Zero Waste Clothes Shopping

Patagonia

Walking through the mall I am always shocked at the number of clothing stores I walk past. The sheer number of clothing items for sale in a single mall is mind blowing to me. There are usually a handful of department stores providing clothing for all age groups. Then you walk into the main part of the mall only to find more of the same - different brands of course. Do we really need to be selling that many clothes? And if we don't need to be selling that many items of clothing - how much waste are we creating in producing such excess?! 

There is waste in materials, waste in energy usage, waste in pollution, waste in people's skills and talents who are making clothing not necessary for our fellow neighbors.

Coyuchi

With this in mind, I have decided to become very conscious of what clothing companies I support and the number of clothing items I have in my closet - because in the end - we don't really need that much!

I started looking for clothing companies that focus on eco-friendly clothes - organic cottons mostly. These companies also follow eco-friendly manufacturing of their products. I feel good about the quality of my clothes and supporting companies focusing on sustainability. I love my pajamas from Coyuchi. I love my sweatshirt from Patagonia.

Goodwill

To take zero waste to another level, we decided to start shopping resale as well. I took my 5 year old to a children's resale store for a winter jacket. She picked out a jacket she loves for $17! My husband needed new jeans (He's been wearing jeans with holes in the knees for over a month.) and got a pair at Goodwill for $8. Now, it was my turn to try out the resale market. I was in need of a sports bra and workout pants. I was able to get a sports bra for $2.29 and athletic pants for $4.29!

Buying resale saved us over $75. We didn't upset our budget and we have our clothing needs met. I feel so great about supporting the resale market, the impact it made on our budget, and ultimately supporting our zero waste lifestyle.

Less Monthly Menstrual Waste - Diva Cup

Ok. So when you really think about it, buying tampons and pads is like buying garbage. Literally, you are buying something that you are planning on throwing away! There has to be a better option for our money and the earth!

Then I heard about the Diva Cup. It comes in 2 sizes, can be worn for 12 hours straight, and washed and reused. Sounds awesome and I dove right in. 

Size 2 was for those who are 30 years old and/or who have ever had a baby - vaginally or via c-section. That fit my description and I tried it. I was able to insert the Diva Cup with little effort, but then the tricky part came. IT GOT STUCK! 

Literally, I couldn't get it out. I tried for 15 minutes to get it out on my own before I decided to get help. The suction was so tight and the cup had moved so far back that I wasn't able to get it out on my own.

After getting the size 2 Diva Cup removed, I decided that maybe it was the wrong size for me. Maybe I needed the smaller size. So I got the size 1 designed for those under 30 and who have never had a baby. I inserted it in the evening and an hour later was able to remove it no problem. So I decided to wear it over night (directions say you can). When I got up in the morning, IT WAS STUCK AGAIN! 

It was so far back and the suction was so tight that I couldn't get it out on my own. Deja Vu! Once again after 10 minutes of trying to get it out - which resulted in my feeling nauseous from all the pressure down there - I needed to get help again. 

Major bummer! I was so excited to try this method, but it seems it is not the right fit for my body. I will be getting some reusable organic cotton moon pads instead. 

Less Antibiotic Use - Urinary Tract Infection

When you end up with a Urinary Tract Infection, how do you fight it off?

I ended up with a UTI a few weeks ago. I've had them before, so I knew when I got that burning sensation when I peed that it might be the start of a UTI. I really hate calling the doctor and asking for the medication and I was bound to beat this infection on my own if I could. 

I knew that cranberry juice helped fight UTIs, but I hate the taste of all juices, especially cranberry. But I sucked it up, held my breath and downed a bunch of cranberry juice. It seemed to help on a temporary basis. I would drink 8-16 ounces, it would get better that day, but the next day I felt the burning again. I probably wasn't drinking enough cranberry juice, but I have limits.

My taste buds were hating me. Plus, I knew I was taking in a bunch of unnecessary calories in juice. I was drinking Ocean Spray brand that had added apple and pear juice (for the sugars). The other option was a straight up cranberry juice with a bunch of sugar added. Neither option seems great to me.

Still determined to fight this infection on my own, I found out, through another mom, there are cranberry pills designed to help with UTIs! I was fascinated with this concept. If it worked it would save my taste buds and my calorie intake. I went straight to Whole Foods and found an organic cranberry pill that supports a healthy urinary tract! Awesome!

I started taking one pill a day. I knew it would probably take time to work. I had the UTI on and off for over a week at this point. It was a Tuesday when I started taking the daily cranberry pill. By Friday I was peeing constantly (almost peeing my pants a few times running to the bathroom). By Saturday morning the burning was at it's worst since the beginning. 

I told myself that if by Monday morning I was still feeling crappy, I would give in and call my doctor. I had about 16 oz of cranberry juice left in the refrigerator that I drank throughout the day Saturday and continued my daily cranberry pill through the weekend. 

Monday morning came and I felt almost 100% better. I was amazed! It's now Wednesday and I fell 100% better. I am still taking the daily cranberry pill through this week to help make sure I'm completely cleared of my UTI.

I think it's normal to feel worse before you feel better. And the fact that I was peeing constantly was probably a sign that I was flushing the bad bacteria from my bladder. I am so pumped that I beat this UTI naturally! At the first sign of another UTI, will be be taking my cranberry pills again!

Less Waste at Preschool

The Preschool my oldest attended last year had snack time each day. The snack was always provided by the parents on a rotating weekly schedule. We were to bring a snack food and a snack drink, along with dixie cups for the kids to drink out of.

Now my twins are in Preschool and my mind is all about Zero Waste. I started thinking about snack time and how we provide all these dixie cups each week that end up in the trash - WHAT A WASTE!

With Zero Waste at the top of my brain, I thought, there has to be a solution to this! My oldest brings her own snack to 4K this year - which is a water bottle and almonds/crackers/pretzels, etc. And I thought - Boy, it would be so easy to send my twins with their water bottles too! SOLUTION!!!!

So I wrote an email to our Preschool teachers with my idea:

Hi (Teacher),

I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend. My girls are so excited to start Preschool!

I am writing you today because I had a thought/suggestion in regards to snack time. Right now we are using dixie cups to supply drinks to the preschoolers. I understand that there is no time to wash 18 little cups (x2) if morning and afternoon classes are full. At the same time almost 36 cups are being thrown in the trash every day of preschool. That is an estimate of 3,240 dixie cups being tossed in the trash over the course of the school year. 

To help our preschool be a little more environmentally friendly, would you consider asking parents to send their kids to preschool with water in their own reusable water bottles each day (one that they would take back home each day)? This would save on trash and then parents would only be asked to supply the snack for the class.

I think this would be a great opportunity to talk about taking care of our earth with the kids. I would even be happy to come in and talk to the kids about ways we can help the earth stay healthy :)

Let me know your thoughts.
Thanks so much,
Jaime

The day school started one of the teachers approached me and told me she got my email and that they loved my idea. Not only would it save waste, but it would also solve sticky juice spills and multiple runs to the drinking fountain. She said that they are planning on sending a letter home with the parents with the change! HOW TOTALLY AWESOME IS THIS!!!!

Here is the letter they sent home to parents:

Dear Parents,

We have decided to try something new this year. Instead of having our Star of the Week bring a drink with disposable cups, we would like to have each child bring their own water bottle to school each day. The bottle would be available to your child throughout classtime, as well as during snack. One parent pointed out to us that during the course of one school year, we would be discarding 3,240 cups! This is a great opportunity to teach our children about our environment and the little things that we all can do to pitch in. Please be sure to bring the water bottle home with you each day and refill it for the next class day. Also, be sure that the bottle is labeled with your child's name in a place that is easily seen.

Thanks for your support!

Preschool

I am totally pumped about this. I spoke up about something I am truly passionate about and was actually met with a welcoming response! It just shows that sometimes all you have to do is speak up. So many cool things can happen when we stand up and share our passions with others. I have a passion for living healthy (for our bodies and our planet) and living minimally. And I am so excited to continue this journey and share my joy here on my blog and in my community!

Spending Less Money On Books & Movies

My oldest girlie came home from school yesterday with a stack of Scholastic Reading Club Order Booklets. Four to be exact! While each purchase supports your child's school, I would rather save my money on books and make a donation to the school at a later time. 

Last year I got sucked into buying Scholastic books. It's great and all, but it was money I didn't need to spend. We regularly reserve books for myself and for my girls at our local library. The girls are excited to read new-to-them books and old favorites (like Fancy Nancy) that we borrow repeatedly.

When my daughter came home with this packet of order forms, my first thought was - CRAP! NOT AGAIN! And then I came up with a great idea! 

My daughter was so excited about all the books and I wanted to support her enthusiasm for reading. I told my daughter to circle all the books that she wants to read and that we could then borrow them from our local library. She was thrilled about going through all the pictures and circling her favorite books. 

Even better, I didn't have to limit her excitement to 1 or 2 books to keep the cost down. Her excitement about books could grow as much as she desired! 

In addition to the cost saving of utilizing our local library, I am also avoiding throwing the order forms in the trash by holding on to them for the next birthday present/christmas present and reusing these colorful papers as wrapping paper!

I love supporting our local library and the benefits we receive from utilizing their service. In addition to borrowing books, we've transitioned to borrowing movies for family movie night with the girls - this Friday we are going to watch Disney's Robin Hood for free.

When I went to the library to get our next batch of books and our Friday Night Movie, I started thinking about our movie collection. I went through a phase of buying movies for the girls every time I saw a good Disney Movie for sale. Now I have a stack of movies in my home. I decided, why not donate our movies to the library so that other kids can enjoy them as well. 

I knew getting my kiddos to agree with parting with all their movies at once was not going to go over well. So I had them each pick one movie to donate to the library. Next month I will ask them again to each pick a movie to donate, getting rid of our movie pile 3 at a time!

Movies donated to our local library!

Taking LESS To The Next Level

I have been moving down the path of a minimalist lifestyle for over a year now. I am loving the changes that have been taking place in my life. With less STUFF I find myself reading more books (from the library), my house stays more clean, and I spend less time organizing (which I do love to do). I sell less stuff on craigslist and give less to goodwill because I'm buying less. I am loving my more minimalist life.

We love our organic cotton napkins with our initials!

Then I came across a podcast (thanks to The Art of Simple) about Zero Waste Living. I was intrigued and listened with excitement. I am all about being green, earth friendly, creating less waste and this podcast was just what I needed to inspire me to my next level of minimalist living!

Here are some things I am inspired to start doing:

1. Start COMPOSTING. I'm not to the point of self composting, but our town has a compost collection site. So I am hoping to get a counter top compost bin and start throwing apple cores, banana peels, etc in there instead of in the garbage.

2. Replace PLASTIC ITEMS with COMPOSTABLE ITEMS. I'm excited to switch to compostable floss and toothbrushes.

3. Replace DISPOSAL ITEMS WITH REUSABLE ITEMS. I already use rags instead of paper towels, cloth napkins instead of paper napkins. I'm excited to switch from kleenex to handkerchiefs, pads and tampons to reusable cloth moon pads and a diva cup. 

4. REFUSE handouts. In the next month we go for our 6 month dentist appointment. We always get free toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss. But I am going to say NO THANK YOU because I am switching from all that plastic to more earth friendly options.

For more inspiration on Zero Waste, check out Bea's website: Zero Waste Home

Summer Fun List 2015

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We are embracing our minimalist lifestyle more than ever these days - less furniture, less toys, less clothes, less kitchen stuff. In return, we are enjoying more energy for fun and relaxing activities this summer.

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We had created a Summer Fun List to accomplish this summer season with our kids. As we near the end, we have almost completed our list. Here it is:

Devil's Lake

1. Milwaukee County Zoo (Memorial Day)
2. Water Balloon Fight in the Back Yard (June)
3. Family Road Trip (June - To Disney World)
4. Visit Nanee & Papa's Lake House (4th of July)
5. Cottage Grove Family Fun Movie Night (July)
6. Daddy Dates - Our girls each had a date with Chris to lunch and a water park (July)
7. Visit Devil's Lake State Park (July)
8. Henry Vilas Zoo (July)
9. Attend One Concerts on the Square Night (July)
10. 7yr Anniversary Get Away / Kids Sleepover with Nanee & Papa (August)
11. Visit Grandma and Grandpa D in MN (August)
12. Attend One Dane Dances Night (August)
13. S'mores and Camp in Backyard (August)
14. Flick & Float Event at Monona Pool (August - plan to do this up-coming week)
15. U Pick Organic Rasberries (August - plan to do next weekend)

One event we wanted to do that we missed was:

• U Pick Organic Strawberries (must do next June)

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We are having such a fun summer because of our list! This will be something we continue to do each season to make sure we are creating fun family memories with our girls throughout the year!

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Concerts on the Square