A step up: building a waste free house.

I HAVE ALWAYS been fascinated by small spaces, and the ingenuity required to make the most out of limited space and resources. I love reading about earthships, cob houses, small spaces projects, and upcycled houses…so it’s about time I tried it.

MEET OUR NEW HOME: A 32ft x 10ft site hut.

HOME SWEET HOME…?

We will be needing to make this space into an office, a living area, and a bedroom. No, there won’t be a toilet, or a bathroom, or electricity, or a phone line. Yes, there will be an outside compost loo, an outside shower, and a wood-burning stove. I am trying to find eco-fuel in the form of gas to power a hob, but we’re also  planning on building a cob oven outside and will do a lot of cooking on an open fire. As for electricity, we are attempting to build our own wind turbine as well as using solar panels.

This is not just my project, this is going to be home to myself, my partner Dave, and my closest friend…Dylan the Wonder Dog (my arthritic not-so-clever lovable lurcher). Luckily for us Dave is a carpenter who also spends a great deal of his spare time making furniture from reclaimed wood, and we are generally very thrifty people who can acquire almost anything we need for free.

OUR DESIGN SO FAR:

SO FAR WE HAVE ACQUIRED:

• The cabin  ———-                                   skills trade (and long story).
• An oven/hob ———-                                unwanted by a family member
• A fridge/freezer ———                             unwanted by a family member
• Two HUGE double glazed windows —-    freecycle
• A sofa ——————                                unwanted by a family member
• Enough carpet to fit the entire cabin —    word of mouth
• Wooden kitchen work tops ———–         skipped
• Canoe (oh my god, we have a canoe!!)    word of mouth, donated by a friend
• Sideboard and shelf unit——-                  “
• Bookcase——————————            “
• Kitchen units—————————–        asked builders
• Gas canister from an old gas bbq—–      word of mouth
• Laminate flooring————————-        asked builders
• A multitude of offers of free help——–    social media and word of mouth

THIS GOT ME THINKING about how I have always had a bit of an attitude when it comes to waste. It’s also probably because I’ve always been fairly broke and so have learned to enjoy “making do”. In short, I enjoy finding treasure where other people see trash. We are tackling this project in very much the same way, as we aim to complete our house without producing any waste and on a micro budget (ie. we don’t really have one)…but what better way to waste less ‘stuff’ by wasting less money as well, right?

WASTE NOT BUY NOT (my tips for how to get stuff for free):

• WORD OF MOUTH: Connect with friends and family by speaking to them. Shock horror, word of mouth is still a very effective way to communicate your messages and your needs without the need for technology. Plus I garentee you, you will be offered a plethorer of items and help, you just simply need to ask.
• OLD FASHIONED WINDOW ADS: Put a post it in your local shop window. Although this is a really easy concept, it seems to be somewhat lost on many people. I don’t know why.
• SOCIAL MEDIA: Post your wants and desires (well, the respectable ones at least) on facebook and twitter. Ask for your status’ to be shared amongst your friends networks, this may seem obvious but it’s usually from friends of friends that I’ve found the things I need.
• FREECYCLE: I love freecycle. Simply post an add saying what you want, and see what happens…or search through the offered adds in your local area. This stops perfectly good yet unwanted items going to landfill, and you can have a lot of fun wording your ads too. This was my last one:

“Rugs and carpet needed. Doesn’t matter how old, just clean ones please, no wee.”

No word of a lie, we were offered rugs and carpets the very next day!

• GUMTREE: Gumtree is a great sight, where you can also find some things for free!
• SKIPPING: I love the idea of reclaiming items which have already found their way into a bin. I have found designer dresses (in tact!) in a skip before, which I then went on to wear for several years and was always asked where I bought them at parties. Though I have to say, the conversation usually ended quite abruptly when I proudly proclaimed the joys of searching through bins. I have also found garden furniture, book shelves, wiccer baskets, wooden chests, and storage boxes…which have all found a home with me at some point over the years, and I have used skipped bicycle tires to make festival art work including large handmade dream catchers. Yes you have to get over the diminished dignity whilst you jump on in, but that concern won’t last long trust me. Although (and to the embarrassment of my family) I also eat and cook food from supermarket bins so maybe my boundaries are less certified than the average Brit.
• ASK THE BUILDERS: If you happen to spot any house conversions or building sites whilst on your daily travels, simply ask the builders what they are throwing out and if it’s O.K to take these things from their rubbish piles. Skips are expensive and so the more that can be taken the more space there is in the skip…saving money for you and the crew! 
• CHARITY SHOPS: Charity shops are great! Although these aren’t free, they are a worthy cause and so much cheaper than buying new. In Brighton, you can buy used furniture from Shabitat, wonder along London Road and North Street for a huge variety of charity shops home to clothes, books, furniture, games, and more. You can even do most of your charity shopping online now!
• SKILLS TRADE: This is a really lovely way to trade skills or unwanted items. For example, I won’t have a washing machine in my new little abode and some times I won’t have time to wash my clothes by hand. In return for using my friends washing machine, my friends will receive fruit and veg that I’ll be growing in my garden. Maybe you have a skill that could be put to use, like helping someone with gardening, or plumbing, or painting, in return for another skill, or an unwanted piece of furniture. Often the kindest ways to gain what you need doesn’t rely on money. My partner has traded carpentry help for mechanical help with his van before, and people are often very keen to trade.
• UPCYCLE: I love the idea of upcycling, and this has become a key strategy within my waste-free living challenge. You don’t have to find a lot of the items you need, you can just make them instead! Here are a few ideas which have inspired me:

WINE RACK MADE FROM OLD PALLETS

LIGHT BULB PLANTERS

SPOON DOOR HANDLES

CHEESE GRATER JEWELLERY HOLDER

For more upcycling ideas see my facebook page, where I post a lot of quirky ideas for a waste free home.

FOR ME, I want this small cabin to be a home, and a creative space for visitors to find excitement and joy in what most people would otherwise consider junk. This is very much a dream in the making, and we have a long way to go yet as our little cabin isn’t due to arrive on site until spring…so watch this space for updates, and in the mean time I will keep collecting “junk” and see what else I can come up with.

Junk Food, Junk Free.

Shamefully, one of my guilty pleasures in life is to eat take out food in my pj’s whilst watching a good film in bed… sometimes it’s just necessary.

BUT HOW DO YOU EAT TAKE AWAY FOOD WITHOUT PRODUCING ANY WASTE? The answer is quite simple…bring your own containers on collection. (Plus they don’t tend to mind if you rock up in your pyjamas either…which is always a bonus!).

Of course you should ring in advance and check with the staff that it is OK to bring your own containers. My conversation with my favourite Indian take away went something like this:

Me: Hi, I’d like to order take out for collection please, but I would like to bring my own containers, is this possible?

Man: No no we have containers thank you.

Me: Yes but can I bring my own for you to fill?

Man: I don’t understand. Why do you want to bring your own? We have many!

Me: Yes but I don’t want to produce any waste, and I have my own containers that I can reuse.

Man: But we have containers for you.

Me: Thank you but I would rather bring my own if that’s ok?

Man: Ok, ok, I see, you don’t like waste! Yes you can bring your own containers, that’s fine.

Although I felt a little silly confusing this poor man, on my arrival he took my containers and bag for life, filled up the contents with my ordered curry and didn’t even bat an eye lid!

One thing I did a little wrong the first time, was that I tried to use one container that I had acquired from a previous order…you know, the generic take out tubs that aren’t really designed for multiple use and so the lid wont fit on after a while. Although this one was old, it did still function, yet it was replaced with a new one, I guess the logic being that I wouldn’t notice. All my other containers were my own Systema Klip It Storage Containers which he dutifully filled and gave back to me. So my advice is bring good quality containers that can’t just be replaced on the sly.

I WOULD ALSO RECOMMEND using reusable muslin bags for things like papadum, chapatis, or onion bhajis, so they don’t sweat and go soggy in plastic or metal containers. You can buy your muslin bags here. Alternatively, use the paper bags that they are usually delivered in, and recycle or compost them after use.

SO THAT’S IT, it’s not hard…and not only can you can feel super happy whilst eating take-out waste free, you’re left over food is already packaged in airtight lunch boxes ready to take to work the next day! Yum!

Waste free toothpaste

I did it! I finally did it! I finally managed to ditch my toothpaste tube! But what do I use instead?

Well for a while I was toying with the idea of using bicarbonate of soda, which is what a lot of the most popular American zero waste bloggers recommend. But living in England once again proved that the supposedly simple solutions are quite often not that simple at all….because guess what (yes it’s beginning to be a recurring theme here)…I couldn’t find bicarbonate of soda in bulk and I couldn’t find it in recyclable packaging. So that was that option out the window, and incidentally that was my household cleaning options out as well, but that’s a story for another time.

Thankfully, Lush came to my rescue with their neat little invention: Toothy tabs! A smarter way to brush your teeth.

ERM WHAT?  Lush is great company who produce handmade organic cosmetics in recyclable packaging with no animal testing or animal products;  and Toothy Tabs are a solid alternative to toothpaste that come in tablet form. WIN WIN.

HOW? Now this really is the simple part: Just use one “tab” each time you brush your teeth by chewing it in your front teeth, then brush it into a lather with your wet toothbrush. Ta da!

MY VERDICT: My teeth are clean! YAY! For me, that’s all I really care about, but that being said I was initially sceptical about how they would compare to conventional toothpaste. I had read some reviews that made them sound a little gimmicky, and I got the impression that the novelty ran out pretty quickly with some people. However, not only am I completely converted, my boyfriend is as well (and lets just say he’s a little less enthusiastic about waste free alternatives than me, but as long as the alternatives are equal in effectiveness then he’s game).

So lets take a look at the POSITIVES:

• ZERO WASTE: Recyclable cardboard box. Thank you.
• SIZE: Hello Toothy Tab Latino Tour! Travel friendly…compact, will fit in a pocket, won’t leak, and not restricted by airlines (yes toothpaste tubes do count as a liquid). So in short: Congratulations Toothy Tabs you’ve made it onto my Travel Essentials List for my next trip to South America.
• LATHER: This is the bit that might be odd for some people, as the lather is a lot lighter than ‘normal’ toothpaste, but I actually much prefer that.
• CLEAN: My teeth feel cleaner than they did when I was using conventional toothpastes, and that’s saying something as I am a bit of a clean freak when it comes to my teeth. I’ve never had a filling so I don’t want to start now…which leads me to the negatives…

NEGATIVES:

• ZERO FLUORIDE: Personally, I don’t know the long term effects of using toothy tabs instead of conventional toothpaste … yet. I say this as a negative not because I am expecting my oral hygiene to decline, but because I’ve never used a toothpaste that does not include the ingredient fluoride. II have also read some conflicting  views regarding fluoride, some view it as a positive and some view it as a negative. So I guess on this, only time will tell. I’ll keep you all updated.
• TASTE: I’m using ‘Dirty’, a minty tab which is nice but could be a little stronger in taste as it’s hard to ignore the bicarbonate of soda taste whilst chewing initially.There are many different flavours to choose from, though I’m not sure I want to try ‘ultrablast’, as it tastes of wasabi…erm, no.

ARE TOOTHY TABS AN ECONOMIC ALTERNATIVE? LETS SEE:

Oral B, Colgate, McCleans- ~ £2.00 per 100ml, could last longer than three weeks but then the tube takes between 500-1000 years to biodegrate.

Vs.

“Dirty” Toothy Tabs – £2.00 a box, contains 40 tabs, almost three weeks of teeth brushing (though not if you’re now sharing them with your boyfriend!)

Waste Free. Period.

The most scary thing I have had to face up to in my waste-free endeavours, is the fact that…being a woman is actually one of my most wasteful problems. 

THE AVERAGE WOMAN will dispose of anywhere between 8, 000 – 17, 000 tampons or pads in her life time, equating to an average of 137kg of waste…or to put it another way, 22 stone! That’s almost three times my own body weight in discarded tampons/pads. That’s totally gross, and seems somewhat unnecessary. I don’t want to contribute that. My exact thought:

I don’t want to be responsible for one of those rogue tampons you see floating in the foam of Brighton beach.

Plus I’m paying over the odds for these products which are quite evidently bad for the environment, yet they’re even bad for my own health! From bleaching to dioxins to toxic shock syndrome, disposable menstrual products are doing nothing for womens health.

Since when have we all been putting toxic covered materials up our hoo hah? And why on earth are we paying a “luxury tax” for the privilege?? There is something seriously wrong here, I mean, this can’t be good for anybodies health, well being, or wallet, no matter what’s considered the “social norm”.

To emphasise this: Each month I get through one box of tampax pearl tampons at £3.15 a box, and I usually buy pads for emergencies at about £2.00 a packet. Ultimately I’m flushing £61.00 a year down the toilet or sending it to the incinerator, which is £2,472 in my life time*. That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. And if the money side of things wasn’t enough to make me look for alternatives, the amount of waste I was producing was a complete turn off, that’s not what I want to leave this planet with after I’m gone.

SO WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES? Well, you can opt for sustainably sourced, non bleached, organic cotton products…but you’re still needlessly throwing money away each month, and these things are, lets face it,still high maintenance as no matter the raw material they often need replacing every few hours, and they still bring risk of toxic shock. What I wanted was a long term solution, a healthy zero waste alternative, no risk of toxic shock syndrome, no chemicals, minimal effort, and zero waste. Which for me left one option: a reusable menstrual cup, a reusable silicon cup which you insert into your vajay-jay and wash clean for re-use. Which incidentally, I was absolutely 100% terrified of. Joy.

A REUSABLE MENSTRUAL CUP

But first I had to choose a brand, and there are a lot of options. So where did I turn to? Youtube of course! And trust me, anyone who wants to know anything about reusable menstrual products-go to Bree Farmer, 17 year old hero of the menstrual world. Check out her youtube channel, her website, and her facebook. She also does a great video on which brand of menstrual cup to choose here.

As a British consumer I found menstrual cups very hard to come by. In Brighton, you can buy a moon cup in HiSbe and Infinity Foods, but the softer versions such as the DivaCup and the Lunette cup were nowhere to be found. Despite these cups being listed by Superdrug, I had to order mine online as none of the stores stocked them…ridiculous I know.

So after I finally managed to purchase my cup, it sat in it’s box in my bathroom cabinet of doom for weeks, staring at me whenever I dared open it to grab my toothpaste tube (another item of increasing guilt…this project has it’s ups and downs), both of which taunted me and made me doubt my dedication to this stupid project. As much as I wanted to get rid of the tampax, I did not want to get that well acquainted with my nether regions when the painters and decorators were in town, and I wasn’t fully convinced that I’d be able to cope with the entire idea of re-usability. I was not looking forward to this.

HOWEVER…SKIPPING FORWARD A MONTH, I can now never imagine ever using a tampon or pad ever again. Reusable menstrual cups are amazing. Period. First of all, I was really surprised to feel cleaner using a reusable cup than I ever did using tampons. Because there are no chemicals in a menstrual cup, the material doesn’t mess around with your natural female bacteria (it’s the bacterial disturbance caused by tampons which results in an unpleasant smell), thus it is a lot more healthy and feels cleaner too. Plus as much as I was scared of the menstrual cups logistics, I was clearly scared of toxic shock syndrome more, as the best thing about a menstrual cup is knowing it is completely safe, it can not and will not cause toxic shock because guess what, it’s not toxic. It can be left alone in there for the entire day so no need to panic if you forget to remove it. I put mine in in the morning, then wash it after work and reinsert it. Can’t find it? Simply squat, strain as if having a poo, and the weight of the full cup will do the rest…this shouldn’t happen as your cup sits lower than a tampon anyway. In a public toilet? Bring a bottle of water in with you, rinse and reinsert. Need the loo? Do nothing, it just stays put. Suffer from a heavy flow? The average menstrual cup capacity equates to two fully absorbed tampons. It won’t leak, it won’t ache when it’s full, it won’t hurt taking it out if it’s empty, and it won’t cost you an hour of your wages each month. In fact, it’s a one off buy for about £20.00 and it will last you ten years.

Suddenly I’ve gone from spending almost £2, 500 in my adult life time to £80.00…for me, it’s a no brainer. But to play devils advocate, here are the few downsides which I’ve found so far:

• LIVING WITH MY DAD. It has been interesting. He quickly learned not to ask what was in the pan of water on the stove each month, in fact he pretty quickly learned not to ask any questions at all. My advice to young women who aren’t in a hurry to discuss their menstrual habits (least of all with male house mates, parents, or siblings) is to once a month fill a mug with boiling water and pop your cup in there. It will sterilize it just as well, and makes for a more private non-culinary procedure. I learned that the embarrassing way…sorry dad.
• THE “shell fold” …it looks smaller so more appealing…but it just causes leaks, and is really uncomfortable as in my experience it can’t unfold. Just go for the c-fold, which I’ve found to be successful every time.
• I ALMOST dropped the bastard down my toilet the first time I took it out….I’ll put that down to a learning curve.
• OH, AND… the ml measurements on the side are pretty weird…not really sure what that’s about, maybe it’s a positive? It did make me laugh.

All of which are pretty minor negatives when you think about the potential 17, 000 tampons I’m no longer desecrating the planet with and the £2, 392 life time saving I’m making.

*life time = based on 40 years, the average time a woman has periods for.

One month on…an update of waste-free deodorant, toothbrushes, and shampoos

For the past month I have been using an alum stone in place of my conventional deodorant, a bamboo tooth brush in place of a plastic one, a shampoo bar instead of bottled, a safety razor instead of plastic disposables, and yes…it has been tried and tested….a reusable menstrual cup. But lets not get too ahead of ourselves here, I have already blogged about my sexy safety razor here (I love it) and to avoid scaring off all the men from reading this post, I will save you from the fear of reusable menstrual products for another day…just for the ladies.

ALUM STONE: Just to recap, an alum stone is a potassium alum which when wetted with water and applied to your pits eradicates the smelly bacteria commonly known as body odour. And yes, that is exactly what I have been doing for the past month…rubbing a wet rock on my pits.

ALUM STONES

As you can imagine I was not overly convinced by this concept, but boy oh boy was I wrong! IT QUITE LITERALLY ROCKS (pun intended, I’m not sorry). Because there are no chemicals, it leaves your skin feeling very clean, completely odourless, and doesn’t leave nasty deodorant rings on your clothes…hello little black dress.

It does take some getting used to, and an ability to laugh at yourself until it simply becomes the norm. I apply mine once in the morning before work, and then once again after a shower when I get home if I am going out again. IT IS NOT AN ANTIPERSPIRANT, so yes you will still sweat, but….I found that I didn’t sweat as much as I did with commercial deodorants. Maybe the lack of smell meant I didn’t notice? Or maybe I’ve been using harsh chemicals for no real reason? We all sweat girls and boys, it’s time we got over it. As long as I don’t smell, I don’t care, and neither should you. You can even rub it on freshly shaven skin to calm irritation! Friendly to the environment, friendly to you!

BAMBOO TOOTHBRUSH: Everyone should have one, everyone, all the time. Biodegradable, sustainable, compostable, burnable (if you really wanted to), pretty to look at, and it gives the same result as your ugly landfill-destined plastic brushes. Just remember to dry it after use to prolong it’s life. Simple.

BAMBOO TOOTHBRUSHES, IF IT’S GOOD ENOUGH FOR A PANDA IT’S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!

WASTE FREE SHAMPOO/ CONDITIONER BARS: Out went the million plastic bottles of half used half forgotten shampoos, and in came two rather stylish metal containers holding one bar of shampoo and one bar of conditioner.

IF 1 IN 5 PEOPLE SWITCHED FROM LIQUID SHAMPOO TO SOLID, 22 MILLION PLASTIC BOTTLES WOULD BE SAVED FROM LANDFILL

I have been using these for several weeks now, and have received more complements about how I smell than ever before: “you smell amazing” being the most common comment….and who doesn’t want to smell amazing?! I DO! Not only do the delightful fragrances last for days, the bars make your hair squeaky clean (literally) and last for so much longer than bottled options.Simply rub straight onto your hair, lather, and rinse. No more trying to get all the liquid out of stupidly shaped plastic bottles, and most importantly no more landfill!

These bars are also excellent for travelling as they are light weight, compact, and you guessed it: not restricted by flight regulations as are our liquid bottles.

You can buy yours in store or online (here for shampoo, here for conditioner). I highly recommend sourcing yours from Lush as they produce excellent handmade skin/hair care products, do not test on animals, use environmentally friendly/waste-free packaging, and have a lovely sentiment when it comes to being an “ethical company”, which I quite agree with.

IS WASTE FREE COST EFFECTIVE? SEE FOR YOURSELF:

Alum stone: £8.00 for 150g (that’s big!)  ——– will last me 2 years.

Bamboo toothbrush: £3.50 from my local health shop, price varies online—–will last as long as a plastic toothbrush.

Lush shampoo bar: £5.75 each—–will last months and months (I’ll update when I eventually run out).

Lush conditioner bar: £3.50 each—-I can’t see myself running out any time soon.

New year, new grocery shopping habits

So after struggling with finding waste-free alternatives to my usual grocery shop in regular UK super markets…I turned to facebook in a plea for help. And my prayers were answered!! It turns out, that whilst I have been living away in Oxford, a great new supermarket has opened up in Brighton which is quite frankly a revelation for this city.

WHAT IS THIS MAGICAL PLACE? I hear you say…Well, it’s called HiSbe, and it’s an independent supermarket chain, which set up it’s pilot store in my home town of Brighton, East Sussex, UK. AND I LOVE IT. As soon as I entered I felt like a little girl in a sweet shop. Although my boyfriend was slightly embarrassed by me taking photos and flapping around in excitement over the LACK OF PLASTIC, I was so overjoyed as my zero-waste life just got so much easier!

BUYING BULK: Wow, suddenly the air of confusion which has engolfed me regarding the term ‘bulk’ has been lifted, and it feels good. I always thought it meant buying more of a particular item…oh no no no! It is when the shop buys more in weight, and sells it to us unpackaged…genius! Exactly what I have been looking for.

Not only was I completely thrilled to find dispensed pastas, rice, and quinoa….I found dispensable chocolate (halelula!), cereals (to which no students diet is complete without), and even ecover laundry conditioner (oh my I’m in heaven). Plus, it means my long quest for finding cheep castile soap (erm…cheap? Yeh that doesn’t exist) is over as I can opt for the lazy option and just refill my own glass bottles of ecover liquid for household cleaning. Amazing, economic, environmentally friendly, and minimal effort. I LOVE BULK. I LOVE HISBE.

YUM

MEGA YUM

Bulk e-cover cleaning liquids

Being the excited waste-free geek that I am, I found myself rummaging through every department from home cleaning to dry foods, fresh fruit, and bathroom products. I was ecstatic (and slightly relieved) to find recycled toilet paper wrapped in COMPOSTABLE PACKAGING…

Thank god, the alternative was to ditch it altogether….

…but I was also disappointed to find no recyclable toothpaste tubes, bamboo toothbrushes, or reusable sanitary towels. They did sell moon-cups, the reusable menstrual cups, but they were hard to find and gave zero consumer options….personally I find moon-cups too big and bulky, a scary prospect for a first time user, and with so many other brands available it would have been nice to provide more choice. So there are areas which I think could be improved upon.

THAT BEING SAID, HiSbe is now my favourite place in Brighton to shop. It supports local producers, provides bulk buying, and has some great quirky zero-waste alternatives to many store bought products destined for landfill…such as recycled cleaning cloths, sponges, and dish brushes! I think I will be having a lot of fun experimenting with these ideas in the future….and their voucher system is such a great idea that they will indeed be on this years birthday wish list. Although this is still poor comparison to the types of health food bulk shopping available in America…it is such a great start and a big relief for someone looking to dramatically reduce their waste. I hope more and more people in Brighton convert from mainstream supermarkets to Hisbe, and hopefully we will see more shops like this become common place in the UK.

You should check out the HiSbe website here.

Waste-free shaving

To keep with my general theme of lowering my environmental impact without having to adopt a totally hippy ethos by going o-natural…I HAD TO FIND A WASTE-FREE ALTERNATIVE TO DISPOSABLE RAZORS. But what are the alternatives? Well, embracing the hair was definitely out, leaving me with the following options: An epilator (too much packaging, pain, and a reliance on electricity which for me is just impractical), a cut-throat razor (hell know! We’ve all seen Sweeney Todd, and I really don’t have a steady hand enough to risk it) or …a safety razor.

SO AFTER FINALLY USING UP MY LAST DISPOSABLE RAZOR, I took the plunge and bought my very own Haryali London Saftey Razor (below), a one-bladed reusable razor. Initially I was really scared of slicing myself to shreds which admittedly was enhanced by the severe look of many of the traditional safety razor styles, but to me, the ergonomic design of this one made it a little less scary.

PACKAGING: The packaging was such a bonus! Not only is the sleek box made from cardboard (totally recyclable!), I have decided to refrain from buying a travel case for it until this pretty box eventually gets too messy or soggy (which somewhat comes with the territory when living in the bathroom).

MY SEXY REUSABLE SAFETY RAZOR

USAGE: I love my safety razor so much! I love the ergonomic design, the shiny stainless steal, and the weight of it is really pleasing. It took a while to build up enough courage to use it freely in the shower as you have to tilt the head in a way which is slightly counter-intuitive for someone accustomed to throw aways, but after two successful attempts in the bath I now use it in the shower without giving it a second thought. I simply lather up some soap, shave as usual, moisturise my skin with my home-made whipped coconut oil body butter afterwards, and then dry off the razor to prolong the life of the blade. It’s also an incredibly close shave which I wasn’t expecting for a single-blade razor…honestly, I don’t know why I didn’t do this sooner! 

My safety razor cost me £22.00 (reduced from £36.00), which was the cheapest of my hairless options, will save me so much money in the long run, and will completely stop my contribution to landfill in the form of over-priced, unsustainable, and ugly disposable razors. I’d take my sexy-albeit-slightly-manly safety razor any day! …AND YOU CAN BUY YOURS HERE

A waste free Christmas

Trying to keep to the waste-free ethos during Christmas was daunting at first, but I have found some really simple ways to minimize my Christmas waste without being the Scrooge of the festive season.

I didn’t start my waste-free endeavours until recently and so I very much doubt my Christmas this year will be completely waste-free. I presume most of my family had bought me presents before I decided to go waste-free and so didn’t even think about the packaging because lets face it, who normally does? Until now I certainly didn’t. Plus there were a few items which I bought as presents for others, which I couldn’t find unless they were wrapped in plastic…I know what you’re thinking: “RIGHT THAT’S IT, SHE’S A FAILURE, A WASTEFUL FRAUD!“, or maybe you’re thinking “who the hell cares” right?

Well, as sad as it may seem, I care. I just don’t think Christmas should be at the expense of the environment. But before I focuss on the waste I made, which I have to say was a grand total of two cellophane wrappers which equate to the size of my fist, the rest of my Christmas shopping has been a waste-free breeze!

SO HERE WAS MY WASTE-FREE EFFORT THIS YEAR:

THIS YEAR I WRAPPED all my gifts in old newspapers and parcel string. This was a little tricky at first as I didn’t want to use any sellotape but after a few failed attempts I got the hang of it. I think they look great! Plus the newspapers were full of Christmas adds which I could use to my festive advantage!

Free Christmas themed wrapping!

The Rubbish Junkies junk…I mean, presents!

I ALSO DID A LOT OF RESEARCH on where to find certain products, and chose those with the least amount of environmental impact. To stick within my budget I bought bulk items from retailers and instead of paying for delivery, I collected all my items in store. Although this was more effort on my part, I made sure I tied it in with a trip I was making anyway, which saved me time and money, and it ensured I skipped out the additional packaging and fuel emissions from having the item delivered to my door.

I MADE THE SKIN CARE GIFTS that I usually buy in high street retailers (you know the ones, the box sets which are all neatly packaged in pretty boxes with cellophane windows, plastic moulds, and so much material that you really begin to wonder what it is you’re actually paying for). Instead I up-cycled jars from my used glass jar collection, and made handmade labels from old envelopes and toilet role tubes!

The Rubbish Junkies home-made skin care gifts for Christmas

I BOUGHT HOME-MADE chutneys in recyclable glass jars from a local independent company, which lead to me forming a nice deal with the owner who now gives me all her used glass jars for my skin care remedies! …plus I got to have fun tasting all the jams, jellies, and chutneys…which, I’m not going to lie, was a tasty little bonus!

Though I have to say, my favourite festive waste-free project this Christmas has been when I finally got to use an old 2 litre glass cider bottle that I had been saving for ages….to store our home-made mulled wine! One beautiful large glass bottle up-cycled, two bottles of red recycled, and a very contented me,snuggled up watching Christmas films with mulled wine, giggling to myself at the grinch.

Merry Christmas! R.J. XXX

PS. Here’s some more impressive beards…Christmas beards!

Waste-free home-made skin care remedies

I wanted to call this post “Waste-free home-made skin care products” because I guess that is what I have been making, but the word “products” just sounded a little too commercial and non-natural- which is exactly what these are not.

NATURAL HOME-MADE MAKE-UP REMOVER. By using a blend of almond oil and castor oil I have created a very simple and beautiful make-up remover to replace my wet-wipes, which I had admitted to being over-reliant on a few weeks ago (you can read that blog post here).

The Rubbish Junkie’s natural almond oil make-up remover. Fragrance free.

As this is for my own use I have made this blend specific for oily skin, but I have also learned to make different mixtures for dry and combination skin types.

MY VERDICT: I have to admit I was apprehensive at first about using an oil make-up remover when I have oily skin, as I thought I would look and feel greasy. Thankfully I was very pleasantly surprised- my skin has felt so much softer since switching from face-wipes to this! I was also really pleased with finding such a lovely little square jar which was being recycled at work. I didn’t think it would last very long but  I was AMAZED AT HOW ECONOMIC this blend is, as I only need to use a few drops to remove all my make-up each evening…which means this little jar will last me well into 2015 and produces no waste at all-unlike my usual pack of wet-wipes the contents of which are all in the sewers within a month.

I haven’t got round to making some  cotton/hemp reusable make-up pads yet but that’s next on my to do list!

WASTE-FREE WHIPPED COCONUT OIL BODY BUTTER. This is one of my favourites! I was having a lot of trouble with my coconut oil as when it’s cold (hello England) it literally turns rock solid and is a nightmare to get out the jar. But I found a great whipping recipe which means my coconut oil will stay airy and creamy at cold temperatures.

The Rubbish Junkie’s waste-free whipped coconut oil body butter. In luxurious lavender.

MY VERDICT: I decided to make a really lush lavender fragrance body butter with added vitamin E, which I found to be great as a luxurious indulgent treat at the end of a long day to sooth dry winter skin. As with the make-up remover, the natural plant-based oils are shelf stable and so my body butter will last me right through the winter months and beyond! I am however, going to invest in some small eco-friendly scoops to use as applicators as I have read that the moisture from your skin and from humid rooms can bring a risk of mould, and that would be such a shame!

COLLECTING GLASS JARS is quickly becoming my favourite fun activity, and often feels like I am on a treasure hunt! I have now built up a lovely little collection of a veriety of shapes and sizes, for me to play with more skin-care recipes (I keep having more and more ideas each day!).

One example of being a Rubbish Junkie- what is one persons waste, is my treasure!

I am also thinking of setting up my own etsy shop to sell jars of skin care remedies, to promote healthy bodies, minds, and environments- all of my items would be packaged in my reused glass jars, with recyclable or compostable labels….watch this space 🙂

What is this?!

What is this?!.

via What is this?!.