To be honest, its hard to influence my family to switch in ecoways, they've used to the fact of using plastic items for almost their whole lifetime and we sometimes argue when I remind them to not consume plastic, yet they still come back. I've had meaw switch to a wooden toothbrush, he is now switching back to plastic again, why? and after all these months of tries. Wooden toothbrushes tend to attract mold, our first floor where he usually leaves his toothbrush is always flooded and leaving your toothbrush there to airdry is a bad idea. I reckon that most of our wooden furnitures has molds in it, and its hard to convince the owner to either replace or throw them away, there would be no argument since its always an authoritarian relationship we had.
Loofah switch
My first experimental step was changing our old sponge to loofah sponge, my first thoughts include will it effectively clean? How long will it last?
To my surprise it lasted more than 3 months before it became really soft or mushy but after the experiment, we've monthly change sponges for sanitation purposes. This one lasted 3 mos, done only for trial period. Some observations on use that you'll have to use a bit of muscle to sponge up greasiness, because it'll stick and you'll do at least 3 or 4 washes if you're using light pressure, but I didn't feel guilty with disposing the used loofahs since they degrade easily and environmentally friendly.
Our trash issues has problems with snack wrappings, something I can't prevent my family from switching to different snacks, cheezy wrappers, tortillos, 711 food wraps especially at busy times. Those are things that I see we find hard to avoid. Sometimes, I thought of maybe subscribing to healthy meal delivery, but I've been warned since my stomach is sensitive plus the cost, so I've dropped the idea.
One time we did the bunch cooking for a week, the ones we did when I was studying medicine at Laguna. Stored in freezer and just reheat it, early planning. It was a great convenience and budget friendly, we even saved money for a new gadget at the end of the week! However, the next weekend, schedules poured in like waterfalls and we were not able to conform to the bunch cooking again.
It was short but I loved how time saving bunch cooking is, and we had spent time together cooking a fun activity plus healthy and you're sure of the handling process. I'll invite them to do this again whenever we can.
The wooden toothbrush
I've ordered a bunch of toothbrush at shopee around 10 pcs for 100 pesos, it was great, till I saw plastic packaging inside, it did feel I still consumed plastic. Anyway, my first thoughts include is the bristle soft? Will it make gums bleed? How long will it last? Is it sanitary to use?
I've used them for 5 mos now and influenced partner to use at the same time, but he said he'll be switching back to plastic. Why? Yeah molds and comfort are two things he didn't like. He said his gums bleed and molds tend to get attracted, so he had to change frequently. For me, it was bleeding gums, but it didn't mold since I store it inside a dry container in the cabinet. I will continue using it but I wish to find a supplier that won't use plastic packaging.
Eco Bags
My first step was to buy my favorite eco bag with a print of a cute sleeping dog named paningning. It was small, however I have more of them coming from my blogging gigs, I've collected them near door area so when we go out, it'll remind my partner to bring one eco bag. We were able to exercise for 4 mos but on 5th month my partner grew tired and forgot to bring them anymore. Sigh.
Traditional japanese cookwares
This one is my favorite, since we needed new cookwares and I'm swooning over the ones koreans uses on their videos. We have blessing of japanese thrift shops in our area, the best part is that the ones I brought was never used, kept and almost brand new! We started with clay pots, wood cups, rice wooden scoops.
Claypots are the steal, they cook everything enhancing flavor and good temperature quite nicely! The cups are light and visually pleasing yet they tend to break easily, but its only worth 15 to 20 per piece and I needed to exchange only one so its fine.
Small cute rectangular plates were blessing, they were being sold in munoz shoe store, yes shoe store sold for P 10.00 each and we took them all, we didn't find out at first but it was plastic.
The cursed iron cast
My partner was taken at the sight of a heavy black iron cast soup cookware, he didn't even inspect it but when we tried cooking on it, we noticed a taste different. There was rust underneath and it got into our food, we're fine except for the recent trips to bathroom. He says he'll need to clean it before using it again.
Japanese art tray
We scored one almost brand new tray that just arrived for a price around 200 pesos. It came with a box, so artistic, I didn't throw it out, kept it and used as storage for other things. The tray is bigger than usual plastic trays bought on superstores and the art oh, the art is made by japanese artist, I feel guilty to use it, but I have to use it that's why i bought it.
Glass food container
Glass food container worked great in preserving cooked food, I stored sinigang in it for 7 days and it perfectly preserved even with veggies, the downside with it is that it comes with plastic lid which secures it well however still is plastic. This practice was a real time and effort saver, for cooking food ahead for one week means that I won't need to cook for the next days again and that leaves me to only cook rice instead, saves so much time and effort!
Were still a long way to go with our practice of eco ways, right now I couldn't help my family to stop consuming plastic carbonated drinks, heck they'll kill me if I try to stop them, so what we only do is bring them to recycling shops nearby or whenever a magbobote comes by and buys our plastics. How do you think I can convince my family not to consume plastic wrapped chips or plastic carbonated ones when they feel that it saves them a lot of money and effort, also whenever they buy something outside, how do I convince them everytime not to have it in plastic? It's tough but if you have anymore ideas, it would be a great help if you can suggest.
