Sustainable September 2017 - Day Twenty Eight

SEPTEMBER 28 (THURSDAY)

FASHION & BEAUTY - CAPSULE WARDROBES

Welcome back to the amazing Eco Kindness month... Sustainable September. This is the month where we focus on being kind to this amazing planet of ours and all those who live here. This week the focus is on Fashion and Beauty and how we can reduce our environmental impact in this area.

Yesterday I wrote about the problems with the fashion industry... particularly FAST FASHION.

The challenge yesterday was to reduce the amount of Clothing we buy, and then when you do go to purchase stuff, choose sustainable options like Seconds Hand, Envionmentally friendly, Fair trade, Organic, Vegan & Cruelty Free, Vintage etc.

This might seem hard... saying no to fast fashion. However, I have some tips and tricks for you to look at. Like this one...

Sustainable September Day Twenty Eight: Create a Capsule Wardrobe.

What is a capsule wardobe you might ask? Well it is basically a collection of clothes you wear regularly that all mix and match so you are left with less options overall and less choice fatigue - yes that is a real thing! This doesn't mean you really have less choices, you just get to use the smaller number of things you own and love in more creative ways.

Start with shopping your own closet. That means going through all of the clothes you own (Yes... ALL of the clothes you own) and figuring out if you love it, hate it, if it fits, if its still a style you feel comfortable wearing, if it still has its tags on check if it is worth taking the tags off.

I know how it goes, you look in your closet everyday and feel like there is nothing to wear.

Today, I'm going to share my excitement because I have been using a Capsule Wardrobes for the last 3 months.

I have been following a popular minimalist Blogger called Courtney Carver from from Be More With Less who created a Capsule Wardrobe challenge called Project 333. Thats 33 items of clothing for 3 Months.

"The Rules

• When: Every three months (It’s never too late to start so join in anytime!)

• What: 33 items including clothing, accessories, jewelry, outerwear and shoes.

• What not: these items are not counted as part of the 33 items – wedding ring or another sentimental piece of jewelry that you never take off, underwear, sleep wear, in-home lounge wear, and workout clothing (you can only wear your workout clothing to workout)

• How: Choose your 33 items, box up the remainder of your fashion statement, seal it with tape and put it out of sight.

• What else: consider that you are creating a wardrobe that you can live, work and play in for three months. Remember that this is not a project in suffering. If your clothes don’t fit or are in poor condition, replace them."
  (Check out the rest of Project 333 here)

For the last 3 months I have been working on using only 33 items of clothing/accessories/Shoes that fit together to form my Winter Capsule Wardrobe. That way I limit decision fatigure and spend less time looking at clothes (or in my case, it used to be 'worrying' about clothes). It actually makes my life easier... because I know what I have to choose from and all of these things are my favourite things to wear.

It's a challenge that may not suit everybody but i decided to give it a go.

I can make heaps of different outfits from this list too. 

 If I get to the point where these things aren't my favourite I will change them in the next 3 months as the weather warms up.

It has been surprisingly easy. I actually started with about 5 less items than I finally ended up with. I added in the black Toms Shoes, my grey Leggings, my red & black scarf, my University Hoodie and the Ying/Yang singlet. However my grey leggings and ying/yang singlet I often wear to Bootcamp so they might not technically count but oh well. I still have one space for a dress... I just couldn't decided which one! It turns out I haven't really needed a dress this last 3 months. Except for this coming Sunday when I will wear a pretty hand-me-down dress to become a Fairy Godmother... i mean... Godmother *cough*.

And do you know what? I have had more compliments in the last 3 months on my fashion than I ever had before. My favourite compliment was "You look really sophisticated these days." Thank you Shazza! It brightened my day.

My family didn't even notice. I had to tell my mum, my neice and nephew all about it last week. Apart from the fact I have to do washing more regularly, it wasn't too different than before. I still wear my favourite clothes, I just wear them more often and in new and interesting ways. I got really excited when i realised there were ways I could wear things that I never thought of before. Crazy huh? I have owned some of these clothes for YEARS. You can check out my Excel Spreadsheet too.

Yes I made a spread sheet. But that was just so I could keep myself accountable and know that i still have a long way to go when it comes to fast fashion. I bought a majority of my clothes from Fast Fashion outlets. But I also got a lot of hand-me-downs from friends, which I love. I also have a surprising amount of 'gifts" in there too. My favourite jewellery is all gifts from family and friends. 

If you want to know how I got started well it was pretty simple. I started by taking a record of what I was actually wearing. See that photo above of all the little outfits? That's from an app. It's called Stylebook (its currently only in the Apple App Store). It's awesome. For a month before I started the Project 333 challenge, every day I photographed what I had decided to wear that day and added it to the Stylebook app. After a month you will realise what you are wearing all the time and what is your favourite outfits. This helps when planning your Capsule Wardrobe for Project 333. Or any Capsule Wardrobe really. It gave me my core clothes. Ones I basically couldn't live without. 

From there I started seeing where the gaps were in my closet. For example the reason I bought the blue peplum top (whilst I was holidaying in Sydney in June) was because I needed a top that I could dress up and down and i didnt have something that could do that. I really liked the style and colour and I knew I could wear it again and again. AND I also decided I wanted it because I liked the way it fit, particularly how it flatters my waist. I know that when it gets to the end of it's life I can cut a pattern from it and make more like it. I may even do that BEFORE the end of it's life. It is a Fast Fashion brand (which I'm not pleased at myself with) but I needed something in a hurry and it filled my need. It doesn't mean I'm going to discard it after this 3 months either. I love it, so it will stay in my closet for a long time to come.

What I want to tell you is that I went into that particular store THREE times before I actually bought the Blue top. Why? Because I didn't really want to buy a Fast Fashion item. I dont know why I went in to that shop to start with... I usually avoid shops that I don't like ethically. But I was sucked in there and then I found the blue top and I was like YAY... something that fit the gap in my planned "Capsule Wardrobe" and then I asked myself did I really need it. After deciding No i didnt NEED it, I left. Then I had an unexpected event I was going to that was Smart/Casual. I didn't really have anything that fit it. So when I went back to that store and I, again, walked away in the hopes that I could find something from a better environmentally friendly and ethical store... but alas I found nothing so that is when I went back and bought that top. If I had had more time to scour the Op-shops/Thrift Shops I think I could have found something lovely. But I was in a foreign city without knowledge of where these shops were. I did the best I could with the time, money and information that I had. I also know I have a lot room for improvement and I look forward to experimenting more with capsule wardrobes. 

Interested in starting your own Capsule Wardrobe but need more inspiration from others? I have a Pinterest board dedicated to Capsule Wardrobes and also one dedicated to Travel Wardrobes (Which is basically a smaller Capsule Wardrobe that fits in a carry-on case). Travel Capsule Wardrobes are a great place to start because it makes travel easier AND you get to see if you can cope with a Capsule Wardrobe! Here is another persons Capsule Wardrobe for visuel inspiration...

Check out this really good video too...

ACTIVITY: Start planning a capsule wardrobe by recording the clothes you already wear regularly. This paired with yesterdays activity of not buying anything new will be a challenge for some. If you already know what you wear regularly and would feel confident putting together a capsule wardobe (as an experiment) then give it a go. It sure works for me. 

Not interested in doing Project 333... no problem! You don't need to limit yourself to just 33 items for 3 months. You can still create an awesome Capsule Wardrobe. Check out this video by SugarMumma for ideas on a larger Capsule Wardrobe...

I hope you have found this as useful and interesting as I did putting it all together. I look forward to seeing and hearing all about your new (or old) capsule wardrobes.

Much love to you all,
Daena

Sustainable September 2017 - Day Twenty Seven

SEPTEMBER 27 (WEDNESDAY)

FASHION & BEAUTY - FAST VS SLOW FASHION

Welcome Back Everyone.
There are only a few more days of Sustainable September so I am making sure this counts. Yesterdays blog post (for today) was all about making some reusable swaps like saying no to disposable razors in favour of reusable Safety Razors. There are so many awesome ideas for yesterday and I am sure there will be people telling me that there are more that could be done too. I welcome those challenges.

Today's blog post idea (for tomorrow) is a big one... so I hope I do it justice. It is all about Slow vs Fast Fashion.

Sustainable September Day Twenty Seven: Give Fast Fashion the flick.

Lets start by explaining what Fast Fashion is... before we talk about what we can do about it.

What is Fast Fashion?

 

Fast Fashion is simply the high speed turnover of clothing so that when you buy a "Trendy" item it will be out of fashion by the time you wear it. In the past, in my grandmothers era, there were two seasons of clothing to buy for: the warm season and the cold season. Then there were four seasons of clothing: Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring. Now Fast Fashion is generating 52 Seasons of clothing every year...One for every week of the year (some brands are going even faster than that).

When I worked for an Australian fashion brand, ten years ago, we would receive new shipments of clothing every week. Each week there was something new to entice people in. What I witnessed then was that any of the old stock that had been reduced to clear (but hadn't sold) had the tags removed (identifying labels for the brand) and then it was either thrown in the bin or donated to charity. There was a lot of waste. A LOT! But I didn't think much of it at the time. I wasn't aware then of how fast fashion worked. I wasn't aware about how bad it was for the environment to make these items. I didn't realise how bad it was for the planet as a whole when it came to disposing of these items, nor for the workers who make these items AND also how bad it is for our wallets (that is a conversation for another time).

If you shop Fast Fashion now and still have nothing to wear then check out this video on Fast Fashion

Here are some quick Fast Fashion Facts...

The War on Waste Australian TV show did an amazing job of showing off the impact of fast fashion. If you aren't in Australia you won't be able to watch the episodes. But there are a lot of other amazing documentaries and programs that show you what the Fast Fashion Industry is all about.

So how about you check out this Video from TED talk.

The key points of this TED Talk is that 10% of the worlds carbon footprint is coming from the Fashion industry. The fashion industry is the Second Highest polluting industry behind only the oil industry. 4 Billion Pounds of textiles end up in land fill every year. Polyester is made from micro-plastics which means that every piece of polyester that has ever been made still exists, even if it has been thrown into landfill.

There are so many other challenging facts about Fast Fashion. If you want to learn more about Fast Fashion and the implication it has for our planet and all those who live here... check out the documentary called "The True Cost". It is available on Netflix, iTunes, Amazon and to download on your computer. It is really worth a watch.


After you watch the implications of the Fast Fashion industry you have to ask yourself... What can we do about it? And it is a very good question.

Be Kind, Choose Slow Fashion, Choose Fair Trade (Ethical brands), Buy Second hand or Vintage, and Upcycle. I won't cover all of this here because it is a massive task, however, I will look at a few of these points.

Firstly, for a kindness advocate I had to look at the importance of Kindness in my consumption of fashion. I don't just mean Eco-kindness either, oh no, this is kindness to fellow human beings all over the planet. There are many people who work to make our clothing. In many countries these people are living in poverty and do not earn a decent wage for what they make. This is something that I have started paying more and more attention to over the years. I want to make sure that the people who make my clothing are in safe living and working conditions are not subject to slave labour and have enough food to eat and water to drink.

Sometimes this means that I have to pay a few more dollars for the clothing I buy. Those extra dollars buy me peace of mind.

I have a few different Apps to help me make conscious choices about where I want to spend my money. The one I have used the most is an app Called "Shop Ethical" (Available on Apple and Android). Another I use is called "Good on you"(Also available on Apple and Android). I have these apps available on my iPhone at the touch of a button. For more Ethical Apps check out this link to an article on Ethica.

To continue making a different and steer away from Fast Fashion there is now a movement toward slow fashion.

Slow Fashion - What does it even mean?

 

Slow Fashion means being deliberate with your money. Every dollar you spend is basically a vote toward the future you want to create. Spending money on fast fashion, means you are voting for the continuing ethics and attitudes behind it. Spending money on ethical, fair trade, vegan (cruelty-free), environmentally friendly brands, you are voting for those types of businesses and products you want to continue. Changing your focus from consuming, to making the world a better place with your purchases, is a type of conscious kindness that we need more of. It ultimately affect us all.

I used to find shopping fun. I used to go to cheap stores and buy a bunch of sale items. I would spend about $20 to $50 every week on fast fashion. But now I am more conscious of what I buy, where and from who. I make sure that the money I spend, when I do actually spend money on clothing, is going to support the type of industry that I want to have.

One of my most recent Purchases was two pairs of jeans from JeansWest over 3 months ago. One is skinny blue jeans and the other is straight leg black jeans. They cost me $99 for the two pairs. This is more than I would have bough for jeans in the past but already they have well and truly earned their keep. As they are so well made they will last a lot longer too.

When I went to purchase my jeans I checked on my Shop Ethical App and discovered JeansWest were good when it came to their ethical wages & conditions for workers. They have started working on reducing environmental impacts too.

I also saw that they have a return and repair shop when I bought them (in Sydney), so I can get them repaired if, say, a button goes on my jeans. I have worn them almost everyday for the last 3 months and they are amazing. I know that they have a long way to go, but I chose them deliberately for their clothes and because I really needed to get some jeans.

Note: I had purchased some JeansWest jeans second hand (from Ebay) a while ago but they didn't fit. So I opted for convenience. At the shop I could try the jeans on so I knew they would fit me AND last a while. Next time, I might go in and try on jeans in a range of styles to see what i like and what suits me best. Then I can look for the right size and style second hand on eBay. It just takes a bit more time to figure it out, so I admit I went for the easy option with this purchase.

Choosing Fair Trade is linked to all of these. I have talked about Fair Trade on this blog before so I won't go too far into it. Here is an Inforgraphic to explain it to those who might have missed my previous blogs.

What I will say is making choices that are going to help not only your hip pocket but help those who are making and growing the ingredients/products you buy, is a start.

The Sustainable September idea for tomorrow is to say NO to fast fashion. This can be hard at first. So here are 10 Fashion Tips to help you give fast fashion the flick.

So check out this video below for more inspiration:

Did you know: There are companies around the world who are taking up Sustainability and Zero Waste practices in the world. There is even a design award that promotes and encourages Zero Waste and Environmentally Sustainable Practices. You can check out more info from this link...Video: Eco Chic Designing Award - Cutting Waste out of Fashion.

ACTIVITY: Do not buy any new clothes for a week. Instead take the time to research what you really need. Check out tomorrows blog for ideas about how to figure out what you REALLY need, when it comes to clothing.

I hope this post doesn't overwhelm too much. I did my best to keep it short and sweet. However there is just so much information about fast fashion and its impact on our environment.

Sending love to you all,
Daena x

Sustainable September 2017 - Day Twenty Four

SEPTEMBER 24 (SUNDAY)

FASHION & BEAUTY - PLASTIC FREE SHAMPOOS

Welcome to the final week of Sustainable Septemeber 2017. Where we are looking at making life a little kinder for our planet and all those who live here. This week is all about Fashion and Beauty. How can we make our daily Fashion and Beauty choices more sustainable? Start small and build up. Today is a simple idea,

Sustainable September Day Twenty Four: Reduce the amount of waste from Shampoo and Conditioners by using more sustainable Options.

There are several options that can reduce the amount of waste from Shampoos and conditioners. For examples there are Shampoo Bars, Dry Shampoo, No-Poo, Hair treatments that are home made and package free. Just to name a few.

Depending on the level of committment you are prepared to make to the environment. Here are a few options. Buy in Bulk. This means less packaging for the same amount of product you would usually buy. It is still producing waste, but not as regularly therefore not as much. This is a transitional stage for when you are looking to reduce your waste but not sure about where to start.

As always there is a simple switch that can be made. Instead of buying a whole new plastic bottle everytime you need more shampoo or conditioner you could take the containers to be refilled at a bulk store, which for me is the Wasteless Pantry. It is all about REUSING. I know the Wasteless Pantry have the ability to refill your already existing bottles of shampoo and conditioner. However it wont be the same brand you have already. It will be the next best thing. Just check out the closes bulk supply store you can. Hopefully it wont be too far away from you, wherever you are.

Then there is also using a home made or bulk dry shampoo option. I recommend making it because that reduces the amount of waste that goes in the bin. You can check out the one from Going Zero Waste. I use a little bit of Tapioca/Arrowroot flour and a little brush that i sprinkle on and then sort of sweep through my fair. I use my fingers and massage it into my scalp then too. It is not perfect but i dont feel that my hair is super oily. From the things that the Going Zero Waste link talks about... i might give that recipe a go next time. Using Dry Shampoo probably reduces the amount of waste i have by delaying my hair washing to once a week instead of two or three times a week. SO thats pretty awesome. It means that i am doubling the time it takes for me to go through the same size shampoo bottles i have (and yes i still use liquid shampoo and conditioner... for now).

THe next level of reducing waste is to use a Shampoo bar and Conditioning Bar. These are plastic free, come in a million different flavours and sizes, and are apparently really great to use. I have put in an order for some which sadly didn't arrive in time for me to share my experiences... but hopefully next year they will be. Shampoo and Conditioning Bars are like soap bars for your hair.

I am looking for one that is great for allergies and helps get rid of things like Psoriasis in the hair. I have Psoriasis (an autoimmune disease where you skin produces a lot more skin cells in certain areas) which is often pretty bad. Mind you at the moment with my diet and health improvements my psoriasis is almost unnoticable. A couple of my friends have recommended one for people with bad dandruff and psoraisis... it is called the Bee Beauty Beer Shampoo bar. Yes you read that right... it is a BEER flavoured Shampoo bar. and apparently it is the best. They are an Australian brand - from Tasmania. This particular shampoo bar is apparently just as good for all hair types. So that is awesome and I can't wait to give it a go*. Its about $12.50 AUD per bar.

In the meantime my sister has ordered me some other shampoo bars to see if they work, from her Bulk Buying Group. They bought in bulk from a supplier which significantly reduced the amount of money per bar that they had to pay. So they are due to come in the next few weeks. Hopefully before i have to buy some more of my Coal Tar Shampoo (which is the traditional treatment/ Shampoo for Psoriasis). Its costing me about $4 AUD per bar (Cheapest option).

I have also see a whole lot in Lush, the soap shop. They have waste free soap, shampoo and conditioner bars available. (Its about $15 AUD per bar depending on which ones you get.). Or even the Wasteless Pantry has some (at about $20 per bar). So shop around for the best price and the best option for your body/skin/hair type.

Then there is No-Poo. When i first heard about it i have to admit... i laughed. A lot. at the name mostly. When you live with two kids/teens (one of whom is a boy), fart and poo jokes are everywhere! heheh. But then i heard the premise about it. Basically it is using baking soda and apple cider vinegar to wash your hair less and almost detox your hair and the chemicals that are often in mainstream shampoos and conditioners. A friend of mine is currently giving this a go. There is a detox period (she is currently struggling through this period). But she led me to a blog about it (which if i find again i will post tomorrow).

But if you want a really balanced opinion before giving No Poo a go... check out this link from Google. It gives you the facts when it comes to No Poo so you can make your own choices.

ACTIVITY: Make your own Shampoo.
There are also a lot of other recipes for Shampoo and Conditioner Bars available on my Pinterest Board Eco and Environment ideas.

I hopeyou enjoy the first of this last weeks theme of Fashion and Beauty.

*NOTE: I do not get any money for any of the sites or products I mention. I just thought other people might like to hear about the ones I know (from my friends showing me) work. 

Sustainable September 2017 - Day Two

SEPTEMBER 2 (SATURDAY)

REUSE: CONTAINERS, REPAIR FOR REUSE, SLOW FASHION & MORE

Welcome back! How did you go with Day One of Sustainable September... Reduce? Did you get to refuse something that you would have normally accepted then thrown out? It is amazing how much we almost unconciously accept into our homes and lives that ultimately goes to the trash.

Before i go on to tomorrows Kindness idea (I always do a day ahead to todays post is for tomorrow)... i wanted to share a catchy tune by Jack Johnson called "The Three R's". It should help get us in the mood.

It is a bit cute but it has some awesome ideas in it too. Which brings me to Day two's idea...

Sustainable September Day Two: Reuse.

Today I will cover some ideas for ‘reuse’. Mend shoes & clothes, reuse glass jars for storage, take a look at minimizing what you buy and “shop your closet” rather than go to the shopping center/Mall.

Reusing what we let into our lives is a wonderful way of helping the environment.

CONTAINERS – When I go food shopping one of the first things I look at is what is the thing I am buying packaged in. I tend to avoid it if it is soft plastics or unrecyclable materials. Instead I look for glass, fabric or compostable materials.

It means I buy glass bottles of water (if I can’t refill my own reusable water bottles), then I can reuse those bottles to store a range of things, depending on the “mouth” of the bottle what I can fit in them after they have been consumed. It means that I buy glass bottles of sauces for the house instead of buying plastic because I can make my own sauce and refill the glass containers later.

I buy rice for the family in fabric bags (5kgs) and reuse the bags in the laundry as bags for my delicates. That is until the zip on them breaks and then I make other things out of the bags. Or if they are really falling a part, because they are made of cotton, I throw the bag bits into the compost.

I buy some things that are wrapped in paper because it means that I can throw the paper into the compost once I am finished with it, thus it becomes food for worms.

Our family buys toilet paper that is wrapped in pretty paper that can be used for craft or art projects. Alternatively It can be used as wrapping paper too. The type of toilet paper we buy called “Who Gives a Crap” makes sure their toilet paper is in pretty paper so that it can be reused for a range of differnt things (it even comes with fun things to read on the paper wrapper).

REPAIR FOR REUSE – One of these things for my family recently was getting my mums sewing scissors sharpened. Someone had used the scissors on something other than fabric (heaven forbid) and they had been ruined because of it. Instead of going out and getting these scissors replaced, we got them repaired, or in this case… sharpened. The lady who did the job was a local and the scissors work like new now. If we had of just thrown them out then these scissors would have ended up in landfill. Now we have prevented one thing from ending up in landfill, by repairing it. Reuse can be as simple as that.

I have also gotten a few pairs of shoes re-soled. In one case I got some straps repaired on a pair of nude wedge shoes before I donated them to charity. If I hadn’t have they would have ended up in the rubbish bin, and eventually landfill when all they needed was 5 minutes and $10 worth of repairs. plus now someone else gets to enjoy these awesome shoes (kindness right there).

I recently took a few pairs of shoes (including my UGG boots) to the cobbler to see if I could get them repaired but I had left it too long, and now they can not be repaired or even have their soles be replaced. Bummer dude.

However, what I have done Is ‘repair’ them myself. It is amazing what a bit of Gaffa/Electrical tape and a sewing needle can achieve when it is something that is just for around the house in the first place. My UGG boots are still mostly together regardless of the fact that they are coming apart between the sole and the top of the shoe… so I will keep reusing them until they completely fall apart. Then I should be able to compost the top of the UGG boot (by then they will be separated anyway) because it is sheepskin, and then I will just have the synthetic sole to throw away or maybe repurpose.

Possibly my biggest 'repair' project is my Wingback Chair. Last year, I wrote about how i had found this chair by the side of the road. 

Someone was giving it away for free or it would have ended up in landfill. So i decided i wanted to re-upholster it. I watched a LOT of videos on how to do it, so i knew i had to be an expert! right? Wrong! I started dismantling the thing, only to realise I was in well over my head. I had to ask myself what kind of crazy thing i had gotten myself into. But i havent given up!!!


I now go to Traditional Upholstery classes to learn how to actually put furniture pieces, like my wing back chair, back together! So that these pieces of furniture last a really long time. My chair is slowly progressing.

I had to add more woodwork, but now I have webbing on the seat, 9 springs (last time it was only foam), string holding the springs on, I am currently attaching the strapping for the back of the chair... other than that it looks really naked! hehehe.

I am going to classes run at the local community centre. I am loving it. I have made friends with people from different age groups and back grounds. I am learning from each person in my class and teaching them about my interests too, all whilst putting my amazing chair back together. Some of the Wingback chairs that i could have bought, as is, in the shops cost from $250 (at IKEA) to $3500 (at a 'fancy' store). So even if i consider all the money its cost me for classes, wood work, springs and supplies im still under my costs for a chair like mine. When its finished that is! Plus I am learning new skills all the time and that, to me, is invaluable. AND it helps me learn how furniture was put together in older times, which i am sure will help me with my archaeology at some point in the future!

SLOW FASHION: In the coming month I will be talking about Slow vs Fast Fashion. Perhaps I am doing this out of order when it comes to discussing “Slow Fashion” first before talking about the problems with Fast Fashion but slow fashion fits under todays theme. So please bare with me.

Slow fashion is the deliberate use of quality clothing that will last for a long time, rather than buying into what is ‘hip’ and ‘with it’ now (& I know I am showing my age now with comments like that). It is choosing to use what you have already got in your closet in new and interesting ways instead of going to buy a new clothing item.

One idea I really love about slow fashion, is “shopping your closet”. This can mean choosing to wear something that you do not usually wear to see if it suit you and if you really don’t like it asking why it is in the closet in the first place, then donating it or giving it to a friend. It can be as simple as  using accessories to dress up or dress down an outfit. Using what you already have to reduce the amount of clothing going to landfill. And yes, a lot of clothing goes to landfill.

Reusing clothing could also mean turning some of it into ‘rags’ to replace paper towel or cleaning clothes. You could get very creative with how you use your old clothing. If it is made out of 100% wool, 100% Cotton, or 100% bamboo it can even end up in your compost bin when it is holy. So if you must buy, choose second hand first. Choose from op-shops, eBay or a huge range of second hand shops available around the world. And if really you must buy new, choose clothing that can possibly be reused and then composted at the end of its life.

FINALLY: There are a range of other ways tat you can ‘reuse’ too. You can reuse water in your garden from showers and washing machines. You can do this by adding a grey water system to your garden. For showers keep a bucket or two in the bottom of your shower for use on the garden. For washing your clothes what we used to do was have the washing machine drain the grey water into the trough next to the machine. Then we would manually fill up buckets from the trough and walk it out to water the garden with it. Just make sure you are aware of what kind of cleaners you use on your clothes and yourself and if those cleaners will hurt or help your plants.

You can reuse any manner of things. Upcycling is one way that this ‘reusing’ idea can work for you.

I really love upcycling stuff. Whether its turning old sheer curtains into produce bags (so you don’t need bring home plastic), or its creating furniture out of wooden pallets... there are so many possibilities and ideas. I have a huge range of Pinterest Boards on how you can reuse an item by giving it a new life and purpose.

For Upcycling ideas check out my Pinterest boards:
UPCYCLING | CUTLERY CRAFT | GLASS IDEAS | TYRES |PALLETS | TIE CRAFTS |

So check these out and when it comes to the last day of the month when I will be talking bout Op-Shopping and Upcycling, you might have the perfect project in mind for that day! 

If you have any specific project you are interested in or need help finding ideas for, let me know, I can always help with the research! I am a little addicted to Pinterest and love looking for things ideas.

ACTIVITY: Go through your rubbish bin and ask this one question: Is there anything in there that could be given a second life?

I hope this finds you well.

Love Daena x