10 things I no longer buy as a low-waste minimalist

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Hello:) I’m Jane, I’m glad you’re here

And this is a list of ten things I no longer buy due to low waste living

When starting a low waste lifestyle all the separate swaps and changes for the things you use on the daily can seem overwhelming for sure, and with it becoming more main stream, the sheer number of choices and ways you can go about living a low waste lifestyle can make it seem daunting. So I found it helpful to sort of compartmentalize the things you can swap out for a reusable, or things you can give up altogether. 

For me, realizing I didn’t need to buy these things sort of happened naturally over time, and with phasing out these products slowly, I realized I didn’t really miss them. 

So, #1, fast fashion

We’ve heard it all before so I won’t reiterate how polluting and wasteful the fast fashion industry is. Tons upon tons of textiles wind up in landfills every year and with the rising popularity of services like depop and threadup, not the mention just any old thrift store, you can find just about anything second hand that you can find in your big box store like h and m or forever 21.

I started thrifting when I was a teenager just because I thought it was fun, and I’m also lucky to have two sisters and over the years we just have swapping clothes around. It has saved me loads of money, and i don’t think I’ve sacrificed looking good for being sustainable, if I do say so myself

#2 Pads and tampons

Any menstruating person knows how much of a pain it is to make a panicked drugstore run when you realize you’re out of period products, and the average menstruating person spends over $5000 on these products over their lifetime. They don’t easily breakdown in landfills, the dyes and fragrances are harmful to your parts, toxic shock syndrome can be life threatening, and also f*ck the tampon tax. 

Swapping over to a menstrual cup and period underwear was to me a no-brainer, despite it taking the course of a few periods to get used to.

My menstrual cup was I think around $20, I bought her five years ago and I’ll never look back. 

I was gifted three pairs of Thinx period underwear and I typically use them for period care when I go to bed. They’re very comfy, I think they’re pretty cute, and I promise it doesn’t feel like you’re wearing a diaper. I just rinse them out and let them air dry before tossing them into the laundry. 

I may do a separate video all about the low waste period, making the swap to reusable period products is I know kind of a touchy subject for people, but for me i felt very empowered that my wallet was no longer a slave to my period or these tampon companies

#3 Ziplock bags

To be honest this was just one of these things where I resolved to stop buying them and once I did I realized I didn’t really need them to begin with. Pretty simple. I have two stasher bags, some beeswax wrap, and steel food storage containers, so needing to buy these flimsy wasteful plastic bags became obsolete. 

#4 Hair styling products

Now I’ll preface this one by saying that I have manageable straight hair, I’ve never been *good* at styling it myself, but when I was younger I was obsessed with big wavy curly hair and did anything I could to make my straight hair hold onto a curl. It never wanted to. So after giving up things like curling products, hairspray, leave-in conditioners, and just letting my hair do what it wants to, it was easier to accept my hair the way it is and stop trying to use chemicals and aerosols to change it. I don’t own a straightener or a curling iron, no pomades or hair waxes, just shampoo and conditioner bars and I will sometimes use my roommates blow dryer. 

#5 Cling wrap

Cling wrap, saran wrap, whatever you wanna call it, this was another thing I just cut out of my life cold turkey just to see what would happen and lo and behold, nothing happened. Like I said using beeswax wrap works just as well, or finding other creative ways to store food like flipping a bowl over it before putting it in the fridge, for veggies storing them in water works great, or leaving things like onions or avocados flipped cut side down on a plate keeps them fresh longer

#6 Bagged bread

My cottagecore is showing with this one but I started baking my own bread a couple of years ago and despite having zero cooking skills it actually turned out really good and each recipe makes two loaves. So instead of buying the bagged grocery store bread, I just spend a couple hours a week making my own for just a fraction of the cost. It tastes better, it’s cheaper, it’s fun, and it makes me feel like a little country cottage witch:)

#7 Q tips

I do plan to make the switch over to Last Object’s reusable q tip soon, but for the last year or so I stopped buying those drugstore cotton swabs and instead just lighting clean my ears in the shower. This is kind of gross so I won’t get all the way into it but your ears are self cleaning anyway, you get the picture

#8 Books

I stopped buying books because I had this habit of collecting them, reading them once, and letting them collect dust on my shelves. I know it’s enticing to have a full library, and of course every second hand bookshop is overloaded with books for so cheap, and I’m not saying stop buying second hand books. But in my effort to reduce my carbon footprint and also maintain an minimalist space, it made sense for me to sell or donate my books and just get a library card. I’m currently reading Weather by Jenny Offhill and it’s enthralling

#9 Takeout

This one was tough to give up because living in new york you can have any kind of food you want and during pandemic times it’s not the best idea to be going out to restaurants. But no matter how many times I asked to exclude the extra silverware of packets of stuff, my order would always come with extra plastic things that I had no use for. So I deleted seamless from my phone, and if I want to order out from a restaurant I try to go there myself with my own containers, or just ask ahead of time if it’s possible to package the order in a cardboard box or some plastic free alternative 

#10 Drugstore meds

I’ll preface this once by saying yes, I do still take vitamins, they are from ritual and the bottle is made from post consumer plastic. But otherwise I don’t buy things like cough syrup or sleep aids or other non-prescription drugstore products. I would love to explore more natural remedies and supplements, like teas or tinctures. Now I definitely don’t mean sacrifice your health in order to avoid waste, if your doctor says you need something or you have pain to manage, by all means take care of yourself and avoid illness. I do still take a prescription and it creates trash, but I just try to avoid immediately reaching for a drugstore medicine when I feel a cold coming on, and look for other more natural, low waste remedies

And that’s the list! Thank you for watching, I hope this was helpful, take care of yourself and the earth. See ya later:)