My Zero Waste Tips

Hello! Today I am going to show you all how to make your very own, homemade dryer balls. Making your own dryer balls will help cut down on waste from the single use dryer sheets and will also help cut down on the cost of buying dryer sheets. So you save money and the planet.

Dryer balls are great for reducing dryer time and getting rid of wrinkles

What you will need:

• 100% wool (I used Lion Brand yarns, fisherman’s wool)
• nylon stockings
• essential oils
• scissors

How to make

This is the wool I used which is 465yd enough to make 4 balls this roll was $12.99 at Joann Fabric. (check for a store coupon. I found one for 40% off making this yard only $8.50) It’s worth it because each ball you make lasts up to at least 150 -200 loads . That’s .20 cents a load!!

start by wrapping the yarn around your fingers about 20 times

take it off your fingers and wrap the other way keep doing this until your ball looks like this

once your ball is about the size of a tennis ball cut off the end and take the end of the yarn using something sharp, I used scissors to hide the end inside of the ball

Using your either new or old pair of nylon stocking take your ball of yarn and push it to the bottom of the stocking where your toes would be located, then tie a knot

repeat until you run out of yarn

feel free to use essential oils if you want. I used On Guard, Purify and Bergamot for two of them and Tangerine and Lime for the other two I made. For more information about these essential oils I used go to https://www.doterra.com/US/en/site/tammyroyer for more information.

After your done adding your essential oils in throw your dryer balls in the washer and dryer on as high as it can go. this is called the felting process. Then after you balls have gone through the washer and dryer your done and ready for use

I hope you guys find this post helpful and that you decide to make your very own dryer balls.

In this article I will discus the different ways you can use the same objects but without any plastic at all! Imagine using your every day items but not at all harming any animals or the planet. You might say to yourself well this shouldn’t be to hard I will go plastic free in one day, but that is where your wrong. Going zero waste is a process, it takes time but these five alternatives is a great start to help you on your waste free journey.

#1 Plastic Straws

Plastic straws may be convenient and found everywhere, your local Starbucks, Dunkin and restaurants. But every single straw has to go some where. The more plastic the more resources that are being used. Not only does a lot of oil and gas make the air polluted but all the trash gets ingested by marine animals and plastic straws are the top ten plastic debris found during cleanups. So say no to straws and choose alternatives like bamboo, glass or metal straws. {plus if you are the kind of person that bites your straws no problem they make rubber tips to put on them} so refuse plastic, choose to reuse.

#2 plastic bags

Are you ever driving and you see that plastic bag fly across the street or on a hike and you see plastic bags in the water around you. Now slowly we are starting to see a change but we can do more. You know now to bring your own reusable bags so you don’t get taxed but instead of walking past those bags stop and make a change, you picking up a few pieces of trash of the ground can make a huge difference. Make it your goal to once a week go outside and pick up some trash. It could me anywhere on your hikes, the parking lot or while you wait at a bus stop. Every bit helps!!

#3 Bottled water

This one could even save you some money. Yes plastic bottles can be recycled but broken into more tiny micro plastics and can still be ingested my fish, birds and turtles. Not only do you save with using reusable bottles , but not having to buy the 50 million bottles the average person buys per year. You can even save at Starbucks if you bring your own cup you save on your drink. If you think about it theres billions of people in the world for almost everybody to use 50 million plastic bottles every year using reusable bottles can save 156 bottles on average.

#4 cutlery

Enough with the plastic spoons, forks and knives when you can use bamboo or bring your own utensils. They even make tiny little travel cases with spoons forks and knives and don’t forget about your straw. You can put them anywhere like your purse, backpack or carry them, there easy to use snd clean!

#5 coffee cups

You may have stopped using plastic straws but the actual cups them selves are either plastic or Styrofoam. So bring your own coffee cups and most places will be glad to make the switch for you. Personally I keep my reusable cups, bottles and cutlery in a container in the console