Composting

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• What I have now: Bootstramp compost

• Why a challenge: The town I live in doesn't offer curbside compost

  • For our apartment, having one bucket that we could leave in our kitchen and then bring outside was best

  • The services have varying price points, and varying pick up cadences, so we needed to understand what price was right and what pick up cadence was right for us
  • The more we could throw in our compost system, the better! Some systems have more restrictions than others for what their composting process can handle (dairy, bread, paper products, etc.)

  • Compost seemed gross and unhygienic, so I had to change my mentality

    • The buckets for the kitchen are sealed tight, so there's no smell​

    • You can always freeze your compost if concerned

    • We collect our scraps in a bowl as we cook, and then toss them in the compost bucket

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Natural deodorant

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• What I have now: Alternating between Meow Meow Tweet and Beautycounter

• Why a challenge: Practically all natural deodorants are not antiperspirants 

  • Most antiperspirants use metals to prevent sweating, which can be dangerous in high levels​

  • I was scared and embarrassed by sweating, and had to accept that sweating is natural and healthy!​

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Milk alternatives

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• What I have now: Oatly, sometimes homemade pecan milk

• Why a challenge: Milk is milk... and cheap

  • Had to accept that the milk I was purchasing was supporting one of the biggest polluting industries (along with questionable treatment to animals)

  • Almond milk, the easiest alternative, supports an industry that uses a lot of water and is also not usually harvested sustainably

  • Making my own milk didn't really feel like milk, but it was fun and is a good back up for when I am out

  • Oatly is much better for the environment than dairy milk or almond milk, but it is expensive for milk products

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Natural laundry detergent

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• What I have now: Blueland

• Why a challenge: Lack of suitable options, and accepting a higher price

  • I have always thought of laundry detergent as these giant bottles you get for a crazy low price from Costco and if anything, you expand into the realm of pods ​

  • There weren't a lot of options for easy access and still worth the price for the US

  • I also didn't need to look for a new laundry detergent alternative because the giant bottles from wholesale stores last for so long

  • Finally, I found an option that works for us and have accepted that when you break the cost down, it is more expensive than the wholesale bottles. But the reduction in waste and chemicals is worth it, for someone in my position who can afford it!

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Sustainable paper products (tissues, paper towel, toilet paper)

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• What I have now: Who Gives A Crap toilet paper , Seventh Generation tissues , Marley's Monster's Unpaper towels , reusable cotton dish cloths from Ikea

• Why a challenge: Change of mentality and routine, accepting a higher price

  • Paper towels are a staple, and very cheap. Switching to reusable cotton (and thus compostable) paper towels was the hardest shift because some messes felt gross to clean up and I just wanted to just throw them away. So the challenge here was shifting the mindset and routine and getting comfortable with rinsing the non-paper towels after use and working them into my laundry routine (since they're machine washable)​

  • The other thing about unpaper towels is that they're pretty expensive. It was hard to justify at first, but the savings add up when you consider the additional costs of refilling paper towels (transportation, shipping, materials, waste disposal).

  • The second we finished our Costco bulk toilet paper, we purchased WGAC and it is WONDERFUL! Highly, highly recommend.

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All natural cleaners... part 1

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• What I have now: Method and Beautycounter for hand soap, Seventh Generation for dishes, Blueland for surface cleaning and sponges, Trader Joes for dishwasher detergent

• Why a challenge: Finding the right process

  • This was a slow roll because we had a lot of cleaners to finish using first​

  • There are a lot of natural/sustainable cleaning options now, and it was challenging to find the right routine shift and cost for us.