Month: February 2017

Charcoal water filter

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refusetherefuse

Charcoal is not just for chicken!

While in Australia over the 2016-2017 festive season, we found a store with all sorts of goodies I like, especially this one. A charcoal water filter.

In Switzerland, our water is of a very high quality, but it has a lot of lime/calcium in it and often I’ve noticed a strange smell.

Voila! Slip one of these little babies into the jug and after five hours the water is purified. No smell, no taste – just that clean water sensation. Delicious!

Here’s the one we found, but I’m sure there are plenty of other brands selling them. I like that this comes in cardboard with minimal packaging. The sticks are fragile though, so you need to be careful they don’t splinter when putting them in the jug and pouring from it. By pure luck, the first one I used sits nicely under the rim and doesn’t move.

Minimal packaging
The remaining two sticks

Here’s a short version of the blurb: “This package contains several sticks of kishu binchotan … it absorbs chlorine and heavy metals. It also alkalises water.”

Each one lasts about two months (I’m going to stretch mine for longer and see if I notice a change). For me, this is way better than a plastic set up where you have to buy the plastic-coated filters. And once it’s done it’s job, the stick goes into the compost. Or the packaging says you can put it in the fridge to soak up smells.

Do you use charcoal sticks? Or do you have a different water filter system?

Wishing you a wonderful day.

Reusing coffee grounds

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Today, it feels like spring. Check out this beautiful sight outside our home!refusetherefuserefusetherefuse

And with this spring feeling, I felt like cleaning! My face!

I use Aleppo soap for my hair, body and face. I still feel strange writing the word Aleppo, because the Syrian city has gone through so much. I doubt there will be much soap for sale in the foreseeable future, which is the least of our worries.

After summer holidays in Australia, wearing sunscreen every day, my skin felt really clogged, so after reading about it many times, I thought I’d give the used grounds from this morning’s coffee another job.

This is one of those easy and effective treatments where you think ‘why have I never done this before?’ Zero waste face scrub! I just put a dollop of coconut oil and a small amount of coffee grounds in my hands, rubbed them together, then scrubbed my face.

Totally sold on how effective and simple this is! Clogged pores are clear, the bumpy skin around my chin is now soft and my whole face feels fresh. Two ingredients, minimal packaging, no nasty ingredients.

And the leftover grounds went in the compost.

Will be doing this again, for sure. I liked the feeling the coconut oil left on my face (I normally just use it on my body). Here’s a recipe from PETA which uses olive oil, if you fancy trying that.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

No more throwaway utensils

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At the end of 2016, I bought a sewing machine – something I’ve been wanting for ages. When the mood to sew strikes, I now have no excuses! (Before, I borrowed a friend’s.)

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Leo and I are now set for zero waste foodie adventures

For Christmas, I made my family zippered cutlery pouches (men) and wraps (women) to eliminate using plastic utensils when on the go.

The bamboo cutlery, chopsticks, stainless steel straws (the bigger one is for smoothies) and napkins are light enough to keep in your bag all the time.

I really enjoyed doing this! Here’s what some of the others looked like. Mine, above, was the prototype, using The Rogue Ginger’s pattern, here.

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Waiting to be filled with the cutlery and straws

For me this is a really sensible, practical and easy step in reducing waste.

I’m sure they would be available to buy on sites like etsy, by searching “cutlery wrap”. Maybe one day I’ll make them to sell too?!

Wishing you a wonderful day.