Over 50 Things we stopped buying and never missed. Oh the beautiful savings!

I keep hearing that becoming a Minimalist is only for rich people and it is expensive to become a Minimalist!


Honestly, I have never heard a good or solid argument for this comment. But here is an example of how Minimalism can save you money.


Lots of money actually!



Bellow,is a list of things we had stopped buying years ago and never missed them.

1. Television cable. ------------> Netflix and Amazon prime
2. Gas for my car. ---------------> Plug-in Electric
3. Oil change for my car.---------------------> Plug-in Electric car
4. Paper towels.-------------> Stack of 20 kitchen washable towels for drying hands and dishes
5. Disposable wipes--------> Micro fibers.
6. Garbage bags--------------> Barely create garbage. Directly in to recycle bin, compost bin and garbage bin. I have three small buckets, one for each in my kitchen and once they are full, I dump everything in the big garbage bins. (But have some bio bags in hand just in case.)
7. Any kind of ziplock bags.-----------> Reusable fabric pencil bags with zipper. Also Pyrex dishes.
8. Aluminum foils -----------> Not needed. Either use Pyrex dishes or cover plates with clean napkins. 
9. Tupperware. -------------------> see this post
10. Plastic wraps.------------------> Not needed Pyrex dishes. Flour cloth. Napkins
11. Sponges ------------------------> hand made crochet from recycled yarn. lasts many years and I just wash them with our laundry.
12. Dish washing liquid-----------> Eco Friendly Multi purpose cleaner
13. Surface cleaner-----------------> Diluted multi purpose cleaner or vinegar. ( Used for bathtub, kitchen.......)
14. Coffee filter -------------------> French press
15. Bottled water ------------------> Tap water in reusable containers. 
16. Hand lotion in kitchen--------> Gentle dish detergent. Olive oil if needed 
17. Jet dry dish washer rinse-----> White Vinegar.
18. Disposable plates, cups, utensils ...------> Small jars for party drinks. Plates and utenciles reusable.
19. Disposable napkins------------> Fabric home made napkins. Only have one pack handy for picky guests. 
20. Disposable aluminum containers------> Big Pyrex dishes
21. Salad dressings.----------------> Olive oil and rice vinegar purchased from bulk store in my own jars.
22. Yoghurt. ------------------------> Home made
23. Tissues --------------------------> Only have a home made handkerchief made out of old Tshirts for my kid with allergies. Rest of us don't need it. Don't even remember what would we be using it for! 
24. Books -----------------> Library and on line blogs. 
25. CD, DVD -------------> Pandora and Netflix.
26. Toys -------------------> Once a year for Christmas. One Big toy only. The Birthday party is our gift by itself.
27. Clothes ---------------> once a year or so. Only if we truly need something. (Consumerism and buying cheap clothing and fast fashion is horrible for the environment.)
28. Fabric softener-------> Not needed. Haven't used for many years and no one noticed. 
29. Drier sheets-----------> Not needed
30. Face wipes, make up removers, eye make up removers wipe..... ------ > wash with soap and wash cloth. Olive oil. Or coconut oil to remove make up. Don't wear too much make up any ways. 
31. Cotton rounds--------> Home made and reusable. 
32. Shower gel------------> Soap
33. Exfoliator and scrubs for body.-----------------> Natural Loofah or a wash cloth
34. Hair masks and treatments-----------------------> Olive oil and conditioner
35. Face scrubs ----------------------------------------> Baking Soda
36. Tooth Paste-----------------------------------------> Home made
37. Mouth wash.---------------------------------------->  No need
38. Different lotions for different parts of body. Foot lotion, hand lotion, cellulitis, dark spots, skin brighter.ETC, ETC....!!! --------> Home made lotion. Coconut butter+Shea butter+ bees wax+ water+ jojoba oil. Or just put some oil on right after shower and you are done. 
39. Different make ups --------------->  See this post
40. Colognes and perfumes ---------->  Only have one perfume and only use it on special occasions. Lasts two years. It is in my Christmas list every other year. 
41. Face mask, cleanser, toner, tanner, black head remover. Etc......... ----------> Soap. Lemon juice. coconut and olive oil. Peroxide for acne. Baking soda.
42. Hand sanitizers --------------------> Not needed.
43. Candles. Still have from old days. ------> But not really needed. Used once awhile. 
44. Bath foams, salts, fizzer........ -------------> Not needed. Preferring quick showers due to Drought. 
45. Seosonal decorations ----------------> see this post.
46. Air freshener -------------------------->  natural or not needed. 
47. Office supplies.------------------------> We are paperless.
48. Printer ink -----------------------------> refill.
49. Extra Shoes ---------------------------> maybe once per year for each family member only as needed. (Fast fashion is damaging to environment)
50. Latest gadgets and electronics.--------------> still working on my husband on that. But he is doing much better :) 

I am sure there is more. But honestly, many more items I see in other people's houses that I don't buy, need nor have.

It is kind of hard to know what you don't buy if you never bought them. For example different laundry detergents for dark and light and white and wool .........

Laundry perfumes!!!!!  ....... I never even knew they do exist!!!  (What a waste of money!) 

Did, NOT buying these items changed our quality of life? You bet it did! 

-A LOT Less clutter (Visually, Mentally and Emotionally).
-Less wasting time window shopping and browzing.
-Less stress due to things finishing and being low on something. (" I need to run! We need fabric softness and I can't do laundry!" A friend once said ).
-Less spending.
-Less time at stores ( We are usually In and Out).
-Less junk to organize and deal with.


 Yes. All these Less'es deeply changed the quality of our lives.

Think about it. 

What are YOU not buying and not missing?
Paris.


Addendum:


I noticed that my computer hadn't saved my proof reading and this post was packed with mistakes. Please accept my apology.


While I am correcting the problem, I may as well add few more items.


Hee hee hee.


Here there are.

51.  Vacuum cleaner bags ------------------------>Roomba and a hand held vacuum. Just emptying the canister directly in the garbage bin does it.
51.  Any specialty tools, like various peeler, Apple cutter, Garlic crusher, Olive oil mister...........
52.  Most school supplies. Pens and other items-------------------------------> We have enough from old days to last us years to come. (Don't even know where all these pencils and pens are coming from)
53.  Extra clothing -----------------------------> We buy about once a year or so and only what we need.
54.  Microwave. Haven't had one for years.
55.  Individually packaged snacks.
56.  House decorations.----------> We have only two paintings which we have had for over 15 years.
57.  Unwanted gifts for friends -------------------> Beer, Wine, Food, eatables, Flowers, Gift card (Everybody has more than enough stuff in their houses. More incoming items for them are not the best gifts)
58.  Jewelry (Custom or real)---------------------> I have had few favorites that I love for years. Nothing new coming in
59. Nail polish ------------------> Have had a couple for years now.
60. Last but not least!!!!! Anything other than strict necessary. Includes Extra Glasses, Extra Sun Glasses, Multiple different drinking and coffee cups and glasses, Serving dishes, Fancy looking anything, Duplicate of anything and anything that needs to be advertised to be sold.


Can't even imagine how hectic my life would have been if I had been buying those stuff.


Thank you everybody for reading. Please think about your own shopping habits.
Paris

See my new page "Related Movies"

I love to watch documentaries. They are so many wonderful and eye opening documentaries out there and most of them are free. On my new page, i created a list of many movies and documentaries for you that have been life changing for me and my family.

So Please look on the right side of my blog for the newly added page called " Related movies".

I will constantly update it and add more links and names. I will deeply appreciate it if you wonderful readers add to my list by making a comment to this post.

Here is a link to my new page.

Thank you and enjoy.
Paris

Home made Tomato paste

Different colors are due to them being done in different times.

During the past two years, one thing i never needed to buy again was tomato paste.

Being Persian by origin and a lover of Italian food, tomato paste has been a vital part of daily recipes in our home. I used to stock my pantry up with the small cans of paste. But no more.

I do our own tomato paste at home now.

I do it at the end of summer when the tomatoes are ripe and sweet. They are also very inexpensive during that time of the year.

I usually buy them for 50 cents per pound from our local farmers market. I choose the so called "Seconds" that are uglier ones and less expensive. Nobody else would buy them, because well, they are "Seconds". I get as much organic tomatoes as i can get my hands on. But they are sometimes harder to come by in our market.

Here is a very simple and fast way of doing it.

1.Wash and clean the tomatoes.

2. Cut and discard the damaged parts.

3. Cut or chop them in pieces.

4. Place them in a large pot and cover.

5. Bring to boil for ten minutes.

6. Once cold, pass the content through a big sieve removing the seeds, skins and the tough parts.( I just dig in with my washed hands and squeeze the tomatoes)

7. Add some or no salt.

8. Blend the Tomatoes.

9. Pour the paste in the large pot and bring it to boil.

10. Boil and stir often till you get the desired consistency. To get a thicker paste and less elbow grease, you could pour it in a flat tray and place it in the oven for 1-2 hours on 250 degrees.

11. Pour in your sterilized jars and place the lids.

12. Wait to enjoy the pop sounds.


You could add olive oil, basil, more salt, peppers, lemon juice...

This paste has no preservative, is natural, inexpensive and fresh. Another benefit is that it does not create waste. It has become a fun project in our home. We do it once a year and it easily lasts us a year.

You could try it and start small. Chances are you would love it.


8 reasons why we never use coupons.

I like to save money like every other person. But one thing I never really use or worry about, is
coupons.

I know people, that swear by the power of coupons and I also have seen one single episode of Extreme Couponing. It saved people tons of money. But in our household, we almost never use them.

Don't take me wrong. We are not extremely rich people that don't care about money nor we are big spenders. On the contrary, I am very interested in our household's financials and am not scared of talking about money. Saving money makes me happy. What I have been noticing is that the coupons simply don't serve us with our lifestyle.

Here is why.

1. We eat fresh. It is almost impossible to find coupons for fresh produce. They are usually just on sale and don't need coupons. We mostly buy our fresh produce at Farmers market and they don't need coupons. When we miss the market and have to go to stores, we just buy mostly organic fresh produce. They also almost never have coupons.

2. We eat local and seasonal. We focus on eating local. I never understand why we have to buy food that have been traveling around the world. We are fortunate enough to have enough of everything produced here in our own country and state. I feel that my family will be just fine if they don't eat the Tilapia fish produced in, let's say Taiwan. We can just eat the fish that has been caught wild in Pacific Ocean. Nobody ever died or deeply suffered from the lack of Tilapia.

3. We don't eat processed food. This one is a big one as far as coupons go. I would say possibly 99% of the coupons are from the big corporations and are almost always for processed, wrapped and boxed food. We make almost everything from scratch and don't need all those boxed, processed and old food.

4. We (almost) don't produce waste. Everything with coupons is packed and wrapped. We buy in bulk and always bring our own produce bags. Again, there is no coupon for bulk and produce food.

5. We don't buy anything we don't need. That means we don't buy bottled water, paper towels, juices, sodas, candies, snacks and junk food,.... these are usually the items which the coupons are used for. I make home made regular or sweet potato fries instead of  packaged chips. We make strawberry and banana smoothies and i freeze them for home-made Popsicles. We make home made cookies with my kids instead of watching TV on weekends. It is a fun and healthy activity. We love the quality time and the cookies are delicious made with organic sugar.

6. We almost only eat organic meat. They are from local farms and don't belong to the big meat factories with big names and brands. Again, no coupons.  We eat tons of vegetable and eat meat maybe two to three times a week. We eat lots of organic eggs and fish during the week.

7. We don't buy frozen food. Since we eat local and seasonal, we don't need to buy anything frozen. I do freeze our leftovers. But living in a country that stores are in every corner and even some are open 24/7, I don't feel the need to pack our refrigerator and freezer with tons of food. (We don't own a second "garage refrigerator" like most suburban families do).

8. We shop once a week and buy only for that week. We don't buy something, unless it is finished. On the other words, we don't buy anything that we still have more of. We don't have forgotten food and expired goods. In fact, what we buy doesn't have expiration dates since they are not packaged. Since we buy only for one week or so, we never worry about expiration dates and freshness of our produces. It is always fresh.

Looking at our grocery habits, you will know why we never really need coupons. Eating almost all organic meat and healthy food with lots of bulk nuts and fresh fruit and vegetable, you might think we must spend a fortune on food.

I track our spending closely on Mint.com and our spending on grocery shopping is not out of ordinary. We like to eat out sometimes and do eat out around ten times a month.We also enjoy having friends over.

How much in average are we spending on grocery shopping and food in a month? Around $600-$700 for a family of four. That includes our eating out and our coffee treats in coffee shop. This is our family's base grocery spending. It could vary depending on circumstances.

This also does not include the extra spending on gatherings with friends which i consider it to be by far our best investment. The spending on inviting friends is a great investment in a better life enriched with wonderful friends and family. That is when we spend with pleasure.

But still one thing I never have to worry and think about is clipping coupons.

Home made Soy Milk. Zero waste.

I love milk. But i am also lactose intolerant. This has been a problem for me when i want to enjoy my beloved cereal in the mornings.

Unfortunately, Soy, Almond or Coconut milk do not come in returnable glass bottles like milk does. I don't want to buy them in none recyclable cardboard either. So I make my own.

It is too simple to not do it.

Here is how.

Dry Soy beans soaked over night.

1. Soak 1 cup of dry soy beans in the water over night.( preferably organic soy beans. I buy them in bulk).











2. Juice the soy along with four cups of water. We have a squeeze juicer that works excellent.

Pass the soy beans through a juicer.

3. Clip a cheese cloth to a pot and pour your juice through it. I like to squeeze it so all the juice comes out. You can also do this after boiling to get more juice extracted from the pulps.

4. Boil the juice for ten minutes. You can add vanilla extract and sugar to it at this time if you prefer.

5. Pour it in a clean sterilized glass. I use my milk glasses from Strauss family. The pulp goes in to my compost, or garden under the dirt.

6.Use it within a week.

Enjoy.







How to simplify and organize your Tupperwares.

Add caption

Tupperware drawer or cabinet has become one of the biggest challenges in organising one's kitchen.



The lost tops and miss matched bottoms are a mystery yet to be solved. I remember the commercial about a brand saying "Don't get mad, Get glad". It was for a disposable Tupperware. Made of plastic that you could lend to a friend and just let it go.



I remember buying tons of them in various sizes and every time, deciding that this was it. I will throw away all the old ones and start fresh. This set is going to stay perfectly organize and will not have the same destiny as the old one. Boy was i wrong. Within few months, the cabinet would get overflown by different tops and bottoms that for some weird reason never matched.

Only when i was ready for a big change, the solution to that big problem became very clear. Now, it has been years since i organized or bought any Tupperware and don't even want to remember how frustrating and expensive it was.

Here is how to do it.

1. Decide on one or two sizes only. You don't need to have twelve different sizes.

2. Set a budget aside, or buy gradually as i did.(Winco in Folsom had the best deal)

3. Dump the plastic and go for Pyrex Glass containers.

4. Decide how many you need and buy as you go. I suggest to start small and add as needed. Don't go buying twenty four pieces while ten will do it for you.

5. Buy the same size and color tops to keep your life organized and uncluttered. Don't buy a set with different sizes and colors.

6. Use it for refrigerators, Freezers, snacks ...

7. Donate all your old Tupperware.

8. Get used to never ever organizing and buying another plastic Tupperware.

Perks and tips are:

• Since it is glass, people will always return it to you.
• For cookies and other dry stuff for others, i simply use brown paper bags and don't worry about someone returning it.
• The glass and the top are very easy to clean and are machine washable.
• You can Microwave the food in the glass container without worrying about toxins.
• Every top matches every bottom.
• No more freezer burn on your food.
• Your refrigerator and freezer will look a lot more organize.
• Food lasts longer since it is sealed nicely and glass is cleaner with less germs.
• Last but not least, the food taste better warmed and stored in glass and you will never get the freezer or refrigerator smell in your food since it is sealed nicely.

When was the last time you organized your Tupperware cabinet?

Paris

20 benefits of buying from Farmers Market.

Got Vegetables?

Here is a photo of my weekly farmers market purchases. 

Why it is important to buy from your local Farmers Market?







1.  More fruit and vegetable. You will get excite to buy and eating a lot more fruit and vegetable, since you will be more exposed to them.

2. Fresh produce.The produces are local. It means they were not brought from other countries. Thus they are a lot fresher. They were not ripened by the chemical gasses. They were ripened by the power of the sun.

3. Less Chemicals. Since they do not need to be transported too far, they need less chemicals to ripen them ( Ethylene gas See here)  and to maintain them.

4. Less Packaging, Less natural resources, less waste. All the produces you see in my picture produced ZERO waste. The egg cartons are brought back to my egg lady the next week and it makes her very happy. For the rest off the produces, i brought my own bags. You can shop zero waste as well. Just bring your own bags.

5. Less Transportation, less Pollution. The produces in the farmers market were not brought from a different continent, just to be sold to us. Thus very minimal transportation is needed. The less transportation is used, the less Oil or Gas is used. This means less dependency on foreign oil, less pollution in the environment, less maintenance, less refrigeration, less paperwork and less big corporation are involved.

6. More diversity. I leaned a lot more about different vegetable, and my kids are trying all kinds of interesting fruit and vegetable that we have never seen or been exposed to before. Diversity means more types of vitamins and minerals and not getting stuck eating the same old same.

7. Helping our local farmers. It is a pleasure to hand the money directly to the grower of my food. I think about all the hard work they put in growing and taking care of our food and then they have to sell them dirt cheap to the big corporations. The corporations are taking over the food market.

8. Better Nutritional facts. When the produce ripens naturally and is consumed right after harvesting, it has the highest amount of nutrients in it. The conventional produces that are brought from far way, are harvested weeks before they are ripened. This way, they maintain their texture. Then after weeks of refrigeration and transportation, when it is time for them to be sold, they are ripened artificially with Ethylene gas. Less sun means less nutrition.

9. Seasonal. Eating seasonal is just wonderful. The recipes, the smell of the season, the colors are pure pleasure. It is not fun to eat pumpkin in spring. Also, eating seasonal means, they have been produced locally, not on the other earth's hemisphere. The taste, the nutrition and the season's spirit is a lot better. The effect on the environment is a lot less too. It just makes sense.

10. Family quality time. Going to farmer's market is one of our favorite activities. My kids get to choose the fruits. They usually are rewarded by a sweet and nice person, by giving them that extra cucumber, or strawberry. They love it.

11. Making new friends. When i am saying thank you and good by to the nice farmers, we all say" See you next week" . When i didn't get the chance to go there for couple of weeks, they were concerned and asked me where i was. Also I know this wonderful older lady that has back aches and i am looking forward to see her and chat with her. She has the nices smile. It is such a pleasure to know these wonderful people.

12.  A happier community. Farmers Market brings happiness to our community. The music, the liveliness, the flowers, the nice person selling Organic herbs, the noises, the smell of freshness, all these just creates a happier place.

13. Fresh and natural out door air. I used to be always cold in the stores. All those artificial lights and refrigerators, make me get the chills. The farmers market is a natural, out door, fresh air experience and is good for all of us.

14. Light exercises. It made me laugh to write this. But the truth is that walking around, carrying bags filled with produce, in the fresh out door air, is a lot healthier that jumping in the car 20 times per week and buying one thing at a time, from a 24 hours Safe Way. This used to the old me. The convenience of having a big grocery store open 24 hours a day very close to our house caused me to not plan anything and just buy when i needed something NOW.

15. Better taste food. Just think about it. A produce that has been in the sun, without any chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides..., loved and cared for till it ripens without any artificial gases. Then sold and cooked the same day, taste better OR the produce that has been brought up in a soil that has no nutrition left and artificial lights, is packed with fertilizers, pesticides... then picked and refrigerated weeks before it is ripened, then it is transported half way acrossed the globe, then it is ripened with Ethylene gas, Then it is seating in the grocery stores for a long time before it make it in your basket. Which one tastes better.

16. Reduce consumerism. When we buy from Farmers Market, we break our dependency to the big corporations. We buy less processed and packaged food that are advertised to us. We buy less junk food and less unnecessary stuff.

17.  Access to less expensive organic produce. Since there is no middle men, the organic food can be found less expensive. Also Organic produces need a faster turnaround, otherwise they go bad. They lack the chemical preservatives. So the whole process would be a lot more expensive if the food is brought from far away.

18. No temptation for buying junk food. When we are going to grocery stores, we get exposed to so many unhealthy junk food. It is so hard to keep saying "No" to your kids when they want something they see. But in Farmers Market, whatever they ask for, it is a healthy food.

19. Not processed. Most food get processed and altered, so they look a certain way, or they taste a certain way and the most important part is, the amount of preservatives added to them is huge. In the Farmers market, the food you buy, actually goes bad after a while. This is always a good sign.

20. Learning about the food we eat. It is so wonderful to try the new recipes and new produces we buy in farmers market. We also ask about how the plant grows and how each produce is made. My kids learn so much from the knowledgeable people there.

Have you been to your local Farmer's Market yet?

Paris

Plastic free freezer

My freezer.

You might have never heard or thought about it before. But our freezers are one of the places that uses tons of plastic bags.We place everything in plastic bags without thinking. I used to do that. I remember the days that i just took thing out of the bag and just dump the plastic bag in the garbage.

Well, those days are long gone for me.

No more plastic bags. I gradually invested in many Pyrex dishes that have a nice and snug cover. I just wish those covers were not made of plastic. Silicon has been very popular lately. It would have been making a good replacement.

How it works for me? !!!

• You can buy one or two dish at a time, so it is not a financial burden.

•  Make sure they all are the same size and color, so they can stack easily and neatly

• Find your own perfect size, before you start buying. For us, a family of four, this is a good size.

• Mason jars make a great replacement for the plastic bags. I have chicken stocks in those jars and use them for soup. 

• You can dedicate an area of your freezer to meat, another one to vegetable... so things stay organize and easy to find. 

• Make sure the dishes are clear, so you can see what is inside. This reduces the hassle of labeling them.

• It is very helpful, if you remember to move the dish you need, to the refrigerator ( from the freezer), a day before you are ready to use it.

• These dishes can be microwaved easily.

• The Pyrex dishes can be washed effortlessly in the washing machine.

• You can easily freeze all kinds of vegetable during summer, so it could be used in winter.

• Make sure you are not buying too much food and over stock you freezer. It is better to eat fresh food and buy only what you need.

• Always try to use and finish what you already have in your freezer, before buying more of the same thing.

I have been using these for almost a year and had no problem. If you decide to give this system a try, let me know how does it go. Happy de-plastic-ing your freezer.

Paris

12 benefits of going paperless in the kitchen.

Every body is going paperless. Even the health care is required to go paperless.

Why not us?

I did a search on line and this is what i found on www.chacha.com

"Last year, Americans spent nearly $2.3 billion on paper towels, sending 3000 tons of paper towels to landfills each day."

You can start with your kitchen. I have been paperless in my kitchen for over 4 years now and is working perfectly. Can't even imagine my life before a paperless kitchen. You need to make a minor initial investment at first, but it is a very inexpensive way to go in a long run.You can change one thing at a time. Lets say you buy only one of the items below this month and replace your paper version with it at first.  Next month you buy the second item and so on and so forth. This will help you and your family through transaction. You can also find very inexpensive ones in dollar stores.



It is very simple.

All you need is


Dish towel, Microfiber cloth and( hand made) dish cloth
All I need!!!

. A set of Microfiber cloths. I love these. They clean everything effortlessly. They dry fast. Just make them damp for a perfectly clean surfaces without any chemicals. For killing germs use the mixture of Vinegar and water to clean every surface. For the kitchen counters,  i sometimes use boiling hot water left in my kettle from my coffee. Use one microfiber cloth per day. After you are done at the end of the day, just hang them to dry. The next day, place the used one in dirty laundry basket to be washed and use a fresh one. This will keep the germs away without any chemicals. I don't even remember when was the last time i bought paper towels. Use the same color. It will looks so much more calming and organized in your kitchen. I use a different color set for bathrooms.

. A set of Kitchen towels. The kitchen towels are used for any kind of drying . Hands, dishes , Fruit.... I hang one in my kitchen. I also have backups to use for drying big dishes. You can place them on the counter to let your dishes air dry on them. I don't have a drying rack (Never liked them). Don't need them. A towel does the job and gets washed regularly. It is great to have less, but more efficient stuff.



Hand made by myself. Recycled yarn

. A Natural fiber sponge. use the natural kinds that are sold everywhere now. I made my own with a recycled yarn. It started as a fun project and i noticed they clean better and last a lot longer. I have not bought a sponge for months now. My dish scrubbers are being washed and reused along with other laundry.

. Old and stained towels. Old towels are used for the floors. After your kitchen towels get old and stained and you need to buy new ones ( That might take years) , Just buy a different looking set and use the old ones for the floors. This way you won't mix them up .

The benefits of going paperless:

1. Saves lots and lots of money by not buying paper products.
2. Saves lots of storage space.
3. Saves the landfills and oceans. Do not trow all those papers away.
4. Saves the trees from being cut to make single use paper products.
5. Saves gas. I remember when my husband went to store to just buy paper towels.
6. Saves time. Not roaming the stores, looking for the best, yet cheapest paper towels.
7. Saves water. Believe it or not, making paper towels is a very water intensive production.
8. Saves electricity. Again, fabrication of paper towels use a lot of energy.
9. Saves the fish. All the chemicals and bleach being used to make paper towels look good are not being dumped in the water system and oceans.
10. Saves Stress. You will never run out and have to worry about buying them.
11. Saves your family's health by keeping them away from tons of chemicals.
12. Teaches kids to stay away from disposables.

Have you gone paperless yet?

Paris

The best coffee!!!

  

   

   

 

We like to drink coffee.

We are not addicted. But we enjoy the aroma of a good coffee on a Sunday morning. We used To just automatically drive to Starbucks and buy our coffee. But over the years many things changed.

What is Our new way of drinking coffee which we love and truly enjoy?

Here is the secret:

• USDA Organic
• Shade grown, rain forest alliance certified.
• Fair trade 
• Bird friendly
• Beans
• French press
• Purchased from bulk in my own bags to reduce the waste. 

Organic shade grown coffee. This coffee just taste much better. The regular , normal, natural coffee should grow in the rain forests. Shade and rain forest trees are the ideal environment for the coffee plant growth. The trees protect the coffee plants from bugs and other pests. They also provide natural fertilizer from their mulch. These rain forest trees also are the home to migrating North American births and are vital for those bird's survival.

 But we changed the coffee for our own greed and for the profit of our companies. The regular coffee we consume is made differently.  It is genetically modified to grow in the sun so the production per sq. is higher, thus the profit is higher. Unfortunately in many areas of the world many rain forest trees are cut down to make room for genetically modified coffee plants. This deforestation has an huge impact on the health of our planet.

When a coffee is organic, it means it has not been genetically modified, did not have pesticides and fertilizers. So our best bet is to buy organic shade grown coffee.

The market for the coffee is so big that are many black markets involved and many people make tons of illegal money in this process. Buying Fair trade coffee, makes sure the right people get paid by our purchase.

As far as the taste goes, grinding a bean from scratch makes a big difference. When you buy pre-grind coffee, the beans loose some freshness and aroma in the process . Invest in a grinder and enjoy making and drinking coffee every step of the way.

We switched to French press to reduce our electronics in our home. Surprisingly, we found that our coffee tastes much better. I think living the coffee soaking in the hot water helped to release more aroma and more flavor.

Have you tried to drink the better coffee yet?

Minimalism and plastic

There are two ways to step away from plastic by living a minimalistic lifestyle.


1. Credit cards. yes.This plastic would be your credit cards. The minimalistic lifestyles and credit cards don't mix together that well.

Usually when you live as a minimalist, you end up spending less. A lot less. Because you are not buying lots of stuff that other people buy. Even though many people become a minimalist to live more freely, or greener, or fight the consumerism, there are many people that choose this life to reduce their expenses.

Yes. Minimalism helps to pay off your debts and reduce your expenses. It helps you get less overwhelmed and more organize. This saving associated with the new learnt organization skill, is a perfect combination for paying off the credit card debt,AKA, "the plastic"


2. The plastic. The anti consumerism attitude that usually comes with minimalism, encourages people to buy less and create less waste. The minimalism also makes people think about the quality vs quantity and this by itself guides people toward buying less plastic and longer lasting, higher quality items.

Plastic means

1. Cheap,
2. Short life, breaks easily
3. Low quality, does not work as good
4. Discarded easily ( Not repaired), because it was cheap and doesn't work.
5. It lands in the landfills.
6. Next cheap item replaces it, happy corporations, due to a high sales production
7. the cycle repeats
8. The earth gets trashed
9. No money in our pockets, we have to constantly buy replacements.

The minimalism and De plastic-ing go hand to hand.

Have you thought about De plastic-ing your home?


Paris