3203: Six Ways To Use Minimalism To Support a Zero Waste Lifestyle by Jenny Lee of HelloBrio on Simple Living

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[00:01:42] Living Daily Episode 3203, Six Ways to Use Minimalism to Support a Zero Waste Lifestyle,

[00:01:50] by Jenny Lee of HelloBrio.com. And I'm your narrator, Justin Mollick. We're going to jump

[00:01:55] right into our Minimalist Monday article for today as we optimize your life. Six Ways to Use

[00:02:05] Minimalism to Support a Zero Waste Lifestyle, by Jenny Lee of HelloBrio.com. How does minimalism

[00:02:13] and zero waste go together? The beautiful thing about minimalism is that it naturally supports

[00:02:19] being zero waste, or nero waste as I like to call it, near zero waste. Many people who are

[00:02:25] interested in minimalism are also interested in sustainability since they often go hand in hand.

[00:02:31] If you buy less, you're demanding less of the economy which will create less demand. Sure,

[00:02:37] it'll take a lot of consumers to cut back on the products they buy in order to make a difference

[00:02:42] in the supply chain, but every little bit helps. Reduce, reuse, recycle is in that order for a

[00:02:49] reason. Reduce the amount of stuff you have and use. Reuse things where you can. Recycle is last

[00:02:55] because even though it's a solution, it's not a perfect one. Recycling requires a lot of energy,

[00:03:01] creates a lot of waste, costs a lot, and recycled materials become downgraded with every cycle.

[00:03:09] Here are six ways you can change your consumption habits in order to be more minimal and therefore

[00:03:14] zero waste and sustainable. Number one, unsubscribe. It's kind of crazy what a little

[00:03:22] unsubscribing can do. I somewhat recently found out about an app that allows you to request to

[00:03:28] be unsubscribed from various sources of junk mail. Just snap a picture of the offensive mail and type

[00:03:33] in your mailing address and the app will do the legwork for you. Junk mail be gone. The other

[00:03:39] thing that can inadvertently help you to reduce waste, unsubscribing from marketing email newsletters.

[00:03:45] Guess what? This will also help you spend less money and make your bank account happier.

[00:03:49] The less you buy online, the less waste you will create. You'll reduce the plastic packaging, paper

[00:03:55] receipts, and the gas and energy of transportation it takes for your item to arrive on your doorstep.

[00:04:01] I'm personally still working on this one. Amazon makes it too easy for a busy mom.

[00:04:06] It turns out that when you still need something like a pair of workout pants, that you'll be

[00:04:10] prompted to buy them because of the need. You'll be able to go to your favorite store, find a coupon

[00:04:16] online, and buy them intentionally. This is a vastly more intentional approach than responding

[00:04:22] to a marketing email prompting you to buy something you may not need. Number two, hang in there with

[00:04:29] your old items. Your old items still work. Hang on to them. For example, let's talk towels.

[00:04:37] Collectively we have maybe five adult bath towels. The boys hooded baby towels don't count.

[00:04:42] These towels are old. They're fraying at the ends now. The white ones aren't so white anymore.

[00:04:48] They're not fluffy and some of them are downright ugly. Would I love luxe hotel quality towels at

[00:04:54] home? Yes, of course. I've been tempted so many times to just buy new towels, especially almost

[00:05:01] every time we go to Target. They're so affordable and they're so white and fluffy and soft. But do

[00:05:07] we need new towels? No. Our towels still dry us. They are clean and free of mildew. It's not like

[00:05:15] we're hosting extravagant house guests anytime soon. Number three, repair and clean. By repairing

[00:05:22] and cleaning your items, especially your clothing, you can make them last a lot longer. If you take

[00:05:28] really good care of your stuff, you'll end up buying less. Example, boot resole. I bought some beautiful

[00:05:35] leather boots in 2013 when I originally wrote this post in 2018. I felt like it was almost impossible

[00:05:41] those were still alive, especially being a woman with lots of new style options every season.

[00:05:46] Okay, part of the reason I haven't replaced my boots yet is because I legitimately can't pull

[00:05:51] off short boots, aka booties. Believe me, I've tried. Part of the reason why these boots are still

[00:05:57] around is because I took them to a cobbler and spent $30 on a pair of $100 plus leather boots

[00:06:03] to get them resold. That and I conditioned them with olive oil every once in a while.

[00:06:09] Since 2018, I invested in a new pair of boots that have lasted me a couple of years already.

[00:06:15] I bought a pair of Timberland leather boots. They are dressier, not work boots, and they're super high

[00:06:19] quality. I suspect I'll get several years out of them. Cleaning. A little Dawn goes a long way.

[00:06:27] Yeah, so even though Dawn has a little duckling on its packaging, it's far from natural. That sh-t

[00:06:33] is a chemical and cuts through oil in order to save those cute little wildlife guys.

[00:06:37] But Dawn is a lifesaver when it comes to getting tough stains out of clothes. Greasy ones, blood

[00:06:44] related ones, who knows what my kid was eating or doing ones. Just spot treat your item with a little

[00:06:49] water, a tiny dab of Dawn, and scrub the fabric onto itself. Rinse it a little and then throw it

[00:06:55] into your next load of laundry. If the stain doesn't come out the first time, usually due to a grease

[00:07:00] stain, do the same thing but then also let it dry with some cornstarch before throwing it into the

[00:07:06] wash again. That should do the trick. Number four. Repurpose instead of trash. You know how I won't

[00:07:13] stop talking about our reusable tissues and napkins? How we bought the first batch from Marley's

[00:07:18] Monsters and then how we repurposed Beans flannel receiving blankets and had them professionally cut

[00:07:23] up and serged via Etsy? Yeah, repurposing those cute little blankets still makes me smile every time I

[00:07:29] blow my nose. And you know those dingy old towels I mentioned before? In the name of Nero Waste,

[00:07:36] we will continue to run our less than perfect bath towels into the ground. Then we will cut

[00:07:41] them up, serge the edges, and use them as rags. Repurposing will keep unpresentable items out of

[00:07:48] rotation and will also keep those items from going into a landfill. Repurpose what you can. Number five.

[00:07:56] Buy parts. So I love my French press but one day I got a little overzealous with cleaning the carafe.

[00:08:03] That one fateful day the bubbling soap caused me to drop it and the glass shattered when it hit

[00:08:08] the floor. Sad face. Instead of buying a whole new French press, I found a replacement glass carafe on

[00:08:15] Amazon for about half the price of a new French press. Frugal? Check. Nero Waste? Check. Win-win-win.

[00:08:24] Next time you need to throw something out because it's broken beyond repair, can you instead find

[00:08:29] replacement parts to fix it? Google is a monster of a machine. Just look up your product replacement

[00:08:35] parts and I'm sure you'll find something. Number six. Buy less and higher quality. When you need a

[00:08:42] new pair of jeans, do you want to run to Target to get your fix for $20 or will you do your due

[00:08:47] diligence and shop around until you find the perfect pair of jeans? Okay just kidding, shopping

[00:08:53] for jeans sucks. I could have come up with a better example but you see where I'm going here. Chances

[00:08:58] are the pair of jeans that will fit you well and that will last after several wash cycles aren't

[00:09:03] going to cost $20. If you splurge on a pair of $100 plus jeans, the quality will be there. You won't

[00:09:10] be as tempted to shop for more jeans because you know you have this awesome pair of jeans that fit

[00:09:15] you just the right way and go with everything in your closet. Your jeans will last you longer

[00:09:20] because they're higher quality. And if for whatever reason you find yourself done with your pair of

[00:09:25] expensive jeans before the end of their life cycle, the resale value will be higher and you can use that

[00:09:30] money to buy your next pair of perfect jeans. Feel me? For example, Stitch Fix sent me a pair of cut from

[00:09:38] the cloth black jeans years ago and to this day they're still the only pair of jeans in my closet.

[00:09:45] So buy less. Buy only what you need. Take away temptation. Run your possessions into the ground.

[00:09:52] Repair and clean them to your best ability. Buy higher quality classic style clothes you love

[00:09:58] that will last you a long time. You just listened to the post titled,

[00:10:07] 6 Ways to Use Minimalism to Support a Zero Waste Lifestyle by Jenny Lee of hellobrio.com

[00:10:14] and I'll be right back with my commentary. Thank you to Jenny. We don't talk too much about

[00:10:19] sustainability here which is a bit surprising considering I read an article about minimalism

[00:10:25] on this show pretty much every Monday if not multiple times a week and I agree that they

[00:10:31] do go hand in hand and while I do enjoy the feeling of throwing things away, not adding to

[00:10:37] landfills and either selling, donating, repurposing or repairing does make me feel better. When it

[00:10:46] comes to buying, I think this is something that's come to me a bit more naturally. I don't typically

[00:10:52] buy a lot of expensive things but when I do buy something a bit more substantial, I often research

[00:10:58] possibly too much actually, but I do that so that I can hopefully not have to replace the item for

[00:11:04] years or even decades. My car is a good example of that. It's well over a decade old. I have a

[00:11:11] backpack more than 25 years old that's still going strong. It came with a lifetime warranty and I've

[00:11:17] definitely cashed in on that to get the zipper fixed twice or three times. It might have been

[00:11:22] a bit more expensive when purchasing it but I really think over the long term it saved me money

[00:11:28] and actually time too since I don't have to shop for another. So good things to think about as we

[00:11:33] start the week. Thank you for being here listening every day and I'll see you tomorrow where your

[00:11:39] optimal life awaits.