Ten texts on kitchen replacements, natural cleaning products
and soaps you can make yourself
Zero waste is not a competition in perfection. Nobody reaches a hundred per cent, but every replacement you make in the kitchen or the bathroom reduces the amount of waste leaving your home each week.
I wrote these texts myself, out of my own kitchen. The recipes are worked out to the gram and the ounce, so you can follow them without converting and without guessing.
If the subject is new to you, begin with the first text, about the movement itself. If you are after a particular recipe, go straight to it.
What the movement actually means, why a hundred per cent is out of reach and where the line runs between what governments and large corporations decide and what you decide. Without the drastic changes that make most people give up at the start.
Straws, cloths, sponges and everything else the kitchen throws away fastest. Which replacement is worth it in each case — glass, metal, silicone or bamboo — and what to check before buying so it does not end up in the bin within six months.
Bio-enzyme, distilled vinegar and baking soda. Along with the most widespread cleaning myth of all — why vinegar and soda together give you nothing but salt and water, and why they belong in separate bottles.
Oil takes makeup off, but for some skin it closes the pores. An emulsion solves that, which is what the emulsifier is there for. The recipe, the proportions and how to use it — cheaper than a shop-bought remover, especially when you buy the ingredients in bulk.
The recipe and, just as importantly, the conversation about fluoride. Home-made paste contains none, and the debate around it is far from settled — which is why this text begins by asking you to talk to a dentist first.
Soap is a craft of its own, which is why it has a group of texts to itself. If you have never made soap before, begin with the guide — lye, oils, trace and working safely are all in it, and every recipe below assumes you know them.
Everything the recipes below take for granted, in one place: sodium and potassium hydroxide, oils, natural colours, herbs and essential oils, and what “trace” means. It is split into sections, so you can jump straight to the one you need.
Liquid soap has different final steps from a bar and asks for more patience — trace takes between one hour and an hour and a half. The full recipe, in grams and ounces, with the dilution at the end.
A soap counts as Castile when more than half of it is olive oil. Olive oil is the one oil that can make up the whole oil part on its own, but it lathers poorly and cures slowly. The recipe, and what to expect from it.
The recipe step by step, from lye to mould. Once poured, the soap is covered with cardboard and a towel and left for at least twenty-four hours, better forty-eight.
Instead of plain distilled water, the recipe uses distilled water brewed with ground coffee. The finished bar is decorated with ground coffee and whole beans, so you can see what it is made of.
Replacements only make sense once you know what you already own. If the home is full, decluttering comes first — otherwise the new things simply join the old. I write about that in the KonMari guides for home and office organization.
If you would rather we went through it together, I offer zero waste consultations in Zagreb and the surrounding area. Every text sits together on the Resources page.
That is where most people get stuck. Book a free 20 minute call and we will look together at which replacement would make the most difference in your home.
