Day 2 – Earth Week Challenge

Angelina says:

Hello everyone! Wow, all these comments are so inspiring! So wonderful to read all the different ways we’re doing the best we can with what we’ve got. I also really appreciate the honesty about what’s doable and what’s not for you all. It’s not about perfection, and it’s motivating and encouraging to read how it all works for each of you. WTG!

I have a family of 9 (plus one if you count my MIL currently staying with us) so I’m sure you can imagine how challenging it is for us to keep our footprint down. We live in Costa Rica with limited access to recycling options, so we have to be very mindful at the point of purchase, especially since we live by the ocean. We keep the windows and doors open rather than run the a/c, we line dry everything in the morning sun, and use all natural homemade cleaners. My hubby has asthma and I have sinus allergies so we really try to keep the chemicals and fragrances to a minimum as much as possible.

What I wish we could find an alternative for is our dish soap. In Costa Rica what is mostly used is a tub of hard paste that turns to soapy suds when you rub the sponge on it. There are eco liquid soaps but they are so crazy expensive that we couldn’t possibly fit it into our budget. ($6+ a bottle) We don’t have a dishwasher, so that’s ten peoples worth of dishes all day long (work at home and homeschool) so we’d be using a bottle way too fast to make it doable. I can’t easily order ingredients from Amazon because there are strict custom laws. My best bet is bringing them down when we visit Canada but again, how practical is that considering how quickly we’d run out.

Anyway, that’s that. Thanks again for all your contributions, I’m gaining so much from reading them all! <3

Lauretta Dunford says:

Hi Everyone!

My goodness this challenge has been so amazing so far 😀 So inspiring already and we are only 2 days in!

I am loving today’s and yesterday’s themes. I wanted to share some of the things that I do around my home for myself and my kiddo. And I want to precede all of this by stating flat out that I like to keep things REALLY SIMPLE. I am a single mom and small business owner. When I feel like things are becoming a big effort, then they start to seem outside of my reach. For me, like many of you I’m sure, its essential that I can whip up DIY recipes quickly, and switch out “conventional” products with natural alternatives easily.

{ INDOOR AIR QUALITY }
– I have about a zillion house plants 😐
– I love using my essential oil diffusers and smudging with sage and palo santo.
– I have gotten into the habit of opening my doors and windows about once a week through the winter to let some fresh air in.

{ FLOORS }
– when I mop, I use castile soap and Bandits Blend*
– I sweep and spot mop with a great little thing I got from Norwex. The dry/wet attachments are easily removed, washed and reused.

{ KITCHEN & BATHROOM }
– I use liquid castile soap and a bit of Bandits Blend in the toilet bowl and then clean the rest with my all purpose cleaner (see below) and some rags that I can wash up.
– Since I make my own dish and hand soap with liquid castile soap and water, I will often use that to scrub away any hard water from the sink and counter area in the kitchen or bathroom.
– After that I wipe the bathroom counters and mirrors squeaky clean with Norwex cloths…they make things seriously so shiny.
– Like Ally, I am also really curious to know what people are using for dishwasher tablets.

{ ALL PURPOSE CLEANER }
– I have seen lots of other people posting about their homemade lemon or orange peel cleaner. This is exactly what I do too!
– I use this on the toilet and around the kitchen mostly.

{ LAUNDRY }
– For my laundry soap I make a powder of 2:1 parts washing soda and grated hard castile soap bar **
– dryer balls with a little bit of essential oil.
– I also like to hang as many items to dry as possible. Clotheslines are queen in the summer but I also hang things on racks in the winter months.

{ CLEANING PASTE }
– equal parts baking soda and coconut oil.
– I mostly use this to clean away labels off of jars and bottles so I can reuse them.
– you can also use this in place of magic erase style cleaning products.
– let the paste sit on mark (like dreaded crayon on the wall) for 15 mins or so and then clean off with a scrubby or cloth and soap.

{ QUESTION }
Has anyone been told by an elder about the times before garbage bags? Apparently, the common practice was to line your garbage bins with newspaper. Once there was a little pile of waste in the bin, you would pull it out, wrap it up in a little bundle with the paper and toss it into your large bin to be picked up. I am curious what you all think of this. I really want to try it as it is one way to eliminate the bag!

* You can purchase Bandits Blend (theives oil) from Alypsis Inc in Peterborough
** It is a good idea to be sure your castile soap choice does not contain Palm Oil.

<3<3<3

Jessica Hamblin says:

Ally, first I would like to say that you are a beautiful soul and I am extremely happy you have put this together!
I just made a dish soap that I so far really like, it doesn’t get bubbly but I am learning that it bubbles from the chemicals.
Dish Soap;
1/2c thieves cleaner
1/2c Castile soap
1/2c baking soap dissolved in hot water
Add all to your dish soap bottle and fill the rest with distilled water.

I will be getting more plants from my home!

It has been inspiring reading about the limited amount of garbage and recycling everyone is creating and I have realized I can for sure do better. I have been composting for year now and that helped lower the amount the garbage going to the curb.

Cherianne Cybulskie says:

Incredible video today Ally!

I can relate to a lot of your thoughts & feelings. The nature centre I help operate has solar panels that pump green energy into the grid for Bull Frog we are also Bull Frog Powered.

I have a hard time because we live with people who don’t put the environment as their forefront and I don’t think they ever will. I can try to post little notes around the house & be reminding them about things but it almost feels like I’m annoying them. So I just try what I can on my own. But it doesn’t help being surrounded by others using a lot of waste and not thinking about electricity, or reusing things.

Watching this video has reminded me that I can keep planning for when I am no longer living with other people who don’t share the same values. It’s also nice hearing that others are feeling the same thing and I’m not as big of a weirdo as the people directly around me can make me feel 😛

Living in the county we drive to a lot of places. I want us to start planning our trips a lot more in advance and not be wasting gas making any extra trips.

I also want to stop using so much plastic but I’m finding it so hard! Country Cupboard is constantly motivating and inspiring me.

Thanks again Ally!

Angel says:

I make 2 cleaners that I use for the house. I save all my citrus peels (oranges, lemons and tangerine) and I jam them into a mason jar and cover them with white vinegar. Let them sit in there for a couple of weeks. Then I strain out the peels (and compost them). I mix the remaining infused vinegar 50/50 with plain water and its good to go. I love using it in the kitchen because it smells so much nicer than plain vinegar, plus the citrus oils cut through grease nicely. For the other one I use pure water, a few drops of tea tree oil, grapefruit and lavender EO, and a little castille soap or veg. Glycerin.

Carly Reid says:

Air purifying plants are my favourite — a lot of them don’t need a lot of light either which is great for people like me because my house doesn’t offer any direct light. Spider plant, pothos, snake plant, ivy, ferns, bamboo…there are so many great plants!

Cleaning I’m pretty basic…I too am a vinegar with some essential oils kind of gal as well. I’m trying my best to do more with this and look for recipes for everything like laundry as well so excited for those recipes in the comments.

As for powering the home, I’m the first person to remind people to turn off the lights, to light a candle, to just sit in the dark and BE. It’s a lovely thing.

This post comes at a strange time for me as I am being gifted my grandmothers car today. I have walked everywhere for almost 33 years and I don’t plan on that changing just because I am getting a car. I just got my license a little over a year ago as it was never a priority and also because I enjoyed not having a car for environmental impacts and I will continue to walk to places that I’m able to.

Thanks for doing this Ally. This is so great! There are of course a bunch of resources online but it’s nice for it to live in one spot and for people to be able to come here and share.

Lyndele Gauci says:

I remembered something else! 🤣 For indoor air quality: definitely be sure to change the furnace filter regularly. I have lots of spider plants among others indoors, as well as I use Palo Santo aaaaand sage in an almost daily basis. One thing to consider to reduce or eliminate indoor pollutants, is considering your home renos. Off gassing from latex and plastics are huge! That rubber backed bath mat? The paint you use? The underlay of carpets and glues in flooring??? All things to consider too!