Hey friends!
With Christmas sinking into the rear view, I’ve been thinking about my family’s Christmas get-together. With five brothers and sisters, a couple boyfriends/girlfriends, a nephew, and my parents, it gets a little crazy and the presents are PILED to the ceiling. It’s a beautiful array of everyone’s individual tastes in wrapping paper, such as my brother who obnoxiously wraps presents in three layers or my mom who wraps each person’s presents in different patterns of paper (mine is always Harry Potter!).
However, after helping to pick up the massive heap of discarded wrappings, I couldn’t help but think that it was such a waste. I love my Harry Potter wrapping paper and doing everyone else’s in buffalo check plaid and red pick-up trucks, but there’s got to be a better way.
I saw on Facebook a string of sustainable gift wrapping ideas, including putting items in mason jars, wrapping in newspaper, and using leftovers wrappings from previous years. Unfortunately I couldn’t figure out how to share it to everyone on here. However, I did find a neat little video on YouTube that has a couple cute ideas. I’m definitely going to try some of these next year (especially wrapping in newspaper!).
Check these out!
Sustainable Wrapping Ideas
One thing that was kind of cool that Amazon does is that you can opt (by paying and extra $3) to have them wrap your gifts. My brother did this for a few of his gifts and they came in cloth bags with drawstrings. I know Amazon probably wrapped it in layers of boxes and plastic too, so that’s not ideal, but the bags are awesome to keep for next year and wrap someone else’s gifts in!
Do you have any green wrapping ideas or practices you already use or that you want to try next year? Leave them in the comments!
Merry Post-Christmas Friends,
Ally
Saturday, December 28, 2019
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Pattie Gonia: Everything to Lose
Dear Greenies and Wannabes:
I saw this video in REI’s Facebook feed and was quite amused and impressed by it! Think of it what you may, but I just wanted to share this unique and creative way of drawing attention to the pollution and waste crisis that we are faced with today, as well as presenting a call to action.
Enjoy! Maybe leave a comment with your thoughts on it?
Happy Thanksgiving y’all!
-Ally
I saw this video in REI’s Facebook feed and was quite amused and impressed by it! Think of it what you may, but I just wanted to share this unique and creative way of drawing attention to the pollution and waste crisis that we are faced with today, as well as presenting a call to action.
Enjoy! Maybe leave a comment with your thoughts on it?
Happy Thanksgiving y’all!
-Ally
Saturday, October 5, 2019
My Green(ish) Bathroom
Hey all! I (Ally) hope this wonderfully cool (at least it is in Illinois) Fall day finds you well.
Sometimes I think that the idea of "going green" can be a bit overwhelming and it's easier if you take things one room at a time. Today I want to talk about some ways you can go green in the bathroom, which I believe is one of the easiest rooms in which make some changes.
In our debut post, Rachel mentioned something from one of our favorite bloggers, who is often quoted for her beliefs about the need for people to practice zero waste in an imperfect manner. As I was brushing my teeth this morning and debating what to put in this post, the "imperfect-ness" of this sight seemed like one to share. Let me break it down for ya!
A few months ago, I was reading a home remedies book that I picked up at my local library book sale and it had a recipe for homemade toothpaste. I decided to give it a try and I really don't think I will ever go back to store-bought! The recipe is quite simple: you mix coconut oil (I like to melt it a little first), 10-15 drops of peppermint essential oil, and baking soda until it forms a smooth paste. I store it in the airtight jelly jar seen above. Not only does the baking soda work wonders to whiten my teeth, but there is such satisfaction in making something functional that also reduces the waste of a plastic toothpaste tube. The jar is totally washable and reusable!
Also, pictured in the tea cup is a bar of soap. This bar is actually one that my brother made and included in my Christmas gift basket, but normally I buy my bar soap from a semi-local store called Fresh Thyme. They sell bars of organic soap in some really delightful scents (honey-oat, lavender, mint, charcoal, etc.) and they are completely package-free. They do provide paper sacks if you'd like to put them in one, but you can also just toss them into your cart! Since I have really short hair, I actually use these bars of soap for my hair sometimes, too. They are multi-purpose and can replace the plastic bottles of shampoo (for those with hair like mine), body wash, and hand soap. That's a lot of plastic that won't go to the landfill throughout the year!
Another small swap that I really have enjoyed is that of my toothbrush. As you can see in the pic above, I use a bamboo toothbrush with charcoal-infused bristles. I buy this 4-pack from Amazon and they are 100% biodegradable! I really like the price and the product both, as well as the knowledge that my plastic toothbrushes will no longer be littering our world. Speaking of plastic toothbrushes, there is one in this photo. Story time: I had a small child stay with me for a few days recently and her parents forgot to send her with a toothbrush and toothpaste. I'm not sure exactly what I'll do when I have my own children, but for someone else's child, who was already in a somewhat unfamiliar environment, I decided to stick with what they know and went to the store to pick up a cute little kiddie brush and a bubblegum-flavored tube of paste. Oh well, it's all about balance!
I titled this post "My Green(ish) Bathroom" because I haven't reached the point where I've swapped everything. I keep a regular bottle of hand soap out for guests (because I don't expect them to use my bar soap) and I haven't yet gotten my head around the idea of making my own lotion. I have old bottles of shampoo still sitting in my shower (because I WILL NOT throw away perfectly good products for no reason) and plastic packages of sheet masks because this girl loves her home facials! 😉
It's not all perfect but we can all take small steps like these to work towards a greener world! We only have the one and we can all do something to help make it a better and cleaner place. Maybe pick a room in your house and start researching ways to swap out products for something homemade or plastic-free. Look at local health-food stores for plastic-free or minimal packaging home products. Amazon also has a lot of great alternatives and if you order multiple things at once, then you can ultimately save on some of the shipping packaging or purchase in bulk and save some packaging that way. Whatever you do, it's about putting in an effort!
Have a great week, friends!
Ally
Sometimes I think that the idea of "going green" can be a bit overwhelming and it's easier if you take things one room at a time. Today I want to talk about some ways you can go green in the bathroom, which I believe is one of the easiest rooms in which make some changes.
In our debut post, Rachel mentioned something from one of our favorite bloggers, who is often quoted for her beliefs about the need for people to practice zero waste in an imperfect manner. As I was brushing my teeth this morning and debating what to put in this post, the "imperfect-ness" of this sight seemed like one to share. Let me break it down for ya!
Also, pictured in the tea cup is a bar of soap. This bar is actually one that my brother made and included in my Christmas gift basket, but normally I buy my bar soap from a semi-local store called Fresh Thyme. They sell bars of organic soap in some really delightful scents (honey-oat, lavender, mint, charcoal, etc.) and they are completely package-free. They do provide paper sacks if you'd like to put them in one, but you can also just toss them into your cart! Since I have really short hair, I actually use these bars of soap for my hair sometimes, too. They are multi-purpose and can replace the plastic bottles of shampoo (for those with hair like mine), body wash, and hand soap. That's a lot of plastic that won't go to the landfill throughout the year!
Another small swap that I really have enjoyed is that of my toothbrush. As you can see in the pic above, I use a bamboo toothbrush with charcoal-infused bristles. I buy this 4-pack from Amazon and they are 100% biodegradable! I really like the price and the product both, as well as the knowledge that my plastic toothbrushes will no longer be littering our world. Speaking of plastic toothbrushes, there is one in this photo. Story time: I had a small child stay with me for a few days recently and her parents forgot to send her with a toothbrush and toothpaste. I'm not sure exactly what I'll do when I have my own children, but for someone else's child, who was already in a somewhat unfamiliar environment, I decided to stick with what they know and went to the store to pick up a cute little kiddie brush and a bubblegum-flavored tube of paste. Oh well, it's all about balance!
I titled this post "My Green(ish) Bathroom" because I haven't reached the point where I've swapped everything. I keep a regular bottle of hand soap out for guests (because I don't expect them to use my bar soap) and I haven't yet gotten my head around the idea of making my own lotion. I have old bottles of shampoo still sitting in my shower (because I WILL NOT throw away perfectly good products for no reason) and plastic packages of sheet masks because this girl loves her home facials! 😉
It's not all perfect but we can all take small steps like these to work towards a greener world! We only have the one and we can all do something to help make it a better and cleaner place. Maybe pick a room in your house and start researching ways to swap out products for something homemade or plastic-free. Look at local health-food stores for plastic-free or minimal packaging home products. Amazon also has a lot of great alternatives and if you order multiple things at once, then you can ultimately save on some of the shipping packaging or purchase in bulk and save some packaging that way. Whatever you do, it's about putting in an effort!
Have a great week, friends!
Ally
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
The Beginning
Welcome to our blog!! It's only taken me (Rachel) four months to get my stuff together and put the finishing touches on this page *face to the palm*.
Honestly I have no idea who may decide to read this. If you don't know both Ally and I then I would encourage you to check out the "About Us" page at the top. We have known each other for just over five years now and it's really incredible to see how we have grown - in similar and dissimilar ways! The similar way is our interest for sustainability. Over the last six months to year it was more and more apparent that Ally and I were pursuing some of the same things but in our own unique ways, so on a Saturday back in April, while we were talking on the phone, the idea came up for us to blog!
This is not a way to make money!!!! This is not us trying to get sponsorships!!! We could certainly figure those things out if we wanted but we don't. We just want to keep making decisions that benefit both us and the earth and share with others. It is not a perfect journey, y'all. In fact, one of our favorite zero-wasters, Anne-Marie Bonneau, is well quoted for saying, "We don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly." We are imperfect people just trying to share with those we are already connected with (and hey, maybe a few strangers too!) how we personally attempt sustainability.
We hope you'll join us on the journey! It will all be worth it if every person who reads this makes even one small step towards sustainability. Feel free to reach out to us with any questions or ideas you may have for us to put our two cents (or would it be four cents...?) into.
Also, how beautiful is that picture?? I took this while at Ally's place back in July. The girl has quite the green thumb! Me, on the other hand...well, let's just say it will take a little bit of time until I'm ready to attempt something green again...
much love,
Rachel and Ally
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