Minimalism + Working toward Zero-Waste!

Hi everyone!

Today I'm going to address the topics of zero waste and minimalism and how they have affected my life positively.

Not only can minimalism be individually rewarding by removing distractions and clutter from your life, but it's great for the environment as well!

In such a consumer encouraged environment, people are bombarded with ads - be that digital, physical, radio etc - urging them to buy more and more. Currently there are more storage units in the United States than storefronts for the McDonald fast food chains. There are over 14,100 McDonald's restaurants throughout the U.S. Just go ahead and let that sink in. Personally, that terrifies me!
(https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/21/self-storage-mcdonalds_n_7107822.html)

This collector mentality is doing detrimental harm to the environment, but there is a way to move forward. We simply need to downsize. The items that sit in storage aren't for common use, but for nostalgia or that passing thought. "what if I need this later on...etc". Identifying your own personal reasons for wanting to accumulate material things is an important journey toward minimalism. My jump into minimalism started with my wardrobe then working my way into my household goods/appliances and random things that I had accumulated. I found myself holding onto things out of guilt - for gifts that I had no interest in keeping, and out of habit - because I'd had that item for so long already. First I separated my belongings into three piles: keep, can't decide yet, and donate. I asked myself a few questions to decide if I should keep an item.

1. Do I currently use this item - Have I used this item in the past 6 mo.?
2. What are the benefits of keeping this item?
3. Would donating this item negatively affect me?

My personal promise to myself is that I would downsize every time I moved - which happened to be over 4 times in the past year!

My wardrobe

• I feel less anxious about deciding what to wear
• I still wear the style that I like, just in a more sustainable way
• I keep and wear clothes until I need new ones
• I do not shop for leisure, only for necessity

I also brought minimalism in to my beauty routine. I switched from liquid soap to bar soap. I try to buy the ones that are package free whenever possible. Mistakes and slip ups do happen. Simply address them and try to be better in the future.

I stopped buying make-up. I'm using up what I have available and reassessing what is necessary from there.

I try to reduce the amount of waste I consume and reuse the things that I buy that produce waste. I use zero waste deodorant from (https://schmidtsnaturals.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA2NXTBRDoARIsAJRIvLwi6yyoAR-JMVSI1kqcYT9SDVsM-bMUtjKdATnkWNjEcR1AUy75BUUaAnuREALw_wcB).

I also use a zero waste toothpaste. I bought a jarred zero waste toothpaste and when I ran out I made my own using coconut oil and baking soda.

I switched my face moisturizer from heavily packaged plastics to rose hip oil that comes in a reusable glass bottle.

I reuse glass bottle, jars, and containers. They get used for storage, as water bottles, drinking cups, flower vases and so much more!

Even though the idea of minimizing and becoming zero waster can seem overwhelming at first, taking tiny steps toward you goal and making small changes overtime will get you there in no time!

Thanks for reading!