Low waste, slow living, and self-sufficiency go hand in hand. Julia Watkins (who wrote the book, simply living well) said it best in her introduction, “I like to think this is a book your grandmother could have given you”. Most people believe that if we go back to the more sustainable and dare, I say, frugal way of living then we are going backwards. On the contrary, living how our grandparents once did, can give us more freedom than we think.

Self-sufficiency can lead to less waste and less waste leads to having to do things at a slower pace. With everything being so fast these days, indoor lighting, convenient stores, and even our transportation, they have all lead us down a path that is not in tune with the natural rhythm of the seasons. We have become out of sync; no longer do we live a life of waking with the sun, slow mornings, and spending our time doing things we actually enjoy. Instead, a day in the life of a typical “youngster” probably looks like this:

Society has led us down a path of waking up before the sun, filling your home with artificial lighting and rushing to get as much done as you possibly can if you want to be a “boss babe”. You have to go on a four mile walk while responding to emails, do a workout that lasts an hour and push yourself to the point of exhaustion because if you’re not sweating and you don’t feel like you’re about to pass out then you’re doing it wrong. You have to journal, meditate, shower, do your twelve-step skincare routine, put your face on and make sure your hair looks like you’ve just gotten a fresh blow out. Leave the house just on time to get your daily coffee and breakfast on the go because you just didn’t have time to make it at home. Hustle and grind to make as much money as you possibly can at a job that does not serve you, but it pays the bills and keeps the lights on, so you feel obligated to stay. Go through a drive through, so you don’t have to cook at home, go out with your friends for a drink and don’t forget to post on your social media to make sure your followers know that you’re having fun and enjoying life. Life is good, your amazing, nothing is wrong, why would it be? Go home to fill your house with artificial lighting (again) so you can fly through your ten-step night routine, spend the rest your night binge watching a dramatic tv show to make you forget about your own problems because your focused on someone else’s, while on your phone buying things that put you into more det. Then you lay awake at night with anxiety, not able to sleep because you know you have to do that all over again the next day.

It’s sad to say that I once lived a version of this lifestyle, I bought into the rat race and all I could think was, there has to be another way of living. I would look at Pinterest and see meadows, gardens and cottages. Women in dresses drinking tea, eating sandwiches and reading books, I remembered how much I loved to read in school and wondered when was the last time I picked up a book? I knew there had to be another way…

I first heard of zero waste in 2018 when I was in my early 20’s. I had watched all kinds of YouTube videos on the subject, but living in a small town where people didn’t know much about this topic yet was hard. A majority of society have gotten used to single use plastic and to think of a different way of doing things was, “so old school”.

At this point in my life, I started to do things a bit differently. I started to wear less makeup, stopped feeling the need to put mouse and hair spray in my hair and didn’t care so much about looking perfect, I was less concerned about having my legs shaved everyday (especially while still using a plastic razer). I stopped using deodorant and instead opt for a more natural alternative (I am still looking for one that will work)

This time of my life was referred to as “my hippy era”. Now I am not trying to name call or bash anyone for a certain lifestyle, this is just my two cents on my journey of “low waste” living and the skills I picked up from it.

When I was younger, I used to think that carrying around a metal straw and an extra bag made me look cool because I thought I was doing my part for the environment. What I didn’t realize then was that it’s more than just picking up the new trend but rather leading by example and creating a new routine to suite your life to make a difference for the environment.

(A basket that I invested in at a farmers’ market, my portable coffee mug, metal straws, local honey, and some books that can help with meal planning and different methods on preserving.)

My goal was to create as little waste as possible and reduce my carbon footprint. I started to think of all the things I consumed (weather that be materialistic or food) and thought of all the energy it takes to create and transport products and waste. Now I do realize that the very laptop that I use for this blog is contradicting, but there are other parts in my life that I felt needed some work.

I started buying my clothes, nick knacks, and furniture from thrift stores, birthday and Christmas gifts from small (American made) businesses, buying food in bulk and supporting fair trade. I’m not much of an activist to go around carrying signs and telling every person I make eye contact with about the choices they make (no shade to the people that do) but I rather just wanted to be an example for people.

A year and a half after learning about zero waste, I came across a video on reclaiming coffee (go check out Quiet in the land, aka Calico and Twine) and my life changed forever. Not to get all dramatic or anything but that video was the first to open my eyes to living slowly. Doing things, the way our ancestors did, slow. It’s a return to when things were simpler. Now there is a time and place when things do need to move at quicker pace but sometimes quicker can take away from gratitude. We can start taking things for granted.

(My favorite mug that was gifted to me, a cone topper that I use for the pour over method, and we have recently switched to organic coffee beans to manually grind rather than pre-ground coffee beans)

Making a cup of coffee was more than just putting a pod in a machine and pressing a button, no, the house would wake up every morning to the smell of ma grinding coffee beans, picking out a mug while the water boiled, poring the water over the filtered grounds and watching as the chemex (a manual pour-over style coffeemaker, they were invented in 1941) dripped the deliciousness that is coffee.

We need to start thinking of quality instead of quantity. The fast fashion movement is a great example of this, we want more in our closets and are willing to spend our hard-earned money on products that have to be imported from outside of the country (possibly made in terrible working conditions) than take a stand and buy clothing at the local thrift store or made from sustainable resources.

Meat also goes in the category of quality over quantity. Buy better-quality, grass-fed grass finished, meat from your local rancher at the farmers market over cheap meat at the convenient store that has a bunch of fillers or could possibly be lab grown. When you buy out of convenience you support factory farms whose animals were injected with who knows what and were not raised in the best living conditions.

Buying meat at the farmers market can get expensive but perhaps you can get creative with your meals and think of things like “meatless Mondays” or only have meat with one meal a day instead of all three. I mean think of our ancestors’, do you think they had meat three to four times a day? Or rather when they caught, hunted or bought from the local butcher when they had the funds for it.

(I bought goats milk soap and earrings from small businesses that had a booth at my local farmer’s market. My mother also purchased grass fed grass finished ground beef from a local rancher.)

Eventually this lead me down the self-sufficiency path. I became very interested in learning how to provide everything I would need (food wise). The idea of growing my own food, harvesting, preserving and seeing the glass jars on the pantry shelves is a personal goal of mine but in order to be self-sufficient you have to master necessary skills.

Do the research of ordering seeds that will grow in your zone, prepping your land to grow plants and getting your hands dirty from time to time. Harvesting and preserving. Learning to cook from scratch and using what you have “put up” in your pantry. All of these skills have been lost over the last few generations due to convivence, and they may sound overwhelming, but they are worth knowing. In the long run they can help you save money, be better for your health, and could even help reduce plastic waste.

Low waste, slow living and self-sufficiency to me they are all on the same side, to better your life and the environment; they go hand in hand. Four years later and I’m still not exactly where I would like to be, but I have to remind myself that I am trying to do the best I can and not aim for perfection. I still carry around a metal straw and have a reusable bag for when I go to the farmers market, but things are a bit different now, the way I see things are a bit different now.

I came across a book called, Six Weeks to Zero Waste, by Kate Arnell and one of the first things she talks about is Bea Johnson’s, ‘five Rs’; refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, and rot. She also included two extra of her own Rs, repair and respond. Applying these seven Rs to your life will definitely get you thinking and questioning the way you do things.

(Some of my favorite books on these topics: Six Weeks to Zero Waste by Kate Arnell, The Lady Farmer Guild to Slow Living by Mary Kingsley, Naturally Sweet Food in Jars by Marisa McClellan, Easy Green Cleaning by Elizabeth Hemmings, Simply Living Well by Julia Watkins, Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving edited by Judi Kingry and Lauren Devine, and A Year Without the Grocery Store by Karen Morris)

Now, I’m not perfect and I still do things that are not 100% accurate with this book, I still buy magazines, use a dryer, and buy food items that are wrapped in plastic; but when I think about where I was and all I’ve done thus far, I’m actually pretty proud of the changes I’ve made.

I have slowly used up my skincare and haircare products and am no longer repurchasing them but rather making my own products at home from scratch or buy a more natural alternative. I’ve given up things like hair spray, mouse, dry shampoo and my twelve-step skincare routine is now down to four items (one of those items being rose water I made from my very own rose garden).

Mouthwash was the next thing I started to make from scratch, and I can’t wait to start making toothpaste, deodorant, shaving cream and body butter. I also invested in a stainless-steel safety razor, reusable ear swabs and no longer feel the need to purchase cotton rounds.

(Some items that I have switched in my bathroom: homemade rose water, stainless steel safety razor, reusable ear swabs, a good quality hairbrush that will hopefully last a lifetime, a copper tongue scrapper, and an all-natural loofah)

I reuse things like fifty-pound flour and sugar sacks as trash bags and any plastic bags that we get from stores or markets go to use in the bathrooms as trash can liners. I try to remember to take my own travel mug when I get coffee (this is still a work in progress). I have also invested in reusable rags for cleaning the house, making my own cleaning products, and we refill our five-gallon jugs at the local water mill to help save on plastic water bottles (that we recycle).

Recycling is one of the last things on Bea Johnsons list because if we are making the switches to refuse, reduce and reuse then there shouldn’t be much left to recycle but in a home that is still learning, there is. We make it a goal to recycle water bottles, cans, and we make sure to look at packaging before tossing it in the bin to see if its recyclable or not. If a package is not able to be recycled, I like to make a mental note of it so I can see if there is an alternative product I can get in its place.

I live in a small town, in central valley California. We have a stop light that just blinks red and only one stop light that actually turns from red, to yellow, to green. It’s only been in the last ten years that we’ve gotten four small national franchise stores. Other than that, we have one of everything. One police station, one fire house, one post office, one pharmacy, and one high school.

To run all your errands in a day you’d have to drive about 25 minutes away and if your bulk buying you have to go to the next town over that’s about 35 to 40 minutes away. You only shop in town when you need something right then and there, and even then, sometimes these smaller stores are limited on certain supplies.

I’m not trying to shame my little town; in fact, I love it but that’s not to say that it couldn’t do without some sprucing up. We don’t have a community garden, compost area, a local farmers market that we have once a week or a bulk\refilling store, but I do have some ideas for this little town.

Sometimes if your area doesn’t have the knowledge (or are filled with people that think there is nothing wrong with the status quo) then you have to take things into your own hands. You have to be the one to start the first farmers market, get in touch with those that have a passion for gardening and would like to teach others, you have to open people’s eyes to the possibilities of what could be instead of what is.

Living a low waste lifestyle is more than just a trend, it’s about doing things at a slower pace and thinking about how you can do things differently. Get creative in your household and switch to small local businesses that have the same values and morals as you do. Believe me when I say, once you make these changes and go down this path things will change and never be the same.

Here I go sounding dramatic, but if you would have told me ten years ago that I willingly gave up deodorant, meat and am trying to set up a garden (ten years ago I couldn’t even keep a cacti alive) I would have thought you were crazy. Now I’ve been called all kind of things over the years: hippy, extremist, grandma core and so many other names but I can now say that I embrace every single one.

I know that being different can feel lonely and it can be frustrating when others don’t know about these topics, but we have to be patient and lead by example. We have to be willing to talk to people, have an open mind and remember it’s about eco, not ego. We shouldn’t feel superior to those that don’t realize there is another way of living but rather remind ourselves of where we were in life before we started making changes.

Authors mentioned above: Simply Living Well, A Guild to Creating a Natural, Low-waste Home, by Julia Watkins. Check out her Instagram and blog posts (I’m also looking forward to purchasing another one of her books, Gardening for Everyone). She surely has a way of making simple look beautiful!

Six Weeks to Zero Waste, A Simple Plan for Life, by Kate Arnell. Her book is filled with so much information and great resources. I continue to go back to this book regularly when I need inspiration for living waste free.

Influencer mentioned above: @quietintheland, Kaetlyn Anne has a beautiful YouTube channel, Instagram and website. Her online shop has very lovely pieces and a little bit of everything for the home. I purchased a reusable coffee filter, scrunchies, and a few of her eBooks; I have my eye on a few of her soap bars and salve as well. She has also started posting on Patreon, where she shares some behind the scenes and so much more.

Honorable mentions: check out @DarlingDesi on Instagram, YouTube, and Patreon for all things seasonal living. She really has an eye for capturing the magic in everyday life.

@EarlyAmerican on YouTube for an insight of how things were done back in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Justine and Ron are such a lovely couple, very informative, and I believe Justine posts on Instagram as well under @justineybeanie.

@loveofearthco on YouTube and Instagram, she also has a shop that sells all things zero waste. Her videos and reels are very informative, and I like how she also recommends zero waste alternatives as well. I haven’t yet purchased from her shop but there are a few things on my list to switch to that are on there so I will be ordering from her soon.