You know how sometimes you get to thinking and it’s been way longer (or shorter) than you were imagining? That’s me right now. I feel like I’ve been slowly trying to transition to a less-wasteful, healthier, and sustainable lifestyle for the better part of a decade. And I have, but if I make a list of the swaps I’ve had to make it is soooo extremely small.
You can’t see it right now, but I’m making one of my super expressive (ie. weird) faces that I’m known for—except, I’m thinking that’s actually a good-thing, right? I haven’t had to spend literally any extra money to make the transition and I haven’t had to implement a lot of swaps for traditional products. In fact, I have probably saved a good bit of money in the process.
I started with small changes, one at a time. I did my research and purchased a more eco-friendly product to try once my conventional product ran out. When you’re swapping out one item at a time and utilizing your current product completely, you’re not spending any additional money! It’s a win-win.
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Table of Contents
10 Zero-Waste Swaps for Beginners
Disclaimer: this is my personal current top 10 zero-waste swaps. I’ve implemented all of these swaps into my life/home for the long-haul and could not imagine going back to conventional products. Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase an item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions below are my own.
1. DIY Toothpaste
This was my first swap, way back before I had even heard of zero-waste and probably before being environmentally friendly was a thing (at least in my little rural area). For those of you that don’t know, I’m a little teeth-obsessed. I (personally) believe that my one set of teeth should last me for my entire life, so I do a lot of research to take care of them.
I was tired of brushing my teeth with conventional toothpastes and my teeth feeling slimy after only a couple hours without even eating anything. I switch toothpastes brands. I found one that got my teeth feeling nice and clean, but my dentist was extremely unhappy due to the abrasive nature of the conventional toothpaste I switch too.
I dug deeper into my research and found out that I could make my own toothpaste without a bunch of the chemicals/fillers like glycerin that are in toothpastes on the shelf and I was hooked. You can read about my whole experience and get my recipe here.
Unfortunately, I’m so hooked on making my own toothpaste for so many years (since before tooth tablets even existed), that I haven’t tried any of the more eco-friendly toothpastes, powders, or tablets that have popped up since then. If you are wanting to make the switch, but aren’t ready to make your own, you can check out a wide-variety of oral health items here.
2. Laundry Detergent (Alternative)
I think laundry will ALWAYS be one of my most-hated tasks. It’s just such a multi-step process that it seems to take up soooo much time. Anywho, I digress. When I first bought my own home, I was really excited to hang my clothes up outside on the clothesline come summer (I bought a house in December in Pennsylvania)—both for cost-savings and that line-dried linen smell like sunshine and wind.
Well, by the time nicer weather came back to my little area of the world, the drier that came with my house had stopped working. There were clothes literally everywhere all through the house trying to dry. The house smelled fantastic, but all of my clothes were crunchy—for lack of a better word. The laundry detergent I was utilizing was making my favorite clothes stiff and crunchy.
I spent a lot of time and money trying other laundry detergents from different brands, those labelled for sensitive skin, those with “all-natural” printed somewhere on that heavy plastic bottle. One day, about three years ago, I was so frustrated and stumbled across Crystal Wash, which promised to REPLACE my laundry detergent with a 60-Day money back guarantee. It was made without any chemicals, was good for 1,000 loads of laundry, and was effective in removing stains and disinfecting my laundry without destroying it.
Laundry in my house is about 1-2 loads per week, for maybe 100 loads a year. Do you guys realize that’s 10 YEARS of laundry detergent for $45?? I add a couple drops of essential oils (eucalyptus has been my favorite so far) to the balls before starting the washer and they SMELL incredible. If you are interested in checking Crystal Wash out, you can go here.
Otherwise, there are various other non-toxic, eco-friendly options to clean your laundry today that have been created in the last couple of years; I’ve found a lot of options here.
3. Cast Iron Skillet
An absolute necessity in ANY kitchen, especially an eco-friendly kitchen. It has taken me years of wanting a cast iron skillet before finally owning one. And if we’re being really honest, the cast iron skillet belongs to the boyfriend and isn’t technically mine—perks of a relationship 🙂
Cast Iron Skillets can outlive a human being! They can be passed down for generations and still be the same incredible piece of cookware they originally were. You can find one old and horribly rusty at a thrift store or garage sale, bring it home, clean it up, and have a skillet for the rest of your life!
They are naturally non-stick from the seasoning process. These skillets don’t even require soap to clean them—HOT water and a stiff brush is all you need! My favorite part of cast iron skillets is that they heat evenly ON an electric stovetop! Since they heat up evenly, there is less energy lost while you are cooking!
4. Dropps (Dishwasher Pods)
I have a really old (legit probably from the 1970s when my house was built) PORTABLE dishwasher that came with the house! At one point, traditional dishwashing liquids were not cleaning my dishes and I thought I was going to have to get another dishwasher and, with that, renovate my kitchen. It was during my “dishwasher not cleaning dishes” googling that an ad showed up for Dropps dishwasher detergent pods. And normally I hate advertisements, but this one stood out.
Drops dishwasher pods promised super-clean dishes (and sparkling wine glasses!), utilizing only plant/mineral based ingredients, in COMPOSTABLE packaging, and free carbon-neutral shipping. This advertisement was oddly checking all of my boxes.
I ordered a large amount, meant to last the boyfriend and myself 3-months, on auto-ship—and was hopeful I remembered to cancel the next shipment if I didn’t like the dishwasher pods. I DIDN’T NEED TO!
Seriously, these pods are some of the best eco-friendly cleaning products I’ve ever come across. They clean my dishes super well, without us even pre-rinsing. They work in my old-a** dishwasher. They last literally FOREVER; one box of 120 pods actually covers us for about 6 months or so. AND I get an email BEFORE my next shipment auto-ships. You can try these amazing little pods here.
5. Loofa (Luffa) Kitchen Sponges
I used kitchen dishrags to wash my dishes and wipe my counters. The boyfriend moved in and he couldn’t fathom using a dishrag, utilizing a sponge instead. It was a silent argument that waged for a couple weeks. He though dishrags were dirty and I thought sponges literally grew bacteria and were literally a waste since you had to throw them out after such a short period of time.
AND then I discovered luffa sponges. All natural, vegetable sponges that were compostable and naturally anti-bacterial. I ordered a three pack off of Amazon thinking that if they didn’t work, it was a risk of under ten dollars. Those three luffa sponges have each lasted about four months and it has now been about a year since I purchased them. I’m never going back to regular sponges again!
This year in the garden, we planted six luffa plants to grow our own luffa sponges and I am sooooo excited to use them; alternatively, a good option can be found here.
6. Bamboo Kitchen Prep Spoons
This is my most recent purchase and I have to say that I am so impressed with them. I previously had wooden kitchen spoons that were passed down from my mother to me. These broke in HALF while trying to stir some homemade tomato sauce from the garden.
I bought these ones and am so far loving them! They are super sturdy (they pass the sauce test!), they feel fantastic, and wash really well.
7. Blueland Cleaning Supplies
When I was stuck at home during the beginning of the pandemic (February-April 2020), I was in a cleaning frenzy. All that led me to believe that I was going to die from the chemical fumes, my bathroom fan DID not work, and there was no way I was going to be able to continue to clean my 1200 sq foot home with these super chemical cleaners.
This company claims to be non-toxic, minimal waste, and eco-conscious. All of their cleaners come in powdered packets or pods that you add water to in order to create soap and cleaners in the refillable glass containers, thus cutting back on the single-use plastic.
Their hand soap comes in fun seasonal scents (I LOVE the Christmas ones I got last year)! The products provide fantastic clean and there are no chemical fumes that I have once associated with cleaning, especially my tiny bathroom—with the fan that does not work.
They also package all of their products without plastic and I’ve been able to compost all of it. I have all of their products from hand soap, dish soap, and the bathroom/multi-surface (great for the kitchen)/glass cleaners.
I feel like they are a little pricey, buut the products seem to last longer. I bought three dish soaps that lasted for an entire year before I had to order more. That’s pretty impressive for less than $30 of dish soap 🙂
8. Pela Phone Cases
Truly my best find since…well, ever. I chronically drop my phone. A lot! And the case then breaks (saving my phone, in most cases) and I have to buy a new one. I’ve been through like four cases a year before. Not only is that expensive, they were also not surviving my daily life. In addition to that, I was tired of throwing away this basically single-use plastic after three-months.
I found Pela phone cases and I could not be happier! These survive my drops, my run-overs, just overall daily life in general. Their proprietary “plastic” made from flax shive and a plant based biopolymer is almost rubbery and super protective. In addition, they offer a happiness guarantee AND the cases are 100% backyard compostable.
I can attest to this! I’ve actually had to compost my grippy on the back in our tumbler out back and it WORKS. Absolutely incredible. It is hard to find a company that cares about the planet in a technology sector.
The company has a whole line of products made to make having a(n) {expensive} phone soooo much easier. I have their cases on my personal and work phones. I have their screen protector on my personal phone (in additional to a tempered glass screen protector—I don’t try to, but my phone goes through A LOT), I have the gripply that saves my phone and makes it so much easier to hold, and my AirPods case is in one of their cases. My AirPods no longer get lost on an hourly basis.
I can’t recommend them enough if you are looking for a new eco-friendly phone case! Plus, they actually take back your old phone case and recycle it for you!
9. Tushy Bidets
March 2020, there was a run on toilet paper. In some places, it couldn’t be found; in others, quantities were limited. We were fortunate enough to live in a small town and to shop in bulk pretty frequently that we were not worried about running out of toilet paper. But the entire thing got me thinking—why do we kill so many trees just to flush it down the toilet.
Bidets have fascinated me for several years. But there was too much I did not know about them. How did I dry? How sanitary was the entire process? Won’t it give me a UTI? The boyfriend had used a bidet when he stayed in China for school at one point and literally would not stop talking about it.
I did six months of research, including blogs and reddit posts for user experience, and while somewhat appeased, I still wasn’t sure. I decided to buy one through Tushy on one of their deals and give it thirty days. And it works sooo much better than I could even imagine…like, when I go back to traveling full-time for work, I’m getting a travel one. But that’s for another blog post. I ordered the TUSHY SPA for both warm and cold water.
It was not complicated to attach to my toilet OR my hot water source from the sink. I did it all myself and the boyfriend double checked it. And those bamboo bum towels are so soft while solving the “how do I dry” problem that plagued me for months. I loved mine so much (you can read all about our research and thought process before buying a bidet here), I bought my mother one for Christmas last year.
10. ReMarkable eINK Tablet
My most recent, and most expensive, eco-friendly purchase to-date. I am in a line of work where my handwritten signature is needed on EVERYTHING. I was running through ink and paper every single month. It broke my little environmentally conscious heart. That was all in addition to the vast assortments of notes and to-do lists I wrote within conventional notebooks.
When doing research on reusable notebooks, there are two options ReMarkable and Other. Seriously, the Other was so insignificant that I don’t even remember the competitor names. My ReMarkable syncs my phone with my laptop, both of those with my work computer, and I can email documents if need be. I no longer have to search my work hotels for business centers, or ask the hotel managers to print my documents for signature. I no longer have 12 binders lined up along my office wall. My handwritten notes are ORGANIZED and PDFd with search functionality. The pen feels like a real pen (with a marker for crossing items off my to-do list!).
This one item has changed my entire life. I no longer feel like I need a printer or have to find one in my vicinity. I can sign necessary documents without utilizing printer, ink, and paper—which means I’m saving that money (AND ink is NOT cheap!). I’ve finally sorted all of my work and personal notes and it is truly glorious to feel this organized.
11. Bee’s Wrap
This is my newest purchase. I purchased the vegan bee’s wraps, which is supposed to replace plastic wrap and be reusable. They work really well so far.
I’ve only used them to wrap pepperoni (the boyfriend’s, for pizza night) in the refrigerator. It did not let the pepperoni smell permeate the fridge and the boyfriend said that it did not dry out—yay!
I am looking forward to utilizing the bee’s wrap more to provide more comprehensive thoughts (or at least my own thoughts) about it, but wanted to include it here since it was my most recent zero-waste purchase to replace what little cling wrap I do utilize—we have a large, restaurant sized clingwrap that will literally outlive me in our pantry that must be like 7 years old by now. You can try it for yourself here.
Be sure to let me know if you try it!
That’s it! 11 eco-friendly “swaps” over the course of a decade-plus. And so much money ultimately saved. Leave a comment below and let me know your favorite items you have swapped! I am looking for shampoo and conditioner; however, I have yet to find one that works with my hair.
