Practical Tips for Reducing Food Waste
April 25, 2019As I mentioned in one of my previous blog posts, reducing the amount of food that you waste is one of the best ways that you can help the planet. In North America, the statistics for food waste range from 30 to 40%, however, the bulk of the waste is institutional, from places such as…
My first Vintage Shopping Experience
April 10, 2019Since my year of no shopping is done, several people asked me: “Have you been shopping? What did you buy? Did you go crazy and get a bunch of new clothes?” There is such an overt pressure from other people to buy, buy, buy. No one asked me “What did you use up or wear…
Reduce our Waste Travel to St Lucia
March 31, 2019Let’s face it. Air travel is not zero waste. However, since my goal is to reduce my waste while still having fun, going on vacation isn’t something that I am willing to give up. To minimize my footprint, I always travel with reusable utensils, a few containers and water bottles and try to share best…
My Favorite Containers
March 4, 2019One of the most frequent questions I get on reduce our waste living is, how do you buy or store your meat and bread? This is definitely one area where I had to do some research and experimentation. For my bread, I go to the bakery with fabric bags. I purchased this one from Vert…
Making Homemade Nutella
February 24, 2019When my daughters told me that they wanted Nutella crepes, I understood. Nutella, the Italian chocolate hazelnut spread, is delicious. Although Nutella comes mostly in plastic bottles, I was able to find it in a glass jar with a plastic cap: However, like my mustard experiment, I figured that there had to be a way…
A Reduce our Waste Cold
February 1, 2019I had a great time during the Christmas holidays and New Year’s Eve, however, with all the mix of people, I caught a cold. I actually hadn’t had a cold in all of 2018 and I had attributed it to my decreased consumption of meat. Maybe it was simply a question of luck (and frequent…
Thoughts on One Year of Reduce our Waste Living
January 6, 2019Happy New Year! My family and I have survived our 52 week challenge of reduce our waste living, and no one was (really) hurt in the process. The following outlines some of my key observations and learnings this past year: I was actually able to resist shopping for a year. Despite the skeptics (including myself),…
A Reduce our Waste Christmas
December 26, 2018I love Christmas. For me, Christmas is the most magical and exciting time of the year. Strangely, I have maintained my childlike love of the holiday season. I love the music, the decorations and the food. Even though we weren’t particularly well off, my mother and father always managed to make Christmas special. Our tradition…
10 ways you can reduce your impact on climate change
December 16, 2018Like many of us, I work for a company and spend more hours than I might like stressing over deadlines, mulling over project roadblocks and anticipating office politics. Yes, I have to earn a living but is that what life is really about? Now that I am off the consumerism train, I realize that all…
Oil: It’s not just for cooking anymore
December 2, 2018Have you looked at all the ingredients in the commercial face cleanser or moisturizer that you buy? Do you find propylene glycol, butylene glycol, sodium lauryl sulfate, triethanolamine, butylene glycol, EDTA, methylparaben, propylparaben, diazolidinyl urea? Doesn’t sound particularly healthy, does it? Searching for a more wholesome alternative for cleansing and moisturizing my face and body…