Wrap it up

My friend Naomi gave me an incredible gift! It's a beeswax food wrap! They are the perfect replacement for using plastic on your left overs, or to put over a bowl to transport. The plastic is virtually impossible to reuse and recycle (unless I'm wrong and you can recycle them) which means every time you use them  you have to throw it out and it goes right to the landfill and could end up in the ocean killing fish. Which sucks.

These come in three sizes. Large, medium, and small. The largest size is 13" by 13" and the smallest is 7" by 7". They are a good range of sizes. I have yet to see how they work and if 3 is enough.

They are made with beeswax, tree resin, jojoba oil, infused into a hemp and organic cotton cloth. All natural ingredient acting like a second peel for my food keeping it fresh. They last about a year with proper care, and once they are worn out I can compost them! I feel much better using this product on my food then plastic.

Also they smell really nice.

Clothes

Hi my name is Bronwyn and I am insecure. Who isn't? Maybe if I talk about it then other people will be more comfortable talking about it and we can all lift each other up. Also I wear clothes.

Originally this post was just about clothes. When you have a lot of clothes you can look at a jammed closet and not be able to find a outfit. Which means descending into the endless cycle of "I have nothing to wear." Then going out to get more clothes so you have something to wear but then just putting those clothes into an already crowded closet. Then the next morning you have the same conundrum. Everything sucks and you have spent a lot more money and don't have a beautiful functional wardrobe. I had this problem and it was compounded by a deep sense of insecurity. Because I had so many clothes I could never put together something that fit me nicely, went together, or made me feel comfortable. So I got upset with myself. My insecurity about myself wasn't just about clothes but this sure didn't help

I am learning that my insecurity does not reflect my worth. It is not what I think about myself that matters. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I am a ghost inside a machine. My body is not my beauty. These are the things I tell myself when I get myself down. I also know that faith without works is dead. If I just say these things and do nothing then insecurity with overcome me and crowd my thought life. I've learned to do tangible things to help me. For example one time I dyed my hair pink. In short it was a lesson in looking at myself differently.

I applied the same concept of looking at my hair differently to looking at my clothes and wardrobe differently.

I dyed my hair to remind myself that I am art. That my hair is not a signal of my worth as a woman. I had a tangible reminder of that for awhile and now I look at the mirror and remember the lesson of my pink hair. I adjusted how I viewed that portion of myself. I have felt the need to work on my clothes for a long time. So I purged them. I followed the Kon Mari method loosely. Holding each item and deciding whether it sparked joy or not. What didn't spark joy I donated. It ended up being garbage bags full of clothes that didn't fit, or I bought when I was sad that I didn't have enough clothes, or that I bought to impress people. Like my hair I decided to think of my clothes as art. Not only when they are hanging in the closet but when they are hanging on me. I am aligning every part of myself with my values.

All this to say now I own less clothes. Its the simplest solution I found to my problem. I was stressed out every morning by having too many options, I couldn't pick a outfit that was comfortable to me, and I got frustrated and felt insecure. It was not cool. When I moved home from Manitoba I got donated most of the clothes I had. Again when I was getting ready to move into the apartment with josh. And again a couple of weeks ago. Each time I do I shed a layer of choice. I shed clothes that don't suit me. That don't make me feel comfortable. I keep items that 'spark joy'. These items go well with other items in my wardrobe. I chose a colour palette that I loved: greys, blacks, blues, dark greens, stripes, and plaids. Colours and patterns that I love. I want to adorn my thought life with things that I love and I want to dress the same way.

Excluding work out clothes, pjs, and jackets I now own 60ish items of clothing.

Besides alleviating my frustration and insecurity it helps me in other ways. I no longer shop in quantity. Old habit: walk to value village and buy some clothes that don't fit well or that just were not me in order to feel better about myself and not actually addressing the real problem. New habit: have fewer items of clothing and only buy high quality things that fit me beautifully and make me feel pretty and comfy. This saves me money. Instead of buying a whole bunch of unnecessary items I'll only buy things that I know I need and that will add value into my life. Not only that but with my closet less jam packed looking at it causes me less stress. I can easily see everything and I know what does with what.

Hi my name is Bronwyn and I am insecure, but I am working on it. Beginning with how I look at my clothes.

I Like Clean Clothes and I Cannot Lie

My sisters are a wellspring of information and ideas for me in this blog. G suggested I try using soap nuts for my laundry. I looked up some options on amazon but couldn't justify the cost and the shipping and I didn't know if they would work. So I didn't get them. Which was a bit of a bummer because I was using some laundry pods that Josh and I had left over, and I was feeling weird about the A) amount of trash and B) having no idea what was in them. I was still very interested in figuring out a good swap for my laundry.

I have a small wardrobe so taking care of the few clothes that I do have is very important to me. Using laundry pods didn't feel in line with being a good steward of my possessions.

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Today I went to bulk barn to pick up some pasta and a shampoo/conditioner soap bar that comes without any packaging. While I was looking at the soap I found some soap nuts right by them! They were a bit cheaper then the ones on amazon, I didn't have to pay shipping, and I didn't have to wait for them to come! In order to use soap nuts you need a small bag, which I didn't have. Lo and behold right beside the shampoo bar was some soap nut bags for less then a dollar! Best day ever!

My only concern is that I won't like the smell, or it won't fully clean my clothes, or that it will just be super annoying. I did a test run with some towels and it turned out amazing! It smelled lovely and was beautifully clean. I am really happy about it! Even better is that I can easily compost the soap nuts once I have used them up. I can also compost the bag I have my soap nuts in if it wears out. My building will be getting a composting system soon and I plan on taking full advantage of that.

There are a few downsides to using soap nuts. You have to wash in hot water, which uses more energy then washing. in cold water. It is also requires smaller loads in the wash, it really doesn't matter to me currently because my washer is so small but for someone with a larger washing machine that may be annoying. Some people said that the soap nuts left stains on their clothes. I will keep you updated about how they work .

I am very excited about my laundry set up. I use wool dryer balls in my dryer to reduce the amount of trash I would be making if I used dryer sheets. Which is also less expensive then dryer sheets, and I don't have to dig around in my laundry to find an annoying sheet. And now I am using these soap nuts which are compostable, save money, and I feel better about what I am putting on my skin.

The Bags Under my Eyes are Designer

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

I mean it's just October but it snowed so now I'm thinking about Christmas. And Christmas means watching Alien at 2 in the morning, eating a lot of cinnamon buns,  as well as giving and receiving gifts. Every Christmas my family gathers together and we exchange gifts, there is usually a huge garbage bag in the middle of the room were we put all the wrapping paper, ribbons, and tape. Wrapping paper we recycle, and the bags we reuse. Still it feels like a lot of waste.

My parents wrap our gifts in clothe bags that my mom has had for as long as I can remember. They are beautiful and each of us have our own patterns. It is easy to wrap, just throw the gift in a clothe bag and cinch up the top! Boom wrapped. Then you reuse that bag again the next year. I love it. It is a beautiful no waste solution to gift wrapping.

Another solution I have read is giving 'experiences' so you tell the person you'll go to the zoo, or for a meal, or some kind of trip. I also love this solution and have started doing that with my Calgary nieces for birthdays. It's a fun alternative to giving them another thing they will break, or forget, or discard.

My sister Meghan actually suggested I make my own gift bags, and supplied me with a sewing machine and a lot of fabric! Shout out to her for making this possible.

Making these bags was incredibly easy! I didn't follow a pattern and kinda just made it up. I also haven't added strings to cinch it up yet because I haven't decided what I want to use. I made 8, not pictured are the ones I gave to my brother, it took about an hour. Now if I have a gift to give someone I can put it into this bag and not only is it zero waste and beautiful, but the gift bag is part of the gift! And they can continue on to use that to add value to their life.

If I don't use these bags as gift bags they are also perfect for storing things, packing small things like socks or underwear or toiletries so I don't lose them in a big bag, I can also put produce in them if I'm at a store and don't have enough, if I am out and about I buy something, instead of getting a plastic bag for it I can throw it into one of these. (can you tell I really don't like plastic bags??) I already had a few bags like this that I use them all of the time!