DIY Laundry Detergent

There are quite a few DIY laundry detergent recipes that have been making their way around the internet for some time now. The problem with most of these recipes is that they call for either: "laundry soap" bars, which are full of harsh chemicals and synthetic fragrances; or borax, which is a controversial ingredient that many are trying to avoid.

So, in my search for an all natural laundry detergent recipe, I did a lot of research about the chemistry of cleaning and ended up formulating my own. Here it is!

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Ingredients:

1 bar of castile soap
1 lb. sodium carbonate (washing soda)
1 lb. sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)
1 tbsp. citric acid (Try the bulk spice aisle)
2 tbsp. sodium citrate* (Might be hard to find, other than online)

Optional: Essential oils

Equipment:

Food grater
Large bowl
Airtight container (1.5 quart or greater in volume)

Instructions:

Grate the soap as fine as possible into your large bowl. If you don't have a box grater with different sizes, you might opt to pulse in a food processor to break it up into a finer powder (It's just soap. It'll wash out.) Then add your 4 powders and mix until well combined. Add essential oils for scent if you'd like. Seal this up in your airtight container. To wash, add 1 to 2 tbsp per load.

How it works:

Here is where I nerd out about chemistry. If you're okay with that, keep reading.

• Castile Soap
• Castile soap acts as a surfactant (surface acting agent) to remove soil from clothing. The molecules that make up surfactants have two distinct properties on opposite ends.
• Hydrophobic: Water "hating"
• Hyrdrophilic: Water "loving"
• The molecules orient themselves in such a way that the long hydrophobic chains embed themselves in grease and dirt, and the hydrophilic heads remain suspended in the water. This allows dirt to be agitated free of the clothes, brought into solution in the wash and then rinsed away.

• Water
• Water is an important ingredient in your wash. It acts as a solvent in which the other ingredients are suspended and free to do their work. All water (other than distilled or rain water) contains free metal ions in solution. These will interfere with the surfactant's ability to clean, effectively "using up" the hydrophobic end and reducing your soap's washing power. That is where the following ingredients come into play.

• Sodium Carbonate (Washing Soda) and Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda)
• Sodium Carbonate and Sodium Bicarbonate act as a builders in the wash. They soften hard water by reacting with metal ions in solution and precipitating them out of the wash water. Their use as builders is limited since the precipitated solids can build up in the form of limescale in your drain pipes. 

• Citric Acid
• Citric acid is added as a chelating agent. The "claw" shaped structure of citric acid molecules traps the free metal ions but does not precipitate them out of solution. They remain in solution, but are not able to interfere with the surfactants. This helps to keep the formation of limescale to a minimum. 

• Sodium Citrate*
• Sodium Citrate acts as an acidity regulator, preventing the solution from becoming overly acidic.

*If you can't find sodium citrate, it can be ordered online. Or you can substitute with table salt. It won't do the same thing, but it will help.

So there you have it. If you make this, please let me know how you liked it!

-Evan

Homemade Almond Milk

We aren't dairy free. But we do prefer a non dairy milk in some applications - like in smoothies or protein shakes.  (We are now eating a primarily plant-based diet) So we were buying almond milk or cashew milk for that. But all those cartons add up. We didn't learn until recently that those paper/cardboard cartons are lined with plastic.

So for us, the benefits of making nut milk at home are twofold. It tastes better homemade and we aren't wasting those plastic lined containers anymore.

Here is a super easy recipe for almond milk. Feel free to swap almonds for any other nut or a combination of them! Last time we made cashew almond.

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Almond Milk

Ingredients:
1 cup raw almonds
2 cups water for soaking + 2 (or more) cups for blending*
(optional) sweetener, such as dates, honey, sugar, agave or maple syrup.
(optional) vanilla extract

Method:
Soak the almonds in water for 8-72 hours. A longer soak will mean more creamy almond milk. If you soak for more than 12 hours, you should keep them in the fridge.
Drain and rinse almonds in a strainer under fresh running water.
Put the almonds in a blender with 2 cups of water and blend for 2 minutes on high.
Strain the milk using a nut milk bag, cheese cloth or thin kitchen towel. Set almond meal aside.**
If adding sweetener or flavoring, add your milk back to the blender with sweetener and flavoring of choice. We use 2 pitted dates.
Blend until well incorporated.
Strain milk through sieve to catch any date pulp.
Store in the fridge in a glass jar for 2-3 days.

Notes:
* The less water you use, the creamier the milk will be.

** You can reserve almond meal for use in baked goods or smoothies.
If you won't use the almond meal, you could always find a friend who would like it, or you can compost it.

Making almond milk at home is not necessarily less expensive than buying it from the store. But there are some other benefits. First, you get to decide what exactly goes into it and can opt to make it organic. When you buy your almonds and other items in the bulk bins, you do not have the waste of the packaging. You can make as much or little as you want at a time. You also can control how creamy or how sweetened you want it to be.

Zero Waste Coffee

There is something so satisfying about the aroma of freshly ground and brewed coffee. It’s enough to make you smile even though you have to get out of bed and you desperately wanted just 5 more minutes of sleep. For some people, coffee is a must have, a necessity to start the day or for their personality to kick in. For others, having a warm beverage in the morning is just a comforting part of the routine.

*This post contains affiliate links. We receive compensation if you purchase using these links. 

The process of brewing coffee can be pretty wasteful, especially when it comes to those single use coffee pods and disposable coffee cups. But it doesn't have to be.

An estimated 50 billion* disposable coffee 

cups are used each year in the US alone.

If you’re buying coffee out, then you are in for some real savings, in money and time! If you are currently making coffee at home then it'll be even easier. Also, if you drink black coffee, then you are ahead of the game. We are not black coffee drinkers...

• First, the coffee. Every grocery store I've been to that has bulk bins - has bulk coffee. And they usually have a huge variety so you're bound to find one that you like. Our local natural grocery store has a pretty good selection of bulk coffee with organic options. It's nice if you can find one that is also fair trade and locally roasted! 

• Second, sweetener. We both like our coffee sweetened and generally just use organic unrefined cane sugar - which we find in the bulk bins. You can also use brown sugar, honey, agave, or maple syrup which can be found in the bulk section as well. 

• Next, milk or cream. The milk and cream we buy comes in glass containers**. They also have half and half but we find that it's actually less expensive to buy a pint of cream and a quart of whole milk and mix them ourselves, then we have a pint of whole milk left over, either to use plain in coffee or for some other recipes.

• Lastly, the brewing method. There are many options for brewing your coffee. Traditional coffee makers, french press, or pour over. While we have had many different brewing methods over the years, we prefer the french press or the pour over because they take up less space and you can find them made of glass, ceramic or stainless steel.  

By our calculations, it costs us just under 50 cents per cup, including organic unrefined sugar, and local non-homogenized half and half. Whereas when we were buying coffee at a cafe, we were spending about $10 per day. Obviously that comes down to beverage choice. We normally don't opt for plain coffee with cream at a coffee shop, but I don't know where you can get even regular coffee for under $1 a cup.

Although our main goal for going towards zero waste isn't necessarily a financial one, we are definitely seeing that we are saving money in some areas.

*I found this on CNN website - but I couldn’t find the reference from their source. One of their references led to which.co.uk, who estimates 2.5 billion paper cups are thrown away in the UK. 

** The lids on the glass milk containers are made out of recyclable plastic. Not a perfect solution - but maybe some day they'll have a better option for lids.

What is "Zero Waste"?

You may have heard the term Zero Waste being used recently. But what does it really mean? What is Zero Waste living?

There is a bit of ambiguity surrounding the Zero Waste movement in that there are a few different ideas of what Zero Waste really is. Some have criticized "zero wasters" for using the term so loosely. Let's look at few aspects that are generally combined to varying degrees by those professing to live zero waste.

Producing Zero Net Waste

Net waste, also known as post-consumer waste is anything that leaves your home, bound for the landfill. The majority of this waste is comprised of non-recyclable plastic, food waste, and contaminated recyclables. One of the most widely recognized forms of zero waste living involves reducing or eliminating this type of waste. Some people who are successfully living this way do so by diligently refusing disposables, not purchasing or accepting things they do not need, reusing things wherever possible, recycling everything they can, and composting food waste. Anything left goes into a jar.

These techniques are by far the most direct and easiest to influence for anyone who wishes to reduce their waste production. However there are other methods to employ in order to further the goal of a zero waste life.

Sustainability

In addition to producing less post-consumer waste, many have become more conscious of where their things come from and how they are produced. Many production processes are extremely wasteful, and the logistics of transporting goods from great distances adds wasted fuel to the equation. Many clothing retailers sell inexpensive clothes made of plastic textiles that were assembled in far away lands and transported to the outlet mall down the road. This contributes to global waste in a large way.

• The clothes are not made of a material that is biodegradable. What happens to it when you are done with it?
• Many clothing items are individually wrapped in plastic packaging.
• The fuel used to transport those goods adds to global pollution.

On the other hand, purchasing clothing made from natural, biodegradable materials like cotton, linen, wool, etc., and preferably items that were made as local as possible by small companies who care about their impact on the environment is a much more sustainable approach.

When we purchase items that are not made in a sustainable way, we increase the demand for those things, thereby driving the production of more unsustainable goods.

What can you do?

So what can you do? It is up to each person to decide what aspects of their lives they can change. Start with something simple. Start using a reusable water bottle, and reusable shopping bags. If everyone did so, that would keep 38 billion bottles and 1 trillion plastic bags out of landfills and our oceans each year. Once you've done that just keep making small changes. Here is a list of things you can do to lessen your waste.

The average American household uses

1,500 disposable plastic bags each year.

• Purchase higher quality goods made of natural materials.
• More expensive is not always better, but there is definitely something to be said about purchasing higher quality goods that will not only last longer but can be repaired. Take for example leather shoes of quality construction. They can usually be resoled once the soles wear out.

• Purchase only things that will be reused or recycled when you are finished with them, or are made of natural and biodegradable materials.
• Think about the life-cycle of everything that comes into your hands. What will happen to it when it's usefulness has expired?

• Make your own personal care products to reduce packaging waste.
• You can make anything from tooth powder to deodorant to makeup.

• Shop in bulk bins with your own reusable bags or containers.
• If you don't know where to shop, try using this bulk finder app.

• Purchase local to reduce transportation waste.
• Buy higher quality, natural clothing and less of it. Consider a capsule wardrobe.
• Shop second-hand stores.
• When you need to buy something, check second-hand stores or craigslist first. Buying second-hand eliminates packaging waste and reduces demand for the production of new goods.
• Cook at home with simple, local and in-season ingredients.
• Did you know that your grapes could travel more than 2,000 miles before reaching your local grocery store?
• Eat your leftovers.
• Just do it. Don't let food go to waste.
• Use food scraps that would normally be discarded to make stock.
• Save the ends of onions and onion skins, carrot tops, celery ends, and bones, etc. in the freezer (in a metal bowl, large mason jar, or other glass container) until you have enough.

These are just some of the ways that you can reduce your contribution to the global waste-stream. There are many more things that you can do. It all comes down to little decisions every day. Refuse that plastic straw. Plan ahead and bring a cloth napkin. There are so many more tips that we would like to share with you in future posts. Stay tuned...