Suzy Q Homemaker

yay! I don’t use any of these things. Our only disposable paper product we use is toilet paper and I’m not ready to make the switch to cloth until there are less butts in our household

This entire list is missing an important element, and that is the concept of pre-cycling…choosing products with the express purpose of reusing the disposable packaging.

Don’t just think “environmentally friendly”, think “frugal”. Often, the latter will lead you in a better direction. Your goal should be to stop throwing your money in the landfill. The price of the packaging you are tossing away is included in the price of the merchandise. If you are tossing any part of it in the trash or recycle bin, that’s your money in the trash. Stop that!

For example, on your list is the idea of buying an expensive container that comes with throw away packaging that will end up in a landfill, just so you can bring your own store bought container for packing up “to go” food, rather than using their disposable containers.

What if I were to tell you that don’t buy those containers and I only get food to go at places that have great containers that I prefer over the store bought ones?

Most Chinese restaurants have great containers for soup. Instead of getting food packaged in the white cardboard containers which end up in the trash, I ask for and pay an extra $0.10 to get it in the soup containers.

They are sturdy, reusable, microwaveable, and no matter what size the container is, they all take the same size lids.

Can you tell me where to get a container of equal quality in a store, without throw away packaging, for only $0.10?

Why buy a bottle for water when you give up bottled water? Why not keep the empty bottles from your last ones and refill them?

I will not waste my time, energy, or money on cloth gift bags, especially if the gift is going to someone outside my immediate family, that would likely throw the cloth bag in the trash. I would much prefer to use some of the gift bags, boxes, wrapping paper, and tissue paper I have been recycling for the last 20+ years. Yes, I do get funny looks, giggles, and nostalgic smiles when I give a present in a gift box from a store that went out of business years ago. It’s all part of the charm.

I don’t like the idea of glass straws, They seem kind of dangerous to me, especially if you have kids.

And I don’t much like the idea of metal straws, for 2 reasons:

1. You can’t use them with hot beverages without burning your lips.

2. You can’t see inside them to make sure they are nice & clean.

I do have an alternative though…

Pressure washer tubing. It’s about the diameter of a sports bottle straw, is heat resistant, see-through, safe for kids.

I bought 3 feet of it from Home Depot, about 10 years ago and I still have most of the straws I made. And it probably cost a lot less than the glass or metal ones.

Just buy a few feet of it, some fine grade sand paper, and a long skinny flexible brush meant for cleaning aquarium tubing.(can get that at a pet store)

Use the sand paper to remove the printing on the outside of the tubing before you cut it.

Cut it to lengths twice what you want, and sand both ends smooth. Then cut it on an angle in the center (that end goes in the bottom of the cup, bottle, or can).

Then wash them in hot soapy water, using the aquarium brush to scrub out the insides.

If they get used for anything like a milk shake, you can hold them up to a light after scrubbing them out, to make sure you got every inch of the inside clean.

By the way, these are much better for milk shakes than the disposable ones because the diameter is larger. It won’t require as much sucking power to drink it.

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