This week, I give you more insight into our home with this Yahoo! video. Thank you Yahoo! for illustrating our efforts so beautifully.
Please refresh your browser if you get an error message (error messages are generated by connectivity issues) or visit http://vitality.yahoo.com/ for the video in larger format.
I welcome comments - but I also invite you to visit my blog archives and 'tips' page for more information on the steps we take to incorporate Zero Waste into our lives.
UPDATE: Thank you everyone for the wonderful comments and emails. As you can imagine, I have received an overwhelming amount of emails based this posting, so please do not be offended if I cannot personally answer each of them. That said, most of the questions have already been answered in the posts and tips sections. And - I plan on creating an FAQ document for those frequent questions that are...frequently asked. Thanks for all of your support!!!
73 comments:
Comment Rules: This blog is about reducing waste. It is not a blog about achieving absolute zero waste, or achieving zero carbon -I would have suffocated otherwise;) Anyone can post a comment and it's ok to be critical, but be cool: rude comments, personal attacks, blog/site promotions, or comments/links unrelated to the article will be deleted. Thanks for participating in the conversation!
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Bea, the video turned out lovely! How charming you all are. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYes, thank you for sharing! Your mission is inspiring and I'm slowly reducing the clutter and waste in my house, too.
ReplyDeleteYour home is beautiful and it looks easy to keep clean!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful video and home! Thanks for sharing and for leading with such a great example.
ReplyDeleteI still wish you'd go vegetarian or vegan, but I love your efforts and as 'low impact' as we try to be we aren't close to that :) For one, our Whole Foods has signs that say you are not allowed to bring your own containers for the bulk foods items. Sigh!
ReplyDeleteBea - I have been following your blog since March/April of 2010 and I must say, I love your lifestyle! I am attempting to do the same and always look forward to your posts. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYay! Congrats on the lovely video. I continue to be so impressed with you and your family and it inspires me to take more and more steps towards zero waste. And, I agree, it makes for peace and happiness. Who could disagree with that? Thank you.
ReplyDeleteBravo!
ReplyDeletelisbet - It sounds like Bea is a flexitarian, given her previous posts. Her family has found a balance that works for them.
ReplyDeleteBea - How about a faq section where you address recurring topics such as this?
So great! Thanks for the tour.
ReplyDeleteAnd, was there a garbage can under the desk?
Thanks for your comments. The team at Yahoo! was really fun to work with.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: I am already working on FAQ's. I am just as tired as you about the recurring Vegan comments (at this point, I consider them clutter on the blog). I wish that Lisbet had reviewed the blog before posting her comment.
Anonymous: ;) no, it's not a trash can under the desk. We have just one trash receptacle in the house, as mentioned before, it is an antique paper towel holder. In the office we have compost and recycling bins (see Zero Waste Office article).
ReplyDeleteGreat video! So upbeat and it's fun to have a look in your home at the particulars...I'd love to learn how you make things like your tooth powder...and perhaps even some recipes that you enjoy!
ReplyDeleteOh, sorry! Just found your recipes section...will definitely be taking advantage of it. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing Bea, lovely to hear your voice. Even though I feel like I have read your tips over and over, every little bit helps, and re-hearing them only inspire me further.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to convince my husband to get a tall mini-fridge like we had in Ireland and unplug the comparatively giant fridge in our apartment. It is frustrating that we were perfectly happy with the amount of space in Ireland, yet here that seems almost impossible. Definitely can be put down the fact that food here is SO much bigger; no gallons of milk in Ireland! And one could stop by the corner market without driving. But Euro-US lifestyle differences is a WHOLE other issue... ;)
What a great advertisement for zero-waste living. I'm sold! :) Really, I barely have garbage anymore. I'm working on my recyclables now. (Actually, you've created a monster - in my new obsession with finding used European canning jars.) Thanks for your continuing inspiration, Bea.
ReplyDeleteGreat video! I wanted to share that my mom and I both started bringing jars to our local stores for bulk and are loving it! Thanks for all your inspiration!
ReplyDeleteI am not at zero waste. I take my washing to the laundromat so I don't think I will be giving up paper towels or napkins or tissues. But I do buy very little prepackaged or processed food, and I assume that is where the most extra labor is focused, with cooking from scratch. It's nice to feel a sense of community, knowing that there is someone else out there who is cooking for their family with bulk foods, farmers' market produce and meat from the butcher. Cooking like this is fulfilling, but time consuming.
ReplyDeleteI am down to one small kitchen wastebasket bag of trash a week, and half of that is compostable, I may start composting. And you are inspiring me to cut back on my recyclables too.
You inspire me but I don't know where to began. I love the way your home looks so decluttered. I've made small changes but I would like to do more.
ReplyDeleteUh oh, I tried both sites and the video says 'no longer available' ;-(
ReplyDeleteAs always, thank you for sharing your lives and inspiring so many others. I am such a fan of this blog and am loving the challenge of the journey towards zero waste!
ReplyDeleteThank you Bea for another inspiring look into your life choices. I bought those mesh produce bags on Amazon and they are a great replacement for all those wasted plastic bags.
ReplyDeleteI was bummed to find out that Rainbow Grocery won't allow their cheese to be put into my clean canisters.
Any ideas of how we can get stores to change some of their policies like that?
WOW...that's amazing!!! truly a very special way of living. I am going to look into it...not sure how easy it is as we don't have farmers markets all year round,we have snow for 5 months of the year.
ReplyDeleteDo you still re-cycle? Cans etc?
I am going to show this to MANY people.
Char.x
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFabulous Video, Fabulous Family. Thank You for being so inspiring and for sharing your life with us. Five or six years ago I swore to myself that within the decade I would live in a zero waste household. I have done absolutely NOTHING towards that goal (though I have to admit, I live very low-impact normally) and this blog is reminding me that I owe this lifestyle to myself and my kids. As a young family just starting careers and finally growing up, we are always concerned about the financial implications of the lifestyle/diet we really want for our family- it's amazing to hear that you are spending 10-15% less!!! I have new hope and new determination :)
ReplyDeleteI have posted here before about all the ways have you inspired me, Bea, but I just want to add that seeing more video of your lovely home and family fuels me even more to keep de-cluttering and reducing my waste. I agree with your comment in this video that de-cluttering is sort of addicting because the results feels so good. I can't believe the layers of clutter that continue to reveal themselves in my home, mainly in the form of things that we are donating or selling... books, clothes, DVD's, knick-knacks, dishes, utensils, electronic gadgets. Each layer we remove increases the level of calm and peace. Thanks for sharing your lifestyle!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your lifestyle with us! It is unrealistic for most people to completely copy your lifestyle because most people lack the willpower. Still, it's good to show people that they have options to reduce the amount of waste they mindlessly create.
ReplyDeleteI am currently living with a roommate who easily fills our 39 gallon trashcan within 2-3 days. We have a large apartment, and more than 2/3 of the apartment is filled with her material things, and she is constantly buying more. I find it a little bit disgusting that one human being needs to have 10 different shampoos on hand at any one time or 5 hair dryers. People need to stop and think about their actions, and just try to do the best that they can to reduce waste.
I was truly impressed with your video on yahoo.com. Having a waste free lifestyle seems like the best solution for a greener planet. You have inspired me to make a change in my daily waste intake.
ReplyDeleteI use to live in Germany for about a year, and Germans have a better handle on this concept...totally. In 86' they were charging for plastic bags .10 to encourage folks to bring back their bags to use again. Walmart is selling...synthetic bags, but I would prefer canvas that I can wash, so I don't buy the Walmart black bags to replace plastic. I have checked online for canvas and they are way too epensive for me. So I like this concept of making them out of old sheets! Great idea!! Bravo!
ReplyDeleteI'm just curious. Let me ask you this: When you bring jars to the supermarket, do you unpackage and throw the package away there?
Love the video and I love seeing your beautiful home. Keep up the good work you're doing here on this blog Bea. I thank you!
ReplyDeleteI've started reading your archived posts and have begun a compost in my back yard. I am going to try to incorporate your ideas a little at a time - your family is an inspiration! Thank you for sharing your zero waste lifestyle!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great video. I've dabbled with creating less waste. I'm better at some times than others. I really liked how "normal" it all seemed.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for sharing your experience!! I'm a French mother of two and I've been trying to gradually lower the impact of my family for the last ten years, now. I found your website a month ago and it gives me a new challenge! I'm following your example (thaw I already used homemade cosmetics and cleaning products), and it's amazing how kindly the shopkeepers react, filling my jars without a question. Living in Paris and being a working mum, it gives me a tricky lifestyle (sticking to the farmers market time, only taking place in the morning in France... plus, I bake my own bread and I even make the cat food with raw meat!)It's a little more work, but it's rewarding and worthy.
ReplyDeleteBravo Bea et merci pour toutes ces nouvelles idees!! :-)
I am so glad you were featured on yahoo!Nice story. We likewise make very little trash. What we create beyond composting and some recycling can be put in one of those baggies the newspaper comes in. And it takes several months to fill it up to half. I look forward to reading the blog!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much
Hello from us here in Portugal. Myself age 42, husband aged 50 and two daughters aged 3 and 8 are keen to embrace a zero waste lifestyle in the quest to teach our children the benefits of self sufficiency. Just heard of you and your family on a Yahoo video and you have totally inspired me with your creativity. We are in the process of restoring an old house which will eventually have solar heating and already have a thriving veg plot. I was not sure how we were going to tackle the issue of the overflowing recycle bin-one's home can only take so many recycle crafts and as busy working people we don't really have the time to turn all of our trash into objects d` arte! Thanks for inspiring us.
ReplyDeleteThat was great, thank you for doing what you do!
ReplyDeleteDo the grocery stores give you a hard time about using the glass jars rather than their plastic bags?... or do you just recycle the plastic bag when you get home?
ReplyDeleteDo you have any tips for people who do not live near a whole foods store or other places that sell items in bulk? I live in the country and do a lot of gardening, but there are just some items that don't grow well in my part of the US. Love your blog and look forward to learning more Zero Waste tips!
ReplyDeleteBea
ReplyDeleteI was inspired to hear that it is a creative endeavor for you. Because that is what it is for me too. Especially the part about decluttering and making our lives simpler. It is a game to me to find things in our lives I can simplify and declutter.
Bravo for a great interview for us to see! Merci beaucoup!
Bea ~ You and your family astonish me, in an amazingly good way. I am so interested in achieving what you have done. I am beginning to read your blogs from the first to current so I am just starting but wanted to say Thank You in advance. I have been a long time dreamer of living in a tiny house with minimal possessions but hadn't thought much about no waste - now it's all consuming. It all goes together. ~ Ann
ReplyDeleteBoo :( The video is no longer available. Any archived copy we can view?
ReplyDeleteThat is neat but how safe and clean is it?
ReplyDeleteBonjour Béa,
ReplyDeleteVotre site est super. Ma famille et moi essayons aussi de vivre plus naturellement.
J'ai vu votre Video sur Yahoo. J'ai reconnu votre accent :)
Merci d'avoir créer ce site, il est très pratique.
Nathalie
You are so inspiring, I am happy to see that living this lifestyle is possible... thank you, I will do my best to strive to fallow your footsteps and reduce my footprint as well. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteHi Mrs. Johnson :)
ReplyDeleteI'm 16 yrs old and came across the video of your family's lifestyle. To say the leaast, I'm inspired! I immediately shared what I found with my parents... I love how they were a bit negative. Yes, "loved" because it makes me want to prove to them it can be done :) I'm going to be changing my lifestyle bit by bit. Thank you for "opening" my eyes to this. I definitely appreciate it!!
I've also been trying to persuade my family to eat healthier, so I kind of took over the kitchen and grocery shopping. ;) I'm going to be looking up markets and grocery stores in my area and I hope I'll find several! Time to research and show my parents it CAN be done.
Meagan Rowell
I think this is great. I am proud to say that even though I am no way, shape or form as good at this as you, we take out one regular kitchen trash bag of waste a week for a family of 5. We recycle two very large bags of recyclables a week. We have been improving since we downsized to an apartment 6 months ago. After watching your family, I see we can do so much more! Thank you so much for the ideas and inspiration!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for all the inspiration! I'm taking baby steps (have a ways to go) and am so excited about this process. Ignore all the haters and ignorant people who constantly re-post the same crappy questions you have already answered in previous blog posts. If they really cared they would have read all the blogs and know the answers to their stupid redundant questions. I'm looking forward to reading all your future postings! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteGood for you, living the way you really want to. And in reality it is very doable. My former boss went to visit his wife's town in China and they brought with them some chips to share with them and had to take back with them the bag because they do no garbage in that town, nothing goes into the ground that does not decompose. granted it is a small village but shows that people in places not bombarded by corporations can live without packaging and non decomposable waste.
ReplyDeleteBea-
ReplyDeleteSince discovering the article in Sunset Magazine you have inspired me to push the boundaries of the reduction in our household items and consumption. I have passed this article on to many people who have taken hold of the idea themselves (you've started a revolution!) I have literally gone through every drawer, cabinet, box and basket in my home and successfully purged our house of most of the items. The one problem that I have is pictures (existing already in photo albums). From now on we will keep as digital files (as you recommended), but do you have any thoughts on the pictures that already exist?
Thank you for this wonderful spot to share, encourage and inspire.
This was fantastic! Your life looks beautiful. Very inspiring.
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing. Your house looks beautiful, so does your life. Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteBea,
ReplyDeleteVery inspiring! Beautiful home and lifestyle. Makes me really want to reduce, reuse and recycle.
pve
again and again i've read through your posts and find myself feeling re-energized and re-focused. i've looked all over the internet, read books, talked with groups, and your blog seems to be the only place that really puts it all together. thank you for your time, effort, and generosity in providing such an incredible resource. and thank you to your family for embracing it and helping to educate others on the concept of zero waste.
ReplyDeleteBea, My husband & I found your video on Yahoo and although we try to live as waste free as possible we are no where near you guys! Well done. I too would like to know where the best places are to buy more foods/etc... in bulk. The Whole Foods near me has a great bulk food section, but where is it possible to buy shampoo etc? Wonderful job you & your family are doing. Ignore the haters, they are not worth your effort. :)
ReplyDeleteWeblogartists: We do not buy cans. We recycle paper (mostly school papers and occasional junk mail), white wine bottles, and sometimes a plastic item.
ReplyDeleteJust curious....why no cans? Thanks so much ! Tamara
ReplyDeleteBea - would you mind sharing the material/product name of the white-board type message board that appears in front of your desk (seen in video when you are on computer at your desk) I love how chic, and non-cheap it looks compared to the typical white boards...and I dream of no more post-its and scraps of paper laying around! Thank you.
ReplyDeletei disagree with the idea that eating meat is bad for the planet. The planet needs animals! What is harmful is how the are raised. Buy organic grass-fed beef (preferably from the farmer.) we raise our own chickens, and they eat our kitchen scraps, fertilize our land, eat the bugs-- what a great symbiotic relationship we have going with them!
ReplyDelete@Anonymous - if you agree or disagree - facts are facts and it is bad, simply because it is very inefficient. It takes up to 16 pounds of grain (read: feed) to 'produce' 1 pound of edible flesh. Your point is well taken, the problem is that we as a society just eat way, way, way too much meat and that demand is what requires the 'harmful' ways you criticize. The problem is that if we all bought grass fed, organic, like you suggest your steak would probably sell for $100 per pound, since organic farming MAY be able to cover 2-3% of the current demand....
ReplyDeleteTamara:
ReplyDeleteMany reasons why we do not buy cans:
-The energy needed to make and recycle them (remember REDUCE-REUSE-RECYCLE in order)
-The MSG's in them
-The BPA in them
-The flavor (the taste of fresh goods is simply soooo much better)
Jo Ann's: It's simply a mirror. Dry erase (we use refillable ones) works on them. I am slowly phasing out of using the board though.
ReplyDeleteI do keep some canned goods in my pantry. Mostly I use canned tomato products and the occasional can of (line-caught) tuna. You are inspiring me to try home canning tomatoes next September with French canning jars, I have a big pressure cooker. In the meantime, Muir Glen this year came out with BPA-free cans for all their products, including tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteI do worry about emergency preparedness, though, and try to keep enough ready-to-eat canned goods on hand to last my family several days. I agree, they taste nasty, fresh is much better. I only use up and replace when they are about to expire. I suppose if you had enough home-canned goods on hand that were complete meals, this would be a moot point. I also keep six gallon jugs of water on hand for emergencies, should look into the large glass jugs you have in your pantry.
Marrena: Thanks for bringing that up. We do not have any in our pantry but we do have a stash of cans in our emergency kit. I hope to never have to consume those though;)
ReplyDeleteAs for Muir Glen, please do your research, they still contain BPA ...
I did do my research, I called the company directly. They are phasing out the old cans, but the woman told me how to read the stamped code on the top of the can to see if they were the new BPA-free cans. When I checked a couple weeks ago, all of the Muir Glen cans at Shaws are the new kind, and about 70% of the Whole Foods cans are the new kind here in Boston.
ReplyDeleteAlso for non-tomato products, Eden foods has been using non-BPA cans for years. Just don't get anything with tomatoes as an ingredient. I mostly get canned beans for my emergency stash.
"Muir Glen cans with expiration dates of 2013 may be BPA-free". With home canning, there is no maybe's, no research to be done, no shuffling around cans to find the 2013 exp dates, no msg's. It goes the same with cookies: You can spend your time reading labels or spend your time making cookies from scratch ;)
ReplyDeleteA choice, that only you can make for yourself and your family...
In case people do want to choose the cans, even if only for their emergency stash, the way to tell for sure is the code under the expiration date should have a zero as the second digit rather than a nine (refers to the canning year).
ReplyDeleteBut I will try at least some home-canning of tomatoes this year for sure! Thanks again for the inspiration.
I loved your video! Thanks for being such an inspiration. Our family still has a long way to go but I'm trying to do a little more every day!
ReplyDeleteI luv the video! I think I just watched it about 10 times! You have a beautiful home and an even more beautiful family! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeletesuch an inspiring family. Thanks Bea for sharing this lifestyle on your lovely blog.
ReplyDeleteVery cool! I admire you. Do you have any websites you could pass along from when you were doing your research. I would like to try to reduce our waste. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteCandace
Sure! But it might not be as exciting as you expect... I simply did research on Google. I can say that I googled my way to zero waste ;)
ReplyDeleteHi Bea:
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to let you know about my success today. My daughter and I decided to walk to the downtown area of our city. She found a lovely pair of black high heals at a consignment shop for $20. I was delighted as the price was right, there was no box and the shoes were in perfect condition. The only thing that bugged me was that the sales clerk insisted on wrapping the shoes in tissue paper before I placed them in my shopping tote. I told her it was not necessary but she did it anyway. I really have to get more backbone. My next success was purchasing two loves of organic whole wheat bread. I asked the guy to place them directly in a cloth bag which he did. I did get the slightest "you're nuts" look though. When I arrived at the cash the guy who checked me in asked me if I would like a plastic bag to put my cloth bag in! This is not going to be easy! Finally we managed to purchase a dog treat without any packaging or fuss. Since I have been paying attention to all of this I am noticing more and more how many opportunities really are there for refusal and how many people just have no idea why you would want to refuse!
Wow,this is very lovely blog and your home look its very nice. I need to share with my friends. Keep it up!
ReplyDelete