I have to admit, I was a little giddy when I realized Earth Day was on a Monday! I've wanted to do a minimalist post on reducing (vs. recycling) for ages. I've also been dying to do a post on living more eco-friendly (i.e., plastic-free) since that's a (green) road my minimalism has taken me down, too... and, well, the stars aligned! (Or at least my calendars did!)
I also fell deeper in love with baking soda. Instead of cleaning supplies, I used baking soda and vinegar to clean my home . I even started using baking soda for my teeth , skin, hair , deodorant and body scrub.
Minimizing cleaning and "personal hygiene" supplies has saved me hundreds of dollars. We were spending so much money on eco-friendly cleaners, wipes, fancy salon shampoos and organic body washes. Baking soda is cheap, comes in a cardboard box and works better than anything else I've ever tried!
I also have more space under the sink and "switching to baking soda for everything" was an easy, minimalist way to cut down on plastic and recycling. Win-win-win!
From there, I stopped buying plastic (to the extent possible) when buying groceries. For example, instead of buying the salad blend we love (but regrettably comes in a plastic tub), we started buying whole heads of lettuce instead.