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Shop Small Gift Guide 2018

November 24, 2018 by Erika

Good golly, how in the world is November almost over?!  I still have things about the Bent Arrow Challenge I want to write about!  Ugh!  Oh well, since time has decided that it will continue on whether I'm behind or not, I guess I need to just roll with it.

As you know, I'm super passionate about local and small businesses.  I truly believe that we as Christians have a responsibility to shop small and local whenever we can.  By buying from "the little guy" we help someone live out what their God-given passions are and we get to build community.  When the small shop owner isn't worried about how in the world she's going to feed her family, she's going to be a lot more open to joining you Sunday morning instead of putting in extra hours just to make ends meet.

That being said, for Small Business Saturday, I wanted to share some of my favorite small and local shops.

Stitch & Timber

Stitch & Timber is owned by my college BF, Malia.  When I asked her to share about her business she said, "I have always loved cross stitching and wanted to share my work...I decided to see if any would sell.  Low and behold they do, slowly but surely!"  Malia creates modern finished cross stitch and paper goods for today's home.  I have several of her pieces, including a custom made "Green is the New Black" reusable produce bag (check my IG to see it).

You can find Malia's work on Instagram here and her shop on Etsy here.  Use code FULLSIMP10 at checkout for 10% off orders of $15 or more!

The Mustard Seed Marketplace

This is a relatively new shop to me, but I fell in love with it immediately!  The Mustard Seed Marketplace partners with over 30 artisan groups in 18 countries to create a marketplace for artisans locally + globally!  They carry a curated collection of Fair Trade + Locally Made + Give Back Brands.  And they have something for just about everyone on your list stocking items like jewelry, apparel, home décor, accessories and more!

My kind of shop!  And it is located in northern Indiana!

You can shop The Mustard Seed Marketplace here and follow them over on Instagram here.  You can use the code SHOPSMALL for 10% through 12/31!

I asked for the black Slub Tee for Christmas...so fingers crossed it shows up under the tree!

Freckled Hen Farmhouse

Y'all know I love Freckled Hen Farmhouse!  I cannot get enough of their cute, yet practical farmhouse décor!  Natalie is also awesome to follow over on Instagram.

You can find the Freckled Hen Farmhouse over on Instagram here or on their website here.

Chalk Full of Design

Another small business that I love is Chalk Full of Design.  Last year I got the kids chalkboards from here as their "something to read" gift instead of books and they love them.  We also have the games pack that we keep in the van to pull out any time we are going somewhere with a long wait time instead of always shoving tablets or phones in front of them (which we do still do occasionally).  This year I got Kate her own personalized board so that she could have one like her big brother and sister.

If you need a laugh, follow Lindsay on Instagram here and watch her stories.  I love her!  You can shop her site here and she's currently running a sale of 15% off with code CFDHOLIDAY2018 until Monday!

Aleks Handmade

The last shop I'm going to share with you is another Indiana shop.  Aleks Handmade makes handmade dolls...even custom orders!  We have three dolls from Aleks and I cannot say enough about the quality.  They are soft and no little plastic pieces to worry about coming off.  Plus, they give back in a BIG way!  With their Dolls for Smiles program, they donate one doll for every doll purchased to the orphanage they are working with that quarter.  You have to go see the video of these children playing with dolls that look like them!  It is amazing.

You can shop Aleks Handmade here and follow them on Instagram here.

In full disclosure, I shopped Amazon too this year.  I get it.  But if everyone took the time and money to buy one or two gifts this season from a small or local business, think about what that could do for our communities!  Spending a little more for a gift that is handmade and/or fairly made is even better.  Make 2018 the year you buy less but better gifts for under your tree.

Merry Christmas!

 

Erika
Influence Network
Food Lovers Devotional

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Filed Under: My Full Life, Reviews Tagged With: #buybetternotmore, Christmas, farmhouse decor, gift guide, Indiana, shop local, shop small, Small Business Saturday, support local

Eating Local Made Easier

September 3, 2018 by Erika

Market Wagon sponsored this post, but all opinions, experiences and photographs are my own. I only share products and services that I truly believe in.

We did it!!!  The Bent Arrow Challenge 2018 has come to an end and we did pretty well.  Eating local wasn't as hard as we thought it would be, but a big contributor to it being easy was Market Wagon.

Market Wagon's mission is to "enable food producers to thrive in their local and regional markets."  When I talk to friends about Market Wagon, I simply say, "Think about a state-wide farmers market that you can shop online."

Producers all over the state of Indiana have signed up to have their products offered to buyers via Market Wagon.  All you have to do is go to the Market Wagon website, choose what you would like to purchase and Market Wagon will either deliver directly to your house or to one of their free pick-up locations.

This service allowed us to purchase from dairies that made cheese and yogurt, things I thought we might have to do without, during the challenge last month.  We also were able to enjoy salads since our lettuce was no longer producing in the heat and no vendors at our community farmers market had any to sell.  Many things I thought just weren't an option for us, suddenly became accessible because of using Market Wagon.  It was amazing!

Now you're wondering how exactly you can start using Market Wagon for yourself, and I'm happy to tell you!

How to Get Started

Visit the Market Wagon website and shop, adding things to your cart just like you would with any other online store, BUT you can be so excited knowing that your products are coming from a local maker or farmer!  Just make sure that you place your order before midnight on Tuesday to get your products that Thursday.

Farmers and producers will take Wednesday to prepare your items and deliver them to the Market Wagon distribution center Thursday morning.  Talk about fresh!  Then Market Wagon drivers will either deliver to your door for a small fee or to one of their pick-up locations for free.

If you choose the free pick-up option, you just head to the location during the window of time given and get your items.

We just tried these brats from Bent Arrow Acres too. You won't find a brat like this in any grocery!

Where Is Market Wagon Available?

Market Wagon services quite a few areas, and not just Indiana.  I shop the Central Indiana Market, but you can find out if your area is serviced by going to this page on their website and typing in your zip code.  The Central Indiana Market contains 14 counties!

My county actually is NOT serviced by Market Wagon.  So how do I use the service?  I use the free pick-up option.

Honestly, I didn't think that I could use Market Wagon for the longest time because my county isn't listed.  But I'm only a 40 minute drive to the nearest pick-up location in Bloomington, IN.  We visit Bloomington a lot for check-up appointments and at least once a month for some sort of errand.  Now, I just try to plan to make my trip up there on Thursdays and I can get my Market Wagon order too!

A tomato basil chicken (from Bent Arrow) and pasta ended our #bentarrowchallenge2018

What Are Your Favorites?

We are still relatively new to using Market Wagon, so I have not tried everything by any means, but we have already found a few favorite items that you might like to try too.

Bent Arrow Chicken

Claire and I went to Purdue together and have become good friends through blogging and our mutual love of local food.  Being able to purchase pasture-raised chicken from her without the 3+ hour drive is AMAZING to say the least.  Last fall, I was able to tour Claire and Adam's setup and feel very comfortable with their farming practices.  While we have friends close by that raise beef and pork, we don't know anyone nearby that raises meat chickens, so I love having Bent Arrow available to us.

Wildflower Foods Company Energy Bites

These rarely last past Friday at our house.  They are sooo good!  We buy the Chocolate Sea Salt, and I think they taste pretty close to a chocolate no-bake cookie except they are so much better for you!  My daughter loves it when I send a couple in her lunch on Friday and my son and I usually eat the rest....or sometimes I  just finish them myself!

Greener Side Gardens Lettuce Mix

I buy multiple bags of this lettuce each time because it is so good!  It's always fresh AND lasts for several days after pick-up.  I had been missing salads after our lettuce bolted in the heat and have been having trouble getting any new lettuce to sprout, but now I can have my salads without worries of an E. Coli outbreak!

Traders Point Vanilla Yogurt

There are several things I love about this yogurt.  First is definitely the taste.  So yummy!  The second is that this comes in glass instead of plastic, which if you know how we're trying to decrease our waste this will make sense to you.  And third, its organic!  Yippee!

Twilight Dairy Cheddar Cheese

Guys, I honestly didn't know if we could make it the whole month without cheddar cheese.  Adding cheese makes just about any veggie edible to my two kids, so finding a local option was a HUGE success in my book!  We did still eat less cheese over the course of the month, but at least we didn't have to do without thanks to this local option!

I almost ate all of these before I snapped a picture to share with you! They are delicious!

Local Food. Delivered.

I know that after reading this, you are going to want to try out Market Wagon for yourself.  Thankfully the CEO, Nick, gave Full & Simple readers a promo code to use!  Just use FullAndSimple at checkout for $15 off your first $40 order!  YOU GUYS!  That's almost 40% off!  What an amazing deal, but its only good for the next 90 days!

After you get your first order, leave me a comment about what your favorite purchases were so I can check them out too!

 

Erika
Influence Network
Food Lovers Devotional

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Filed Under: Other Reviews Tagged With: #bentarrowchallenge2018, eat local, Indiana, local food, Market Wagon, sustainable

Bent Arrow Challenge 2018: The First 10 Days

August 31, 2018 by Erika

August is basically over and I have yet to update you all on what we've been making to eat local  (unless you're following along on Instagram).  I will do three posts, ten days each, of what we ate with links to the recipes if they weren't an original creation.  I do hope to upload some new recipes sometime in September and October as well.

If you are looking at some ingredients and wondering how in the world they are local, make sure to check out my first post on what our freebies were.  We also allowed ourselves to eat anything that was already in the house so that we didn't waste food and allow it to spoil.  These already bought items show up especially in the first ten days.  Another thing to note is that we do make our own mayo and sour cream regularly, so those were homemade using items from our freebie list.

Also, some of the meals are what I ate and not the kids.  I tried to avoid things like American cheese slices on my burgers even though we let the kids have them on theirs because the slices were already in the fridge.  However, for the most part, the kids ate what we did.  I caved once or twice for things like bananas and raisins when they were shopping with me for their snacks.

Alright, here we go!

August 1

Breakfast

  • Eggs with tomatoes & basil

Lunch

  • Arby's (lunch out with my Dad before our oldest started kindergarten)

Dinner 

  • Smoked Sausage zucchini skillet over pasta
    • NOTE: sausage was already in the fridge because of a change of dinner plans the previous week

August 2

Breakfast

  • Toast with jam
    • Both were homemade.  All bread was either homemade or locally made unless otherwise noted going forward.

Lunch

  • Chick-fil-A (lunch with my mom before my oldest started kindergarten)

Dinner

  • BKT (bacon, kale, tomato) sandwiches
  • grilled corn on the cob

August 3

Breakfast

  • Toast with jam

Lunch

  • Big Brick House Pasta linguini with roasted red pepper sauce
  • peaches from the farmers market
  • green tea with lavender syrup (made with my dried lavender)

Dinner

  • Mississippi roast
    • pepperocini peppers were some canned last garden season we were using up
  • Mashed potatoes
  • Corn on the Cob

Snack 

  • Homemade Brownies
    • used canola oil from Healthy Hoosier Oil

August 4

Breakfast

  • Homemade biscuits with sausage gravy
    • We had a local hog butchered to put in our freezer this summer.

Lunch

  • Pesto over pasta
  • Peaches

Dinner

  • Eggplant quiche
  • Fried green beans (without the wasabi dressing)

Snack 

  • Stopped at a local coffee shop for an iced coffee and also grabbed a can of Mountain Dew (not really a freebie but technically I'm allowed to eat out and they had it......LOL!)
  • Cilantro hummus from the farmers market with some tortilla chips we had in the pantry

August 5

Breakfast

  • Leftover biscuits with sausage gravy

Lunch

  • Grilled hamburgers topped with tomatoes and homemade refrigerator pickles
  • Deviled Eggs
  • Watermelon

Dinner

  • Fresh homemade bread with butter and jam
  • Watermelon
  • Spoonful of Revival Almond Butter

(NOTE: Because of how late our church lets out, we usually eat lunch between 1-2 on Sundays, so our "dinners" are usually snacks or leftovers.  On our meal planner, I call it the "clean the fridge" night.)

August 6

Breakfast

  • Toast with jam

Lunch

  • Leftover eggplant quiche
  • Leftover deviled eggs
  • Watermelon

Dinner

  • Tacos
    • I made the flour tortillas found in The Hands-On Home
    • We also have a beef in our freezer from last fall

August 7

Breakfast

  • Toast with jam

Lunch

  • Leftover tacos
  • Peaches

Dinner

  • Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup
    • I left out the tomato paste to keep things local and I make my own stocks throughout the year and freeze them.
    • Also, we make this fresh, eat it for a meal and then freeze the leftovers to use in the winter.  Try it!
  • Dairy Queen ice cream for dessert
    • The kids earned free cones this summer at the library from the summer reading program and I wasn't going to not get some too!

Great Indiana-made products

August 8

Breakfast

  • Toast with jam

Lunch

  • Leftover eggplant quiche

Dinner

  • Pizza Hut
    • It was the night before Kindergarten started so we let our daughter pick dinner
    • Peach and Blueberry Greek Yogurt Cake
      • Blueberries were some we picked and froze earlier in the summer.
    • Homemade whipped cream

August 9

Breakfast

  • Pancakes and Bacon

Lunch

  • Leftover pizza
  • Leftover cake

Dinner

  • Caprese Bread
    • We didn't use the balsamic
    • I tried to make my own ciabatta using the recipe in The Italian Baker
  • Deviled Eggs
  • Chocolate Chip Cookies

Snack

  • Chocolate chip cookies

August 10

Breakfast

  • Leftover pancakes

Lunch

  • Leftover pizza
  • Peaches
  • Cookies

Dinner

  • Eggplant Parmesan
  • Big Brick House Pasta linguini
  • Pesto ciabatta

Snack

  • Chocolate chip cookies

And there you go!  The first ten days of meals in the eat local Bent Arrow Challenge 2018.  Let me know if you have any questions about how we sourced some ingredients locally.  I'm loving that we've discovered new Indiana brands and are making the most of our garden.

Erika
Influence Network
Food Lovers Devotional

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Filed Under: Ponderings & Inspiration, Recipes Tagged With: #bentarrowchallenge2018, eat local, gardening, recipe

Bent Arrow Challenge 2018: Eat Local

July 30, 2018 by Erika

Y'all know how important local food is to me.  I'm all about gardening, farmers' markets and supporting local agriculture.  So last year when my friend Claire over at Bent Arrow Acres challenged herself to eat only local for the month of August, I was in awe!  And I planned to try to do it for a week this summer.  BUT Claire is doing the whole month again this year and has created a challenge (with prizes) for others to join her.  So we're going to give it a go and join in.

Concerns

My biggest concerns are: Our oldest starts kindergarten this year, and I have no idea how this will affect our schedules and daily life yet.  My husband will continue classes for his masters.  And I have small kids that eat what we eat for meals...no short-order cook here.

As a perfectionist, I have already identified that I could easily let the challenge overwhelm and stress me out.  I DO NOT want that!  To prevent this, I'm already speaking grace over myself.  The challenge does allow for people to pick some "freebie" items and I'm probably being more lenient with our family than I would if it were just my husband and myself or if we had older kids.  And if I fall off the wagon for a meal or a day, I'll just do my best the next.

My Plan

My plan is to visit Lucky's Market and Bloomingfoods a couple of times during the challenge.  While they are a bit further away, they have a great variety of Indiana produced foods and products.  There are also a few things that I'm allowing as "freebie" items that I'll only allow if I get them from either of these stores' bulk sections.  Partly because I'm excited about how this challenge can help us reduce our waste and partly because doing this will keep me from being too quick to grab things off the local grocery's shelves.

Obviously we have the garden and our own eggs, so we will try to eat a lot from there.  We also have locally raised beef, pork and one of Bent Arrow's chickens in our deep freezer that will take care of any meat we eat.  Things from the garden that we will definitely be able to eat are tomatoes, eggplant, green beans, carrots, shallots, garlic, peppers and maybe corn (It isn't looking too hot.).  Hopefully my zucchini, summer squash and watermelon plants will do something this month too!

We also have access to two farmers' markets, one on Tuesdays and one on Saturdays.  We will shop here frequently as well during the challenge.

Baked goods are something that we already make homemade most of the time.  All bread will be homemade and I'm excited to try to make tortillas and hamburger buns this month!

Our Freebie List

Freebies are things that you can't find local or can't easily make yourself.  HOWEVER, this list should not allow you to buy everything you normally do.  It's a CHALLENGE, remember?  That being said, I do have a few items that are freebies for the kids and not for my husband and myself because I'm just not going to make a 7 month old, 3 year old and 5 year old go completely without some of their favorite things like bananas and shredded cheese.

  • All flours (bread, all-purpose, whole wheat, etc.)
  • Sugars
  • Additional baking items (baking soda/powder, salt, etc.)
  • Cocoa powder (bulk only-we make our own chocolate syrup for the kids' milk and my coffee creamer)
  • Spices (although most herbs dried or fresh will come from my garden)
  • Butter
  • Heavy Cream
  • Cultured Buttermilk
  • Milk (do plan to try to get some from Traders Point and Oberweis, but won't be able to get it all from them)
  • Peanut Butter (bulk only-my kids love PBJ sandwiches and my husband takes them to work a lot)
  • Coffee/Tea
  • Dry pasta
  • Cooking Oils (plan to purchase California Olive Oil and Healthy Hoosier Oils when at all possible)
  • Cheeses (This is mostly for the kids.  I plan to try to avoid cheese as much as possible.  And I do plan to try my hand at making mozzarella!)
  • Lemons
  • Condiments (ketchup and mustard mostly.  I plan to try to make my own ranch dressing and always make my own mayo)

As far as restaurants are concerned, I'm saying that all are fair game.  I know this is an area that Claire is really good about choosing only locally owned places, but one request of my kids when we have to go to Bloomington is Chick-Fil-A.  We also occasionally grab a pizza when I'm single parenting for the night while my husband is in class.  So the plan is to TRY to avoid chains, but I'm not going to beat myself up if its been a crazy and I breakdown and get a carry out pizza from Pizza Hut.

I'm also giving myself a pass on anything already in the house...and no, I'm not going out to stock up on items before the challenge so that I can use this as an excuse.  However, I haven't planned a cleaning out of the pantry this week because of other stuff going on, so if it's already here, its fair game until it runs out.

And my new kindergartener will eat in the cafeteria at school on some days.

How You Can Join

If you think this is something you want to try, even for just one day or one meal, you CAN make a difference!  Visit Bent Arrow Acres's website for more information and to get on their mailing list for tips and rules for the prizes!  I hope to be able to share weekly posts about what we ate, but at the very least, you can follow along on social media.  Use the hashtag #bentarrowschallenge2018 to see what I'm cooking as well as what everyone else is trying!

 

Erika
Influence Network
Food Lovers Devotional

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Filed Under: Gardening, Ponderings & Inspiration Tagged With: #bentarrowchallenge2018, eat local, farm to table, gardening, inspiration, local food, motivation, support local, zero waste

When You Don’t Have Time to Do It Yourself

July 10, 2018 by Erika

I've been posting recently about reducing our waste...and I promise that the third installment is coming soon!  One of the suggestions I gave was to "make your own."  I talked mostly about making your own food items like bread and spice mixes, but DIY-ing your home cleaners is also an amazing way to reduce waste.

But what about when you don't have time?

I keep seeing posts by other bloggers about having a slow and relaxing summer.  But for me, summer is SUPER busy around here.  That's because I try to grow and preserve as much of our winter food as I am able to.  I try to make all of our own spaghetti sauce, tomato soup, tomato juice, green beans, jams, etc.   There are times I just don't have the time to DIY everything.

And when I don't have time for DIY cleaning supplies, I trust and use Mrs. Meyers products.  Mrs. Meyers products are made with plant-derived ingredients and essential oils.  All of my hand soap containers right now have Mrs. Meyers lavender hand soap in them.  I love the smell!

And right now, when you make your first $20 purchase from The Grove Collaborative, you can get an entire Mrs. Meyers cleaning kit FREE!

Your FREE kit will include:

  • Free Mrs. Meyer’s hand soap
  • Free Mrs. Meyer’s hand lotion
  • Free Mrs. Meyer’s dish soap
  • Grove Collaborative cleaning caddy
  • Free shipping & 60 day VIP trial

How awesome is that?!

I absolutely love Grove Collaborative!  The deliver green cleaning and household supplies right to my door.  And all the mamas said AMEN!  And Grove purchases carbon offsets for every order they deliver!

When I do have time to DIY, Grove still has me covered because they stock products like castile soap and Sals Suds.  Plus, I can purchase other products like Seventh Generation's unbleached toilet paper, wool dryer balls, Bees Wraps and Seed's shampoo all at a discounted price!

I know you will love all that they have to offer whether you are a DIYer or not!

To get claim your free cleaning kit, simply click the picture below!

Disclaimer:  I, Erika Bault, am a Grove Collaborative influencer and does receive compensation from Grove Collaborative for each referral at no additional cost to you.  All opinions are my own and I do personally use Grove each and every month.

Erika
Influence Network
Food Lovers Devotional

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Filed Under: My Full Life Tagged With: cleaning, DIY, Free cleaning kit, freebie, green cleaning products, Grove Collaborative, Mrs. Meyers, natural cleaning, The Grove Collaborative

How to Reduce Waste with Minimal Effort

June 14, 2018 by Erika

Welcome to part two in my reducing waste series!  If you haven't read part one, you can visit it here.  In this series, I'm only sharing ways that we have personally been reducing our own waste over the last couple of years.  I have separated each action into "effort" categories....these are based on how much effort I feel that they require in my day and life.

Alright, here we go!

Bring Your Own Bags

While bringing your own bags takes VERY little effort, it does require you to develop the habit of remembering them.  I try to keep one or two in my van and then keep the majority in my market basket that hangs on a hook by the door so I can grab them all and go as I head out the door.

I love the cotton canvas totes from Grove Collaborative.  Throughout the entire month of June, when you sign up for Grove you can get a set of FREE wool dryer balls!  Dryer balls was one of my super easy steps in part one!

Buy a Bread Maker and Use It!

I'll be the first to admit that I thought a bread make was one of those appliances that just took up too much room and would never get used.  It wasn't until I decided that I wanted to start making homemade bread and realized that I was having the hardest time making soft sandwich that I even considered owning one.  When my grandma offered us hers, I accepted and we haven't bought a loaf of store bread since.

In less time than it takes to watch a football game, I have fresh homemade bread.  All I have to do is add the ingredients and turn it on.  No kneading on my part.  Now, I do still make homemade French baguettes and things by hand, but it is SO NICE to be able to have homemade bread even during busy weeks when I can't stand around and time and knead.

You can even apply the buy secondhand principle from my first post here.  I see bread makers at secondhand stores ALL. THE. TIME!

Make Your Own

One of the very first places I started reducing waste was by making our own spice mixes.  Now I don't buy taco seasoning packets or chili seasoning packets.  I just mix my own.

These are my favorites:

  • Chili Seasoning
  • Taco Seasoning

The reason this works is because spices can easily be bought in glass instead of plastic.  Glass is infinitely recyclable whereas plastic is not.  Or you can take your own containers to the nearest store with a bulk section.

We also make our our mayonnaise, coffee creamer, chocolate syrup, and sour cream.  I hope to share more of our recipes for these soon!

Making your own does take a bit of time, but its also nice because you don't have to run to the store as often.  As long as you keep your base ingredients stocked in your pantry, you can easily make whatever you need!

Say No to Plastic Straws

Plastic straws are a real problem for our oceans and marine life.  You can learn more from the Ocean Conservancy.   The great news is that there are SO MANY alternatives!

You can:

  • Skip using a straw altogether
  • Silicone straws
  • Stainless steel straws
  • Glass straws
  • Bamboo straws

We have small silicone straws at home for the kids and I use stainless steel.  I even have this stainless steel straw carrying kit from Marley's Monsters that I keep in my bag for when we're out and about.

Pay Attention to the Fabric

When buying clothes pay attention to the fabric material.  Microfibers from synthetic materials end up breaking off of our clothes when we wash them and make their way to our oceans, so even when buying secondhand, you want to make sure to avoid synthetics.

What are some of these fibers?

  • Polyester
  • Nylon
  • Lycra
  • Viscose Rayon

And while cotton is a natural fiber, regular cotton requires A LOT of pesticides and water.  Try to choose organic cotton if possible or look for clothes made with flax linen or bamboo, which are much more eco-friendly.

If you already have a few favorite items made with synthetics, there is a product to help when washing.  The Guppyfriend washing bag keeps the fibers from entering the water.  I personally, do not have one of these so I can't say how well it works.

Plan The Night Before

So many times, if I don't plan for a trip out the night before, we forget most of our reusables or I don't end up having time to pack them.  (hashtag life with three kids)

I try to prepare and pack our drinks, napkins, straws, utensils and reusable bags the night before so that I can easily grab them in the rush out the door.  This makes saying "no, thank you," to single-use disposable items MUCH easier when we're out.

 

Like my market basket? Click on the pic and use code ERIKA20 for 20% until July!

 

Well, that's it for part two.  What do you think?  Anything from part one or this post that you're excited to try?  What ways are you reducing waste that I haven't mentioned?  I'd love to hear from you in the comment section below!

Erika
Influence Network
Food Lovers Devotional

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Filed Under: My Full Life Tagged With: reduce waste, simple living, The Grove Collaborative, waste free, wasteless, zero waste

Virtually Effortless Ways to Reduce Your Waste

June 7, 2018 by Erika

A week or so ago I placed a poll on my Facebook page asking what you all would like to see next here on Full & Simple and you overwhelmingly choose "how to reduce your waste."

As I started thinking of all of the ways we've been working towards reducing our plastic use and waste, I found that this post will be the first in a series of at least three.  I'm categorizing the habits and swaps we're using currently into different effort categories.  All of the suggestions in this post are things that I think you can start today and maintain with as little as 5-10 minutes a day of effort.

But before we get started, here is my disclaimer: I AM NOT PERFECT.  We still have plastic in our house.  We are not zero waste by any means.  There are days when my desire for a gas station fountain pop outweighs my desire for zero waste (but then its usually followed with guilt).  I truly believe that any move in the direction of less waste is better than saying, "I can't do zero waste perfectly, so I won't do it at all."

Ok, with that out there, here we go!

Just Say No to Produce Bags

While I'm guilty as the next person to think that I need super cute "bring your own" produce bags like these, really all you need to do is skip the bag.  You don't HAVE to bring your own.  Yes, people may look at you strangely when you put four loose lemons on the checkout belt, but I got over those looks long ago when we started using the Dave Ramsey envelope system.  And I've never had a cashier tell me that I had to get a bag before she'd sell me the lemons.

Pay Attention to Packaging

So you need some more (insert product here)?  Pay attention to the packaging.  When you are shopping try to avoid plastic packaging as much as possible.  I used to be the person that said, "It's ok.  I recycle," but as I've started this waste reduction journey, I've found that recycling isn't good enough anymore.

Why?  Plastic can only be recycled so many times before it can no longer be recycled, at which point it just becomes trash.  Plus, with China's ban on taking recycling from the U.S. and other countries, many stateside recycling companies are no longer taking plastics, OR they're taking them but then shipping them to a landfill anyway.  Here is a great article from the NY Times on the problem we're facing.

For the purposes of this post and for when you first start your waste reduction journey, remember that when buying the grocery items you need, choose the product in metal or glass packaging--which can be recycled infinitely--over the same item in plastic.  I'll talk more about avoiding plastic while shopping later in this post series.

Shop Secondhand

Confession: while I aspire to minimalism and zero waste I still LOVE to shop!  Life seems so much more exciting when I know I have a package on the way...even if it's just mundane household items.  I get giddy placing a new item in its place in my home.  Now when I get the shopping bug, I usually try to look for secondhand first (again, I'm not perfect).

Shopping secondhand not only allows you to save financial resources, but it also allows you to save natural resources which have already been expended to make said item.  And with online sites like ThredUP, eBay, and all of the Facebook selling groups, shopping secondhand first is easier than ever.

Use this link to get a $10 coupon on your first ThredUP order and give me a $10 coupon for referring you!

I love Goodwill baskets!

Cloth Napkins

Buy and use cloth napkins.  They are not as hard to maintain as many of us believe.  Here are a few tips that I have found to make them virtually effortless.

  1. Buy them in a dark color to hide stains.
  2. Use one napkin for the whole day (unless you get it super messy) and just drape it over the back of your chair between meals.
  3. Kids get wash cloths because they can be wetted down easily and kids are messy.  My kids have color-coded wash rags so they know which one is theirs to use all day.
  4. Hang them to dry to avoid most wrinkles, but we're not a five-star restaurant so some wrinkles are OK!  Don't mess with ironing.
  5. Throw them in with clothes you're already washing.  You do not need to do a separate load.

Beeswax Wraps

Use beeswax wraps to replace plastic wrap.  They really only need a good rinse between uses unless you get them very dirty.  I've even sealed a bowl with the beeswax wraps while baking bread and the dough rose just as well as if I'd sealed it with plastic wrap.

You can make your own, buy them online or see if any local beekeepers have made some with their own beeswax.

Bar Soap Over Body Wash

I get that bar soap can seem gross to some. Heck, I used to be one of the some and still sort of am.  I don't use bar soap for everyone to use while washing their hands...partly because of the sharing germs thing that I'm still mentally not able to get passed and partly because I'm not sure a three year old won't be dropping it all over the place.  However, I have replaced my plastic bottle of body wash with bar soap.  Don't want to share bar soap with others?  Give everyone their own bar and you'll still be reducing plastic and waste!  You get extra points if you find a local soap-maker!

I have these bamboo holders, which are compostable, to keep my bar soap from just sitting in a pool of water in the shower.

Buy Compostable

When replacing items like loofahs, tooth brushes, and dish brushes, replace them with compostable items.  Brushes made with natural fibers and wooden handles can easily be composted.

Now here is another disclaimer: We don't compost.

I tried creating a compost pile, but my chickens and cats eat all of the scraps and spread it out to the point of things not actually composting.  So until I can build some sort of containment system, the chickens and cats take care of our food waste...which is still a good system in my opinion.

HOWEVER, we have a woods near us that I can toss that wooden handle into along with all of the other fallen trees and sticks and it will eventually break down.  Whereas packing it into a landfill will not allow it to break down.  So if you are going to buy compostable items figure out a way to get it back to nature when it's served its purpose and don't throw it in your regular trash.

My favorite sources for wooden cleaning tools are:

  • Freckled Hen Farmhouse 
    • Use code ERIKA20 at checkout until July 1, 2018 to get 20% off your entire order!
  • The Laundress
    • Use the link above for 10% off!
  • Amazon

Get a Reusable Coffee Filter

Yes, we still use a coffee maker.  No, we aren't cool hipsters that have a French press or Chemex.

Buying a reusable filter really added no extra time for us.  We were already hand-washing the pot and insert anyway.  Cleaning the filter literally takes less than 2 minutes.  The grounds usually get added to the food scraps or I'll dump them by a plant or bush, like our blueberries, that like acidic soil.

Reusable Nursing Pads

Reusable nursing pads are probably one of my favorite changes so far to reducing our waste.  I wish I had known about them three kids ago!  I would have saved at least $80-$100!

I purchased my pack of 10 from Marley's Monsters on Etsy and customized them to be mostly white.  Now I just toss them in a lingerie bag and wash them any time I'm doing a load of towels or light colored clothes.  There is no extra worrying because I'm already doing the laundry anyway.  And I found a really cute basket at Goodwill to store them in.

Wool Dryer Balls

Stop using fabric softener sheets and get some wool dryer balls.  A clothesline would be best, but the weather doesn't always permit outside drying and a lot of the time we still use our dryer.

Wool dryer balls do speed up drying time which saves energy plus they reduce the waste of the dryer sheet...which contain nasty chemicals.  I leave mine in the dryer so I don't even have to think about adding them in each time.  If you still want to have a fresh scent when your clothes are done, experiment with adding drops of essential oils to your dryer balls.  I personally love lavender on mine.

And for the month of June you can get a FREE set of dryer balls when you sign up for Grove Collaborative!!!  Just use this link to find out more about this offer!  And if you want to hear why I love Grove, visit this post.

Slow Down

My last piece of advice in this post is to simply slow down.

Do less.  Be less busy.  Commit to less.

Living a busy and frantic lifestyle makes it much easier to choose the disposable items over reusable or the prepackaged, processed food over whole foods.

Do all of your errands on one day instead of constantly running out of the house to do this or that.  Resign from clubs, committees or roles that don't fulfill you or that no longer align with your life goals.  People grow and change, it is okay to move on to make room for who you are now or want to become.

Well, that's it for today.  I hope that you can find one or two options here that you want to start implementing today or this week.  The next post in this series will include habits and suggestions that may take slightly more effort to implement, but that are still easily doable for anyone trying to live more eco-conscious.  I hope you'll come back and read that post as well!

Find Post Two Here!

 

Disclaimer:  The above post does contain referral and affiliate links.  This means that I may be compensated if you purchase using this link at no additional cost to your self.  This compensation allows me to pay for the maintenance of running Full & Simple. 

Erika Bault is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com

Erika
Influence Network
Food Lovers Devotional

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Farmer’s Dandelion Salve

May 1, 2018 by Erika

As I've read more and more about homesteading and reducing waste, foraging has become a topic of interest, mostly because you're getting something for nothing.  Great for the budget!  The plant that has caught my attention most this year is the dandelion.  And while I still don't know if I love them all over my yard, I do know we don't want to spray them because of the honeybees.  So why not make lemonade out of lemons...or salve out of dandelions?

The other day, after spending the afternoon working on my raised beds, my hands were rough.  That's what happens after they spend all winter inside.  And I had to keep reapplying lotion to make them feel moist again.  I had heard of salves for farmers, and I knew that people were in love with dandelions for stuff like this, and so the Farmer's Dandelion Salve was concocted!

Dandelions are used in salves like this because of their analgesic properties.  They can help reduce inflammation and ease muscle fatigue.  Who knew that a "weed" that we work so hard to get rid of, can actually ease the pain of all that work?!

I added a few additional ingredients to this salve for varying reasons.

  • Unrefined coconut oil: Coconut oil is a great moisturizer for skin because it penetrates deep.  This will help with the excessive dryness that can occur after a day of working in the dirt.
  • Beeswax pellets: Beeswax creates a barrier on skin to help lock in the moisture.  Plus, it helps the salve harden!
  • Raw Shea Butter: Raw shea butter is extremely moisturizing and can provide immediate relief to dry hands.  It also does not liquefy at room temperature helping to harden the salve a bit.
  • Lavender essential oil: Lavender oil contains antimicrobial properties which can help to speed up the healing of cuts and burns.
  • Helichrysum essential oil: Helichrysum has been shown to contain anti-inflammation properties and is also used in many anti-aging products to help with the appearance and heath of skin.  It is easy for a farmer's or gardener's hands to look "old" because of the hard work those hands endure.
  • Roman Chamomile essential oil: Chamomile also had anti-inflammatory properties to help your tired hands or neck muscles.  The anti-inflammatory properties, along with the anti-bacterial properties, found in chamomile also make it a great oil for skin health.

The first thing you want is to go in the morning or early afternoon on a sunny day to pick the dandelions.  You want the dew to be dried up, and the flowers to be fresh and open.  This is a great job for little hands to help with!

Once you have a good amount of flower heads, pluck out the petals and lay them out on a towel or drying basket.  Allow them to dry overnight or close to 24 hours.  Dandelions have a lot of moisture, and many people cautioned that adding the flowers without drying them first will cause your lotions, oils and salves to mold or mildew.

You want to make sure to melt your coconut oil.  This does two things: First, it allows you to pour it and mix the flowers in.  Second, the heat helps to allow the oils from the dandelions to infuse into the coconut oil.  Keeping the oil in the sun allows the oil to stay warm and liquid, helping the infusion process.  Your oil should be a golden yellow when you are done.

I used beeswax pellets because of how easily they melt and how simple they are to work with and measure.  However, if I had access to our own beeswax, I would definitely use that instead.

Glass jars are perfect for storing this salve.  Plastic has been reported to leach chemicals into products.  Plus, essential oils will penetrate the plastic so that it will forever smell like whatever oils you have used.  Filling  small glass Ball Canning Jars, like I did, would make a great gift for the farmer, gardener or homesteader in your life!

I personally use doTERRA essential oils and love visiting Dr. Axe's website for essential oil information, but I am NOT a medical professional and you should always do your own research before starting to use essential oils.

Disclaimers: Erika Bault is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com

I am a doTERRA wellness advocate and do make a commission if you purchase any of the oils via the website link provided.

Farmer's Dandelion Salve
2018-05-01 15:18:07
A great salve to help hands heal after a day working on the farm
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Ingredients
  1. 1 cup dried dandelion petals
  2. 1 cup refined coconut oil*
  3. 1/4 cup beeswax pellets
  4. 1 TBSP unrefined shea butter
  5. 7 drops helichrysum oil
  6. 7 drops roman chamomile oil
  7. 10 drops lavender oil
Instructions
  1. Collect several dandelion flowers. Pluck the petals from the flowers. It's ok if some of the green gets mixed in. Let the petals dry overnight.
  2. Heat the coconut oil until it is melted.
  3. Place the dandelion petals in a glass jar and pour the warm coconut oil over the petals. Place a lid on the jar and place it in a sunny spot for several hours while the dandelions infuse the oil.**
  4. Pour the oil through a fine mesh strainer and squeeze the oil out of the flower petals into a small saucepan.
  5. Add the beeswax pellets and shea butter to the dandelion infusion. Heat until all are melted.
  6. Remove from heat and add the other essential oils. Stir.
  7. Pour the salve into your jars and let them cool, making sure not to bump them and disturb the salve or it won't harden as pretty.
  8. Store in a cool place and use as needed after a hard day working with your hands.
Notes
  1. *Do not use fractionated coconut oil since it remains liquid. You want your salve to harden back up.
  2. **I let mine infuse for 6.5 hours, but you can do it even longer. I was just too excited to wait anymore.
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Erika
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Food Lovers Devotional

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How To Build a Raised Bed Garden

April 20, 2018 by Erika

Last year we (meaning I) decided that we (again, I) needed a raised bed garden for some of my perennials like herbs and strawberries along with space for my root vegetables and lettuces.  So I did what I always do and I went to Pinterest for some inspiration.  And then I did what I always do again, and I combined a few different ideas to work for my needs.

We built four of these beds for under $200 total!  I love being able to step off of our back deck and snip some herbs for dinner or pull up a carrot or two.  Just last night I was able to cut some chives for baked potatoes, and I can't wait until we can go gather strawberries for breakfast!

Now, I want to again say that we built these last year, so the prices are from 2017, but I don't see how they could have increased too much.

Supplies

We started by purchasing six 1"x6"x8' cedar fencing boards at Menards for each bed we wanted to make.  This will give you a 4 ft by 8 ft raised bed.  Then we bought 2x4's to use in the corners to screw it all together.  I wanted to be able to add row cover or plastic to create a greenhouse. To do this, we bought 3/4" PVC pipe and the fittings to attach them to the boards and 1/2" PVC pipe to use as the hoops.

Since these beds are frames without a bottom, you will also need to start saving all of those shipping boxes from Amazon and decide where you will get your soil from.  I'll describe what we did for this a little later.

Build the Frames

Start by cutting your 2x4's.  If you want yours flush with the top, then they would be about 12 inches.  You need four 12 inch boards per bed you're making.

The next thing my husband did was to cut off the "dog ear" on our boards.  You can totally leave them if it won't bother you, but I just wanted a really clean square look.  This does technically make my beds slightly less than 4ftx8ft, but what are a few inches?

Now cut two of the cedar planks in half.  These will become the four boards you need for the short ends of the bed.

Once you've made all of your cuts, you can screw it all together.  Place two of the long boards flush together and screw the 2x4 pieces to the top and bottom, but make sure you leave space for the side boards, about an inch. Repeat with the other two long boards.  Now screw the side boards to the 2x4.  And you should have at rectangular frame.

Adding Hoops

If you want to have the ability for the row cover or plastic,  now is the time to add your 3/4" pipe.  Using a pipe cutter, you will cut 12" sections.  For each bed, you'll want eight 12" pieces- four per side.  Screw the pipes in place equally down the long sides of your bed.

Prepping the Bed for Soil

Find a level area to place your bed frames and arrange them however you like.  I moved and moved mine until they were equidistant  and seemed straight with the house!  It is worth taking your time because hopefully they won't be going anywhere anytime soon!

Take all of those boxes you've been saving and remove any tape or labels the best you can.  You want to line the bottom of each bed with this cardboard to kill the grass underneath.  The cardboard will eventually compost into the soil, but tape and labels may not depending on what they're made of.

Another thing to do before adding soil is to use tape to cover the holes of your PVC pipe.  You don't want them filling up with soil so that you can't easily slip your hoop pipes down in them!

Adding Soil

Once you have lined the bottom with cardboard, you will want to add soil.  Now many of you know that our mini farm is actually attached to my family's larger farm.  We simply bought 10 acres of the family farm and then the 20 acre plot next to it and rounded things out.

Our family no longer raises cattle, but they do lease the land to a cattle farmer and he feeds hay in various sections of the pasture.  These areas are frequented by the cows, so there is quite a bit of manure that gets mixed into the dirt near these areas.  We lovingly refer to this as "poop dirt."  Fancy, I know. LOL!  Anyway, my dad filled up the front loader on the tractor a few times and we filled our beds with the "poop dirt" and some left over dirt that was piled up from when we built our chicken coop.

And to just make things even better for our plants, I went to the local gas station and picked up some nightcrawlers.  For those of you that aren't from the country, nightcrawlers are REALLY big worms that are used for fishing.  I bought one container for each bed and added the worms to the beds so they could help mix and aerate the soil.

Plant

You're now ready to plant!

I loved the idea of these beds for my perennial plants like strawberries, horseradish, lavender, thyme, chives, etc. because this gave them an area that would be safe from my husband "accidentally" mowing them down.  And it also contains them from spreading too much.

These beds are also FANTASTIC for root veggies.  We have a lot of clay in our soil in the main garden, and even though we are working on adding organic matter to the area to loosen it up, we always ended up with short carrots and and shallots never grew.  The looseness of the soil in these beds allowed for long carrots and my shallots did wonderfully!

Add straw, mulch and fertilizer as needed to keep weeds at bay and harvests plentiful.

Greenhouse or Row Cover

After you've planted, you can add the hoops and row cover or plastic.  I placed the 1/2" PVC pipes down into the 3/4" pieces on the sides.  My 1/2" PVC was 8ft long.  Honestly, this is probably too long.  I'm thinking of cutting some of the length off so that the plastic and row cover is closer to the dirt.

I used metal clips to keep my plastic attached to the hoops.  I think they were 99 cents each at our local hardware store.  Just make sure to allow for some air movement or you'll cook your seeds instead of getting them to grow!

Well, that's it!  If you have any questions, please comment below and ask!  I hope you enjoy your raised beds as much I have enjoy having mine!

Erika
Influence Network
Food Lovers Devotional

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Stop Allowing Clutter Into Your Life

February 28, 2018 by Erika

Full-and-simple-stop-allowing-clutter-in-your-life

Two months into the new year and I still haven't completely settled on my Word of the Year.  I kept thinking about the word "less," but I don't really feel like it is much different than "simple" for 2016 or "contentment" for 2017.  I still find myself immersed on this journey of simplifying our life and home and trying to learn to be content in the everyday...before all of my "simple" projects can be complete.

Clutter is an antagonist to all three of those words and I'm constantly in a battle against it.  But no matter how hard I fight, it seems to find its way to my countertops, closet, van, etc.  Why?!  Why, when I have given so much away and simplified so many aspects of our life, do I still have to battle clutter everyday?

And then it hit me.  I'm losing the fight because I'm fighting the war on the wrong battleground!  I try to fight clutter once its inside my home, but the battle needs to begin before it gets here!  I need to stop ALLOWING clutter to infiltrate my life.

That's right, ALLOWING.  There is so much clutter and noise that we are allowing and even INVITING into our lives and homes!  And most of the time, we don't realize its happening or that we have the option to say, "no, thank you!"

While this will take some effort in the beginning, like all good habits do, the following things can help us have simpler, less cluttered spaces and minds.

Unfollow and Unfriend

Unfollow Instagram accounts or businesses that no longer appeal to you, especially if you only followed them as part of a giveaway.  Unfriend that person you added on Facebook because you had one class project together five years ago in college.

I've been going through my friends lists and editing frequently.  Basically on Instagram, I want to see pretty pictures and be inspired.  I rarely follow a close friend on both Instagram and Facebook because I realized that many were posting the same picture on both sites.  I don't need to see it twice.  My personal Facebook is reserved for mostly close friends.  If I'm not comfortable with the idea of you seeing pictures of my kids in underwear, then I'm not adding you.

If you aren't seeing posts and announcements from pages and people you like hearing from the most then make sure to use the "See First" option on Facebook.  You can find this under the "Follow" option on their page.  Interact with posts by people you enjoy seeing and hearing from on Facebook and Instagram.  The way that these two sites set up their algorithms, posts with a lot of interaction are more likely to be seen by you and others.  Interacting includes liking, commenting and/or sharing that post.

As we allow social media to take up more and more of our lives, let's make sure that we are at least seeing the content we want to and stop wasting time scrolling past things we don't care about.

Unsubscribe

Either subscribe to a business's email list or follow them on social media.  There really is no reason to do both.  Most of their sales are listed in both places so a follow AND an email subscription is redundant.  I only have a few businesses that I make an exception for because they offer different content on each platform.

You can find the "unsubscribe" button on the bottom of most emails where you have joined a list.   But to make this and my inbox even simpler, a friend told me about a free service call Unroll.Me.  I literally just signed up about 5 minutes ago.  It appears to be a service to help you unsubscribe to emails you no longer want to receive, but also allows you to "roll up" marketing emails that you still want to receive into ONE email.  You no longer have to read separate emails for Nellie Taft, Pottery Barn, The Laundress, etc.  Get all of their emails in one quick easy to read email.  It sounds amazing, and I'm hoping that this will clear up my inbox anxiety!

Opt Out of Catalogs

I have started to use Catalog Choice to unsubscribe to catalogs that I no longer want to receive in my mailbox...which is basically all of them.  With daily emails from companies that I shop at, I no longer need to waste trees and time on catalogs.

Catalog Choice does not have the means to unsubscribe you from all catalogs, so for those I go to the company's website and use the contact form to email and ask to be removed from their mailing list.  I'm already seeing a big difference in the amount of catalogs we receive.

Full-and-simple-stop-allowing-clutter-in-your-life

Current view of the mess in our office. So. Much. Paper!

Opt Out of Junk Mail

There are two ways that I know of to reduce the amount of junk mail you receive every day.  The first is DirectMail.com's National Do Not Mail list.  This is a free service similar to the Do Not Call List, but is not sponsored by the government.  It is a private company that actually creates "junk mail" for companies.  Their thought is that it is a waste of company money to send you something you won't respond to.

The other is OptOutPrescreen.com.  This is provided by Experian, the credit reporting agency.  You can opt out of prescreened offers for 5 years online or permanently by mail.

I personally have signed up for both of these, but make sure that you do your research on these (and the Unroll.Me) and make your own decision.

Accept Email Receipts

I love this option from CVS and other stores.  I created a receipt file in my email inbox and now I don't have the paper clutter of receipts, but I still have access to the receipt if I need it for a return.  The Walmart app is great way to save any receipts I get from there and to use their Savings Catcher option.

Full-and-simple-stop-allowing-clutter-in-your-life

Another view of our office. This room is a catchall for clutter.

Say No to the Toy in the Kids' Meal

Everywhere we go, someone is offering our kids a cheap toy, whether its the dentist, fast food restaurant or even church.  You can say no.  I have done this with kids' meals frequently.  My kids don't even realize that all fast food is "supposed" to come with a toy now!

The same goes with free samples.  I buy a lot of my hair products from Sephora online.  I used to ALWAYS get my three free samples. No. Matter. What.  But then I ended up with a box of stuff I never tried or had a desire to try.  Now, I only get the samples of stuff I already use daily so that I have "travel size" options or the samples of products I really do want to try.

I realized that getting freebies, just because they're free, is really wasteful and isn't free.  These things cost space in my home and peace of mind when I'm trying to get things organized!

Don't Accept Things You Won't Use

I have someone in my life that loves to thrift and discount shop.  And they are constantly on the lookout for gifts and things that they can give to us and others.  However, there have been several times that we have been on the receiving end of something that we already had, wasn't useful to us, or that we simply didn't like.  A few people told me to just accept these things and take them to Goodwill later, and for a while I did.  But then I realized that this did a disservice to the giver and to me.

They were wasting their money on something they thought I liked, and by accepting it, they could then go on to waste more money in the future on similar items, thinking that they were helping.  And I had to take time out of my schedule to deal with the item...moving it from place to place until I finally dropped it off at the thrift store.

Now, I don't suggest being rude.  Kindly tell the person that the item isn't needed or your style and that perhaps they could get better use out of it themselves.  Or suggest they consider someone else who may need it.  The most recent thing we turned away was a baby swaddler.  We already had plenty because we've already had two other babies, but a cousin was having a new baby.  She might actually need the new swaddler when we didn't.  It worked out for everyone.

I will say that I only do this when it is a gift without occasion.  I wouldn't do this with a Christmas or Birthday gift as I feel that more thought goes into those than these "I saw this and thought of you" type of gifts.

Be Conscious of Packaging

While I've always felt that by recycling, I'm not really wasting resources, I recently learned that isn't true.  China has stopped accepting most of our plastics for recycle so they are ending up in the landfill anyway.  You can read more about it here.

But even if avoiding plastic and excess packaging for the sake of the planet doesn't entice you, think about the time and money we spend dealing with recycling and trash.  You open a box from a recent online order.  How long does that box and packaging sit on your counter before you put it in the garbage bins?  Then you have to empty your bins in your home to the larger bins in the garage.  Then, if you're like us with no trash or recycle pick up, you have to drive your waste to the recycling center.  That's a lot of time and effort.  Buying veggies and other items in bulk (without the provided plastic bags) can save time and the planet.  Win-Win!

Keep a Donation Box Near the Door

For all of the clutter we didn't fight before it arrived in our homes, make sure to keep a donation box.  This way you have one place to put items that you find in your home that are no longer serving you.  DO NOT put an item back in it's original spot if you've decided that you no longer need/want it!  It should got straight into the box.

OK, this was a really long post.  If you made it to the end, you are a true warrior against clutter and waste.  I hope that you found at least one or two new things you can implement today in your own battle to lead a simpler, less cluttered life!

Full-and-simple-stop-allowing-clutter-in-your-life

 

Erika
Food Lovers Devotional

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