Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast - How to have LESS, but BETTER stuff with Sustainable Minimalists | Clutterbug Podcast # 150

Episode Date: November 21, 2022

Today I chat with Stephanie from Sustainable Minimalists about small things we can do to have less, but BETTER stuff. We talk about decluttering, being eco-friendly and Stephanies shares her tips for the BEST products for sustainable minimalism.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we're going to talk about having less, doing less, wanting less, all of the things that go with a more simple lifestyle. Hey, Clutterbugs, welcome back to the Clutterbug podcast. I'm so excited today. We have another guest on the show. We have Stephanie from The Sustainable Minimalist. She is a podcast of her own, which is really awesome. I definitely want you to check that out. She's also the author of the book, Sustainable Minimalist.

minimalism. She's an avid runner. I love a fiction. She lives just outside of Boston with her two daughters, a yellow lab retriever. 10. Wait a minute. Am I reading this right, Stephanie? 10,000 bees? Yes, we're a beekeeping household. And a husband who loves to compost almost as much as she does. Hello, welcome. Cass, thank you so much for having me. This is a real pleasure. Thank you. Do you have the whole bee suit? Like I just want to talk more about the bees for a second. My husband has the hat with the mesh on the face. And I love it making fun of him every time he wears it.

That is so cute. So I'm assuming you harvest your own honey. We do. This year we harvested twice. We have entire closets filled with honey. So that's great because my kids love honey. but it takes up a lot of space. The minimalist in me has a lot to say about the honey.

Yeah. So are you, like I have a lot of friends who are really into minimalism and the sustainable lifestyle. And a lot of them have like chickens and goats. I don't know. Do you, are you there? Are you part of the small farm? They're not. We are not there.

I did have a moment at the start of COVID where I thought, my gosh, we need to get eight chickens immediately. But my husband rained me in. I am not at a point in my life where I think I can take care of another living thing personally. The two kids are keeping me quite busy. So the eight chickens went to the back burner for now. I love that. I don't know why. I also during COVID was like, well, we must have chickens. I don't even eat eggs, but I felt immense pressure to have backyard chickens. I don't know where this is coming from. And my husband said the same thing. He's like, Cass, sometimes we forget to feed the dog and he can bark. Like, how are we going to have these other living creatures to take care of? And it is so

true because I am at a place in my life too where I do feel overwhelmed more often than I don't. Like, I feel full. And I'm craving simplicity. I want love. less, not more in my life. And I think you have such a beautiful message because this, I mean, you definitely are all about being environmentally conscientious, but a large part of your message is just simplifying your life. So I'm curious, how did you get started? Have you always been a minimalist? Have you always been really into, you know, just not using plastic and making better choices for the earth? The short answer is no. Up until I became a mom, I was just your average 30 something. I consumed what I wanted. I didn't think so much about the planet. I didn't think so

much about minimalism. I had a job and I spent my money wherever I wanted to. I was just your normal average person. But things changed quite quickly when I had my first daughter. That was eight years ago now. Oh my goodness. I'm getting so old. But my husband and I and our pets, we were living in a fairly small apartment, 850 square feet. And then when the baby came, the baby came with all the stuff and, you know, the gifts and the dresses and the gear and the toys and all the things. And we very slowly were squeezed out of our apartment. There's really no other way to say it. The stuff really took over. And so I didn't have much free time. I was a new mom, but my free time was, what free time I had was spent organizing, putting away, finding places for cleaning, all the new

stuff. And so I, you know, thought to myself, let's be smart about lists. Let's pare down. Let's declutter. And so I decluttered my baby stuff because that's way easier than decluttering your own stuff, right? Yeah, the baby can't argue yet. So I decluttered all the toys she wasn't playing with, all the clothes that were so lovingly given to her that she didn't wear, because let's be real, babies wear zip up onesies. Zip up onesies. If you don't have a zipper, stop it.

Who's doing buttons? No, and we're certainly not doing frilly dresses. So I just had to come to Jesus moment where I was literally, quite literally. looming over this pile of stuff that I spent my money on, my family and friends spent their money on that we didn't need, didn't use, didn't love, and was just eating away at my mental health and my free time. And that was a moment for me where I realized that the answer lied in simplicity, in having less. And very soon after that moment of clarity, that come to Jesus moment, I had a second one, was, where is all this stuff going to go? Like, non-renewable resources were taken from the earth

to create these dresses, to create these plastic toys that we didn't even use, that did not improve the quality of our lives. And so that started me down a journey towards what I call sustainable minimalism, which is minimalism, but with an eco-friendly slant. So it's not tidying necessarily to have the perfectly looking house, it's choosing to live with less and desire less because when we do so, we're doing our part to create a planet that our children can live on. I love, you're a better human than I am, okay? You're a better person than I am because I need you to be honest here. This takes work. This takes effort because I know for myself, I'm rinsing out the recycling and I'm like I just want to chuck this in the trash I don't want to have to rinse and

sort and do all of this but you're taking it a step further but tell me are there shortcuts because I want to be this person who is making better choices but I'm also very also conscientious of my time and I only have so many hours in the day and sometimes I forget to remember to be good to the earth is that awful I'm going to admit it I first forget to remember. I need a new toothbrush. I'm grabbing the plastic one. I'm not thinking, I should get the one made of bamboo. It just isn't coming into my mind. Well, I want to say first, cast, like go you for rinsing out your recyclables. Most people don't. They just think that their dirty shampoo bottle is going to magically be recycled. And it's not. It's not. Spoiler alert,

anybody listening. You do have to wash out your recyclables. But I would say that you're, you know, people don't think about these things because let's be real. Life is hectic and crazy and time is of the essence for all of us. I will say, though, that for me, it's started by starting slow. So tackling the lowest hanging fruit first, the easiest things and getting really darn good at those easy, easy things. The low hanging fruit is what I like to call them. And then once you get good at them and they are incorporated into your daily life, those habits don't feel like extra work. They're just parts of you, parts of your day. A great example here would be like hanging up the laundry instead of putting it in the dryer, let's say. Takes an extra five minutes,

but it's profoundly eco-friendly and you're going to be experiencing some benefits too. Like you're going to pay less on your electricity bill. That might keep you going. That might be a motivator. Your clothes are going to last longer. They're going to look better. They're not going to break down as fast. So there's benefits to being eco-friendly beyond the pie in the sky, saving the planet message, if that makes sense. It does. I'm never going to hang dry my clothes, though, Stephanie. That's, I'm stop. No, that's a big one for me. How about, here is something we gave up about a year and a half ago, we just no longer buy plastic water bottles. And I see people now when we go to the store, they're like loading up their cart with all these plastic water bottles.

And I'm just like, oh, that seemed at the time like such a normal thing to do to buy cases of water. And now that I don't, I can't imagine ever doing that again. We just use our reusable water bottles. And they keep them colder and it's so much better and we're saving so much money. And a lot of people listening are like, yes, I'm totally. going to hang my clothes. But for me, I feel like I wonder if it's going to start at the store, making better decisions about what I bring into my home in the first place. When you are shopping, do you find it easy to find eco-friendly products or alternatives? And where are you looking for these things? And what are some examples of things maybe that we can look at buying? Yeah. So that's an awesome question. And I think what you're hitting at there is the conscious consumer.

piece to minimalism that I really feel like is lost in many of the conventional conversations. I want to talk about that, but I just want to go back to your water bottle suggestion first, or your water bottle lifestyle change, I guess it would be a better way of putting it. The water bottle change that you made is actually exactly what I would consider an incremental change. Like you were used to buying the packages of water bottles, something, switched for you. And now you can't, you wouldn't imagine going back to the, to what you used to do. And so I think applying that like little change, making lots of little changes like that one, adds up to profound impact. And so going back to, I'm like going in so many tangents,

but back to conscious consumption, I think you're right. I think a lot of impactful changes happen when we take out our wallet, when we decide what we're going to spend our money on. But that said, there is so much confusion out there as to what's really eco-friendly. Is that bamboo toothbrush actually eco-friendly, or is it just greenwashing? Is it charging two extra dollars because it says eco-friendly and eco-friendly customers are used to paying a little bit more money? And so there's a lot to be said about that. And we can have a whole conversation about making better choices when we go to buy.

but in general it is a mind field out there and digging through what's actually a better product, what's actually sustainable versus what's just being greenwashed is, can be a full-time job. Yes. It's a full-time job for me. Let's put it like that. So tell me. So on your podcast, are you helping people know the difference? I've never heard of this concept of greenwashing, but it's true.

I mean, our bamboo toothbrush is just greenwashing is bamboo. really not a more sustainable thing? Well, yeah, so on my podcast, the sustainable minimalist, we talked through conscious consumption just yesterday, actually, I released an episode on buying a better laundry detergent. And I know your listeners are probably thinking to themselves, oh gosh, I don't want to listen to a podcast all about laundry detergent. But who knew there was so much to think about when, you know, you're buying this ho-hum product that we all purchase? I mean, I'm not a person who's going to make their own laundry detergent. I'm just not that person. I'm a little crazy, but not that crazy. So just, you know, working through all the different angles,

the human health angles, the environmental angles, the clothes cleanliness angles, that's something we do on the podcast because let's talk about the bamboo toothbrush for a minute. We all assume bamboo is better than plastic. And in some regards it is, sure. surely, but in other regards, it's not. Without going down the rabbit hole, you know, lands are cleared. Forests are cut down to make bamboo because consumers want bamboo. Consumers think bamboo is better than plastic. But cutting down standing forest to plant bamboo, it would not be my thought of what's sustainable. Stop it. This is where I just want to say, I want to pretend that none of this is happening and just be oblivious because it's yeah it really does and I I guess I'm hearing you are doing the work

for us so you are kind of doing the research and figuring out the products that really are worth it and which ones aren't and which ones to buy because we don't have time to do this ourselves as the average consumer so I thank you so thank you for that because it is really overwhelming and I went through a period of time where I was really, I didn't want to use, I clean a lot. I love testing different cleaners. And I was like, I don't want to use cleaners with chemicals. I was getting a lot of hate online. I'm like, this one, spray everything with frieze and, oh, I love this, you know, fantastic with bleach. And people are like, the chemicals. What about your children and pets? And I honestly had never thought of that before. So I started looking for really great all natural cleaners that

worked the same. And it was hard. Like you talk about greenwashing. A lot of these things, the products either sucked or they weren't really more environmentally friendly at all. They're still in plastic bottles that were chucking out when we're done with them. And yeah, I found it really difficult to find this like elusive, perfect cleaning products that were also good for the environment and were also non-toxic. So I assume this is like your day. You're just like looking and hunting for products. Well, I mean, you mentioned like I'm doing the work for other people. And I would say that's accurate.

And for me, it doesn't feel like work. It feels like a passion as I'm sure, you know, in your capacity, it feels more like a passion instead of a job. But that's right. I think what you're speaking to there is the importance of like honing in on your core values. Like for some of my listeners, the non-toxic aspect is of utmost importance. It's more important than being eco-friendly. The two values do, of course, go hand in hand. But they do not want their kids, their pets, their chickens to be around something that could potentially affect their health. And so that said, of course, you know, when we're standing in the supermarket, when we're standing in the supermarket, when we're standing in. the pharmacy or Costco, we're not, we just don't have the skills most of us to make the better choice. And so yeah, I guess that is where I come in and I'm happy to be in that capacity,

to work in that capacity. I'd like to thank Ora Frames for sponsoring today's podcast. I am obsessed with these digital frames. I actually picked up one for my mom, my stepmom, and my mother-in-law, and they're so beautiful, so easy to use. I got one for myself. to. Here's why I love them. Preload them with all the photos from your phone instantly. You can use the app, but not only can I give the gift of gorgeous photos now, but anytime I want, I can log into the app and I can upload new photos and videos, not only to my own frame, but to my in-laws, to my mom, to my stepmom's frame anywhere in the world. What an amazing, meaningful holiday gift that keeps on giving right now. For all my listeners, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you can save $50 off

ORA's best-selling CarverMatt Frame. Just go to ORAFramed.com forward slash clutterbugs. That's A-U-R-A-Frams.com forward slash clutterbugs. These are the lowest prices ever, so get yours now before they sell out. Terms and conditions apply. I think something we can all agree on that's simple though is having less, wanting less, and buying less. That for me, I mean, I'm not a minimalist at all. I have a lot of stuff. But I've decluttered so much. And every time I get rid of not the daily declotters that I do throughout the day, but the big clear out of stuff, I see a dramatic and instant impact in how my life is easier and how I have more free time. I feel more relaxed. I'm like, wow, I feel like I've gained an extra hour in my day, just getting things

out of my house. Like you talked about in the beginning, everything we own is something we have to clean and organize and pick up and tidy. And so having less has been really dramatic for me and improve my life in so many ways that I'm just like shouting it from the rooftops. But I still consume too much. I still, I'm purchasing on the other end, bringing things into the home. And I feel like you have a real handle on this. You are truly living the minimalist lifestyle. You have things, but I think you're really conscious when it comes to purchasing things. Tell me your secret.

Well, let me first say I'm not perfect. I still buy stuff. Sometimes I buy things I don't need. But I do try and follow the 80-20 rule. So 80% of the time I'm rocking it. 20% of the time I might make mistakes. I would say I don't have a secret so much as I have had a shift in the way that I see, a fundamental shift in the way that I look at stuff.

I used to look at stuff as, or I used to look at shopping as a boredom buster. I used to look at a thing, a shirt, a new, you know, a pair of shoes as a status enhancer perhaps. And now I just look at it as stuff. I really have come to an understanding that the stuff that's in my external world has very little to do, has very little impact, a very little positive impact on my inner self and what's truly important to me. And so I think that's really come with like getting older and understanding that keeping up with the Joneses, in practice isn't all that glamorous. I'm spending money. I'm cluttering my house. I'm adding to my mental load. And so again, not so much a secret is just more of a fundamental shift in the way

I view possessions. I love that. I also have, I feel like I've had this fundamental shift. I forget to remember if that makes sense. Like I'm at the store and I'm like, oh, look at this pretty. It's candles or throw pillows or, oh, look at this shirt. It's so beautiful. And I'm so caught up in the, oh, I deserve this treat that I'm not thinking about all of the things I know. Like, where are you going to put this? You already have so much. And you're just going to be getting rid of something to make room for this. And is it really worth it? And so I actually printed off something and taped it to my credit card, which says, stop. Do you need this? Where will you put this? Would you rather have the money? And that's because my husband says to me

all the time, he's like, would you rather this or would you rather the $30? And I'm like, oh, I'd kind of rather $30. Right. But I don't, I don't, I have to train my brain. It's a mindset shift that I'm still working on, if I'm being honest. I feel like you could really help me by giving me the knowledge. So when I'm at the store and I am making these impulsive purchases, I have the knowledge backed behind me to be like, no, instead of this, I should probably choose this.

So tell us the laundry detergent. What is the best one? Which one should we buy? Okay. I definitely want to talk about laundry detergent, but just going back to your point about being an impulsive person. I'm also an impulsive person. I'm probably the most impulsive person you've ever met. I will say, though, like at the store, what helps me is just remembering.

And I wish that this was my saying. I wish I came up with this. I don't know who came up with it, but it's just a little voice in my head. And it says, as I'm holding that candle or I'm holding those new like autumn boots or whatever it is, today's it item is tomorrow's clutter. And that is so true, isn't it? Today's it item is tomorrow's clutter. And clutter takes way more than it gives. I mean, buying something for me at least is amenable in the short term, right? I get a boost of dust. I get a bit of enjoyment, but time goes by and that it item is replaced by another it item. And then we're on a hamster wheel of buying and decluttering. So, okay, back to the laundry detergent. If you want, do you just want like a name brand, quick and easy? Give it to me. Name brand, quick and easy.

I'm at the store. Which one do I pick? I recommend Molly Suds. I've never heard of this. Do I have to go to a special store? You can go to Amazon or you can go to, I know Whole Food sells it. I would check your average run-of-the-mill grocery store. See if they have it.

It's a pretty popular brand. Okay. Molly Suds, that's it. It's one small step. I can do that. I can buy a different laundry detergent. This feels doable for me. The other thing, like, so I used to have a lot of plastic food storage containers.

and I noticed like, I'm like, why are they all stained with spaghetti? And I'm like, this can't be good. Am I eating like tiny bits of plastic ever to my heat up leftovers in these plastic containers? Hold up. Are my children? So I just got rid of them and I switched to glass. And holy boncadonks, my life, it's like a small thing.

I can heat them up in the oven if I want to and the microwave, but also they stack better. I don't have the avalanche of lids anymore. and people say, well, what about your kids' snacks? We just have reusable little Ziploc bags that we use for the kids' snacks at school. And it's glorious. Can I just say that? Switching to Glass has been, it's like the best thing I ever did when it comes to food storage. And so it's a small thing that I feel like there needs to be a list of like all these little things.

Do you have a list of little things you can do to just dip your toe in this sustainable water. So you set me up so perfectly cast. I don't want to like add like promote my book too much. But my book has that list. Like what you start. Stop. And then what you go to and what you finish with. So I hear you. But I just want to like pat you on the back because you know, you're buying less water in plastic bottles. You've invested in glass. And so no more plastic Tupperware. Like those are two little habits that stacked upon one another are making a good size change. And that's what I advocate for, incrementalism. And I didn't do it because I thought it would be better for the environment. I'm being honest. I did it because I'm like, wait a minute. I'm just going to try this other thing.

And it was so much superior. It was just so much better. And you get the added benefit of like, oh, this is better for the environment too. And oh, this is a lot less clutter. This is just a lot less of everything and it's just a superior product in every way. So I'm going to say no to the bamboo toothbrush because that's not good. But I'm going to start, I'm going to get your book, Stephanie, and really look at options where I can, I can write from the, right from the bat, I can make that decision at the store, right? As a consumer that's going to lead to these just more sustainable, but just better products, longer lasting, and I can feel good about it at the same time. Yeah, less but better.

Less but better. Do you take the same approach with your clothing? Are you like Steve Jobs? You have like, you know, the same outfit you wear over and over and over again? So yes, and it's usually a sweatshirt and yoga pants because I am not fashionable. For people who are, like I think you might be, there are options for you. you as well. I thought always that like the eco-friendly clothes would be the moo-moo or, you know, just not fashionable. But that's not true. Sustainable fashion has really come a long way.

Okay. I am not fashionable. I try. I buy a bunch of stuff. And then I come home and I'm like, why does this blazer have shoulder pads? And I look like Chris Farley trying to get into like this little jacket. What have I done? And then I declutter it and it's sadness all over. over again. So I mean, I buy clothing for the promise, not the product, the promise that I'm going to look like I have my life together and I'm going to feel good about myself and these jeans are going to make my butt look fab. And I feel like that's, it's very much a normal thing that we're all doing. We're not buying products. We're buying the promises that the products are telling us. We're going to eat healthier if we buy this and we're going to look better if we buy this and people are

going to think we have our life together if we buy this. And that's been a shift that has come with age. I'm getting older now. And I'm like, wow, I keep decluttering all of this same crap. Like it's this, why am I buying it in the first place? Did you, after you had your first big declutter after you had children, are you still doing regular decluttering? Or do you kind of have the consumerism under control? Kids have a lot of stuff. and they just sneak stuff into the house, don't they? It's like, where did you get that new plastic thing or where did you find that rock and why is it in my house? And so I would say we do do regular declotters despite, you know, what I want to do. I want to come to a place where we have the right

amount of stuff and we don't need to get rid of anything or pass anything on. But that's just not where I'm at in my season of life with two young daughters. So we do declutter, especially with the holidays coming up in efforts of not being overrun with stuff. We're going to do a holiday declutter. We're going to donate some books. We're going to give away some toys to some younger children. And we're going to try to keep stuff out of the landfill as much as possible without, you know, going nuts. My kids have their own money now and jobs. they're buying clothes here and there. We have this constant stream of things coming into our home. We have to constantly be getting things out. Why don't they teach this life skill when we're younger?

Like, I've met grown, like women in their 60s who are like, I never knew decluttering was part of housekeeping. I never put that together. So we know we should vacuum our home and dust our home and do our dishes and do laundry, but we also need to regularly declutter and get things out of our house, but this isn't something that's normalized. Why? Well, I would say that it's that the problem is at the societal level without getting too hoo-ha about it. We live in a consumerist society where we're told that the answer to all our woes, to all our problems, to all our negative emotions, the answer, the solution lies in buying a new thing. And so we buy the things. We're keeping the capitalism wheel running. Nobody cares particularly what we do with the thing once the transaction, the financial

transaction has been made. And so I think that's part of the reason why. We're we're taught from the first moment we're born to buy. And the hot sauce, the benefit for our society lies in the purchasing, not in what comes after we purchase it. And it's hard to not purchase. I mean, we can definitely drastically reduce what we're consuming. But we are bombarded every day. I mean, I go on social media and all I see are people who seem to be living a cooler life than me. They have nicer things. They're going on better vacations. They have fun parties. And we're in commercials and advertisements, it's all the same. No matter where we look, we're sort of shown a fantasy that isn't reality. And we're told we could have this beautiful, amazing fantasy life too. If only we bought this stuff.

Which is really quite terrible. And it's not true. It's all a big, It's all a big farce. But I can see, and I mean, I'm guilty of it too. How can we not be tricked sometimes to fall into that? So it starts, I guess, with mindset and repeating this and doing the work and buying less. And if we are purchasing things, trying to make more of a conscientious decision before we take out the card, right, and make sure that we're getting something that's going to last. that's going to actually like, yeah, not have to be decluttered in six months. But we also on the other end have to realize that decluttering is part of our weekly, monthly, just home life routines.

It really is. It really is. And I do think that, you know, you mentioned why is this not taught in school? For those of us with children, we can, you know, halt that cycle by teaching. our children the importance of decluttering. It's hard. It's going to be hard work. My kids don't want to get rid of anything. They don't want to get rid of that leaf that they've had in their drawer for six months. But I do think as parents, the decluttering process can be important but difficult teaching moment. The way I do it with my children that works with clients, but my own children, too,

is I go through all of their things and I fill a big box or a bag with things I'm pretty sure they never play with. And then I allow them to go through and pick out anything they would like to keep. So it's more like you can you pick what you want to keep as opposed to picking what you want to let go of and they only ever pick like two or three things. But then they're happy to let the rest of the box go because it doesn't feel like taking away. It feels like, yeah, I've been part of this decision and I'm making a healthy decision with you. The worst thing to do is declutter when your children are not home and just whisk all their things away. Do you, you have littler daughters than I do. Do you find like they're warming up to the idea of letting go? You mentioned there, you know,

the worst thing is decluttering when they're not there. And I would say that's a absolutely right because you're taking away that learning opportunity, right, when you just do it for them. I will say that both my children have deep attachments to their things. However, I want them to realize that, you know, what's most important in life? Is it the physical things or is it the relationships? Is it the experiences? And so decluttering is one of those tools that I have in my back pocket to help teach them that. And so a good example here would be my five-year-old. She's in kindergarten. She brings home like six school papers a day. And she wants to keep them all. So six papers a day for, I don't know, let's just say 60 days of school. We're really getting

up there, 360 papers. And my way of tackling this is to help her learn about prioritizing them. So like we could save them all, but when we save them all, we're distracted. We're not looking at the best one. So which in these, let's just say, 360 papers are you most proud of? Which are the best of the best? And that is, that's difficult for a five-year-old. But I have faith in her that we're going to get there. By June, we're going to pare down the papers.

That's awesome. This was so fun. I want you to leave us with one more product that you recommend that we buy instead of a traditional product. I know I'm putting you on the spot, but I have Molly Sudd circled here and I'm going to definitely go to Amazon and switch out my laundry detergent. But is there something else that you recommend? Give me a category. Where would you like to go with us? So I'm going to ask you. So I've recently switched my cleaning products all. to Blue Land. Is this a good or not a good? I don't know. I'm reusing the bottles, so I no longer buy bottles. It's a little tab that I drop in, and the package is recyclable paper. There's really

very little trash. And because I go through cleaning supplies so often, I'm actually saving money, too, because the replacements are only $2. And so for me, Blue Land has been a recent thing. Please don't break my heart and tell me this isn't a good product. Okay, so full disclosure, I do not know much about Blue Land. I don't know about the formulations. I don't know what chemicals are inside their formulations. I will say the reusable bottles idea is good. However, only if you're going to stick with Blue Land for the long haul, because otherwise, if you don't, those plastic bottles will likely just become trash. And I'd also love to know if Blue Land's bottles are made of recycled plastic, like 85 to 100% recycled plastic, or if they're using virgin

plastic to create. Because as your listeners likely know, we have plenty of plastic already on the planet. So recycling that plastic into these bottles would be much more sustainable than taking fossil fuels to make new plastic. So those are my thoughts. I'm sorry, I can't give you a great answer. I will say that I know a lot of people in my personal life who do use Blue Land, swear by it. I do love it. So now I'm going to look into it. And if it turns out that they're using Virgin plastic or if there's chemicals in the tabs, I'm going to pretend I didn't read that because I don't want to switch. Okay, Stephanie, I don't want to switch. I feel good about my Blue Land. It's all, it's not as great as my Bono me, you know, my spray cleaner, but it's pretty darn close. So I feel good

about that. But tell us, do you have like a favorite product that you buy? Whether it's, I don't know, like a food product you buy. I'm trying to buy like less pre-packaged snacks for my kids because that's crazy pants with cleaning products. Something that's consumable that we use over and over again, like laundry soap. Is there something that you've sort of made a switch to that other people can be inspired to as well? I'm not giving you a category because I don't know of exactly what I'm talking about, but maybe you understand what I'm talking about. I do. I think when it comes to food, like I know we started the conversation off with eggs. So let's go back there. You don't eat eggs. But when it comes to eggs, the most eco-friendly action you can take is to buy the best you can

afford. Usually that is a free range egg. It is, it doesn't matter if they're vegetarian fed or not. But when it comes to eggs, first of all, I did an episode on eggs. You can go back and listen to it as for the why. But when it comes to eggs, if you're buying eggs, most of us are every week, by the best eggs your budget allows. And where I live, that means spending $8 an egg, excuse me, $8 on it. Okay, I could do that. I could do that. Right. Because it's less than, it's what, like 60 cents an egg. So if we're spending $400 on handbags and not thinking about it, we can spend 60 cents on an egg. Well, I would never spend $400 on a handbag. But yes, I understand what you're saying, because I did watch a documentary on chickens and eggs and how they're, and it was quite horrible.

And I just pretended I never watched that again. But it's a small thing you can do buying free range eggs that is kind of, yeah, standing up to those horrible. egg producers who are mistreating chickens and and putting things that probably aren't great into the chicken, which then you're putting into your body in the way of eggs. So thank you. I appreciate that. Free range eggs. Got it. Or pasture raised even better. Or pasture raise. Okay. I feel like I could do this. All right. Well, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm feeling inspired to make little changes that are putting me in a direction where I and feel proud and teaching my kids that, you know, we need to care about the earth. So tell everybody

where they can find you. My podcast is the best way. It's called Sustainable Minimalists. It is wherever you find podcasts. And I'm on social media at Sustainable Minimalists as well. And Cass, I just want to thank you so much. This was so fun. It was. Thank you so much for being on. I appreciate it. And thank you guys for listening. I'll see you next time. Thank you.