How to Save Money and Y(OUR) Planet
Through all the chaos that 2020 has brought to us, it has given us the time to take a step back and realize what is important to us. As a blessing in disguise, we can now focus on those things. I have always been the crafty one in my family, but never thought to find ways to create actual useful things. With my newfound free time, I spent some time surfing the web and found that there are SO MANY ways to make your own household cleaning supplies, all of which reduce waste. I thought up the most used items in my house (many of which include cleaning) and came up with: drier sheets, laundry detergent, soap, all-purpose cleaner. Yes, you can find all of these things in the store, but do you know all the harsh chemicals that are in them? Do you know how much you are contributing to the landfill just from buying cleaning products?
Reason #1 for DIY-ing Household Products: Chemicals
When I first began making my own cleaners, I had the same thought you probably do right now. I know you're thinking that making your own cleaner won’t do the trick, but trust me. According to the CDC, the most effective cleaners are those with regular old soap and water. The CDC also qualifies diluted bleach and alcohol as the best simple disinfectants.
Moving on to the main idea, the chemicals that are in store-bought cleaning and laundry products. Most cleaners on the shelf contain harsh chemicals like ammonium Sulfite which is recommended by manufacturers not to be used indoors and formaldehyde which, as we all know is used to preserve dead bodies. Some harsh chemicals such as formaldehyde can increase your chances of cancer according to the CDC.
Reason #2 to DIY your Household Products: Save our Planet
This is where it really starts to get interesting. While it is very important to keep ourselves and family safe by cleaning with natural products. The amount of waste that can be reduced will make a huge difference! Every year in the United States humans produce around 139.6 million tons of waste that ends up in either our oceans or landfills. To break that down even further, according to Dumpster, “the average American consumer produces just under five pounds of trash each day, while a family creates about 18 pounds. Multiplying those numbers by 365 days for the year, it all adds up to:
- 1,642 pounds per person.
- 6,570 pounds per family.”
According to the EPA, the most common materials in landfills are paper, plastic, and food which makes up over fifty percent of the U.S. landfills. I know you're thinking “well that’s not me, I recycle” and while that is still making a difference, it's much more complicated than that.
Did you know?
- According to National Geographic, “Only 9% of the plastic that Americans put in our recycling bins actually gets recycled. That is 91% of America’s plastic being burned (severely ruining air quality), thrown into landfills, or even dumped into our oceans.”
- According to National Geographic, “If present trends continue, by 2050(that's only 30 years!!), there will be 12 billion metric tons of plastic in landfills. That amount is 35,000 times as heavy as the Empire State Building.”
Here’s what you can do:
- When shopping, take the packaging into consideration, paper products are much gentler on the environment versus plastic that will stick around for 10 to 12 years. {As another tip, if there is a decent glass packaging option for the product, I recommend choosing that. You can reuse the glass jar or container to hold other things around the house. It’s like a 2 for 1}.
- Any plastic containers you must buy, choose a plastic option that you will be able to refill. I have a great all-purpose cleaner and disinfectant recipe. Instead of buying new spray bottles, I reuse the ones I have purchased from the store and refill them.
I also did the same with my store-bought laundry detergent. Once it was finished, I used this recipe to refill it. It cleans my laundry so so well and smells fresh. The best part of all is that I can make at least 5 gallons with the amount I spent on traditional laundry detergent.
I think my most favorite thing that I have found is how to make my own reusable dryer sheets. I feel so much better about doing laundry knowing that I am not creating waste with those pesky dryer sheets that go straight to the trash.
I am sharing with you this wonderfully simple recipe to make reusable dryer sheets made with any type of cloth you have laying around the house. I cut up some old tee shirts that into dryer sheet size squares. Yes, this recipe includes vinegar. DO NOT LET THAT SCARE YOU. You will not smell vinegary, it completely dissipates in the dryer from the heat. I even added some extra essential oils to cover the scent a bit more. To store mine I had reused a glass jar that my peanut butter came in. I washed it out and labeled the jar Dryer Sheets.
- The last thing you can do is to simply use less water, less energy, less waste. In many cities, reducing water consumption has decreased or eliminated the need to construct expensive new public water infrastructure, including pipes, equipment, and buildings, which would have been needed to supply additional water and treat additional wastewater (Kats 2010, 33). Using water consumes energy for pumping, heating, and treating water and wastewater, so reducing water consumption results in reduced energy use as well (Robertson 2017).
References:
Robertson, M. (2017). Sustainability Principles and Practice. Routledge.
In many cities, reducing water consumption has decreased or eliminated the need to construct expensive new public water infrastructure, including pipes, equipment, and buildings, which would have been needed to supply additional water and treat additional wastewater (Kats 2010, 33). Using water consumes energy for pumping, heating, and treating water and wastewater, so reducing water consumption results in reduced energy use as well.
“If you destroy too many wetlands you can’t just make new ones,” Browner said. “It takes nature to create one, over millions of years.”
Pittman, Craig. Paving Paradise: Florida’s Vanishing Wetlands and the Failure of No Net Loss (The Florida History and Culture Series) (p. 167). University Press of Florida. Kindle Edition.
MLA (Modern Language Assoc.)
Robertson, Margaret. Sustainability Principles and Practice. Routledge, 2017.
APA (American Psychological Assoc.)
Robertson, M. (2017). Sustainability Principles and Practice. Routledge.