cost of refill shops 🧴

[@SabrinaSustainableLife]

Check out here to find a zero waste/bulk store near you! www.litterless.com/wheretoshop

[@k9spot1]

I’m really glad you did this, because people on the last video all assumed it was really expensive, when in my experience it’s usually cheaper or at least evens out.

[@k9spot1]

You’re removing the expensive individual packaging, why would that cost more for the same quality of product? Yeah it might be more than a Walmart version, but it’s going to be tough to get anything sustainable at Walmart and the quality is usually worse bc small shops like these can’t afford to sell shitty garbage if they want to stay open so they’re generally a lot more choosy about what brands they pick. Are there bad actors who just sell crap and upcharge it a ton for “the experience”? Probably somewhere. But there’s no reason it has to be that way and it hasn’t been that way in my experience.

[@annayakuhana3007]

Just speaking from experience, the 2 shops that I've been to were super expensive. I suppose they upcharge for the unique experience since refill shops are new here.

[@mixedmediaartgirl300]

Just like anywhere, I look at prices and buy what's cheap. Amd some things are indeed, much cheaper

[@TheOwlQueen]

It depends on where you live and what shoos exist there. I don't have any shops that sell seasonings like this and all that I've been to are super expensive

[@simpulacra]

$6 for hand soap and $9 for toothpaste is stupid people tax. that's only cheap if you don't know the value of a dollar.

[@JenIsHungry]

My local coop bulk is usually more expensive than shopping at Aldi. I hate it, honestly. I want to reduce packaging but I'm not paying $10 for a few pounds of beans vs $3 from Aldi.

[@karoljohn3279]

Right? I think comparing it to the same products is one thing, but there are sooo many cheaper options and they don't seem to exist when bulk buying

[@Albinojackrussel]

I'm pretty annoyed to see her only looking at herbs and shampoo instead of pantry staples. Herbs are virtually always cheaper to buy from a place that sells them in bigger quantities than from a supermarket. And shampoo is a weird item where it actually does vary a lot in quality and traits between brands so you can't necessarily just switch. It's the cost of pantry staples that are important. Sadly shops like this are almost always more expensive on pantry staples than the cheapest option in a big supermarket. They're small shops, and tend to be using niche suppliers that specialise in low waste supply, so their costs are higher. They also tend not to do loss leaders. So these small shops just can't compete on price. I'm in the luxury position currently where I can afford to do this, but there's been times in my life where the prices of my refill store would have just been prohibitively expensive. It often only works out to 10 pence more per kg, but that was 10p I couldn't afford

[@someonesomewhere947]

You could try regular type grocery stores with bulk sections. Win Co. has some decent prices in the bulk section and ethnic grocery stores also tend to offer a variety of pantry staples in bulk bins.

[@chaosgirleva]

One thing worth noting is a lot of these places also are like organic or higher quality, so they may be cheaper than the actual same product else where, which isn't to say that means suddenly it's affordable but it's not like it's a scam

[@jasminesingh1863]

Winco is great if you want bulk and a deal I love them for zero waste ! I bring in old baggies and stuff and fill my grains legumes and nuts. I save a ridiculous amount of money

[@BeqaQueue]

I need to know where you're shopping because all the eco stores I've been to are EXTREMELY expensive to the point that I stopped going. Like $75+ for the same amount as $15 for laundry soap expensive

[@SabrinaSustainableLife]

This one is in ferndale Michigan!

[@Garbongoloid]

Yes!! I filled a hand soap refill container with laundry detergent and it was over $40!!

[@Lilian040210]

Well look for big stores that might have refills. Or bigger variants of stuff on marketplaces. Like 2l of sauces and kilo of sesame seeds etc, usually cheaper. "Eco" stores is sadly often just a gimmick ala Shmoop or shlop or wtv that G.Peltrow brand is

[@crimsonrose1500]

I think depending on what state you're in the prices at co-ops/local shops can be more expensive. For example NY and Cali will be $$$$ than down south or midwest most likely unfortunately. In that case start with 1 or 2 small swaps and do your research. Browse shops, compare prices, ask around, try different brands and look for sales. Overtime, you'll have found tips n tricks for your area and eventually have a zero waste home! ❤🎉

[@PixieLove5]

In CA, holistic/co-ops are generally considered “artisan”. Strange right? So upcycling is being rebranded as a luxury thing and not a necessity. Backasswards if you ask me!

[@Wendy510]

There are cheap bulk stores in the Bay Area, especially for food (East bay has Berkeley bowl, food mill, etc;) things like soap not so much

[@NOOB-li4wc]

I really wish I could do this kind of thing but I have a food allergy where cross contamination is a big risk so I cannot buy my groceries like this.

[@emilywolf8365]

This!! Not everyone has the same cleanliness standards so I really wonder how they prevent or avoid cross contamination.

[@SpoonieScully]

Yah I have a large family and I know my mom in law would absolutely love this but my fiance and I have unknown food allergies/intolerances and my brother in law is deathly allergic to tree nuts so :/

[@chellyberry4434]

omg the seasoning is such a win

[@krabkaces3441]

I’ve been telling my husband for years THIS IS THE FUTURE OF SHOPPING. So happy to see my dream coming to fruition

[@Medicgal]

Still too expensive.

[@ann5935]

I wish so much we had something like this in the middle of Alaska 😢 these groceries are big bills here

[@magnusthered9635]

Wish there were places like this near me

[@squaresquids]

For those who don't have places like this near them but have bulk-buying stores like Sam's Club and Costco, just buy household products in bulk and it ends up being roughly the same price depending on what you'd buying

[@elirose6161]

So cool! Thank you for sharing!

[@jglakecity]

I feel like this isn't very sanitary. We had a bulk store in my community for a while. The bins were not airtight. The whole process involved people touching the scoops without gloves.

[@babybleuuu]

There's bulk stores everywhere though and for the soaps it wouldnt matter much about sanitary, you notice how the worked bottles the toothpaste. I'm sure it's as sanitary as any other self serve bulk store if not moreso considering how small it is.

[@StarrieMoonlight]

That's what I was thinking too, some people don't wash their hands, even after going to the toilet, or cover their mouth when sneezing or coughing, which could get into the products

[@colin5227]

Our bulk store in my city cleans things very thoroughly, it can be done well

[@jglakecity]

@@colin5227 I knew it could have been done better. But it's setup lead to it's demise unfortunately.

[@mariealp]

It’s kind of hard to comprehend that if everyone did this, we wouldn’t have the amount of ocean trash & land mines that we do.

[@HD-tl4vt]

Where do you think the containers go that the store has to purchase for you to pull from?

[@DanTheMan-gj8dy]

You are genuinely naive if you think that would fix either of those problems, ESPECIALLY LAND MINES. Wtf does this have to do with wars and planting and leaving land mines.

[@mariealp]

@@DanTheMan-gj8dy I meant land fills lol. Clam down

[@frisco61]

It’s kind of pointless to even posit such ideas when it will never happen. By far the main polluters are India and China. From what I’ve read, the materials end up in the ocean because the rivers there are so polluted and used for trash that it all eventually just washes out to sea. Especially in China where they have no respect for human life they’re not going to care about the environment if they don’t even care about their people.

[@blissfulluxurylife5722]

Wow they should have stores like this all over ❤ what a great concept 🎉

[@alexwinters6378]

Damn~ I’m heading my way to these places I live in phx I look forward to going to these stores 😎

[@shatakshipandey8014]

We have no refill shops over in here in India, one thing I did to reduce packaging was to take my own shopping bag to places and I would only buy products which would last longer.

[@norainnoflowers1551]

i was always too scared to visit the bulk refill shop in my city! seeing this makes me feel like I can venture a trip out without feeling sick to my stomach about pricing 😅 thanks!

[@conniesmith9732]

Fantastic solution to so many problems in the traditional way of doing things- this is better for the environment and probably your wallet too! I’d never heard about this until now, big co ops with dry lentils yes but this is different! I’ll have to see if there’s any near me!

[@xXxjjTHEjetPLANEXxXx]

There's not a store like this near me but hopefully one day I'll live near one!

[@aligracesherbalplace6159]

Ah id loose my mind in these stores. I absolute love them.

[@rekajohns1075]

I wish these types of shops exist in the UK. I would go to this type of shop always

[@TheDolphace]

They do, if you live near a city or large town there will be one. In my small town of 3½ thousand people there is one and the first one I ever went to was well over 10 years ago now.

[@crystaljonas1060]

I love this and I wish they had this kind of store where I live 😊

[@ashleyduckworthyt3224]

Those seasoning prices seem pretty decent. I have a country store 15 mins from my rural home that does this kinda stuff with spices, jams, and pickled things

[@aproxamillionwasps474]

My jaw dropped at the 56 cents spice that is a DEAL

[@user-nd1yk1ti6b]

Budgeting and saving the world. 💪

[@peachygirl2374]

It's beneficial as a single person because I don't need to buy foods and toiletries in bulk, if I buy smaller quantities I can change shampoo or conditioner if my hair doesn't like it, switch up scents often, but small amounts of food to reduce food. It's also great for those who are budgeting because you can buy what you need for that month, it may be cheeper to buy in bulk sometimes but if you don't have the budget for bulk it's a great option!

[@DebbieandEddieBFF]

Neat store❤

[@My_Treehouse]

Love this idea! 😊

[@notscared5941]

The closest store to me is almost 40 minutes away in the worst part of a different city. Right down the street from where someone was shot last week. 😢

[@sierraflores7574]

Since you fill up any size container, do they charge you for the volume or the weight?

[@censors_starve]

Yes in her last video she showed that you weigh the container to get the weight to minus out later. She had the weight written on a small tag that was then put onto the container.

[@loadedandloced311]

❤❤🎉🎉 we have so many here in Denver …I can’t wait to convert over to no waste

[@shaniathemen]

I really would like to open a store like this in my country. We throw away so many single use items we don’t even need and a lot of people collect glas jars here so this would come in handy and also because we have been in a recession for like the last 10 years 😅

[@qin714]

I wish for the day when store like these finally hit my city. Currently i just buy big jugs or refills that i put on smaller containers. It last me months and cut down on my expenses

[@lisasargent2841]

This is genius and brilliant.

[@colin5227]

Very cool idea

[@andyrussell5177]

When I was a kid in Barbados sugar salt flour butter cheese. We're all measured out with a scoop and put into newspaper or brown paper and sold by the ounce or by the pound. The store had barrels filled with these items and they would scoop them Wham and put them in the brown bags for us. Everything was weighed😅

[@PlanetPartners.]

Amazing!! Where is this?

[@savannahharrington6470]

Omg! That’s the store I go to! I was there last week!

[@christianmonreaux1161]

Honestly, I've noticed that inner cities and suburbs bulk shops are really expensive, and then when you go out to the boonies it's like the actual price that you should be paying for bullk food😬

[@kachow9582]

Too bad, we don't have the store like this where I live

[@moonchild66]

That's shop is an awesome idea❤❤❤❤❤

[@justjo7282]

Where do you find refill shops?? I've never seen one or even heard of one until this video. Thanks

[@baegonia]

The eco shop in my city isn’t even worth it. Gotten Castile soap, black soap and laundry detergent all for the same price as getting it at the store plus the price of driving to the store which was twice as far as my nearest grocery store. I really really wanted it to be worth it :(

[@Ivanachuljakcribb]

Where is this store at looks awesome 👏 😊💖

[@N08R76H]

It’s basically sustainable Costco

[@fluorescentFrequencies]

✨DALLARZ✨

[@savvyshelly3983]

I mean, it’s still expensive for my personal lifestyle, so it’s not a one size fits all. That’s totally fine, people have to make their budgets, necessities, and splurges make sense for them.

[@tree1568]

I so wish I could do this because I love decanting everything. Unfortunately my disabilities get in the way 😢

[@Corkinee]

I wish this was available where I live

[@KylaFuller]

But where do you find a store like this? I haven’t found a bulk place like this.

[@jenniferwebb677]

I would luv to try this but I'm not sure we have any, but I am however looking at the ways I'm shopping and trying to reduce my waste in more eco friendly Packaging, Or reusable packing. We all do and try our best.❤👍 That's all we can do.

[@jennamakesbugs]

I love this idea but refilling my stuff means other people are touching all that, too, and that kind of grosses me out. I think it would be better for a trained employee to handle the foods, at least.

[@shatakshipandey8014]

Yeah

[@Belthedumb]

I recognize that store I have to go

[@alisha4635]

They need a funnel for those seasonings

[@m__6930]

Things never stay cheap when it goes mainstream though

[@divinityrose8100]

I really need to know where this is.

[@user-gm4ip5zl5u]

What is the name of the store

[@oliviaolivia3002]

only thing about tooth tabs is that they can be too abrasive for teeth so please be careful!

[@GPXgirl]

Yeah, most of these bulk stores have organic foods. So they’re not really cost-effective.

[@SofijaStankovic]

What is the location?

[@SabrinaSustainableLife]

Ferndale, MI

[@colettechidalek4032]

Where do you live? I can’t imagine anywhere near me I could find this

[@OctobersDaughter]

My issue with these places is they are "branding" this as a luxury lifestyle which is totally toxic because going waste free should cost less. You aren't having to pay for packaging which is a large part of the final cost and this is something that is good for our earth. They shouldn't be luxury-taxing it. This shouldn't be a trend, it should be possible for everyone to afford.

[@tiafromvenus980]

This part! No one is talking about this lol this stores cost literally 2-3 times more than regular and for the amount your getting is crazy. They pretty much brand themselves as a “luxury” and everyone is looking past that. It’s literally a “luxury” to be toxic free and I really hate that. It’s extremely toxic

[@owlbyovrprepared1128]

What would be your recommendations for people who can't put extra energy or trips into things like this? The baby steps to work up to this, maybe?

[@SabrinaSustainableLife]

I love a lot of videos on here my TikTok and instagram that show easy ways you can live more sustainably

[@owlbyovrprepared1128]

@@SabrinaSustainableLife lovely, thank you!

[@Cuddlingus]

Spices are 1.25$ at the dollar store.

[@annaliavalentine5752]

Omg I have never heard the actors in audiobooks coughing wth!! That’s not ok…😭

[@doloresgonzalez6961]

I wonder how one could open a shop like this and be profitable.

[@Literallyarealhuman]

So basically, you don’t know how to buy in bulk

[@cousinmajin]

Does anyone know any shops or coops like this near Sacramento CA?

[@Redd71]

WinCo has a great bulk spice and dry goods section (like oatmeal and beans).

[@silhouetta6983]

Ohhhhh yeah i can’t get behind this (for my own purposes) for everything but spices? I see it

[@kimblackburn169]

I’m allergic to most cosmetics and soaps so these shops aren’t somewhere I can go for them 😩👎

[@aintnosunshinewhenshesgone151]

How do find a place like this

[@dr.penguin6834]

Live in LA or NY probably

[@censors_starve]

I would recommend staying away from organic as overall it is worse for the enviroment. It requires more land, which means more animals get killed when the plow and harvest. The crop loss is higher because of the lack of pesticides. And because they have more crops to tend to there is a higher carbon emission. It's better to use non organic. Sorry I saw the comparison to Walmart organic herbs and yea that's a pet peeve of mine is people thinking organic is better when it isn't. There is no difference in nutrition. Nor is there any type of benefit from it. There also is no harm in using GMO foods as most things are GMO already by nature. Native cultures bred corn from what was originally a plant more like wheat, but overtime with selective breeding they modified it to be what we have today. GMO actually is best for the enviroment because we can breed pest and disease resistance into the plants which gives higher yields.

[@yea8111]

The time tho

[@channyrose]

I also save money on that stuff. By not buying it cause it's all junk.

[@truckywuckyuwu]

The first thing to sustainable living. Realize that all of these products aren't needed. Step two, make your soap at home. It takes like.. 30 mins. And you can make a gallon of it at a time for like, 10 bucks.

[@k9spot1]

I don’t have the time, money, or energy to make EVERYTHING I need at home sustainably and maybe YOU don’t need spices, basic soaps, and toothpaste, but I’m pretty sure most people do???? I definitely couldn’t make them at the quality I could buy it for from someone who makes it their livelihood to create. The only thing maybe unnecessary for most people is the detangler but if that or any of these are something YOU don’t need, check your privilege, because for some people these products are a medical necessity. Even detangler might be for people with very coarse or curly hair that mats easily. Also, have you really done the research on where the ingredients for your homemade soap are coming from?? Unless you’re using home grown deer tallow, wood ash, and beeswax (which would no doubt be a detergent too harsh for many peoples’ skin and take much longer than half an hour to grow) then I would bet it’s pretty likely you haven’t taken the time to visit the overseas factory that your lye or soap base was made in. And you shouldn’t take the time to do that because it’s not your job and it’s perfectly okay to pay a soap craftsman $1 extra to do that for you and while they’re at it I bet they’re going to add ingredients and use their expertise to craft a formula that is better for your skin. It’s better to buy it from someone sustainable and vote with your dollar than it is to make it yourself with ingredients pumped out by factories. If you want to make your own stuff, power to you, but I do my job making things, other people do their job making things, and we pay eachother for exchange of those goods. Don’t shame people for a basic necessity of having a society and don’t flaunt your privilege by saying nobody needs toothpaste 🙄

[@SabrinaSustainableLife]

@@k9spot1 lol literally! Thank you

[@truckywuckyuwu]

@@k9spot1 do you know what green washing is? What about consumerism? Sustainable living is avoiding both of these, it is also about being self sufficient where you can.

[@k9spot1]

@@truckywuckyuwu being self sufficient has NO inherent connection to living sustainably. You can’t possibly make EVERYTHING you need and everyone has different needs. It’s not “consumerist” to need to barter for basic things like baking soda (toothpaste), salt, soap etc that we need, but simply don’t have on our land. It’s not automatically wasteful to rely on others to carry some of the intellectual burden required for the artistry to make different products like soaps and spices for us because we participate in return by doing our specific jobs for them. “Self sufficiency” is actually often consumerist and the opposite of sustainable. Imagine rather than paying a local farmer for their sustainable awesome soaps people choose to have products (soap base and lye) made in a factory, shipped to your Walmart, Costco, or by Amazon to your house, and then made themselves poorly and cheaply. They support the factory, the shipping industry, and take away money that would have stayed circulating locally. I think rather than being “self sufficient” you should focus on being “circular”. Buy products that are truly sustainable no matter who makes them and paying people properly for their work, ideally done locally. If you have trouble telling products that are made sustainably from those that have been “greenwashed”, I would suggest you look up some tips from the internet. Also just because you can throw out a few fancy buzz words doesn’t mean you can confidently tell everyone that your definition of a “sustainable life” is the one and only correct way to do things. There are many different versions of correct here and we can be open to multiple ways of doing things.

[@truckywuckyuwu]

@@k9spot1 it's weird that you're looking for an argument. Self sufficiency helps you reduce your reliance on many things, further helping you be more sustainable. Learning to garden is being self sufficient, and an act towards sustainable life. But I guess you're just here to argue. Maybe take that energy you're directing at me and learn some skills with it. Like making soap, or gardening.

[@ayajade6683]

Stop lying to the people it's more expensive

[@mariscostumes3815]

Proof?

[@ayajade6683]

@@mariscostumes3815 even googling the store the author mentioned where it's so cheap at in the comments their prices are 2x-4x more expensive than from any store in the area. Which is exactly how all these green washed refill stores operate. But in the future google things instead of blindly believing an influencer

[@JaneDoe-fz6qc]

I would never shop from a place that supports a terrorist organization.... shame on you

[@anniebell6846]

If it’s by weight you need to do your own maths no?

[@gritmakaveli]

Bad video, just cuts off at the end. Do better

[@arlenediaz1023]

Wow steep prices for unnecessary stuff. Really people.

[@SabrinaSustainableLife]

Soap, toothpaste and ingredients are unnecessary, yikes.

[@raerohan4241]

​@@arlenediaz1023 You didn't watch the video at all did you 😂

[@amberb7881]

Girl did you not watch?