So as you know I am a super thrifty person. I super enjoy saving money and
also I am working very hard to minimize my footprint. Now I am by no means an
extreme minimalist, or a zero waste person, but I think it's great that we
can all aspire towards that. Today I also had the opportunity to work with an
amazing app called Bunz. So I've been using this app for about 4 or 5 years
now and I first heard about it when Lauren from laurdiy was moving to LA. She
was getting rid of all of her craft supplies and she passed on a lot to me.
She told me about this app where you could swap for things. You could trade
for things that you don't want for things that you need, instead of trying
to sell it online where a lot of things don't really have monetary value anymore
but they still can have value for somebody that wants it. So ever since
then, I have been like non-stop trading. It's just a great system to keep things
out of a landfill but also finding new treasures that you would have never
found anywhere else. So let's get started with our first hack. This first hack has
been a real money saver for me. I bought these foam soap dispensers from
the home goods store because I saw all these Bath & Bodyworks bottles of foam
soap and realize this is just soap mixed with water and they charge so much for
it. I can do this myself. I buy bulk body or hand soap, mix one
part soap to five parts water and it lasts me forever. It works just as well
as concentrated soap, if not better because it's already lathered for you.
Buying natural liquid soap and using less quantity chemicals is just a
small way to reduce consumption and waste. I do the same thing with my
detergent. My parents have a huge jug of detergent we share, not that they know
that we share...which is technically stealing but yeah we kind of share. I've
had this bottle of concentrate for a year now and it's still going strong.
Reusable straws are very popular now and my favorites are the stainless steel
kind. It doesn't affect the taste of anything I drink, including water and I
even have these bubble tea sized straws for my extreme tapioca consumption. On my
trip, the beaches were completely littered with straws. Small plastics on
the beach wash into the ocean and injure animals.
I love straws I drink everything through a straw
but recycling facilities have a hard time catching small plastics through
their filters and too much of it ends up where it doesn't belong.
While you're at it, reusable cups are also a must-have. Majority of drink cups
are not recyclable because it's lined with plastic so although most cups
advertise made from recycled material, the cup itself will still end up in a
landfill. Starbucks is super friendly and will
take any sort of vessel, while some places require you to only use their
reusable cups. Just make sure to ask your favorite beverage place what they accept.
To find out more about what you can and can't recycle find your city's recycling
chart for guidance. Toronto is actually not very advanced with their recycling
program. As you can see drink cups, foil wrappers, and even many plastics are not
recyclable. What's messed up is that black plastic can't be recycled. Reason
being the optical sorter cannot distinguish between black plastic and
the black conveyer belt. What is surprising, is that styrofoam is
recyclable but there's taboo of it being unenvironmentally friendly in the past which
is why styrofoam is not as common nowadays, even though technology has
caught up to meet those needs. This chart is my Holy Grail. I go back to
it less and less as I started picking up habits with sorting my waste. Wax-coated
cloths have become my better alternative to foil and saran wrap. It actually works
better at clinging and preserving than plastic wrap. Now this can be a pricey
item, which is why I bunz for it. I ended up using BTZ I collected to trade for
the food wrap which means I actually acquired this for free. Now that's a
smart deal. When you're done with your food, and this is a trick that my dad
taught me, you compost it! Not just compost though
as I used to keep it under my sink and it still gets smelly and I don't have a
counter space for a table composter, those are also very pricey, but freeze
your compost. I got a little bin from Ikea especially in the summer this
completely eradicate our fruit fly and smell issue. This is a cheat, but I wanted
to shout out my recent video about repurposing old t-shirts. I made reusable
cotton rounds out of an old tee that I throw in the wash
to use, and I made a reusable grocery bag that doubles as a cute tote. This is to
round up the number because 13 hacks don't sound as good as 15. Dryer sheets
are single-use items that quickly fill up garbages. You can reuse them in a
variety of ways, but for fluffy clothes an alternative is dryer balls. I have
these cute hedgehog ones that lost their noses and because they can be a bit
pricey I'm going to trade for wool balls and essential oils on Bunz as an upgrade.
In my laundry cupboard I also have a huge stash of rags. I have old torn
bedsheets, and ripped clothing like the t-shirt DIY scraps to use as a paper
towel alternative. The key is to think about single-use throwaway products and
finding alternatives for them, like Swiffer sheets and duster refills. It's
really not any less convenient to have a washable version of disposable products.
For the home as well we rarely turn on the heat or a/c. You can call us cheap
because we are, but this doubles as emission saving for the environment.
There are duvets for every type of climate and sleeper. We'll throw a fleece
blanket underneath for colder weather and have a cooling comforter for the
summer, made of breathable material like wool, cotton or even some that are mesh
down alternatives that wick moisture. I went to that drapery section at the
thrift store and picked up some white mesh curtains which I guarantee will be
in abundance at every thrift store. Folding mine at the top in three, I cut
out a few 12 by 16 inch rectangles.
Zig-zag stitch all sides but the top fold, leaving a slight gap to thread your
drawstring through. Now my drawstring is actually old shoelaces. Thread it through
what used to be the pocket for the curtain rod and you have reusable
produce bags. These will actually keep your produce longer with its breathable
material since plastic keeps the moisture in and rots your fruits, and
veggies quicker. So what about when you leave the house, how do you bring all
this with you? This is my go bag I leave in the car: one large reusable tote to
throw everything in, extra totes, thermos or tumbler metal straws, and the produce
bags. Most days I don't have a car so I just carry straws in this super cute
strawberry reusable bag on me. When I go grocery shopping I try to
avoid over packaged items and we'll share industrial sized items with my
family. We buy in bulk, usually industrial sized non-perishables
and freeze a lot of groceries that are bought in large batches. I think about
thirty to forty percent of my house is bunz items so Opalma is a bunz trade. This
bed table we traded for an armchair. So I mostly trade for plants, toilet paper,
and scented candles. My latest acquisition is actually a set of buns
so these mannequin butts are the newest thing to my home.
They are like where else would you find a pair of mannequin butts?
I got a snowboard, boots, bindings, goggles, helmet, and bag for a $50 gift card like
that's less than rental for the day. That's insane. I don't even know
sometimes people just they just want to get rid of stuff and then in this Marie
Kondo phase, like this is the best time to be trading. And then they have this new
currency called BTZ where if you you can earn BTZ by referring your friends
and also answering their daily survey. You get a little bit of BTZ, you use
those BTZ in exchange to buy things at your local stores so like local cafes
and little stores will actually take BTZ as currency. And if you sign up and
say that I referred you I get BTZ you get BTZ. I can't speak
highly enough of this app. I find so much more value in the things that I've
traded for because there's so much story behind it then you appreciate things
more. You tend to not throw away or want to buy new things to replace it anyways
and that's why I very much support the bunz app and the bunz community and I
hope you guys can take a look at what they have. I know especially as makeup
and fashion it's very difficult to be sustainable and I think that there's a
great movement right now on moving towards that. I'm not perfect but I know
I'm doing my best in minimizing my footprint and doing what I can even
outside of just fashion in terms of home and food in minimizing my own waste, and
making that footprint smaller. Thank you guys for watching and I will see you
guys next time. Bye!