. I got everyone in my department to agree (I also added disposable coffee cups cause we go through a lot of those). This morning I came in and pretty much everyone had brought their own coffee cups. I’ve never been more proud.

I feel like there should be a month for everything, like No Straw November, Choose to Refuse July, Bring Your Sack March. (Okay I made the last one up but you see where I’m going with this)

That’s my zero waste update! What’s yours?

Boring Post from a Boring Life.

I just realized that WordPress has an app, which is a game changing. Excited for blogging on the go!

In Michelle news, I got my old job at the Zoo back which is a huge relief for my wallet and for my mental health. More money and peaceful mind: it was amazing to me how much waste Starbucks just threw out. They had good ideas but no one really did it, which sucks.

In Zero Waste news: I didn’t make it to the Farmers Market on Saturday last week, so we’re gonna try again this week. I did contact a dairy farmer that I found out offered glass bottles milk and asked if they usually set up there and they do, which is exciting! Not much to report this week, but wanted to keep my promise of posting every week so I can officially say I did it.

Talk to ya next week!