FREE ZERO WASTE SWAPS // save money and save the planet with low waste on a budget tips

[@crowgrl13]

I save all my little soap scraps to make body wash. I don't buy body wash, I use bar soap, so when it gets down to little slivers, I put them in a jar and save them. When the jar is full (every 4 - 6 months for the two of us in a 4 oz jar), I grate the scraps with a cheese grater, add a little warm water and boil it on the stove till all the tiny bits are melted. I let it cool, pour it into an old squeeze bottle, and use it as body wash. That way I am using up every last bit of soap!

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

woah i love that idea!! i need to try!

[@fridalopez738]

I love that you’re one of the few creators to talk about how to actually be sustainable for FREE

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

YES!! I've always appraoched sustainable living this way. I didn't want expensive or weird swaps. I wanted to do it in a way that wouldn't really change my life and so my channel was born!

[@KS-jf2jf]

Yay! I love this series, thank you 🤗 Not sure if you've already mentioned these: - Tissue boxes can be turned into doggie poop bag dispersers; I reuse bread bags and once they are really used up, they before doggie poop bags 💩 and the tissue boxes are pretty dispensers 😅 - Reuse liquid foam soap dispensers - just add about 1/5 Castile soap and rest water 👍 - Dumpster diving / food rescue: this is the biggest money saver for my family. When we rescue food, we can also recycle the packaging properly - Make my own dog food from food rescue - Save egg shells, put them in the oven 275 F for 10min, grind with coffee grinder, sift the powder through and voila, you have calcium supplement for your dog for free!!!

[@sarahe.2395]

I love using the soap depenser hack! I just reuse a bath and body works dipenser but if you have any reccomendations for a more sustainable option id love that!

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

i love these so much thank you!!! I'll be adding these :)

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

@@sarahe.2395 woah genius!

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

@@funwitharchives2639 yessss such a great idea!

[@JasperCasper24]

That banana peel on plants is genius, I just went and did it and its great! My indoor plants all live on window sills and they get INSANELY dusty! a few of them have this really weird bug disease atm so keeping them dust free is super important in treating it. Makes my room smell nice too

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

isn't it the best?! i wish the best to you and your plants!

[@baileegordon2825]

Love this series! For juice pulp you can also mix it into homemade cracker dough. I'm a huge fan of swap groups and swap meet ups. I help host swaps many times per year, and we donate all leftover goods to a free community resource. My community also has a food exchange where we can gift unwanted food to eat other: perishable food, slightly expired cans, open food containers, and other things that food banks won't accept. Volunteering is a good free activity. Gleaning organizations around the country organize volunteer events where people harvest excess food and donate it to localfood banks. Also pulling noxious local weeds and sprinkling seeds of native wildflowers is an awesome act if you haven't included it yet.

[@baileegordon2825]

Also, using kale, collard, broccoli, cauliflower, etc stems in cooking. I'm experimenting with that lately. They taste great in soups. I believe they can also be washed, chopped, and frozen throughout the year to use when the weather is cool enough for soup again.

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

my fav series! I loveeee the idea of swap groups, adding that now!

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

@@baileegordon2825 I feed those to my dog instead! Veggies for him to supplement his diet and it all gets used!

[@sagebay2803]

I knit wash rags and use them for everything. I use them for soap bar holders and sometimes I sew up the sides and stick my soap scraps in them. They are also used for pot holders, plant holders, dish clothes, face washes, etc. I also give them as gifts: a knit spa cloth and a bar of yummy smelling soap. No waste.

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

what do you make them out of/ i crochet and would love to try making them as gifts but am unsure of the matieral

[@sagebay2803]

@@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist cotton. I found the best at Hobby Lobby.

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

@@sagebay2803 just 100% cotton? thanks!

[@erintannehill]

This is definitely one of my favorite series on your channel! One thing I do that I'm not sure you mentioned that goes along with airplane mode on your phone is to turn off wifi or Bluetooth when not needed. For instance, if I am going to town, I turn off my wifi so it isn't searching for networks when I don't need one, and I only turn on Bluetooth when I need it. Another thing we do related to internet is turning off our internet router, TV, microwave, and air purifier at night. None of these are needed during the night and saving that electricity while sleeping helps me sleep better at night. Plus, we live in a studio style home, so all the lights they put out keep our home lit up at night, which isn't ideal.

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

aww thanks Erin! It's def a fav of mine too! those are great ideas thank you so much!

[@gilashroot8697]

The problem with making your own brown sugar from white sugar plus molasses is that you are supporting the factory for making more white sugar. I went to a sugarcane factory that makes sugar from sugarcane and they explained (this would apply to many sugar distraction processes): Removing the molasses from sugar (caffeine from their beans ect.) takes a huge amount more water and the process produces lower grade white sugar that is less healthy. Not many people are aware that it is actually the molasses that makes sugar sweet. The factory was explaining that this means that people have to put in larger quanties of the less healthy, refined white sugar to get the same amount of sweetness of straight extracted molasses sugar. It also means that you are more likely to consume higher quantities of sugar in general. This is great for the sugar factories because they benefit in a number of ways: 1. They sell the molasses for animal consumption. 2. They sell the molasses to people at additional cost to consumers. So they make extra on human consumption of molasses plus additional revenue from higher consumption of white sugar because it is not as sweet and more unhealthy. 3. They make more on any recipes made with sugar, especially endustrial use, because more white sugar is required. 4. They do not care about the extra water or higher manufacturing costs or health issues because their bottom line margins are overall much higher with the higher consumption of white sugar plus molasses. When we asked the factory manager if he knows these facts why sell white sugar given the health risks and necessity to consume more, which in turn increases the health risks, this was his answer: They offset the water waisteage and extra processing costs with the profit of white sugar sales at the expense of people's health. Basically they profit from harming: 1. The planet by using extra processing that producess more CFCs for the waisted energy. Plus more CFCs for the huge amounts of extra water that now requires recycling. Decaffeinated products, like coffee and cola, are subject to the same criticism. People have to consume larger quanties of decaffeinated liquids to get the same boost. In addition to the problematic results of the process of removing the caffeine. Don't you love economics when applied to zero waist productivity by companies that profit from the opposite?

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

yes zero waste is cool :)

[@signsofabadger7212]

Something I thought about recently was: think about what ELSE you are buying with the thing you are purchasing and could you use it for something else? For example, I've tried a few supplements that are now nice little jars for things. I've been refilling a smartwater bottle as my every day water bottle because I like the straw nib on it and how light it is. It might actually be hilarious but also informative to rate each swap or eco-friendly idea with a "Crunchiness" rating 😂 EDIT: HELLO I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THE CRUNCHY CONNECTION TO HATE GROUPS WHEN I MADE THIS. LIFE & LOVE > HATE!!!

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

right! I love getting "free" jars with purchase hahahah. I don't think I'll be doing anything crunchy with it's relation to alt right thinking and acting sorry

[@signsofabadger7212]

@@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist crunchiness is alt right??????

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

@@signsofabadger7212 not entirely, but there is a ton of overlap so it's kinda got a bad stigma right now unfortunately. Look up the "crunchy to alt right pipline" and enjoy that rabbit hole hahaha

[@signsofabadger7212]

@@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist oof thank you for telling me!!

[@caroldolan1485]

I have always made my own brown sugar but I don’t make. A Container of it. When I baked NT and a recipe calls for brown sugar I just put in the amount of brown sugar they are calling for as regular sugar….and then I just add a little molasses and mix away. I first learned this trip many years ago while living in Africa and had a copy of The More With less Cookbook….a lifesaver while working as a famine relief worker! There was definitely “less!” Of pretty much everything!

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

to easy to make a small batch!

[@fwebster6226]

Socks can make great jackets for small dogs too - just make extra holes where required.

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

my doggo is wayyyy to big for socks haha but maybe tiny dogs!

[@menoswaste1780]

Airplane mode?! I've never thought of that!!!

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

it's my go to hack!

[@jamiebruno6594]

I have spotty wifi at home, so I always have my phone in airplane mode, then connect to wifi- it connects to the closest cell tower for the best service and it doesn't keep searching.

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

such a great idea!

[@practicallymedieval2027]

I've been doing the sugar thing for years. Its one less thing to buy. Oh and mini food processor is the way to go. Super easy.

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

yes i loveeee that swap!

[@fatitrik385]

كيف تصنع السكر علمني

[@chrstopherblighton-sande2981]

I really liked the banana peel tip! I've used them to polish shoes before but it never occurred to me to use them to dust-off plants! Thanks for sharing. Putting clothes in the freezer is also one I've not come across but it makes perfect sense as odours are usually caused by bacteria which will either be killed or made dormant at those cold temperatures. For a similar effect you can hang clothes in the sunshine for a while and that too neutralises odours (the downside is that it can fade the colour, but for white clothes it's perfect).

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

omg polish shoes?! how cool! loveeee using the sun as a disinfectant! I think that tip was in an earlier iteration :)

[@chrstopherblighton-sande2981]

@@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist That's probably where I learned it from 😀

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

@@chrstopherblighton-sande2981 nice!

[@justachonkyspider]

This is great info 😊👍 I love your channel Emma because it shows how we can make a difference. I keep my mop bucket in my shower and when it's halfway full I use the captured water to mop my floor 🙂 it works great

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

thank you so much!! there is soooo much we can do every day to make a positive impact :) THAT IS GENIUS

[@anaalves3658]

You can also use it to flush the toilet ☺️🚽

[@jennyjenjen82]

Love to see you make a video of you using juice pulp to make things

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

maybe on TikTok! I'm not really a recipe channel and tbh I haven't juiced in a longggg time

[@stevefisher2553]

VOTE BLUE!!!!!

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

vote green ;)

[@shaunaburton7136]

There’s also some recipes using banana peels.

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

oh yes true!~

[@PianoMusicbyEri]

Thanks for an awesome video. 😊

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

aww thank you!!

[@fwebster6226]

Another tip for devices to save their batteries - do not use them while they are charging

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

omg really?! how does this affect it??

[@karinhart489]

Just watching for your older videos while waiting in the cell lot at the airport to pickup a friend. The rest of our weekend fun will be on public transit 🗺️ ⛴️ 🚃 🚂 🙃

[@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist]

awww thank you for your support :)