Zac Efron Wants You...

 ... to pick up some litter. 

I was looking for a little motivation the other day. I've been in the quarantine rut with work from home, and minimal outlet. In the "before times", I would have browsed thrift stores just for the fun of it, but I'm still trying to minimize my unnecessary time in public places, and there's nothing on my shopping list. ...Sigh. 

We recently treated ourselves to a subscription to Discovery+, and I should've known they would have some great content to inspire me. Enter: "The Great Global Cleanup", a short 43 minute special celebrating the 50th anniversary of Earth Day (which happened in 2020).

What was great about this special was it was light, fun, and inspirational. While some eco documentaries can make their point by showing catastrophe and doom and gloom, this one was like a call to action, showing the amazing work of individuals, groups, and organizations while providing easy tips to get started. 

What do Mardi Gras, Brazilian beaches, and desert 4x4 off-roading have in common? They are all beautiful, fun, wonderful playgrounds that have been *trashed* by humans. But they also have humans who care about then and join clean-ups to restore them each year.

Learn about groups and companies who are innovating to make better products, either through preventing waste or upcycling with their materials, for example a group of surfers that collects abandoned fishing nets, and uses that plastic to make new surfboard fins.

Here are just a couple of the actions you can take:

1. Stop using single-use plastic. Find reusable options for straws, water bottles, shopping bags... 

2.  Participate in a cleanup event. Visit https://cleanup.earthday.org/ to find or create an event near you. While many of the events are on or near Earth Day (4.22 each year) some are throughout the year, or you can start your own!

Side note: while cleanups can be big and organized, they don't have to be! Build litter pickup into your daily routine. Have you heard of "plogging" (pickup up litter while jogging)? Or get motivated by a group like Paws on Plastic, where folks pick up litter while walking their dogs. You can brag about your accomplishments and enjoy everyone's cute fur-babies!

So, if you're seeking some spirit-lifting, check out The Great Global Cleanup, included with Discovery+, or available on other streaming platforms like Prime Video for a rental cost.

 

Mighty Changes in Honor of Earth Day

I've had my eye in Mighty Fix for a while, and lucky me, I was treated to a subscription for a recent birthday. Thanks, P & L!

I'm a sucker for subscriptions. I love getting a surprise each month, and discovering new products. Mighty Fix sends you 1 new item each month for $11 (includes shipping) or $99 for an annual subscription. Like what they sent and want more? Members get up to 35% off anything in the store.

They focus on a simple theme: household products that are good for you and good for the planet, conveniently delivered to you. This is accomplished with just a few high standards: safe durables, toxin-free consumables, reusable, high quality & effective, and reputable makers.

With one new product a month, you can slowly but surely make good swaps in your home, without the pressure of a total green makeover. And each product comes with an info card to provide info on why it's a good swap.

My first month? A pair of swedish dishcloths. These are somewhere between a disposable and a cloth, designed to be super absorbant, durable, washable, and replace your regular kitchen sponges and paper towels. When they've received enough abuse, they are compostable. This pair says they last up to 6 months, but I have a pair that are nearing a year of use.

Not into surprises? You can shop a la cart at MightyNest. 

Dove Does It!

Deodorant is one of the most disappointing products, when you compare the amount of product relative to the amount of container/dispenser. A few years ago, I wrote to Secret, stating I loved their deodorant, but not all the plastic packaging. Couldn't we find a solution? After all, companies like Loop are working on the milkman model, with reusable/refillable packaging. And there are many natural deodorants that come is a compostable cardboard pushpop-style tube, but unfortunately, I don't find many of these products as effective as their national brand counterparts.

Well, Dove is now doing it! A couple months ago, I saw a press release stating Dove would now have refillable deodorant at Target, and this week, I finally spotted it at the Target nearest to me! Wahoo!! You have to love when these large national brands and retailers start coming on this journey with us. :-)

Here's the details:

It comes in 3 scents (unscented, cucumber & green tea, and coconut & pink jasmine), and it appears to be the same formula as their other 0% aluminum deodorants. 

There are simple instructions to twist the refill onto the base.

The case is stainless steel, and the plastic holding the refill is post-consumer plastic.

While not entirely plastic-free, check out the amount of plastic on the refill, compared to the plastic from traditional packaging. It's 54% less plastic, and 98% post-consumer.

What I also enjoy is, once you take the lid off, you can see the entire deodorant stick. No more guesswork about how much is left, or doing a click each day to expose more.

This swap does cost a bit more than its traditional counterpart, and hopefully the costs will come down as this system becomes more normalized. It's similar in concept to shaving razors, where you can get a reusable handle and replaceable heads. 

A starter kit contains the stainless steel base and lid, along with your first deodorant, for an initial investment of $15. You can get 2-pack refills for $10. This means the permanent base costs $10, and each deodorant is $5. This compares to $3 for the traditionally-packaged Dove deodorant of the same size (1.6 oz). Learn more from Dove here.

Seeking an antiperspirant and not just a deodorant? It looks like Secret did in fact come out with a refillable system too, and theirs contains no plastic at all, with their refill pod coming in a cardboard tube. It's available in Target and Walmart as well, with the starter kit at $10 and refills at $8. Current scents are lavender for the starter pack, and lavender and rose for refills. 

Kudos to both companies for making better solutions available!

Extend the Life of Your Footwear

I have a perfect pair of black heeled booties. They are the right height (a medium heel) for wearing with pants or dresses, have a classic black leather look, with stylish gold zipper and buckles. 

But the most important thing? They are comfortable. The arch is just the right height, to not put pressure on my feet after a a full day's wear, and the toe box is wide enough. 

Needless to say, they've gotten a ton of wear and were starting to show it. And I fell into a super common trap: "They weren't super expensive. I don't think they're worth the cost of repair." Fortunately, my friend Julie changed my mind. Not only is repair cheaper than buying new, and the sustainable choice, but her argument? "How often do you find a pair dress shoes that is actually comfortable?"

So I found myself a shoe repair shop, a small one-man shop named Vic's in Burien, and requested a few areas be improved. First, the toes, which were both scuffed and a little stained from the rain. Here is the after - he did a pretty nice job with polishing!

I neglected to take "before" pictures, but this is a pretty good representation of the level of discoloring. 

Next, the heels had two big issues. The leather on the heel was pushed up, exposing the white core, and the heel tip was unevenly worn. Vic fully replaced the tip and smoothed and glued down the heel wrap.

Again, not my "before" photo, but this shows a similar type of heel wrap peeling I was facing.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the repairs. I paid $22, and probably could have invested a little more to fully replace the heel wrap. These Sam Edelman booties cost around $60 originally, meaning I can repair them 3 times before it would financially make sense to replace them, and more if they continue to be comfortable and supportive to my feet.

Thanks to Julie for reminding me about my priorities and saving my favorite booties!

In this era of fast fashion, what are some items that you've forgotten you can repair yourself or get repaired at a low cost?

Seed Starters, Part 2

Last month, I tested out 4 simple seed starters for my edible garden. I wanted to see for myself if all those videos showing crafty reuses of materials around your home were legit. 

Today, I bring you my findings:

Option 1: the reused glass jar with marbles in the bottom. I'll give this a C. I have a couple thin sad little sprouts starting to show, but they took longer to sprout than other options and just don't look as healthy. When I checked the soil after a few days, it was still very wet, despite having more room for drainage. I think it's just that glass can't "breathe". 

Option 2: the plastic container with vented lid. Rating: A! I have multiple sprouts after about 1 week. They are a healthy green and now have grown to the point I need to open the lid of the container. 

Option 3: the plastic tub with drainage holes. Rating: A-. This one also produced several healthy looking sprouts. There are a few less than with the lidded container and I did have to water this one slightly more, without the greenhouse effect of a lid.

Option 4: the folded TP roll. Rating: F. This one produced 0 sprouts. Honestly, this one was just hard to keep the soil moist. The cardboard kept drying out, and leaking out the folded base. It would require watering a couple times a day just for basic moisture, compared to 2-3 days with the plastic containers. 

In all, this was a fun experiment. I will be able to use the tomato plants resulting from the plastic tubs, and will likely use this method again in the future. 

Pro tip, though: I'm not a professor gardener. :-) I highly recommend checking out gardening classes from your local gardening organization or community college. I recently attended a webinar from @bellevuedemonstrationgarden for a $5 recommended donation that shared fantastic tips on temperature, soil conditions, when to transplant, disease prevention, and more. Support your local professionals while optimizing your fruit and veggie production!

A Different Type of Donation

Are you starting to think about spring cleaning? Have you been doing "spring cleaning" this whole time during quarantine and there are just bags piling up because you don't want to visit a thrift store with crowds and reduced hours? 

Or, are you avoiding thrift stores because I've already told you they're only able to sell a small portion of their overall donations? Or you have some items that aren't great condition?

There's a new service, for clothing and textile donation specifically, that will solve all of this: Retold Recycling. It works through prepaid mailers (convenience). Those prepaid mailers are made from compostable cornstarch (you won't add more plastic to the waste stream). They then sort through your items to find the best path to divert them into: thrift shop, charity shop, recycler, upcycler.

Because they do the sorting, you don't have to figure out: Is this thrift shop already over-saturated in jeans? How do I find a textile recycler for my hole-y socks? You can feel good knowing that Retold is making these informed decisions for you, preventing your items from ending up in the landfill. 

This service is "ish" cost neutral. You will pay up front for the pre-paid mailers. And if you do one of their recurring subscriptions, they give you rewards to spend with their feel-good brand partners (aka companies with like-minded good-for-the-planet goods). The bags average $15 up front and you receive $15 approximate value to spend with the partners. 

I'm curious what you think: Is this a recycling model you would be interested in trying?

Refinish Your Furniture

A couple years ago, I got this ugly white filmy stain on my coffee table. Not sure what caused it, perhaps the heat of a pizza box. I turned a blind eye, in fear that I had destroyed the finish and it was going to be a major undertaking to restore it to its original glory. My mind spiraled with visions of chemical stripper and sandpaper, and stains and varnish, doing a ton of work just to end up with a top that didn't perfectly match the rest of the table. You can't tell the size from this cropped photo, but the stained area was approximately 6" x 10".

Finally ready to face the daunting task, I start Googling my options, and was presented with shockingly easy solutions, none of which involved removing and redoing the finish.

Option 1: Rub it mayonnaise.

Option 2: Rub it with equal parts oil and vinegar (so mayonnaise). 

Option 3: Rub a hot iron on steam setting over it. 

The iron option seemed a little more advanced and scary, so mayo it was. The worst that could happen would be I'd need to wash it off, and I'd be out less than 10 cents.

So I gathered a soft white rag and a bottle of mayo. I squirted about a tablespoon of mayo onto the rag, and rubbed into the wood, with the grain. 

The results were *immediate*. Within 10 seconds, the white film was completely gone, and the excess mayo wiped clean with a dry part of the rag. Use a little lemon furniture polish as a next step to remove any last mayo smell.

Lesson learned: don't be intimidated to try and do minor restoration of your furniture. These tiny touch-ups will prolong the life and look of my furniture for years, costs almost no $$ and time, and takes no harsh chemicals.

Are you ready to upgrade your furniture for free?