The 4 R's of Mail Consumption

from unjunkmail

In present day, I'm guessing a lot of us use idea one (below) to some extent, though some younger adults are especially resistant to opening their own checking accounts. I know because my little brother is one of them. Wait. So is one of my closest girl friends and she's, well, in her late-30s. Not having a bank account is akin to asking for a monthly headache. I can't imagine trying to pay bills without one, or how about applying for an apartment? Ironically, it's not a simple way to live in our society. One day I'll convince them of that. I hope.

1. Refuse Paper-Bills; Auto Bill-Pay. 
Yeah, this is the one I'm guessing you already use. Isn't it wonderful? Fluctuating bills still need scrutinized, so some folks may still have such bills on paper, but it's generally easier to view and harder to lose a bill that's online, and recurring same-amount bills, like rent or a mortgage, are a no-brainer as auto-pay candidates.

Sole Proprieters and even non-proprietors are eligible vendors, too---Did you know?

Do you also know it's easy to set up your friend in need or your sole proprietor landscaper as a bill payee? I've done it without a glitch. All my bank required was a name, bank account & routing information, and at least a week; auto-pay transactions to individuals are slower than other tiers of payees that may already do business with the bank. For example, when I pay my Chase card from my Chase checking account, I get the fastest pay option available: same day. But, if I want to pay a Capital One card from my Chase bank account, I may be waiting a couple of days or more, and setting up a new vendor that Chase may never even have heard of also takes a bit longer. So, always make sure you have at least a week to spare before the payment's due, even once they are set up. Oh, and the other good news; you only have to set a new vendor up once. Trust me, this comes in handy when it's been two years since you paid person X (assuming X's account info hasn't changed).

Image from BooneCountyKy.org

2. Reduce Junk Mail. 
Saves me time reading or sorting through it; saves me time weekly from running it to the curb. Saves the planet and makes me feel good.

DMA Choice (Eliminate Junk Mail)
This god-send from the Direct Marketing Association can nearly eliminate credit card offers, catalogs and magazine offers. It sends a request out to all major credit entities like Experian and Equifax, and it's free. So that it can be accurate and thorough about getting my name off lists, the https protected site does ask for sensitive information, but most is optional. Still, it's a reputable organization and the more info I'm willing to provide DMA, the better their efforts will be to help me. The entire process, including signing up for a free DMA account and requesting to be removed from all the aforementioned options, took less than five minutes.

The DMA site is so incredible; a person can even reduce her junk e-mail, register as a caretaker, or register that someone is deceased, in order to reduce unnecessary mail!

3. Reuse it. 
Yesterday I used some old newspaper as a tissue paper substitute for stuffing the bottom of a big gift basket (which itself was a new fiber trash bin doubling as the "basket"). Other days, I save paper as the upcoming winter's fire-starter.

The Re-use Trap
Saving paper and cardboard and other materials for future use is great, but don't fall into the trap of collecting much more than you can use in a reasonable amount of time. I've made that mistake repeatedly with boxes. It's an easy trap to fall into, and a hard habit to break. Do a regular sweep of the excess if you want to stay organized and feel on top of things.

4. Recycle. 
And you guessed it; the rest goes into the compost & what doesn't make it into the compost ends up in the recycling bin.

And finally, it may be more than you ever wanted to know or think about mail, but if you're at all curious, look up unjunkmail sometime. It has interesting ideas and information. And if you have some other creative ideas for taming the junk mail beast, please do share.

Personal Care Recipes: An Essential Arsenal

So, I haven't made jack in terms of personal care products. I'll let you know when I do, but I'm in the researching phase, so that I CAN make some truly good products. And what I'm finding is extremely encouraging. The key seems to be keep it simple (aka easy) and make it small & often (as needed) in order to avoid spoilage. Below is my new go-to list for the tasks to come. What have you tried that's worked...and not worked?

Make My Easy Body Lotion

Easy. A nice Body Lotion Recipe from Ready Made.

Here's a super Easy Liquid Soap Recipe from Savvy Housekeeping. It took me less than 10-minutes, including preparation. I used a sample size bar of soap (and using a cheese grater made soap flakes), a tsp of vegetable glycerin (optional), 2.5 cups of water, and a few drops of my favorite essential oils (optional). Heated 2-3 minutes until melted. Left to thicken overnight, stirring occasionally throughout the evening. The result: perfect liquid soap.

Shampoo Bars (the 100% natural variety)

Have you tried some--what do you think?

Okay, this one's not a recipe, just a recommendation; albeit, an untried one. I'm not yet sure I'll ever make my own hard soaps from scratch. But they sound like such a fab, natural and wasteless (or nearly) way to keep clean. Still, I've heard mixed reviews and I don't have my own two cents to add just yet. UPDATE: my first shampoo bar is called Egghead from Connecticut Natural Soaps (Etsy). It lathers great, though not as foamy as commercial shampoos, and left my hair feeling squeaky clean. I will update again after some weeks with my satisfaction rating.

Make My Hair Silky Conditioner
I couldn't find much in the way of conditioner bars. And what I did find wasn't good. So here's the next best thing: a site with a fantastic Hair Conditioner recipe.  And an adaptation of that Recipe <--here from Ready Made.

I was astonished to learn about the ease of finding guar gum & xantham gum and how fantastic they can be for DIY personal care products. I will probably adapt and adjust/tweak this recipe over time. But it looks like a FANTASTIC base.

DIY'ers Best Friends: Reference Materials
Emulsifiers - Check out this great page on various natural Emulsifiers: the key to many a great homemade product.
Skin Deep - Skin Deep is a great site for learning more about cosmetic ingredients, including their potential for being hazardous to our health.
Borax - this natural wonder mineral can be used for everything from preservative (cosmetics) to detergent to emulsifier. While borax shouldn't be ingested, it is natural and less toxic than many chemicals used as preservatives.
Washing Soda - great for tough cleaning jobs. Per eHow, it is cheaper and easily made from baking soda (cook baking soda on a sheet at 400 F for 2hrs), let cool and store in an airtight container. Or, make liquid washing soda by boiling baking soda in water.

HELP: this page is heavy in web links. And we all know links are made to be broken. Please let me know if you notice any of my links are ever broken.

Seven Alternatives to Accepting Plastic Bags (when you forget your own reusables)

What happens when I forget or for some reason don't have my own reusable bags in the checkout? In the old days, say six months ago, I would come home with multiple disposable versions given to me by the clerk. 


The Problem: Absent-Mindedness
Frequently I would realize as the groceries or clothes were being bagged, that I had forgotten my own bag, and think "Damn it! Next time," and "what is wrong with me, why is it so hard to remember a bag?" Of course, all that's wrong is that I haven't developed the habit of remembering or incorporating the mindfulness of bags well enough. With me and many others, it's a process that takes time; quite a long time if you never make it a priority.

Usually, I'd want to stop the clerk, but s/he'd be practically finished bagging before I even had the thought, and out of some misplaced politeness, I didn't want to insult her by undoing her labor. Back then, if I remembered quickly enough, I would ask the clerk not to bag if I didn't have many items, or just to bag the essentials (such as multiple smaller items, so my hands would be available to carry the bigger items sans bags). Much of the time I had my own bags waiting in the trunk of my car. So there were a number of times I actually left my purchases on the conveyor belt and ran out to my automobile to get them, but that often backfired as you can imagine, losing my place in line. I always thought I'd be super speedy and sometimes was, but other times, the clerk was faster. And I tired of that strategy.

And unbelievably, about a third of the time that I had forgotten my shopping bags, I actually had one *right* in my purse that I kept for just such occasions. Unfortunately, I used it so infrequently that I almost never remembered it was there, even moving around it in a pocket when looking for my wallet or keys, because the neatly folded and zipped bag had become a part of the purse and no longer an object within it, somehow. I know. Some of you can not understand or imagine such mindlessness. Neither can I at times.

The Solution: A Rule
Finally, I made a rule. Since I always remembered that I'd forgotten my bags at some point during the checkout process, and though that wasn't really good enough, it was enough to effect small--shall we call it, starter change. I incorporated some of my old tactics and thought of some new ones, and made a rule to apply one of the these every time. Here are seven alternatives to outright giving in to having a half-dozen double-bagged disposables being handed to you at the checkout.

7 Alternatives to Accepting Plastic Bags (use in conjunction where possible)
   1 - Leave. If I remember before entering store, I may leave if I need to do a big shopping; or*
   2 - No Bag. If I need just a few items that can be carried, I'll request no bag; &/or
   3 - Skip some items. I may for-go all but a few items that can fit into my handbag; or
   4 - Unbag. If bagging has begun, interrupt & ask for un-bagging, overcoming politeness; and
   5 - Put some back. If in line with too many items to unbag, step out of line & put some back; or
   6 - Use a cart as a carrier. Request to use the trolley or hand basket & just unpack it at car, or
   7 - Do a Runner. last resort: run out to car & grab the often waiting reusables from trunk, even
        if it means waiting in line again.

*I have at times considered leaving stores and returning, but there's the issue not only my time, but added energy consumption/pollution, as I usually drive to do my shopping (an issue to be tackled in its own post some time in the future). So if I leave a store, I generally don't leave with the intent of returning immediately, but rather of waiting until I can make the trip more cost-effective (in other words, when I need to make a run in that direction for additional purposes). Obviously, if certain items are urgent, then I will do the shopping at that time that is essential and carry those items.

And it's working! I mean, I still forget my own bags at times. But I remember a lot more often. And for now, while I'm cultivating the habit of remembering, I can deal with forgetting on occasion as long as I have fail safe measures to rely on.

So Jay, I forget, too, probably more often than you. Thanks for the comment that created the idea to make this post. Hopefully, it will help some other newbies one day.

postscript. (to be removed once the issue is resolved.) 
To those of you who have written comments on any MWL posts, I apologize that I am still unfamiliar with blogger and seem to have difficulty with my responses reaching the commenters. Or perhaps that's a setting option for the commenters. I apologize in any case, because I simply don't know. I see these wonderful comments and would love to partake in a dialogue, but alas have difficulty doing so. If you know the answer, please shoot me an email at stephcorks@gmail.com.

Experimenting and Learning: 4 (ongoing) steps in Zero Waste transformation

So where am I on my Zero Waste journey?  --Still learning and experimenting, of course!

For example, I tried going gung-ho (see my first couple of posts). I failed. By the time I came down with a summer flu, I had to admit that I simply wasn't able to commit to a near cold turkey ZW lifestyle. Primarily, this was because I hadn't yet finished adapting my home and I could no longer actively work on doing so, so I suddenly needed the heretofore "conveniences" that had once been merely superfluous.

But I have made LOTS of changes, and I'm psyched! Here's the latest on my journey...

#1 - Reading voraciously.

Below are some of the titles I've just finished or am currently reading:

  Green Guides Compost by Rachelle Strauss
  Walden (re-read) by HD Thoreau (Kindle version)
  The Joy of Less by Francine Jay (Kindle version)
  The Last Drop of Living: A Minimalist Guide by Robert Lee (Kindle version)
  The Power of Less by Leo Babauta (an audio read)
  Ecological Intelligence by Daniel Goleman (audio read)
  It's All Too Much by Peter Walsh (audio read)
  Luxury of Less: The Five Rings by Karol Gajda (Kindle version)
  Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez (focuses on financial minimalism)

#2 - Minimizing & Restructuring 
I started with the kitchen. Most items that we don't use regularly but that I know my husband isn't ready to part with, I packed up and placed in the attic. This opened up enough space to allow for the jars we'll use to buy and store food. It also provided the opportunity for me to make the kitchen more functional. Pot lids have their own basket. Storage Containers have their own basket, while their lids have a separate basket along side the containers. Cleaning cloths for various purposes were each designated their unique spaces. I've got a ways to go, but this was a great first sweep of the kitchen. It's at least twice as functional as before.

The bathrooms were next. Medicine cabinets were stripped of all but the essentials and those were neatly organized in small metal bins for easiest access--I hate digging on a shelf among fifteen other items and knocking three over to get to what I need. The grouping in bins eliminates this potential, makes finding items quicker and looks exponentially better to my weary eyes.

I then pared down cosmetics. I first determined what types of cosmetics I no longer wear or wear only rarely and targeted them for donation. I kept only what I use daily, and only ONE of each in the medicine cabinet.

The instant harmony and space this created feels fantastic. From here on out, I vow to buy exactly one replacement for any given used item. The vow is necessary because I have a tendency similar to many consumerists, I suspect. I tend to buy more than I need at any given time, so that I "save" myself time in the future or money if there's a sale. This ridiculousness has led to not only wasted financial resources, but to clutter---I had cosmetics that were years old and had still never been opened. 

Homemade Cleaners. I made my glass cleaner, wood cleaner, and baking soda scrub. I used the remainder of what was left (very little) in my existing "natural" store bought cleaners and simply added to them using simple available ingredients like alcohol, essential oils, vinegar, etc., as needed. They're working quite nicely.

The Memory Closet - Twenty years worth of photos, letters (the now defunct snail mail type, awards, report cards...you name it). I went through them all and about a dozen notebooks. In all I listened to my emotions as I viewed each item. If I felt nothing strong or nothing good, I recycled or disposed of it. In all, I eliminated about two-thirds of my heavy load. Needless to say, I feel lighter. And now I have another closet available for truly functional use!

Books, etc. - about a third of my books were boxed bound for the 2nd hand shop. And I've decided to use the Kindle for most future reading. 

I repeated similar actions with my hand bags and our other storage cabinets. I want my hand bags to be clutter free and ADD-proof. With the use of a smartly stocked purse insert, and some other techniques I think I achieved a good deal toward this end. The storage cabinets contained a lot of spares of items, such as toiletries. Those that I couldn't part with remain neatly stored, but I promise not to buy again until these are used in their entirety.

More on the minimizing process in future posts, but for now...moving on to

#3 - Bulk Shopping Lists - Bad times. I had such a miserable experience when attempting to shop entirely Zero Waste at the Berkeley Bowl West, that I did the only thing that could make the trip seem not wasted: I cataloged their entire inventory of bulk items on my hand held device. So at least I know what to expect in the future.

#4 - Recyclables Lists - I started a list of questions for my local recycling authority about what can and cannot be recycled with them and why---and their suggestions for where to go to recycle certain items which are recyclable but that they do not take. Did you know that Whole Foods accepts plastics #5, called their Gimme 5 program?
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It was tough to start the wrangling in and sorting through everything that I own, and more than a little overwhelming (like the 20-year memory closet), but I'm enjoying the decluttering and organizing process now that I'm in a rhythym of removal. I can't express enough how amazing the free & organized spaces feel or just how much the simplicity continues to inspire.