Knock, Knock...Who's There? Dishes...Dishes Who?

Dishes the police! or Dishes a nice place! Two of my kids’ favorite knock, knock jokes which I have heard way too many times. But on the topic of dishes….

Finding a favorite scrubber for hand-washing dishes has been a bit of a journey for me over the years. Of note, I didn’t have a dishwasher for most of my adult life until the past 5ish years, so hand-washing was all I did and having a good (meaning effective and long-lasting) scrubber was relatively important. Before being as mindful about waste as I became, I often used those sponges with a scouring pad on one side, you know, those standard yellow and green ones. In my thrifty ways, I would often cut them in half and I actually came to prefer the smaller size. Then I liked the fancy scrubber brushes (e.g. Oxo) which you could fill with liquid soap and the soap would automatically dispense as you washed or you could push a sort of button. I vacillated between using various sponges and brushes and generally came back to sponges of some sort. As I started to care more about being ‘green,’ I went through a phase of using loofah, which sort of worked but I found myself using WAY more soap because it didn’t really hold water or soap very well. Then there was the period where I saved those plastic produce net bags and made scrubbers out of those, fashioned around an eco-friendly sponge. It did it’s job and I really liked the idea of re-purposing those bags, although I would prefer to avoid those now, I still succumb to them when there is a great deal on a bag of avocados or oranges or lemons (hoping the extinction of those will be a future post when I am ready to commit). However, they weren’t ideal and fell apart more than I wouldn’ve liked. I’ve also used ‘natural’ sponges that are similar to the green and yellow ones—part regular sponge and part scouring pad—but the ones I have found, I haven’t loved, and the scouring side seems to fall apart easily.

In the past several months, I have been using a combination of loofah and wooden scrubbing brushes with natural bristles. I’m ok with my set-up but I am not sure this will be a forever situation. I found a set of scrubbing brushes with bristles of different levels of coarseness and the dish wand brush has a replaceable head. These scrubbers work well with the Dish Washing Block. The loofah I found was designed specifically for washing dishing and it seems to hold water and soap much better than when I had tried to use loofah in the past. I’m not sure if it’s a different part of the plant or at a different level of maturity but it works better and also works well with the bar soap. Part of finding new dish scrubbing products was also influenced by switching to a solid bar soap for dishwashing. I didn’t need something that could hold liquid soap and instead I needed something that could kind of scrub the bar soap to get the soap off more effectively.

As I said, I’m not sure that I am completely sold on this set-up but it works and I would rather keep this up than return to buying any plastic or synthetic sponge or brush to wash my dishes.

Snack Attack

I was not allowed to have a lot of snacks as a kid. My parents were pretty strict (and thrifty) when it came to food. Being a mom myself now, I feel like I depend on snacks sometimes—as bribes, as a tool to head off difficulties that I can foresee way before my kids can, to soothe my anxious mom self and make me feel like I am giving my kids enough calories, and probably to fulfill my snack-deprived child self. I usually bring some kind of snack(s) with me when I take my kids somewhere…just in case. We also often have picnic lunches outside. As I began to pack more lunches for our outings and also for daycare/preschool, I looked for more packing options so as not to use plastic bags and also not to buy snack-sized, individually-wrapped, smaller portions of, let’s say crackers or cookies or trail mix. I do have some reusable containers, bento boxes, and other things like that, which I do use often, but sometimes I want something more like a bag. When all is done and eaten, bags are also easier to make compact for transport.

These are some bags I like to use for sandwiches, trail mix, carrot sticks, cookies, fruit, etc., and not just for my kids but for me too. They come in different sizes and are easy to wash. It is true that they are not airtight like plastic so things can become a bit stale or dry out faster, but I have rarely kept food in them long enough for this to even matter. I think I prefer the lunchskins ones because they are easier to clean and the brand has a lot of great products which are also pretty cute. So one more easy way to reduce waste.

Squeeze Please

In continued acknowledgement, honor, and support of Black Lives Matter, HERE is a little something to read about the intersection of climate and racism. The article indicates that “The rich have a bigger carbon footprint than the poor, but it is the poor who are more likely to be people of color in this country and who are often most vulnerable to the impact of climate change.” Yet another important perspective to consider.

*Awkward transition*

I think like most kids, my kids love squeeze pouches. And I assume like most parents, I find them to be extremely convenient, especially while on-the-go. But let’s face it, they are a money suck and super wasteful. Enter the reusable squeeze pouch. There are many, many, MANY different kinds in different shapes and sizes that exist out there. The ones you can see here in the pics are the ones that have worked well for me, for no particular reason. Here are some of the pros and cons I have realized:
PROS
less wasteful, less expensive, complete control over the ingredients so…ideally healthier
CONS
a bit annoying to open when washing, need to be prepped

As far as what to put in them, I usually just blend some combo of whatever I have that seems tasty and healthy. I usually mix some fruits and veggies and sometimes I add flax seeds, chia seeds, plain yogurt, oils…again, whatever I have that seems to make sense. And you can use fresh or frozen ingredients or some combination. My kids love them. I normally keep them in the freezer and then pop one in their lunch box or whatever bag of food and snacks I prepare for an outing. It also then serves as a kind of ice pack but then defrosts by lunch time. We are all a big fan of these.

*And if you happen to have a dehydrator, if you make a large amount, you can use the same puree to make fruit leathers…another yummy snack.

Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong

Aside from an elevator, the title of this blog post (which is a line in a song lyric) is one of the first things that came to my mind when I thought of the word “lift.” And then I went to listen to the song and was reminded of what a special, raspy voice Joe Cocker had, RIP.

And to attempt to connect to the topic at hand, I think that the words “love,” “lift”, and “belong” appropriately describe my experience of this product. The Soap Lift® is a pretty useful product when using bar soap. And as I began to foresee a lot more bar soap in my life, I finally got around to getting some of these. The Soap Lift® essentially lifts the soap so that some air can circulate underneath and dry it out a bit so you are not left with a total gooey mess on your soap dish. It’s not just about making bar soap a better, less messy experience but it is also supposed to extend the longevity of your soap. I’ve used it on hand soap in the bathroom and now on my bar dish soap. I’ve had these for a little while now and pre-COVID I felt like they really worked. However, now that we are washing hands more frequently in my household, the soap is getting wet more frequently and I’ve noticed some goo. I think there is just less time between washings to let things dry out completely. I still like the product though and I think I may need to change my soap dish situation to address the issue. There are a lot of colors and even some shapes to choose from. One of the easiest and smallest changes I have made.

P.S. Don’t forget to check out the Products page where you can find links for some of the things I feature. These are not affiliate links. I don’t make any money off of them. These are just for your convenience.

Back to Basics

While most of us are still staying at home and physical distancing, I thought I would take a detour from my originally planned path and focus on topics that could be beneficial in this situation, such as reducing the need to buy certain ‘essential’ things. Aside from being better for the environment and our wallet, it’s particularly relevant to our current situation so that we don’t have to go to stores as much (for those who are concerned) AND so that we don’t have to potentially scramble and worry about whether or not these kinds of things are in stock anywhere. We all know toilet paper has been a big one and I WILL be posting on that but not now.

The unpaper towel, as it seems to commonly be called, is essentially a cloth. It is a cloth used instead of a paper towel. That’s really it. It is basically what people used before paper towels were invented and what many people around the world still use. So it’s nothing new or inventive. You can buy them expressly made for this purpose or you can also just buy/use cloth napkins or washcloths or kitchen rags. Some people sell ‘fancy’ ones that snap together and can be rolled like a roll of paper towels so that you can still use a paper towel holder. It had been on my mind for awhile to make some unpaper towels and I finally did! The current pandemic lit a fire under me and I pulled out my sewing machine and got to it. For the fabric, I actually bought flat sheets at a thrift store several months back before everything was shut down. I was initially going to buy some new fabric but in the spirit of zero waste, I opted to reuse. I feel super lucky that I found the ones that I did so quickly. I found white flannel and gray jersey sheets—the exact types of fabric and neutral colors I wanted to try. I wouldn’t recommend regular cotton sheets or fabric. The flannel and jersey absorb nicely. I’ve also seen some made with terry cloth or old towels. I washed the sheets really well and then I cut them into rectangles which measured approximately 12 inches x 9.75 inches. I did not plan the size ahead of time or measure when I cut. I only know the size because I just measured them, just now, to help convey a sense of size. I cut the sheets in half then those halves in half and so on and so on until the size made sense for my usage. I didn’t undo any of the seams at the top or sides of the sheet. I wanted this to be easy. I think the sheets were queen-sized so I got a fair amount out of them. I did cut them all the same size more or less though because I wanted to make them 2-ply. After that, I put 2 rectangles together, right sides facing out, and just sewed them together with a zigzag edge. I used contrasting thread just for an accent. And that’s it. All done.

Figuring out a system of usage is another thing. I don’t really like to have cloths strewn all over the place. I store the clean ones, ready for use, rolled up in a wire basket on the kitchen counter. I made a lot of them so there always seems to be enough in circulation and we don’t ever seem to be running out. After they are used, they go in a 2.5 gallon trash can under the sink that serves as a cloth and rag hamper. I also am in the process of getting a small counter-top-rag-drying-rack-thingy because sometimes we only use one corner of a cloth to clean something but it is not really dirty. The one used spot can easily be rinsed and then hung to dry for reuse. But I think we pretty much have it down now and I love that I don’t have to worry about buying paper towels.

In the Beginning...

I originally started this blog back in September 2019 but I didn’t tell that many people. I had never done a blog so I was testing the waters, mainly of my time and abilities, but also of my level of comfort with sharing my own content. And…I didn’t end up having as much time to work on it as I had planned. But what I learned is that I enjoyed the process of doing the blog and I also enjoyed the process of the topic. So while I dropped the ball on creating more content, I didn’t actually stop trying to be a zero and I continued to make lifestyle changes even though I didn’t post them. In present day, April of 2020, during this strange and surreal time where most of us are under stay-at-home orders due to this COVID-19 pandemic, I have come back to this project. It feels like a good time. Not because I have more time while staying at home (I actually have less), but because this hibernation experience has stirred creativity, resourcefulness, conservation of resources, and community which feels very much aligned with Trying to Be a Zero. So I am going give this another go and kind of start over. I will first re-post previous entries and then share new ones once I have re-released all the old stuff. It also gives me time to catch up and create new content and hopefully get more on top of the game. Hopefully. Fingers crossed.

Originally from September 1, 2019:
Why start now in September?  Why not.  But also of course.  Since I was a forever-student, I tend to still think in academic years (September-May + Summer) and September always feels like a new beginning. I thought I would start with something very basic—something that I am assuming most of us do every day, sometimes multiple times a day—Washing The Dishes. Even those who have dishwashers, usually wash some things by hand. So, I present to you The No Tox Life Zero-waste Vegan Dish Washing Block™.  It is the only bar dish soap I have tried and I’ve only been using it for a couple of weeks, but so far I am in love . I just rub my dish sponge/scrubber on it and get to washing.  It suds up really nicely and does not dry my hands out.  Now I don’t have to buy plastic container after container of liquid dish soap.  I ordered 2 and would recommend ordering many (maybe with friends?) to reduce shipping frequency. I would love to find a place to buy this, or something like it, in-person.  I’m not sure how long it will last and I didn’t do my research on this so it’s hard to know what the cost comparison might be to liquid dish soap.  I will keep you posted on this and let you know further down the road.  Or if you happen to know, please do tell. Thanks!

I did come across one instance so far where I felt like I needed liquid soap. I wanted to soak a bunch of small toys in a large pot of soapy water before I washed them. I ended up just rubbing the soap on my hands underwater in the pot, creating some suds. I also added some white vinegar for extra cleaning properties. Not sure if it did the job as well. It somehow felt lacking, but maybe that’s just because I wasn’t used to it. I know some of these changes will also be a matter of changing perspective and just getting used to something different. The toys seemed to turn out just fine—nice and clean.

*UPDATE: I still use it, I still love it, and I have upgraded to the huge size. I used 2 of the medium bars from September through the end of the year, so approximately 3 months. I started using the huge block at the beginning of January 2020 and I still have PLENTY left almost 3 months later. I suspect it will last quite awhile.*