Sustainably Starry

I belong to a fun group that challenges you, for the whole month of February, to wear red lipstick. It's a nice reminder to let yourself shine, and enjoy the confidence that comes with a power red. It's also been a fun break during COVID where I've hardly worn makeup, let alone mask-incompatible lipstick. 

Also, a side benefit, it's hard to not also get dressed when wearing red lipstick. So for the month of Feb, I traded in the leggings and tees - it was almost like pre-COVID days, when I wore structured pants and blouses most days to the office.

I happily pulled together this fully thrifted outfit, with a new blouse from ThredUp, and previously thrifted Lucky Jeans and Club Monaco flats.

This Banana Republic Factory Store blouse thrilled me for $20.99. I've been on a star kick - it's fun, but still subtle enough to be professional, and is a good day-to-night print.

Want to show off your curves? Pair it with a glittery skinny belt, and trade blousey for a tapered waist. Keep with the shiny, sparkly look by pairing with silver studded flats.

Last but not least, complete the look with your favorite red lipstick, and some black rhinestone, star shaped earrings.

Previous savings:

Lucky jeans, paid $25, retails new for $100 (75% savings)

Club Monaco shoes, paid $15, retails new for $250 (94% savings)

New savings:

Banana Republic blouse, paid $20.99, retails new for $55 (67% savings)

Glitter belt, paid $0.99, compare to $19.00 new from Gap (95% savings)

Fabulous Aquafaba

I was happy to acquire Cooking Scrappy by Joel Gamoran a while back - the whole premise is to use up parts of food that we traditionally think of as waste. Using these parts allows us to get more bang for our buck and also prevent some of the 30%+ of food that is wasted each year in the US. 

Today, I wanted to play with aquafaba. Aqua-what? Aquafaba is the liquid from cooked chickpeas (or leftover juice from a can of chickpeas), and is often used as an alternative to egg whites in vegan baking. I think I've most often seen it used in vegan meringues.

In Cooking Scrappy, Joel has a recipe for aquafaba ranch, and as a ranch-loving household, I decided to give it a whirl!

First, drain your chickpeas, and keep all that delicious aquafaba. Use the beans in a recipe of your choosing. Don't usually cook with chickpeas? I have a recipe for an easy hummus down below.

Next, gather your additional ingredients: salt, apple cider vinegar, sugar, garlic, mustard seed...

... and blend with a stick (immersion) blender until thickened. You'll then slowly blend in some vegetable oil too. I was honestly shocked as how thick and creamy this got. This ranch has no dairy, where our favorite ranch has buttermilk as an ingredient. It is now no longer a mystery to me how aquafaba can be used as an egg white alternative.

Next, gather and stir in your final ingredients. Juice and zest from a lemon, chives, oregano, onion powder, and black pepper. While I *love* lemon, don't over-do it, as it will thin down your dressing and make it more vinaigrette than creamy.

Finally, dress your favorite salad or dip a veggie. I love me some mini bell peppers for their natural scoop shape.

Verdict: I will definitely make this again. If you are a Hidden Valley Ranch groupie, it isn't 1:1 for flavor, but I quite enjoyed this, and it's dinner guest-worthy. 

Now, if you need a recipe for chickpeas, here is my quick and easy hummus. While it calls for some aquafaba itself, there will be plenty leftover for your ranch recipe. This recipe also saves you $, costing about $1.50 for the recipe vs $4 for the competing size of prepared hummus.

Hummus

• 16 oz can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans
• 1/4 cup liquid from can of chickpeas
• 3 to 5 tablespoons lemon juice (depending on taste)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Drain chickpeas and set aside liquid from can.

Combine remaining ingredients in blender or food processor. (Add small amounts of chickpea liquid as needed.)

Blend for 3-5 minutes on low until thoroughly mixed and smooth.

Place in serving bowl, and create a shallow well in the center of the hummus. Add a small amount of olive oil in the well.

Garnish with parsley, sumac or a dash of cayenne.

 

Not only are these recipes good for reducing food waste and saving money, but chickpeas are also a great source of fiber and protein, so... get on with your happy snacking! :)

DIY Doormat Restoration

We're all familiar with Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, but I like focusing on some additional "R"s, in particular, Repair, Restore, Refresh, and Rejuvenate. By far the easiest way to save money and reduce waste is to extend the life of the things you have. And with these additional R's, making the most of your belongings doesn't mean you have to live with shabby items or never update a look.

This week, I took on refreshing the look of my doormat. What used to be a vibrant Mediterranean or terra cotta color palette, started to fade after a year:

and was shabby (not chic) after two.

I had seen some other folks update their doormats by painting them, so decided to give it a go. 

The first step was to dry it out (hello, Seattle winters!), and knock off any loose pine needles, dog hair, etc. 

Next, I prepared the surface by taking a good scrub brush to it, just for a minute. You could also use some sandpaper. The goal here was to remove as much dirt as possible as well as any loose paint from the prior design. I didn't take it fully down to the black surface, because I'm going to paint right over it.

Check out all that loose paint... It's more than I expected, so don't skip this step.

Next, I painted the raised surfaces of the doormat. I liked the original color scheme, so I tried to stay close with my colors, but you could use this opportunity to create a whole new look. Next time, I'm going for ocean colors! 

I used a semi-firm flat edged brush for creating clean lines. Now the material of these mats is fairly absorbant. It took more paint than I expected. Take your time, and push the paint into the surface with your brush. Don't try to achieve coverage with a thick coat, or you'll risk filling in the texture of the mat and creating a slippery surface. Instead, opt for a second coat.

After your paint is dry, you can add a thin coat of outdoor sealant. I used this spray urethane. The spray enables an easy thin application, but it also comes in a brush-on format. The purpose of this product is to add some water- and UV-proofing to extend the life of the paint. The important thing with sealants is to use a well-ventilated area, such as a garage with open doors and windows. You also want to make sure you are not using a gloss finish, and that you do a thin application, again so you don’t create a slippery surface.

Let me say it again: use a satin or matte, not gloss! 

Allow to dry for 24 hours, and you're good to put it back outside and enjoy your newly welcoming front door.

This project ended up being completely free. The paints I received from Buy Nothing, and the sealant was leftover from a previous project. If you aren't able to get free supplies, they still don't need to be top of the line - this was created with cheap craft acrylics, which average $1-2 per bottle retail. 

Overall savings: $20.

Spotlight: Lego's Sustainability Initiatives

Legos: these amazing toys can be a blank slate for building anything your imagination can dream up to providing nearly architectural schematics for the most intricate of collectable designs. They are popular for all ages and have been for many generations. This means there are billions of bricks, mini figures, and specialty pieces circulating out there, yet you can still spend an astronomical price on new sets. Some examples: the smallest kit, the size of a box of animal crackers, now starts at $15. A medium sized tub of Classic Legos (formerly known as Legos 😉 ) will contain a few hundred basic bricks and set you back at least $40. 

And then there are the specialty kits, ranging from famous buildings to Star Wars, which cost several hundreds of dollars.

Between the sheer cost of these tiny plastic pieces, and the existence of decades of previous sets, it just makes sense to clean and recirculate them. 

If you have Legos you want to get rid of:

DONATE through Lego Replay. You can print a pre-paid shipping label from Lego, who will forward them to organizations like "Teach For America" and "Boys and Girls Club of Boston". Don't forget to reuse a box for shipment! This is such a great option, because you know the toys will get to kids who will use them, vs. hoping they'll sell at a reuse store like Goodwill. They actually partner with Give Back Box to make this happen, which has programs for several other types of items as well. Through this program, they've already recirculated almost 600,000 pounds of Legos, benefiting 100,000 children.

SELL through any marketplace, such as eBay, Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, etc. They seem to sell for an average of $10/lb for bulk bricks and at a higher rate for small lots of specialty pieces or complete kits, so you could recoup some of your investment while making the pieces more affordable for those who purchase. 

If you have Legos you want to acquire:

 

BUY through any marketplace: For the same reasons as listed above, folks may be trying to recoup some costs, and you can benefit. For $10, you can definitely get started before investing in specialty kits, or you may just score that coveted collectible kit at a discount. In any case, you can save some $$, keep existing pieces from the landfill, and new pieces from being created from new plastic. 

 

BUY new plant-themed Legos: Lego is testing out new materials besides virgin petroleum-based plastic, and the first items they've made from their sugarcane-derived plastic are the plant-like pieces, cleverly named Plants from Plants. So starting adding more flora to round out your collection.

Launched in 2018, these trees and leafy pieces only represent 2% of the building blocks they offer, but are a first step to some of their longer term initiatives: 1) By 2025, they've committed to sustainable packaging, and 2) by 2030, they've committed to pieces made out of either renewal bio-plastics (like these sugarcane pieces) or post-consumer plastics, such as water bottles.

Kudos to Lego for taking these goals!

Do you or your kids have a Lego addiction? How much could you save or make by buying and selling used?

Sustainably Spicy

Take a quick look at your spice cupboard. How many are expired or much older than a year old? How many are unique spices you needed a 1/4 teaspoon once for a recipe, or a unique spice blend that isn't in your regular cooking repertoire? (I'm looking at you, cajun seasoning that's in the back of my cupboard and 5 years old...)

It turns out many spice mixes are made out of different combinations of the same dozen or so common spices. Want to try a new cuisine? Make your own spice mix on demand. 

This is a great way to rotate your staple spices more often, and not acquire as many specialty blends. For example, Greek, Italian, and Cuban cuisines can all use the same oregano. This will reduce the stale spices you throw out (or reluctantly use up), the number of total containers used, and the number of total containers you need to fit in your cupboard.

Check out this ah-mah-zing Everything Bagel mix (seriously, put it on avocado toast). All of the ingredients are things that I already have in my cupboard, but may not use frequently. For example, I may want sesame seeds for the occasional Asian recipe, or poppy seeds for muffins, but I don't cook those recipes enough to go through the individual ingredients. So, I take this bottle, make my own "everything" mix, and refill it. The sesame and poppy seeds get used up, and I don't need to buy another bottle of everything seasoning.

An added benefit: if you are using the same base spices you can save $ by buying bulk and refilling. You can either simply get larger containers (hello, Costco) or look for stores that offer bulk bin refill (example, PCC). During COVID, PCC isn't allowing you to bring your own containers, but you can use their baggies, which are ultimately much less waste than another spice jar. Then, use any container to store the raw spices or mixes. It could be a leftover plastic sour cream tub (just get some labels!), or a small glass storage container, or even previous spices jars (hey, it's previously labeled and may even still have the sprinkle top).

Here's one of my go-to favorite mixes. It's a knockoff recipe from Red Robin's seasoning salt, and just like Frank's Red Hot sauce, "I put that s*!t on everything!". It's a household staple that goes on anything from fried eggs to roasted potatoes. It packs a ton of flavor, and it's 1/3 salt. Pro tip: when you make your own blends, you can customize them to your preference or dietary needs.

• 1/4 cup Sea Salt
• 1/4 cup Smoked Paprika
• 2 Tablespoons Garlic Powder
• 1 Tablespoon Onion Powder
• 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon Ground Cumin
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon Dried Basil
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Sage
• 1/2 teaspoon Dried Oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon Celery Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar

Measure out all of the ingredients. 

 

Below is pictured a small Pampered Chef bowl I love because it doubles as a storage container (lid not pictured) and a measuring cup (1 cup bowl with 1/4 cup markings). 

 

Simply shake or stir to combine, and viola, the perfect seasoning salt. So much flavor from the paprika, garlic, and other herbs (yuuuummmmmm). 

 What is your favorite mix or recipe to use up spices?

Conscious Coordinates

If you're like me, you probably look at your over-stuffed closet frequently and feel like you have nothing to wear. I feel this way most often when I go to dress up, whether it's an celebratory dinner or a night at the theatre. And then I wonder, how is it possible I can't find anything I want to wear, when I've bought some amazing pieces? 

Well, there was my answer: I had bought some amazing pieces, but couldn't complete the outfit. Most notably, I have acquired several tea length or midi skirts over the years, but it turns out the length and shape of tops that I wear most days with pants or jeans don't compliment the skirts well. On the average day, I go for looser tunics that hit at the hip. With the shape of the skirts I'm wearing, I need a more tailored top that hits closer to the waist, in order to not look frumpy or make me looker shorter than I already am. 

With that realization, I could intentionally shop for pieces that would pair with those skirts and leave me with complete outfits.

First win, this Zara short sleeve black sweater, which is so soft, I feel like I'm wearing pajamas. 

 

 

I love the added gold button detail on the back, a minor detail, but adds a touch of dressiness. 

This Zara sweater was $10.99 at Goodwill (in like-new condition) but would cost $29.90 at Zara.

Next up, this embellished Adrienne Vittadini blouse.

The quilted pattern and bust darts create a lot of structure that really makes this blouse stand out from most of the comfort clothing (read "t-shirts") I can get away with working in tech. 

And I *love* the bejeweled neckline that eliminates the need for jewelry. 

This Adrienne Vittadini blouse cost $9.99 at Goodwill, while the average Adrienne Vittadini top goes for $48.00 at Macy's.

Between both of these blouses. I saved $47.92 (69.6%), and also enabled myself to get some use out of these skirts I love, but which were collecting dust. 

So first step if you are stuck with "nothing to wear" is do an audit. Do you have items you never wear? Do you dislike them for some reason? If so, move them to the donate or alter pile. Do you like them? If so, what's holding you back? Do you need something to complete the outfit, eg. the right height of shoes, or a sweater to pair with a sleeveless top? If so, prioritize your next purchases!

Out With the 2021, In With the 2022

Yo! Yo... 2021 was quite the yo-yo. First, we get some line of sight to the "end" of COVID with the development of vaccines, and then a low point in cases in June, before we dragged back under with Delta, then given more hope with boosters, and then dragged back down with Omicron... What. A. Year. 

But amidst it, we did have some good times. Here's a look back at 24 posts from 2021: 

House and Bath

• We upgraded our dining rooms with festive, reusable fabrics napkins. 
• Our furniture finish was quickly restored with a low-cost, no-chemical solution.  
• Commercial deodorant companies came out with refillable packaging designs. 
• A monthly subscription helped me make one smart product swap per month. 
• Even your at-home gym can benefit from thrifting. 
• A neighbor had a clever use for TP cores, hiding them in their curtains.
  

Food and Garden

• Pickle brine was the gift that kept on giving, saving us each time we "remade" a jar of pickles.
• We tested a bunch of DIY seed starters, and concluded that simple food tubs are a clear winner.
• Thanksgiving gave us an opportunity to upgrade our leftovers game. 

Travel

• We chose hotels that have committed to sustainable choices. 
• We compensated for our air travel with carbon offsets.  
• Public transportation saved us gas and parking $$$ for holiday festivities. 
  

Closet

• A cobbler extended the life of a favorite pair of shoes.
• We found additional ways to manage our textile waste. 
• Another year, another thrifted Halloween costume.   
• Thrifting let us take fashion inspo from our favorite TV personalities. 
• A vintage mall brought together 40+ vendors in one place for discovering second-hand treasures. 

Learning

• Documentaries inspired us in our eco journey. 
• We learned about product labels and certifications that helped us make better purchasing choices. 
  

DIY and Upcycle

• A trash artist made amazing sculptural paintings from plastic trash. 
• Even my dog was a thoughtful consumer with upcycled dog toys. 
• Summertime with the family is more fun when constructing (and eventually playing with) DIY cornhole boards.
  

Sometimes, in the midst of a hard year like this, it's hard to see the progress you're making. To end the year, Seattle had a week of heavy snow and ice, during which trash collection was paused. To me, this was a bright spot in my effort to minimize waste. I realized that our household had no problem skipping a week of trash service, and not only that, but we weren't quite full the following week. This finally showed how all my little efforts added up to a big difference. 

As we enter 2022, I'm excited to up my game with Ridwell! My friend Allison generously gifted me a membership, and I'm thrilled to have a convenient solution to recycling additional categories of items. For an average of $12/month, Ridwell provides a milk-man type box for your porch and several fabric bags to sort and collect your items:

Then, every two weeks they'll do a pick up. You can include lightbulbs, batteries, clothing, and plastic film. The light bulbs and batteries are great for me - there used to be retail stores in our area that had the Terracycle boxes in their entry, which no longer exist. The Ridwell collection now replaces that missing resource. "Threads" is also exciting. There are certain clothes and shoes that are beyond their useful life, and you don't feel good about donating - this will help them get recycled. And plastic film - this is one of the few items that still fills our regular trash. Think about the thin plastic packaging that wraps your consumables, which can't be put in your regular recycling.

Beyond these regular categories, they add a bag for "featured", which will include short term categories like "holiday lights" in January. 

What are your New Years resolutions for reducing waste? Have you done a trash audit to know what's still filling your trash can?