Litterless Living

Greetings Friends! Thanks for joining me today. A huge reason I decided to keep a blog about my transition to a plastic-free life is because I quickly learned that in many ways it's not as difficult as I feared. I wanted to share with others & encourage you to consider doing what you can, little by little, to reduce plastic use & waste in our world. However, as I was reminded in an excellent episode by the NPR podcast A1 called " Plastics are Forever ," the problem of ever-present and ever-accumulating plastics can be overwhelming to think about, let alone fight. So today I want to talk about ways you and I as individuals can make a difference in our world. Art Credit: the Somerset Co. Library System of NJ #1 Awareness Awareness is always the first step to solving any problem or changing behavior. We cannot fix what we do not see. So many people in my immediate sphere have indicated to me that simply interacting with me & witnessing my efforts to elimi...

Hello Friends! As I've already said, I will often (try to) make my own products if I can't find them without plastic packaging. One of the first things I tried to make on my own was toothpaste. I found an incredibly simple & cheap plastic-free tooth powder recipe in Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World by Kelly Coyne & Erik Knutzen, which you can probably find in your local library, or you can follow their blog here . I love this book and often turn to it for homemade-recipes and ideas for alternative living solutions. For toothpaste I tried out their variation of equal parts baking soda to powdered sage leaves. While I can't deny it gets the job done, I didn't like it much due to how salty it tastes and that it can be messy as it makes my mouth water so much while using it. Unfortunately even the best and most reliable of resources sometimes let us down. I still highly recommend this book if you can get your hands on a copy. What I've s...

Hello friends, Thanks for joining me today. Kind of a heavy topic today, so please enjoy this photo of my daily morning view from my office. Despite it's beauty, this river is one of the most polluted rivers in the US. This is what I'm trying to fight with my efforts discussed below. I came to the decision to cut plastic out of my life about six months ago. I had stumbled across a Zero Waste youtuber, Kate Arnell, at her channel  ECO BOOST , which opened my world to environmental concerns I never knew existed. Kate Arnell's channel is just one of many I now follow as she and others share about their Zero Waste journeys. (I hope to talk with you more about the Zero Waste movement soon.) As I learned more about how awful plastics are for our environment, I decided I needed to cut them from my life as much as possible. When I made this decision I had lots of fears. I was afraid that others wouldn't understand. I was afraid my friends and family would mock me. I wa...

Friends: cheese. So many of us love it, but it is one of the hardest things to get without plastic. So silly! Cheese has been made, bartered, sold, transported, stored, and eaten for centuries LOOONG before plastic was around. Yet in today's market it's almost impossible to find any cheese plastic-free. I believe it is possible to buy big wheels of aged cheese coated in wax, but who can use that all up before it spoils? Usually when I have an item that I just can't find without plastic I try to make my own. However, I've heard that cheese is a very difficult, precise process that requires specific equipment. I was daunted to try making it on my own. And honestly, I don't really want to learn how to make everything I could possibly ever need. Don't get me wrong. Self-sufficiency is a wonderful thing. But there is a reason that most societies developed specialization--not everyone will be able to make their own bread, or build their own house, or fix their car, ...

So let's talk deodorant alternatives. You can use a salt block. You can use baking soda. You can even use a potato! Well, that's according to Niahm, a BSc in Nursing Science, and host of the Fairyland Cottage youtube channel. You can check out that particular video  here . I can't honestly say I've tried the potato option. And I couldn't find a salt block that came without plastic packaging. But I did try using baking soda and found that it irritated my skin. So I scoured the internet and found a recipe on a blog called MamaInstincts.com  and lo-and-behold I already had all but one ingredient. I'm sure you recognize baking soda and coconut oil, but I'll explain the others. In the top right ramekin I have arrowroot powder--this is the one ingredient I still needed to buy. Luckily for me, my local co-op down the street sells it in bulk, so I just brought an old bouillon paste jar with me and got a few scoops of it. The little vials on the left are essen...

Greetings friends, I work in an office. Anyone else who has experience with office materials (or frankly school supplies) knows that it can be quite difficult to avoid plastic at work. And it is. But I have come up with a few things to help just a bit. First, I'm ditching those silly ball-point pens. You know, like the BIC style disposable ones where you throw the whole pen out when the ink is used up. Instead, I predominantly use fountain pens. Behold, my beautiful pens! I got these beauties from my father, who likely hasn't used them in decades, so not only am I avoiding the disposable plastic complex, but I'm also giving new life to something that already exists & still works. I'll admit he gave me a third pen that doesn't work so well. I think there's something wrong with the nib and I'm not sure exactly if it's something that can be fixed or replaced. Nor am I sure where to take it to have it looked at. Anyone out there have experienc...

Hello friends, I've heard from some of you that you're having difficulty commenting on this blog. I've changed the settings so anyone can post, but all posts go to my email to review before publishing. Even so, there are still some difficulties, so I thought I'd give a quick tutorial on how to do it. First, open up the blog post you want to comment on. Scroll down to the bottom where you'll find a orange "B" and the words "Enter your comment..." Click on "Enter your comment..." and it will transform into a type box where you can start to leave your message. However, you should also be able to select your identity/mode of commenting. The default should be your name on your google account (be sure that you're logged in!). This is your name on your email or any other google account. I'm honestly not sure what will show up if you don't have a gmail address--perhaps make sure you're logged into whatever email platform you...

Well, I'm glad to report that the beans turned out great! I can't wait to try the recipe again, though I may prepare them so that I can stick them in the oven before heading off to church. I did manage to get up at 2:40 in the morning to check on them, but that's not a pattern I'm eager to get into. Basic Baked Beans from "More with Less Cookbook" Seriously, give these beans a try. They were a hit at our campfire picnic, even though I left out the bacon. Let me know in the comments if you want the recipe. I didn't take any photos of the water sports because I'm clumsy enough with my phone that I was terrified of dropping/loosing/breaking it. Instead, here are some photos of our campfire gathering. Additionally we had worship outside Sunday morning. I loved watching the sun sparkle through my hat onto the hymnal while we sang a cappella. Then to top the weekend off, I decided to stop by an ice cream shop in town to get a cool tr...

Hello Friends! (and Future Friends) I'm trying to eliminate plastic from my life. I know. It's a big task. Many people have been *kind* enough to explain to me how I cannot succeed at this venture. But I'm not an absolutist. I understand on many levels this is impossible. But I believe trying is better than accepting our "fate" if you will. I believe in challenging this "plastic is here to stay" attitude is the only way we see any change. I believe in modeling behavior I wish to see in others--to show it's not as hard as one might fear. Anyway, that's a little about me. Something else you should know about me is that I love to learn. I especially love to learn by doing. I love to challenge myself to come up with a solution when faced with an unexpected task. This brings me to story time; the beginning of tonight's adventure. My Church is having its annual weekend at the local Christian camp. I'm really looking forward to it. I love ...