DIY all natural body products - Tooth Paste

When I first stumbled over a recipe for homemade tooth paste I was very excited to try it, but I just wasn't ready to deny myself the bubbles of regular tooth paste, so I did not even finish the first batch. But, after having replaced body lotion, body scrub, facial cleanser and deodorant, it felt like the obvious next step to make my own.

So, with determination I concocted anoter batch and this time I did not think it tasted so bad after all. I am still using regular tooth paste in the morning, but in the evenings it's only been my homemade tooth paste for a few months. Half the waste is better than all the waste, right?

And now I present to you the foolishly easy recipe that I adapted from Trash is for Tossers:

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons coconut oil
1 1/2 tablespoons baking soda
25-30 drops Organic food grade peppermint essential oil

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients. (Foolishly easy, right?)

Xoxo, have a great week!

PS: I am no physician or chemist, so I can not guarantee these recipes to work or be absolutely safe. As always, please be very careful with homemade products and test them in a small area first.

Update September 3rd, 2015: I have now switched to using this tooth paste mornings and evenings and after 2 or 3 days of adapting my mouth and teeth feel great!

DIY all natural body products - Body Butter

You all know how I am trying to live a greener, more sustainable life - and for most part still fail to do so. However, there are a few parts of my life where I already managed to either recycle, reuse or cut out substances that are harming the environment. --> See my other posts on 20 ways.

I have always been a little sensitive when it comes to my skin, for example I couldn't stand the feeling of 100% wool, or very often felt itchy after taking a shower. And once I started reading about all the harmful ingredients found in most body butters, body lotions, shower gels and hair products, I decided to try and make my own.

When starting out, I was a little worried if I would like the feeling on my skin, if it would work as good as the commercial stuff, if it would spoil real quick because of the missing preservatives.

I was thrilled after I first tried making my own body butter. I absolutely loved the fluffy, creamy feeling on my skin, it worked even better than the commercial products I had used before (it was absorbed by my skin just as normal body lotion and the skin was soooooo soft) and it doesn't spoil for about 2-3 months.
Since then I have made quite a few batches of body butter with alternating ingredients, but always with the following recipe in mind, which I have adapted from One Good Thing by Jillee:

Ingredients:
1 cup shea butter/cocoa butter
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup olive oil (or almond oil, jojoba oil or any healthy, organic oil)
30-40 drops of essential oil

Instructions:
1. Melt the shea butter and coconut oil and let cool for about 20 minutes.
2. Stir in olive oil and essential oil.
3. Let sit until the mixture starts to solidify.
4. Whip until you get a butter like consistency (duration will vary depending on how solid the mixture already was)

There will be more posts with recipes and instructions for a body scrub, body wash, deodorant and
tooth paste which all work great, so be sure to check back.

Xoxo, have a great week!

PS: PS: I am no physician or chemist, so I can not guarantee these recipes to work or be absolutely safe. As always, please be very careful with homemade products and test them in a small area first.

20 ways... to reuse every day plastic garbage

I've now been in the US for about a month and I am shocked over and over again about how much of plastic garbage one "has to produce" every day. I am using "has to" because there is no way one could avoid all the plastic that is used. You "have to" buy most of the food in plastic bags or packaging, you "have to" buy drinking water in plastic containers, you "have to" eat your food with plastic cutlery because there is no other available. Of course some of this could be sidestepped but only with a huge effort and most people (me included) would never think of for example bringing their own cutlery to a restaurant or bring their own containers for take-out food.

Anyhow, there are many, many ways to at least reuse the unavoidable plastic containers/bags/packaging a few times before throwing them out.

A few of my ideas I have already incorporated in our daily life, such as:

reusing plastic bags as waste bin liner, to keep bread fresh, as batting for packages, to store food in the fridge

reusing vegetable/fruit packaging as a piggy bank (you could even get a little crafty and decorate it)

reusing food containers to store other food/odds and ends in

reusing water bottles as planters for herbs and other small plants

reusing take-out containers as planters

Xoxo, have a great week!

20 ways - Inspiration

source

My 20 ways to live a sustainable life

Today I want to show you what I do to live a greener life. I'm a huge fan of change as long as it doesn't involve changing your whole way of life at once. Small adjustments here and there are more my cup of tea.

1. I never print anything I don't essentially need printed out.
2. I always print documents double-sided.
3. I use the blank side of receipts to make shopping lists or notes on.
4. Currently I don't use a dryer.
5. When I still had a dryer I used to collect the water from the dryer and use it to water plants.
6. I only iron blouses and shirts that need ironing.
7. I collect left over water in glasses and the kettle to water my plants.
8. I turn off the lights when I leave the room (unless I am too headless to remember ;)
9. I try not to use plastic wrap.
10. I almost always bring my own shopping bag - if not, I reuse the bags I buy as bin bags.
11. I separate my waste into plastic, paper, glass, metal and residual waste. And once we have a garden I'll be sure to also separate organic waste and compost it.
12. I try not to buy stuff I don't need and also only throw stuff (especially electrical gadgets) away that is actually broken.
13. If there is a choice between paper towels and hand dryer in bath rooms I use the air dryer.
14. I try to use as little paper towel and toilet roll as possible - it's amazing how much water one piece of paper towel can absorb.
15. I make my own body butter/body lotion, so there are no unnecessary chemicals in it. Here's a great recipe for homemade body butter.
16. I try to get every last drop out of paste tubes and shampoo bottles by cutting them open.
17. From September on I will live in walking-distance to my office.
18. I grow my own herbs, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Of course it's not enough for for us yet, but it's a start.
19. I always use the cooking top on pots and pans and switch off the stove/oven a few minutes before the food is done, as the residual heat will be enough to finish the dish.
20. I am trying to reduce the number of actual books I buy and get ebooks instead.

Now that I've finished the list it seems to be quite long and extensive, but I feel like it only took a few little changes to get to where I am now. And, as a bonus, almost all are also great if one wants to save some money.

Xoxo, let yourself be inspired!

20 ways to reduce CO2 emission

All over the world there are roughly 33 billions tons of carbon dioxide emitted every year. More than half of said amount is produced in China (23%), the US (19%) and the 27 countries in the European Union (17%). source and source
Although a lot is produced by industry, the biggest part - around a quarter of the overall CO₂ emission - is released during energy production. Compared to these the transportation sector's emissions may seem small, but in this sector almost all the energy is produced by using fossil fuels, so there is a big opportunity there to reduce emissions. source

In the following I compiled 20 easy ways and opportunities to reduce your personal carbon foot print.

1. Walk or take your bike whenever it's possible
2. Use public transport
3. Go by train instead of flying, if possible
4. Buy electric cars
5. Use car sharing platforms
6. If your car is very old, invest in a new car that doesn't need as much fuel
7. Take vacations close to where you live
8. Combine trips, e.g. shop at stores on the same route
9. If possible, work from home
10. Buy local food and reduce food miles - visit this website to calculate food miles
11. Grow your own food - there are quite a few herbs, vegetables and fruits that are very easy to grow
12. Don't waste food
13. Eat less red meat - for more information read this article by The Guardian
14. Use renewable energy like sun or wind power
15. Cut back on your energy use and reduce waste
16. Plant trees
17. Buy carbon credits which will be used to make up for the CO₂ you couldn't avoid producing
18. Recycle as much as possible
19. Send e-mails rather than actual letters
20. Read newspapers and journals online

I really do hope that everybody takes up this opportunity and picks one or two of the options above to actively do something against the ongoing climate change. I'd love to hear which ones you picked and how it worked out.

Xoxo, have a wonderful week!

20 ways to save electricity

... and cutting your electricity bill

Every year, US residentials use 4 billion dollars worth of stand-by power, which accounts for 5% of all residential electricity use in the US. source
A lot of the energy we use is still produced in coal powerstations and nuclear power plants, so in order to protect our environment and in further concequence ourselves, we need to cut back on our use of electricity. Below I have compiled 20 ways on how to do so.

1. Make the most of natural light - open your curtains and shades
2. Turn off the lights when leaving a room
3. Use energy-saving bulbs
4. Use lower powered bulbs
5. When you don't need full light use up those half-used candles you've got lying around - as a bonus candle light creates a romantic atmosphere
6. Turn electric devices such as radio, TV or Computer off when not in use
7. Don't leave devices on stand-by
8. Unplug your phone chargers - they do use a little electricity even though they are not in use
9. Don't blow-dry your hair, let it dry naturally
10. Use solar heaters to heat water
11. Use less hot water
12. Produce your own electricity with photovoltaic panels
13. Turn down the temperature on the washing mashine
14. Air-dry your laundry. You don't even need sunshine, a cloudy day is just fine, too
15. Replace old appliances with new, energy saving ones
16. Use your air conditioner less
17. Try opening your cooler/freezer/fridge as short as possible
18. Boil water with a kettle rather than on the stove
19. Use lids on your pots when cooking and keep the pots closed for as long as possible
20. Turn off the stove 5 and the oven 10 minutes before reaching the cooking time

I hope, you'll be able to adopt a few of the suggestions above in order to cut your electricity use and save some money.
Have you got other ideas on how to save electricity?

Xoxo, have a great week!

20 ways to reduce waste

Every minute, one million of plastic bags is used worldwide. That makes 60 millions an hour and about 1,4 billions of plastic carrier bags a day that are only used once and take 1000 years to degrade. source & source

Another nice fact I found online is this one: If every starbucks customer used reusable coffee mugs, this would save as much water in producing disposable mugs as is needed to supply LA with water for 8 days.

1. Bring your own carrier bag when you go shopping
2. Reuse carrier bags
3. Buy food in bigger units, e.g. 2 liters of milk in one instead of 4 half liter bottles
4. Buy water or other drinks in glass bottles
5. When storing food in the fridge/freezer use reusable containers instead of plastic bags
6. Buy products in reusable/recyclable packaging
7. Use reusable coffee mugs
8. Use tab water instead of bottled water
9. Use reusable drinking bottles
10. Only buy what you really need
11. Buy products with little packaging
12. Cancel unwanted mail
13. Don't throw paper and envelopes away, use them as scrap paper or to make shopping lists on
14. Reuse carrier bags as bin bags
15. Reuse jars and pots as small containers
16. Compost food waste and yard waste - makes a perfect fertilizer for plants and garden
17. Donate unwanted clothes and items to second-hand stores
18. Buy products made out of recycled materials
19. Use reusable dishware when having a party/barbecue
20. Use rechargable batteries

You will find many more ways to reduce waste on these websites:
- Rethink Recycling
- Pedal people - Ways to reduce waste
- Recycling Guide

I hope, this list inspired you to change a few things!

Xoxo, have a nice week!

20 ways to save water

Besides the air to breath, water is the most essential thing on earth for a human being. Full stop. And there are so many people around this world who don't even haven enough water to drink, let alone bathe or splash around in. That's why everyone should at least make an effort to conserve as much water as possible.
What most people forget is the fact, that for the production of almost every product there's a lot of water involved - water, that could have been used for other, more important purposes.

Now, here are 20 different ways to save water:

1. Turn off the tab while brushing your teeth.
2. Turn off the shower while lathering yourself.
3. Collect rain water and use it to water your plants and garden.
4. Don't take baths every day, shower instead (bathing requires 260 liters while an average shower uses about 30 liters per minute, which is 150 liters for a 5-minute shower)
5. Use a water-saving shower head.
6. Try to shower as short as possible.
7. Don't do the dishes with the water running. Fill the sink with water.
8. Use the save-water mode at your dish washer.
9. Reuse the water collected in the dryer.
10. Water plants only when necessary, some will grow even better with less water.
11. Don't let broken pipes and leaking faucets as they are - get them fixed as soon as possible.
12. Keep a pitcher of drinking water in the refrigerator instead of running the tap.
13. Don't defrost food under running water, but in a bowl of hot water - or even better, slowly and for hours in the refrigerator.
14. Convert your toilet into a dual-flush toilet.
15. Soak pots and pans instead of letting the water run while scraping them clean.
16. Reuse towels and clothes and only wash them when dirty.
17. If you drop or don't need ice cubes, put them in a house plant instead of throwing them in the sink.
18. Cook food in as little water as possible -  keeps the vitamins in the food too, because while cooking vitamins will be transferred to the water.
19. When shaving, plug the sink instead of running the water to rinse your razor.
20. Use leftover water from glasses or jugs to water flowers instead of pouring away.
And a bonus 21: Don't just buy stuff, because you want it. Buy it, because you need it. There is so much water necessary for the production of stuff - so much stuff that'll only lie around after a while anyway.

Xoxo, happy saving!

I plant a tree

I just found this great project, where this group of people plants a tree for your blog in order to make up for the environmental damage caused by blogs. You wouldn't think a blog can do any damage to our environment, but there are so many servers involved, that it sure does.

I have decided that this blog will plant an oak tree, because an oak is such a majestic, classic tree that can live for centuries.

The project is almost over, but maybe a few of you guys out there will still be able to also plant a tree!

Xoxo, happy planet saving!

20 ways... New series

There's a side of me that until a few years ago I didn't even know I had. I don't know what changed since then, but over the last two years it has become more and more important to me to live a sustainable life. The environment we are all gifted with is such an amazing miracle and we are well on the way to destroying this beauty.

As soon as I realized that, I felt like I had to turn my whole life around and live like a role model for sustainable living. But I'm not. And I didn't I still take occasional flights in my holidays, I don't take public transport all the time and I deny myself all imported goods. Nevertheless have I made a lot of little changes to my way of life.

Lots of people say they don't want to make an effort because it won't actually have an impact at all, but I believe, that if every person out of a big number of people makes a tiny effort, together they will be able to move mountains.

I am writing this series to inspire you to also make some changes. Every three weeks, there will be ideas on how to save water, save electricity, simply live a greener life and a lot more aspects - and all that without having to make big changes. And, best of all, most of the ideas will even save you some money.

I am sure there will be lots of little things that will be easy to integrate into your life. To me, this will be a big success, even if only one or two of you guys take up a few of my suggestions.

Having said all this, I want to ask you guys to remember what a beautiful, delicate thing our planet is and what we could do to save it from being destroyed by us.

Xoxo, let's save this world together!

10 easy ways to save money without having to cut back

Summer is fast approaching and I've been thinking about going on vacation and a shopping spree for some new spring/summer clothes. And in order to still having some money left to put into my savings account I've come up with a number of ways to easily save money without actually having to cut back on anything.

1. Turn off your electric devices properly instead of leaving them on Standby. This will save a lot of electricity.
   
2. Try to use less of basically everything - tooth paste, shower gel, shampoo, toilet paper... You won't even know you've used a drop less, but in the end it'll make a big difference.
  
3. Use your old and unused eye shadow to create your own nail polish like this girl here.
  
4. Grow your own food. Spices and vegetables like tomatoes or cucumbers are quite easy to grow on your balcony - and gardening has a calming, therapeutic effect.
  
5. Buy stripe tickets instead of purchasing a single ticket every time you take a public transport.
  
6. Whenever you cook dinner, make a little more so you can eat the left overs for lunch the next day at work and don't have to go out and buy an overpriced sandwich oder salad.
  
7. If you like reading rent books from your local library instead of buying them. Or buy e-books instead of hard copies - they are usually cheaper.
  
8. Take and use whatever you get for free - for example sometimes in cafés you get these little sugar sachets, instead of leaving them if you haven't used them, take them with you and use at home. Or, on long distance flights you might get a dental kit, there's enough toothpaste in there for at least 3-4 times of brushing.
  
9. Use the coupons you get - no, I'm not talking about converting into the next couponing queen, but using a coupon once in a while will save you a lot of money.

  

10. Print your documents double-sided. You'll only have half of the papers to carry around with you and save a lot of printing paper.

What are your tricks for saving some money?

Xoxo, have a great day!

Did you know?

I just found out that the squares on paste tubes - that I always thought were random - had a secret meaning about which ingredients where used.

Did you ever notice they had different colors? There's green, blue, red and black.

Apparently green means that only natural ingredients were used, blue indicates natural and medial ingredients, red is a mixture of natural and chemical ingredients and black is pure chemical.

I think this knowledge makes it much more easier to decide which tooth paste or cream to buy. Especially in times like these, where the body is exposed to so many chemicals which can cause a great number of illnesses, it seems like a good idea to minimize this exposure wherever it is possible.

What about you, do you pay attention to ingredients and how your toiletries are made? Or are you more like me and choose whatever is cheapest, smells best, has the most outstanding packaging or just caught your eye first?

Xoxo, have a great week!