Living Greener

This is not a sponsored post. No purchases made from any of the links will earn me any kind of commission. Although, if you choose to shop from Grove, if you create your account using this link you will receive a free gift set, and I will earn $10.

Recycle, Reuse, Reduce.  It's something we all learned as children: the Three Rs of minimizing pollution.  Some materials, most prevalent in day-to-day life being cardboard boxes and pop cans/bottles, can be recycled and turned into new cardboard boxes and pop cans.  Wash out and reuse that Ziploc bag, or save that bubble mailer envelope for your next outgoing package, and you've just saved (or at least delayed) some plastic waste from hitting the landfill.

Lately, I've been focusing on the final R: reducing.  I'm sure most people out there have done this in at least some manner: you've got your super awesome glass or aluminum or BPA-free plastic water bottle that you take with you everywhere, rather than going through zillions of single-use bottles.  It's true that lots of reusable items can save you money in the long run: making your pot of coffee at home and bringing it with you in your aluminum travel mug is way cheaper than buying a cup at Starbucks every day.

But sometimes, resource-reducing items aren't always cheaper than their less green alternatives. So, this post is going to highlight my privilege as a middle-class person with (a tiny bit of) extra expendable income.  If I can spend a few extra bucks a month to reduce my carbon footprint on this Earth, then I will.

I initially wanted to do a full blog post on everything you're going to read about here. I really do have that much to say about all of this stuff. It was going to be a whole series and I was going to take photos of the products I have at home and be like a Real Influencer.

But OMG I do not have time for all that. So here's the condensed version, one big dump of a post with all of the greener-living products I use, from hygiene to household.

Bite Toothpaste and Mouthwash Bits

Imagine chewing up a small mint, them brushing your teeth with it instead of swallowing it. That's what Bite Toothpaste Bits are! Instead of toothpaste in a plastic tube, which comes in a cardboard box, which is sometimes shrinkwrapped with plastic, you get little chewable mints in a reusable glass jar. After your first order, your refills come in compostable bags mailed in recyclable cardboard boxes. 

(Gonna interject a little ramble here that Bite is SUPER low on the abrasiveness chart. My teeth are super sensitive to hot, cold, and now - lucky me! - sugar, but brushing my teeth with Bite never bothers my mouth. And I'm really excited for my next order of Bits, because they just started adding nHAp to them. The TL;DR of nHAp is that it's really good for your teeth and can even help restore lost enamel.)

Subscribe for $31.80 every 4 months (which evens out to $7.95/month) so you don't have to worry about when to buy toothpaste - and a subscription saves you a few bucks, too! Amazon has a plethora of other toothpaste bits, which may or may not be at better price points.

I've still got a big old plastic bottle of traditional liquid mouthwash at home, but when that's used up, I'm going to try Bite's mouthwash bits as well. It also has nHAp in it, and it's the same concept as their toothpaste bits: chew, fill your mouth with water, swish, spit. It's $20 for 124 mouthwash bits if you subscribe.

Bamboo toothbrushes

Even though it's as sturdy as wood, bamboo is actually related to grass. Which means it grows FAST. So it's WAY better for the environment to make disposable products out of bamboo!

I went with Brush With Bamboo because not only are the handles biodegradable, the bristles are made of biodegradable and vegan castor bean oil. Yes, oil. I have no idea how they get an oil to turn into a bristle that can get wet repeatedly, but they do! The bristles are long and very, very soft. A 4-pack (one year's supply for one person if you change it out every 3 months) costs $20. Bite also makes a bamboo brush made with castor bean oil bristles! (A common biodegradable, but not vegan, toothbrush bristle is made from boar's hair.) I'm sure you could find bamboo toothbrushes on Amazon as well.

Plastic-free floss

I actually haven't bought any of these yet, because when Mark and I moved, I found about an 8-year supply of floss in his bathroom cupboards. And we have two mostly-full bags of plastic floss picks. I'm so sorry, environment! But it's better to throw these things away used than unused, right? 😶

However, if I ever use up all of the plastic floss that I have at home, I've got my eye on Bite's vegan candelila floss. I also could have sworn that I saw an ad for a stainless steel floss pick that comes with biodegradable floss, but the only thing I could find while actually looking for such a product is this Canadian Indiegogo campaign for Durapik, which hasn't been released yet at the time of writing this.

Reusable q-tips

This product was 100% an impulse buy from an Instagram ad. You'll see below that I find Earthsider to have great products, but at way too steep a price tag. I don't regret falling for this particular impulse buy, though, because I do really like these reusable swabs and I haven't seen anything like them elsewhere! It's a set of 2 silicone swabs for $26 (I got it on sale for $13). One of them is smooth silicone with one pointed and one rounded end. The other one is slightly textured on both ends, which I find helpful for getting water out of my ears after a shower. They come in a nifty carrying/storage case, which has a few small holes in it so you can put them away still wet after being washed off and they won't get mildewy. 

Other alternatives to traditional cotton-and-paper-or-plastic Q-tips is single-use biodegradable bamboo swabs, found at Grove or Earthsider.

Bamboo paper products

There are lots of paper products on the market made from our favorite fast-growing plant.

I've tried both Honeycomb Luxury and Seedling by Grove's bamboo toilet papers. And guess what? Even though the price point is vastly different - $68 for a 24-pack at Honeycomb vs $25 for a 24-pack at Grove - the TP feels exactly the same. Same ply, same softness, same lack of "dust" or "crumbs" or "snow" (you know what I mean), same size rolls. Except Grove doesn't bother to wrap their rolls in paper, which I guess makes it more plebian than luxury? 

There's also Who Gives a Crap, and they donate 50% of their proceeds to building accessible toilets in underprivileged areas around the world. I can't speak for the quality of the TP as I haven't tried it, but they come in at $34 for 24 rolls (or $52 for 48 rolls, which is a better deal). 

So far the only bamboo facial tissue I've tried is from Grove, and while it's plenty sturdy for the wetter nose-blows, it's not very soft. Soft enough for when watching your boyfriend's cousin's live-streamed wedding makes you all teary for a few minutes, but probably too scratchy when you have a cold and blow your nose every 20 minutes for a week. 😉 Who Gives a Crap also carries bamboo facial tissue and paper towel, but I can't speak for their quality. Another place I've seen bamboo paper towel is Grove, and the reviews were pretty mixed, but skewed slightly towards the "way too flimsy" end, so I opted not to try it out just yet.

Hand soap tablets

Instead of buying a giant plastic jug of liquid hand soap and re-filling a small plastic bottle (which I will eventually tire of, because I am a Victim of Late Capitalism who Likes to Buy New Things), I now buy tablets of soap. One little tablet about 1/3 the size of my palm dissolves alka-seltzer style into the glass bottle that Blueland sends you with your starter kit. The bottle has a clearly marked fill line so you know exactly how much water to fill every time. Starter kits are $16 and they come with a glass bottle and 3 soap tablets; refills vary based on quantity but the best deal is 9 tablets for $14. Compared to spending nearly $14 for one bottle of foaming soap at Bath and Body Works, that's a pretty good deal!

Other household soaps & cleaners

Blueland also offers lots of other plastic-free soaps and cleaners, including: laundry detergent pods not wrapped in PVA; dishwasher detergent pods not wrapped in PVA; dish soap powder; bathroom cleaning spray; glass cleaning spray; and multi-surface cleaning spray. I haven't tried any of these yet. I purchased the dishwasher pods at $14 for 40 pods but still have a few older ones to use up.

Grove Collaborative is also a great resource for cleaning product concentrates that you mix with tap water at home. I got a free sample of their glass cleaner concentrate (sent in a small plastic tube, but way less plastic than a bottle of Windex!) with my first Grove order. Grove expects you to subscribe to everything you buy, but you can keep your account open without any active subscriptions.

Bee's Wrap

Instead of plastic wrap or aluminum foil, I've been using bee's wax wrap. Grove sells it in a variety of sizes - I went with the 3 pack of mediums for $18 - and it supposedly lasts about a year before it degrades too much. (I've only had mine for about 2 months). It can cling to any kind of surface because your body heat will actually semi-melt the edges onto your container! Hand wash with soap and COLD water between uses. You definitely don't want to use this in the microwave or dishwasher. When it gets too old to keep using (I'm not sure how you'll know - maybe it will rip? shrivel? dissolve?), it can be composted!

Reusable sealable bags

Yet another pantry essential I recently found on Grove, these silicone bags are far more resuable than Ziploc. They can go in the dishwasher, although some reviews warned against this. I myself had the smallest bag just rip on me at room temperature when I tried to open it - but Grove very easily gave me an account credit for the full cost of the three-piece set, which is a nice $10.95 for one each snack, sandwich, and gallon storage bag. Grove has a pretty wide assortment of different reusable bags to choose from.

Silicone stretchy lids

Since I only have a few pieces of bee's wrap and they're all the same size, I also got some stretchy silicone lids. I use the smallest one on open cans of cat food. The largest one just barely fits my 8-quart Instant Pot. The in-between sizes fit cups, bowls, small plates, small to medium Tupperwares, fruits that got cut in half, you name it. I first found these on Earthsider but the $40 price tag was a bit too high for me, so I wound up buying essentially the same 6-piece set on Amazon for just $6. They're dishwasher safe.

Reusable parchment paper

Once again, I found this product on Earthsider but didn't like the price ($36 for the largest one), so I found something similar on Amazon ($10 and it's bigger than Earthsider's largest, and you can cut it to your desired size). I cut mine up so that one piece fits my typical cookie sheet, and the other piece is kind of awkwardly large - I might cut it down to fit my 8" x 8" brownie pan and have a little scrap leftover.

In any case, this stuff replaces disposable parchment paper for lining pans and dishes that are going in the oven. It says it's dishwasher safe, but I prefer to hand wash mine. Recently I baked some salmon and broccoli with a sticky glaze sauce, and then I left the pan sitting on the stove overnight before cleaning it, and all of the gooey sauce just wiped right off using the scratchy side of the sponge! I haven't baked any desserts on this yet, but I'm confident that it would be just as nicely nonstick for cookies or whatnot as it is for gooey salmon.

Reusable water bottles

There are at least a zillion reusable water bottles on the market. My all-time favorite is the Contigo spill-proof bottle. The lid is made of plastic, but when you keep the same bottle for at least five years, that's pretty inconsequential. The bottle is stainless steel and isn't dishwasher safe (possibly only because of the colored paint on the outside?), although the lid can go in the dishwasher. This baby- ! The only time I've ever spilled water from it is when it fell onto the concrete ground out of my backpack's side pocket and the lid popped off. The button to release the silicone seal is easy to press - my then-7-year-old nephew-by-choice was able to drink out of it easily - but even if you were to drop the bottle mid-sip, you've let go of the button and so it re-seals itself! I've been able to drink water while laying flat on my back sick or hungover without spilling on myself. This bottle is just so good and I can't rave about it enough. It comes in a whole bunch of different colors to match your personality and color code your family.

Reusable produce bags

Since the pandemic hit and I started ordering my groceries online, I sadly haven't gotten much use out of my produce bags. But when I've gone to the outdoor farmer's market, I always have these with me! They help reduce plastic or paper waste when buying loose produce like berries or even onions/apples/potatoes/etc. And, since I don't have a big fancy pantry with drawers for my room-temperature produce, I can store my onions in the bags to keep them from rolling all around. I had some raspberries get a little smooshed and there was a lot of juice all over the bag, but a quick rinse under the kitchen sink with cold water got the color right out! I got this 5-piece set from Target for just $7 and I store anything that's not being used in my reusable grocery bag in the closet. Earthsider also has a set, but guess what - they're at least triple the price. This is another really basic product that can probably be found almost anywhere, though.

Menstrual cups

I could honestly write an entire blog series just on menstrual cups alone. I'll try to summarize quickly without going into too much intimate detail.

I used to use single-use disposable pads and tampons that had to be changed every 4-6 hours or as soon as they got too full. I would leak blood onto my pants WAY more often than I'd like, especially when I was younger and more self-conscious about the sound of unwrapping a pad in the school bathrooms. (Yeah, seriously.)

Menstrual cups may sound gross - I used to retch at the thought of emptying one out - but holy shit am I glad for them now. I was actively, heavily menstruating throughout the majority of 2018, 2019, and the first 3/4 of 2020 (there's a whole blog post right there). In that time, I only had to buy two (2!) silicone menstrual cups, which cost me a total of about $60. I would have been spending closer to $35 every month on pads and tampons. I shudder to think about the amount of cotton-and-plastic waste I would have generated in that time as well.

Finding the right menstrual cup for you can be really tricky. I highly recommend this resource for sizing, shaping, and pricing information. Personally, I started with Rebel Kate cups (it was free with $12 shipping at the time). Rebel Kate appears to be off the market (there's actually some controversy in the menstrual cup community as to whether these cheap cups are safe - I never had any health issues while using this one). I now use a Lumma Cup menstrual disc ($45 for two - I gifted the spare to a friend), which can be worn for mess-free period sex (another game-changer when actively bleeding for 4 months straight!!!). I've also tried Flex disposable menstrual discs (which can also be worn during sex), but their one size fits all didn't actually fit in me very well. Plus, even though you can wear these ones for 12 hours at a time, I still wasn't a fan of adding to the landfills. Flex offers tiered pricing based on your subscription quantities.

Biodegradable cat litter

I could write a whole post about my research into biodegradable litters, but I'll try once again to summarize. This detailed post was very helpful for me when I was trying to make a decision before getting my Beef Stroganoff, because the author had actually tried every kind she was reviewing.

Your most widely available options are corn, walnut, paper, assorted woods, and tofu. Corn seemed like the best option until I read that corn litter can sometimes contain a corn-specific bug that, if your cat were to eat it, could kill him/her. I did not want to risk that. Tofu sounds great but it's quite expensive. Paper/wood sounded like the worst at clumping and odor control. So I went with walnut, which is still more expensive than clay or corn, but cheaper than tofu and reportedly better at clumping. I'm super happy with Naturally Fresh Quick-Clumping walnut litter! The dust is very low; it clumps quite well; the smell is very pleasant when fresh, and it's pretty decent at masking odor; and it's flushable! That's right, biodegradable litters can be flushed down the toilet! Just be careful to break down any huge clumps or else you'll have to grab the plunger. Walnut litter is also safe if you have a litter-eating kitty (although the internet says a kitty will only do this if there's a nutritional deficiency, so be aware of this happening!). I get mine on Chewy at $21 for a 26-lb bag, which is a better deal than I've seen in pet stores by a couple of dollars.

Not only am I happy to not add clay litter to the landfills; I also learned that clay is strip-mined, which is really bad for the earth and can leave permanent scars in the ground. And, even though clay is natural, it doesn't ever break down once it's been fired. (Think of all the ancient pottery we've found buried who-knows-how-deep under ground. Hundreds or thousands of years old and we still have whole-ass clay pots and jars and even jewelry. Those litter pellets ain't goin' nowhere.)

Quick note that an open bag of any type of biodegradable litter should be stored in an airtight container, because otherwise they can attract household pests. We keep ours in a plastic tub with a locking lid in the coat closet, away from any sources of water or food.

In conclusion...

There are lots and lots of ways that you can reduce your carbon footprint, from finding biodegradable alternatives to super-reusable alternatives to products made from more sustainable resources. Some of them are more cost efficient than their common predecessors, while many of them are not. Personally, I find a higher price to be worth it (to an extent - sorry, Honeycomb Luxury and Earthsider). If I can convince everyone reading this to choose one item to replace their single-use plastics with, I will be super happy. If anyone reading this starts using multiple alternatives that I wrote about, I will be absolutely thrilled! 😁

***If I've sold you on any of the products I mentioned from Grove Collaborative, please consider creating your account using this link. If you do, you will get a bonus gift set with your first purchase, and I will earn a $10 store credit.

What kinds of environmentally friendly hygiene/household products do you use? Did I open your eyes to something you'd never thought of? Let me know in the comments!