The pure chaos and “oddness” that comes with a true sustainable aesthetic is something I think is a perk. None of my bowls match, I have more mis-matched mugs than actual cups, and my towels come in so many colors and give my bathroom a new personality every week. Learning to appreciate the “ugly” is such a beautiful part of learning to take care of yourself and your world.

I have a funny one. At least I find it funny. I put my dogs hair out for birds when they are making nests. They always take it and so my dogs not only keeps me warm at night but also baby birds:)

I grew up with my mum always tearing old towels, bath mats, tea towels, etc. Into cleaning rags. Seems like a no brainer, sometimes it's hard to remember that a lot is learnt behaviour and people haven't ever been exposed to alternatives

We commissioned my nephew to make 7 memory bears out of my husbands dads shirts. He died three years ago of dementia, so it’s lovely having a shirt made into something that will be in our living room for years to come x

Mineral oil ONLY on wooden cutting boards. Olive oil and other cooking oils will go rancid. Mineral oil is also a very good treatment for wooden utensils. A scrub, a light sanding, a wash and oiling will revive wooden boards.

I had a cough for over a month and had a whole lot of cough syrup. As I was about to throw my stack of empty bottles in the recycling, I noticed that they are the aesthetic little brown glass bottles that it’s very trendy to buy/diy - some boiling water, dish soap and hard scrubbing later, their labels have been removed and I have a set of cute vases that I’m going to put local dried flowers in to remind myself that good things can come out of a bad situation, even a crappy cough 🫢💫

I cut old socks that I can't wear anymore into ribbons and use them to tie plants like tomatos or cucumbers to their trellises in my garden. They don't hurt the plant, can handle outside conditions quite well, are non-toxic and I can often reuse them. 🙂

To add onto the produce in the fridge door tip: I also have ADHD and have found that removing the drawer altogether has helped a lot. I.e. now it’s just an extra exposed shelf instead of a drawer where things disappear. So my veggies are always visible

One thing I do to save water from showering (in moments when it's not super cold 😅) is turning off the water while applying soap and shampoo, and then turning it on again when rinsing it off. Saves me about half of the water for sure!

I wash my shower liner. It's made out of plastic, so every few months I take it outside, scrub it down with some white vinegar, and hose it off, and keep using it. With the way my shower is set up I need to use a liner of some kind, but they don't need to be replaced every 3 months (!!!!!!!!) the way the package says

A tip with clothes is to make them into dryer balls, like an old t shirt, twist it and tie a knot and then use a pair of old socks around it. Now you have perfect dryer balls for when you're washing blankets and pillows

I always safe the elastic bands from herbs, spring onions, whatever ... and I either use them or put them in a wee bag and hand them over to our Postie (Postman) here in Edinburgh and they can use it to gather envelopes together. And hair ties I tend to collect and pick up from the street, because people with long hair loose them all the time. I then simply wash them with soap and hot water and use them myself. I have not bought hair ties for many years. I love loose tea and browsing around tea shops, no packaged tea at home.

I didn’t know to oil my wooden cutting board and I tried it out and it looks brand new! Thanks for all the tips!

My grandmother grew up during the depression (2930’s) here in the USA. She used to say “Use it up, where it out, make it do, or do without”. It was the phrase of the times. She hand washed all her laundry by hand, even sheets. Hokey sheets were made into pillow cases, aprons, menstrual pads, mops & rags. It was a crime to toss even the smallest but if foo, she too kept vegetable scraps for broth, made “ perogi’s ” out of left overs, baked in empty cans. Clothes were always kept in repair and often were reworked for her sisters or made into other garments for me, her granddaughter. I use shredded paper in my vegetable garden and my worm farm. As well as in my art and to make new paper. It’s easier than you think.

The opened cans in your fridge freaked me out as I've always been taught you have to transfer the leftover contents to another container before refrigerating, but I just checked and apparently it's fine to leave them in the can. Although the metals inside do start to leech into the food when they're exposed to oxygen, the amount isn't dangerous and only affects the taste. Personally I won't start storing open cans in the fridge (just in case), but just wanted to share since I learned something new and maybe there's someone else who freaked out Great list! I'd add that remember to also oil your wooden spoons, spatulas etc. every now and then. The shower bucket thing was new to me, my current apartment doesn't have a shower (I use the shared sauna space in the cellar) so it'll be a bit of a hassle, but something I'll start doing for sure :)

I put the rubber bands that I get around my asparagus on my cutting boards. Just stretch one band over each edge of the board and it keeps it from moving around while I am cutting on them.

Upcycling clothes is such a good thing? My mom had this long sleeved shirt she loved, but the edges of the sleeves were getting frayed. We took it to a local dry cleaner/tailor, and they turned it into a short sleeved shirt. When those short sleeves started to look a little tattered, it became a sleeveless top. She wore that until it actually got worn and frayed in front (becoming unwearable), then she cut it into dust cloths!

Love the shower bucket idea!!! Also, would like to see an upcycling project involving cords, kinda like what you did with paper pulp! Bye Gittemary!

I live in CA, USA and we have done the shower bucket for years! We actually have a program in our area once a year where you can put, almost, anything out on the curb and the city will pick it up. So, growing up my dad would often take us around to find things we could upcycled. I taught my husband about this and now he looks forward to it every year. We have found garbage bins we use to sort out recycling, converted some into water storage for the garden, 90% of my garden containers we have found this way, and so much more.

I like that you have mentioned during party hacks. I think attitudes have changed, we have family parties in the summer and one of my fathers friends asked where the recycling bin was specifically. :)

I collect a number of plastic/paper egg trays or any grooved frozen food tray and use them as a puzzle feeder for my cat. He enjoys trying to get his snacks out from the grooves. Another thing I do, especially during and right after the pandemic, is to cut the elastics of medical masks, tie the loose ends into a knot, and use them as rubber bands. Not as elastic, but they do the job.

A few years ago I gathered all the unused cords, cables and chargers that were lying around and placed an ad online about them. The guy I finally gave them to (for free) seemed absolutely thrilled. One woman's garbage is another man's treasure 😀😀😀.

In winter, after cooking, leave the oven open after turning it off to help warm up the house. I usually use the handle of a wooden spoon to make a gap (that way the door of the oven doesn't become a hazard just laying open).

If you prefer a tea bag, have a look at BrewTea. Their bags are all fully compostable, no plastic, even the bag they come in to keep them fresh once packaged isn't actually plastic. I can't remember exactly what it is, but yeah no plastic whatsoever. And they use their loose leaf tea for the bags, so it's whole rolled leaves rather than the dusty grit some tea bags have. I've been using them for about .. 4 years now? Lovely tea and eco friendly.

In the UK postman drop large elastic bands on the pavement! I pick them up and use them. They are terrible for wildlife and are really useful. Also, if you use products that come in paper sacks, flour for instance, use those bags to collect feelings for the compost or work bin. You can put the whole package in.

The problem i see with a lot of upcycling hacks is that sometimes, you just don't need more cleaning rags (for example). Still a good idea, but if you just have enough stuff and you can't really see how upcycling an object or giving it to someone else is actually useful, i think it's okay to just throw it away. No criticism, just to take some pressure off overthinkers and perfectionists like me :)

Zippy ties on products too (wire coated strips)

Most of the more affordable breads are packaged in plastic bags here in Finland, so we buy that, but I like to keep all the plastic bags and have found many ways of using them, here's few: - as freezer bags (we also buy "old breads" that are on sale and freeze them, and take them out few pieces at a time when needed) - instead of cling film/plastic wrap (if you need to cover something airtight, making herb butter etc.) - when growing plants from seed, I cut the plastic bags open, poke holes in them and cover the pots with them to make "greenhouse environment". I also use same free rubber bands that Gittemary mentioned to secure the plastic in place 😁 - doggy poop bags - carrying homemade snacks when travelling - and lastly as bin bags We are fortunate to have plastic recycling here, so these bags can also be recycled, but I like to use them instead of buying the "right" things for these uses ❇

my hack is that if I have ugly sustainable things l hide them in a cute thrifted basket or bag or box, no more uglies

I think this is my favourite video type... the "unaesthetic" low waste things we do! Here are some of mine... - keep a compost container in the fridge, and take it to the outdoor worm farm when it's full - keeps the odours down - keep egg shells (if you eat eggs, a friend of mine has free range chickens) in a foil tray in the fridge (they get oven baked when the oven is cooling down and crushed to grit for my compost worms... it helps their digestion. I try to be a kind worm Mum) - grate the rind off citrus before you use it and keep it in a container in the freezer for when you need zest. Also store fresh ginger in the freezer so it lasts longer. - keep old orange peels in the fridge (they will dry out, and you can do a lot with them... apparently they even make good fire starters) - keep a container for coffee grounds near the sink and take out to your worm farms or acid loving plants when it's full... I add tea leaves to it too - keep sticky tape you receive on parcels etc which is reusable stuck inside the pantry door, so you can reuse as much of it as possible in place of new tape - keep all small paper scraps (receipts etc) in a container for reuse to take notes, write shopping lists etc. When fully used, home recycle to new paper (I keep a bin of paper for recycling in the garage) - keep all rubbish it's possible to use for gift wrap (my family don't do reusable wrap, so I wrap gifts using waste rather than new paper) - store clean cling film you acquire for reuse - clean and store all take away containers, snap lock packaging, foil trays etc you acquire for reuse - reuse aluminium foil, cling film and baking paper if you already have them, to make them last as long as possible - store napkins you didn't need for reuse and eventual compost at home, rather than leaving at the restaurant - store some ointments, lotions etc in the fridge as it will extend the shelf life of items purchased in bulk or used infrequently (I purchased bulk liquid deodorant so keep mine in there, to keep the essential oils in it ok, I got gifted face creams and keep only the one in use on the bench and the rest in the fridge) - repair clothing (a couple of weeks ago, I fixed all of my knee high socks, which I love but were full of holes, by cutting the feet off and replacing with the ankle socks I don't wear...I have the funkiest socks ever now!) - rescue found items that would otherwise be tossed out and put them to use (my favourite hand towel was found matted in a gutter, my beach towel was unclaimed for ages on the side of the road 20 years ago, I have found all of my hair ties (I gifted the new ones when I realised I would find enough to never need to buy them again), I constantly find pens etc. - actually use technology until it breaks or is no longer functional (I am still totally loving and rocking my iPod shuffle I bought back in 2006, my mobile phone is about 13 years old)

House clothes. Anything that is old, misshapen, holey, or stained is moved down the rota to be worn at home. Works really well when working from home in the cold as you layer several 'pieces'. Also keeps good clothes good for longer as you wear them less and not for rough or dirty tasks.

my mom had two beautiful wooden cutting boards she had made herself but they weren't really used, so when I was moving out of my parents' house I oiled them both and took one with me and left one for my mom! now they're both in good use :)

I take for myself or sell online things in good condition that people put outside the bins. I don't understand how can they go to the landfill or why people is so lazy to not dispose them correctly. Other times I take them on my way to the thrift store or I fix them. I have also allocated a lot of my aunt's junk, most of which she has also been taking from different sources 😂😂

I use a version of the shower bucket concept, but in my sinks. I fill up old juice bottles or milk jugs with the cold water while waiting for the warm water to wash dishes or my face. Then I use it for plants, the dog, whatever.

our elderly neighbours would hang teabags on the washing line and i was so confused, but my mother said that they lived through the war, so waste not, want not !

2:16 The bucket reminds me of the Philippines when i was there we always took bucket showers we didnt have a running water shower so we boiled water and put the water into the bucket with some other water and took a shower with a cup it saves so much more water than useing a running shower

Made an a5 notebook with a pizza box , punched with a paper puncher an old shoe lace and one side blank A4 sheets, halved and punched. Sometimes printed using my home printer with journal prompts

I think it is better to use special wood oil beceause cooking oil goes bad so it is not recommended. (My friend and her hubby are wood workers and she suggested thaT I use a food safe oil you can buy. It last a long time and it is save to use on all wooden utensils) I take all of them once a year, clean them with sand paper and oil them. It does prolog their life span and it is a calming activity.

Not sure about the sustainability of walnut oil versus other oils, but walnut oil is one of the few antimicrobial ones! It's what I use for my boards. ☺️

I sadly use paper at work for to do lists etc as i just can't get along with using electronic versions but what i do is use a pencil in a recycled paper notebook and an eraser using the same page several times over. When it gets really bad or hard to see then I use a pen for the last use.Of course I use both sides of the paper and every inch for little notes and when I am done i make sure the pages /notebook go in the recycling.

My husband's medicine bottles have cotton inside of them. I ruse the cotton. I haven't purchased cotton balls in years!!

I got a whole bunch of rubber bands years and years ago and I still haven’t gone through all of them but whenever I get new rubber bands with food etc I just save them in the jar with the rest, I also reuse them so I can probably keep using them forever. I did a similar thing with a jar of paperclips and I haven’t needed new paperclips since I got them(I mostly use them as stitch markers for crocheting), i did have to purchase them since I didn’t know you could reuse them off other things but if you have a designated spot to put them they can all just go in the rubber band jar or twist tie container or whatever else you may need and you can keep a pretty good stash for a long time

I’m always at my local library for books, cd’s etc. They wrap everything in rubber bands so I save them and always find uses for them!

The shower bucket is a really good idea. I have decluttered a lot paper from school and university and i kept the ones with a blank backside and now i fold them in the middle so i have A5 paper and use them to take notes and for my calendar. I guess i will never use up my stash completely 😅

I never heard of oiling my cutting boards!! For sure implementing that!!

I do the shower bucket thing and i also use it to catch some of my shower water too. I use that to water plants or mop floors. Love the party recycling bins Towel squares for scrubbing dishes....boil or wash them daily ..so much better than sponges Old fabric : very tiny scraps to clean cat vomit, nice neat squares of t shirt fabric as "non disposable" tissues . Well laundered and ironed. I even hem some of them with brightly coloured running stitch. I use fabric to wrap gifts, as wipes for make up and after an oil massage...launder and reuse...cut some into regular squares and dump in a bag. 2.5 , 4.5 , 6.5, 8.5, 10.5 inches. Once the bag is full, join them to make a sumting sumting patchwork ...

I do the shower bucket, save old pillow covers for turning into cleaning clothes and save elastic bands. I also use dryer machine tank water for mopping the floor.

Great video as usual with plenty of ideas. Just to add on keeping old cloth to cut in smaller pieces for cleaning, it is also great to use to mend other clothes. For example, I use pieces of an old merino thin jumper to mend jeans. Goes very nicely together and avoid colds.

i use old cloths from the kitchen for toilet paper...i cut in pieces then wash when needed...i find its much easier and softer to use then traditional toilet paper...

Great ideas, Gittemary! All my friends know everyone has to recycle at my parties, and I'm training them to compost the food scraps, too! I've been saving rüber bands from produce and using scrap paper for notes on every side. Your videos are so helpful for new ideas and inspiration to incorporate them into everyday life. 😁❤️

Love the shower bucket!!! I will now be doing this!!! Thank you 🙏

Great list! One note about the oil for cutting boards. I've hears that olive oil can add a certain taste to the food being cut/served on it, so more neutral oil choices would be sunflower seed oil, canola oil, etc. (Pumpkin seed oil is apparently even "worse" for weird tastes.. :D ) But still, love the ideas + defs a good reminder to oil our cutting boards!

I have had a shower bucket for many years now, wouldn't imagine not having one ! We have also been using old clothes for rags and pre used paper for note pads. My parents always made us use every single page of our old school notebooks. We didn't call it sustainability at the time just being careful and avoiding wasting money. If using tea bags instead of loose tea I usually make a whole tea pot with just one and if you let it brew long enough it's just fine. Thanks for all your videos I enjoy watching them and get new ideas.

I use a plastic basin to wash my hair (found out it's called the mermaid method, lol, thought it's just a poor people method) and then use that water for flushing down the toilet.Rugs for cleaning is probably the most common one used worldwide and people have no idea that it's ecofriendly. Papier mache was my go to for making christmas ornaments many years ago and I always asked myself why not take it next level and make furniture? XD I'll gladly watch your video about this. All great ideas but I tend, however, to be skeptical about reusing tea bags. Since they contain plastic that means tons of microplastic particles are released into your drink after pouring hot water. edit:typo

I found socks are the Best for dusting plus you can put them on your hands and turn them inside our for washing no fallen dust mess!

7:01 same with twist-ties from bread or electronics ❤ free 99!

About 5 years ago we lived through the biggest draught that the city of Cape Town had ever had. Everyone used the shower bucket, mostly for flushing the toilet 🚽. We also got into the habit of everyone go and pee before you flush the toilet, I know that it sounds gross, but it saves a lot of water. I have a lovely collection of colour elastic bands from asparagus spears, no need to buy any ever!!! I also don't buy glass jars to store anything in, I just reuse the ones from other products that I have to buy. Sometimes I wish I had a few bigger ones, but it is not a big deal. I also reuse brown paper bags, especially for the cat litter.

oh i love it so much that find people around the world who inspire me to keep trying to be zero waste or at least more carefull. But i also found myself becoming a hoarder and taking too long to reuse some stuff. Im so sad about it! Now that im pregnant this will be more difficult to do.

I also have a shower bucket, and I also collect water from the washing machine and use the hot soapy water to mop the badroom floor or to flush the toilet with.

Shower bucket- leave the bucket in the shower while you showering and use that soapy or dirty water to flush the toilet. Save water 🫣😉

We used to ask the mailman for the rubberbands when we were kids. We got them for free. He would toss them away anyway.

Hi Gittermary, from Australia. :) I already do most of what is mentioned in this video & more. 😘😁 I don't do the paper pulp thing, though I have made paper over 20 years ago including paper bricks for burning but just got out of doing it & other eco methods, due to giving in to peer pressure etc:/ I will start putting g a bucket in the shower as this waste of water always bothers me & the oiling of boards I've never heard of but will do with my old chopping boards as I I've had 1 particular board for years & was thinking about getting rid of it as it is used for meat., although I do salt & scrub the boards from time to time . ( old method ) for parties I always have bi so or bags allocated for rubbish or recycling & tell my friends where to place them which reduces my clean up time. 😁 rubber bands is a no brainer for me as a low income earner. Why would you buy new bands when you get them all the time for free. 🤔🤪 rags are ripped up from old t-shirts etc especially good for messes made from pets accidents. There are So many other things I do to save money, The environment etc, there is ALWAYS so many ideas out there that we can be implementing around the house & garden. I also save onion bags etc, roll them i to each other & use them as a scourer for pots etc, & use old shower body scrubbers for cleaning dirty showers or laundry tub etc The list goes on. Always good to hear about or reminded of hacks or ideas to reuse & recycle. 😁😍😘

Omg, shower bucket - I've been using it for over a year now and it literally makes me feel better every time I think I've saved so much water haha 😂

6:44 mint, parsley, 🌿

the first thing ins brilliant. brb, reorganizing my fridge.

The shower idea is one I have tried. Now however I let that water go to the dog water bowl. Also a good reminder to me to wash the bowl

The elastic band is a great thing. I never buy rubber bands anymore because I pull them off of my produce. And I don’t use plastic clips for my chips/any bags because I close them with these rubber bands. 👏🏻 6:44

Beautiful and inspiring as always 💜✨

Im so excited to finally be able to have a long term housesit and can set up a fridge THAT WORKS FOR ME! this!

i love these videos sm. thank you!

Another fantastic zero waste habits video beautiful Gittemary. Love 🥰 the video and it's inspirational. Love 💞Gittemary.

I got some individual pudding cups as a care package when I was sick. I recycled the tin top covers and use the cups as dip holders when I make a veggie bowl for snacking. If it breaks, it's still recycleable. I even offered to buy water bottles for co-workers so they would stop using the plastic "free-to-employee" bottles that we get when a package of water bottles is damaged and not sellable. no takers because it was easier to just grab a bottle and go, versus me filling up at our drinking fountain. You can also sew old clothes into produce bags or bottle cozies, that I use so my glass jars I use to refill at the stores don't clang together. I love using colorful socks for this purpose.

For the paper i think its just better to put it back into the cycle rather than make random stuff... unless its a gift thatll be used 🤔 the rest of the video is great!!! (I swapped to loose tea) and my Choppington board is glass 😆 and 10+ years old. ((Reusable sanitary pads and cloths, never use a plastic bag either, )) Subscribing 😊

I put my produce on the shelves and only backups in the drawers. It drives my hubby crazy but I don't want to waste money and food.

Implementing the shower bucket ASAP! I love these ideas ❤

Great vid! BTW you look so pretty today! I think it's your new hair color+the red lip. Amazing combo!

All of my big elastic bands are dropped by postal workers on my property :-)

Tea bags are great for dishs and baths.

So many people from he post sovietic space do fabric scrabs, me inclusively

I would use the shower bucket to flush the toilet 🙃

okay but i just saw your blog and now i want to know why you write it as gittemary when its gittemarie 😭 infinite curiousity

I have a shower bucket as well!👏

Do the produce last as long on the side of the fridge?

💜💜💜💜

Australia has shower bucket because we cant use water much

hey sista totally agree plus i can put my veg into a clean used glass jar with a little water to keep them longer when i owned a car i kept a bag of rags in my car and gave them to my car mechanic who saw them as a gift

i ask everyone i buy from to post plastic free all of my vegan food and drink arrives in paper or card i shred it all and compost it all