What’s in Your Trash and How Do You Reduce it (or Not?)

I’ve been thinking a lot about trash lately. The stuff in the bin outside your house, not about tawdry things. Lacey is a genteel lady who not tolerate dirty things in her home (unless it is something muddy or smelly to roll in.)

 I love mud!

I’ve been mulling over ideas to share how to reduce your household trash since the New Year.  I’m coming up short because every draft I write sounds like some big green guru sitting on a mountain top looking down  her nose at the world thinking that my Swiss Army knife of low waste options are the Pinnacle of One Size Fits All Solution to reducing household waste.

Or at least it feels that way and that is not my intent at all.

I want to offer options not absolutes because, honestly, there aren’t any one size fits all eco friendly low waste living solutions. It all depends on where you live, how you like to live, family size, etc.

DIY Flannel Pajama Pants

My 2016 World of the Year was Hygge – the Danish concept of what loosely translates as a feeling of happy coziness which I had no idea Hygge became A Thing but it has.

Well, well, well lookit me being all bleeding edge hipster because I wanted to share the concept of Hygge with my family in the form of handmade pajama pants as Christmas gifts last year.

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I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience.

10 Ways to Reuse Plastic Food and Laundry Measuring Scoops

Even though Husband and I try to run a low waste home with careful shopping and find new reuses for what we can't recycle through our city's recycling program, there is one thing we are swimming in and loathe to regularly send to the landfill: plastic laundry and food measuring scoops.

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7 Dog Owner Hacks: Number 3 Makes Life So Easy!

This blog post is part of a paid Megan Media and Petco Repeat Delivery blogging program. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own. #PetcoDelivers 

Being a rescue dog with a truck load of fear and anxiety issues makes living with Lacey sometimes a little difficult. That’s why I try to make the day to day dog owner stuff as easy as I can as we work with Lacey on her issues.  Here are a few of my favorite dog owner tips and tricks.

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1. Use two plastic bag dispensers to collect extra plastic bags for doggy duty. Keep the empty disposable bag dispenser in the kitchen to fill with plastic bags. When it is full of plastic bags hang it by the door next to your dog’s leash and put the empty grocery bag holder in the kitchen to fill with empty plastic bags.  That way you’ll always have potty where you need them - before you walk out the door with your dog.

20 DIY Earphone Cases

I’m more likely to listen to music on my phone if I have earphones with me. Unfortunately most of my earphones sit all by themselves in a drawer. Even the cute painted earphones I made over (read the tutorial here.)

  These earphone case ideas make great gifts too!

My earphone cases are long gone. I need replacements. Yes, replacements.

20 Clever Earphone Holders for Music on the Go

10 More Ways to Use Orange Peels

I always look forward to the winter citrus season so I can stuff my face with sweet juicy oranges.  I always end up with many orange peels. I can’t compost orange peels but didn’t want to throw them away. Orange peels have to be good for something.

That’s when I did some research and found out orange peels are very useful. I posted about 10 Easy Ways to Use Orange Peels (you can read the post here) and I started to put those orange peels to good reuse. Since that post I experimented, researched, and found 10 more easy ways to reuse orange peels. 

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If I don’t have enough orange peels for a project, I either store orange peels in a container the freeze or let the orange peels dry on a tray for a few days (no oven or dehydrator needed!) and store them in a jar in my pantry until I have the amount I need.

14 Homemade Laundry Cleaning Supplies

I’m Spring Cleaning and Stash Busting. I found a stash of laundry detergent and whatnot. Some of these old items aren’t compatible as they are with my High Efficiency (HE) washing machine because HE washing machine use less water and can overflow if I use my old mega sudsing laundry cleaners in it.

I hate to throw anything usable away. I’m also kinda cheap in that way too. So I found a way to repurpose and save money by making my own  green laundry stain spray, static cling fighter, wrinkle releaser, wool wash and laundry detergent. You can too. Here’s how.

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7 DIY Laundry Stain Fighter Recipes

• Mix 3 parts water and 1 part of your favorite laundry detergent in a spray bottle. Ta Da! Instant homemade laundry stain spray. This works with powdered laundry detergent too but you might have to shake the bottle to mix it up before each use.

• Soak stained items in a bucket with borax and water does wonders especially for whites. The cleaning power of borax impresses me with each new use I find for it.

• Pour shampoo directly on the stain especially if it’s a perspiration or ring around the collar stain.

• Wet and rub a bar of laundry soap like Zote (learn more about my favorite here) or Fels Naptha (you can buy it here) on the stain before popping in the water. Note: For those of you who don't like to use animal products both of these laundry soaps have animal tallow in it. This isn't an issue for me but it may be for you. (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience.)

• Soak stained items in oxygen bleach (there are several options here) dissolved in water also works wonders.

• Pour a bit of liquid laundry detergent (or add water to powdered laundry detergent to make a paste) directly on stain and scrub the stain with an old toothbrush is also effective and something I use all of the time with tough stains. Why buy more items than you have to, right?

• Scrub the stain with an old toothbrush and your favorite stain fighter. I mark the handles of old toothbrushes with nail polish so there’s no mistaking that the toothbrush has been repurposed for cleaning.

3 DIY Static Cling Stoppers

• Tennis balls in the dryer are the perfect homemade dryer ball. I've been using tennis ball dryer balls in my dryer for over 10 years and it hasn't damaged my dryer one bit. 

You can buy my funny tennis ball dryer balls here

• Pin metal safety pins to small fabric squares and toss them in the dryer. I use these with dryer ball tennis balls when the air is especially dry during the winter.

• Cut dryer sheets in half and use the same sheet more than once. You might be able to get away with cutting them into fourths too.

2 Easy Homemade Wrinkle Releasers Recipes

I keep a small bottle of homemade wrinkle releaser in my clothes closet because I’m not a big fan of ironing but I do like wrinkle free clothing.

• Spritz water from a spray bottle on the wrinkle and gently stretch it out. This is favorite. I always have more on hand and it doesn't compete with any scent I've used on my clothing or myself like Downey does. 

• Mix ½ water and ½ fabric softener in a spray bottle. 

Homemade Wool Wash Hack

• Shampoo or hair conditioner- works just as well or better than Woolite when hand washing wool sweaters and is much, much cheaper!
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How to Make Easy Homemade Laundry Detergent

• I make my own powdered laundry detergent. It is super easy! Combine 1 cup of borax (you can get it here,) I cup of washing soda (learn the difference between washing soda and baking soda here), and 1/2 cup of grated soap. I think laundry bar soap (there are several options here) works much better than bar bath soap. To save time, I make it 6 batches at a time which only takes 15 minutes and is enough to fill the big repurposed protein powder container I use to store it. This recipe works in both conventional and HE washing machines.

My homemade HE laundry detergent works on everything from delicate costumes to my husband's practically a bio hazard workout clothes. It is the ONLY laundry detergent that doesn't make my front loading washing machine stink!

If you'd rather buy than DIY, check out the following options - and more! - below!



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