Zero Waste Living

Urban Market Bag Review

I strive to have a zero-waste home. In fact, it’s one of my missions in life. So I’m always on the lookout for new and better products that make my household, and personal mission, easier. So when I find new brands, companies, and product lines that fall in line with my personal beliefs on sustainability, I’m always a little giddy on the inside.

So recently when I was given the opportunity to review a new line of resuable bags I jumped at the chance.

So today I want to share with you my experience with the new Urban Market Bag line.

This venture started by longtime friends, Cindy Goldberg and Kerri Stenson, a pair that have raised their children together, volunteered, planned events, and started a business based on providing the public with a smart, stylish, reusable bag, the Urban Market Bag line.

You can also find out more about these awesome entrepeneurs here.

I received the Urban Market 3-piece bag set in the rural series, which features three bags in purple, taupe, and a rich, golden brown. The bags are also available in the Urban series, a fun, funky pastel collection.

My Urban Market set arrived tucked into a drawstring pouch (each measuring 5″ x 3.5″), which contained three bags, all of which were 26″ x 12.5″ in size. From the moment I took them out of their packaging, I was a smitten kitten.

I loved the look of the bags. They are sleek, fashionable, and not loaded with slogans (which is a bonus for me), yet are large enough to accommodate the same amount of groceries that would normally fit into a large, brown paper bag.

The Urban Market bags are durable and feel good in-hand. The bags are strong enough to be sent to school with my husband’s weekday lunches, but feminine enough to be carried to a luncheon date.

Since unpacking my Urban Market bags I have used, folded, and refolded my bags numerous times and can easily return my bags back to both their initial size and to the travel pouch without issue. These bags have moved from novel to necessary, in my opinion.

I also like to use these bags for transporting tarred mason jars used in bulk shopping. They also work well for carrying heavy-weight clothing items destined for the charity shop. These bags have proven themselves to be dependable many times over.

While these machine-washable nylon bags are relatively stain-resistant, like most reusable bags, run the occassional risk of the crumb-in-the-corner syndrome. Mind you, this can easily be remedied with occasional spot treating and/or cold-rinse cycle washing and air drying.

No mater your cleaning method, these bags when laundered will be left as good as new.

It’s also worth noting that like other reusable bags, the Urban Market bags are not air-tight – so they are not great to store bread products or crunchy snacks overnight, or while traveling. But for general shopping, running to the library, or for keeping reusable bags on hand in my vehicle, they are stellar!

So what’s the only drawback? The price. My three-pack will set you back a cool $28.00. The six-pack is currently priced even more at $40.00, and neither of these prices include shipping.

However, let’s also figure long-term zero-waste savings into this equation. As many national grocery chains charge customers upwards of $0.10 per grocery bag, per shopping trip for plastic grocery sacks, the initial price tag of the Urban Market bags would quickly be offset within two seasons of weekly use.

While it’s a personal preference as to whether or not you want to pay on the front or the backend for zero-waste shopping, rest assured you will pay either way! By choosing to pay the upfront costs for quality reusable bags, such as the Urban Market bags, you will at least have the satisfaction of not adding to landfill space in the interum.

With that said, for reliable, zero-waste shopping bags I’d gladly pay $28.00 for this three-bag set for all of my home’s zero-waste shopping and errand-running storage needs. Which for me, makes the Urban Market bag line worth a shot!

So, everyone, what do you think about the Urban Market Bag line? Do you pack a waste-free or no-waste lunch or shop for groceries using resuable bags? If you do, I’d love to hear all about it below!

Here’s to intentionally being a bag lady,

Please note, I received these bags as a review sample from Urban Market Bags. All opinions are my own. Thank you.

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How to Make Holiday-Inspired Fire Starters

Good morning, savvy savers! Continuing with this weeks DIY Holiday Gift Ideas, I wanted to share one of my favorite tips to not only stay debt-free but to add a festive flare around my home for the upcoming holiday season with Homemade fire starters!

I came up with this tip to help my family have a more economical way to start both our fireplace and patio fire pit during chilly nights, or when company way over. Mind you, this project was also born out of a cheapskate moment when it dawned on me that store-bought fire starter logs were over $4.00 per log, and as I like to use our fireplace nearly daily, I could easily spend over $100.00 monthly for this seasonal luxury!

Though the DIY was awesome on its own, the best part for me is that most of the items to make this project should be staples you already have around your home, making this project a perfectly fun, frugal, freebie gift idea this holiday season!

Here’s what you will need to make this DIY project:

Pine cones
Twine
Wax
Newspaper sheet
Used wax (from candles or wax melts)
Aromatics (dried spices or herbs)
16″ x 16″ Decorative Brown Paper Squares
Gloves

Here’s how to make the fire starters:

To start, you’ll need pine cones. Cones that are approximately 4-5″ tall. You can gather pine cones in your yard, the park, or from family and neighbors (with permission). Look for “pretty” pine cones, cones with their seeds emptied and their petals fully opened. Make sure pine cones are cleaned out; you can also bake pine cones on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil for 11 minutes and then cooled for 1 hour, to make sure they are bug-free.

Once your pine cones are gathered, inspected, and clean, set your pine cones on your long strip of wax paper, topped with newspaper, to protect your work surface.

Next, plug-in your plug-in candle warmer, and melt 1 tablespoon of wax (approximately 1 wax melt amount in size) per two pine cones you will be making; melting should take 15-20 minutes. The quickly drizzle your cones with your reconstituted wax. And, with equal measure, sprinkle on your aromatics. I like to use dried rosemary but ground cloves, star anise, and cinnamon work well too.

Then lay your pre-cut twice to the side of your work area. Using gloves, take each pine cone and stuff your pre-cut twine strips into each pine cone. Start 1 inch down the pine cone, wrapping gingerly around the cone, and ending at the base of the cane. Be sure to leave enough twine so that it can be wrapped around the cone and into the wax in the next step.

Now, lightly drizzle more wax around and down the cone, and sprinkle your aromatics around the cone. Be sure to let each one dry for 20 minutes before packaging. Finish your cones by wrapping them individually in your pre-cut 6″ x 16″ Decorative Brown Paper Squares, and tie with a bow using your second twine strip.

So, there you have it! Homemade aromatic fire starters! I make my version for around $0.15 each. Make sure to store these starters in a cool, dry place. I will store them decoratively around my health, in a basket, during the holiday season. Also, consider making a small basket of these cones for a hostess, PTA, Co-Op Groups, or for quick holiday gift ideas this coming season.

I hope this DIY will inspire you to step out into nature and see what other great gift-giving ideas may be waiting for you in your own backyard! Now I want to ask, do you give DIY gifts this time of year? If so, I’d love to hear about your gift-giving ideas below!

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Cut Down Your Monthly Water Bills!

Good morning, savvy savers! For this weeks Greener Living Tip, I wanted to share an experience I recently had, and how it helped to save my family 1/3 off of our monthly water bill!

Starting last Spring, my water bill went up by 20% in a months time! Not that it was a lot of money, but in a year’s time it would have amounted to $400.00! I set out to figure out how to reduce this amount!

Here’s what I did:

1) I started by calling my city water department, who did not return my call.

2) I then called my city managers office, and was informed by a kind gentleman there, that water, like electricity has a variable cost, and there are peak and nonpeak times of the month, season, and year when water charges are higher, so countries and cities can offset the cost of public works projects in many areas. He also said, that you can request in writing, that your city water department tell of you of current charges, pending spikes for everyone, etc.

3) When I found this out last summer, I noticed that charges were higher the last week of the month, so I implemented new water usage strategies in my home; I purchased rain barrel systems to attach to my gutters, which I now use for watering my garden the final week of the month, I also do not wash during that week, making sure all of my wash is prepped before that time, for example.

4) I also checked all of my toilets, plumbing, and water lines for any leaks or pipes that needed to be replaced; luckily they did not!

5) Just these two changes saved me $38.10 monthly!

So, I recommend looking into seeing if you can cut your monthly water bill, too!

Here’s to Greener Living,

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Tutorial Tuesday: Vintage Shutter Headboard!

Good afternoon, savvy savers! For this weeks Tutorial Tuesday, I wanted to share with you how I created the headboard in my master bedroom with vintage shutters!

As many of you may know, I am a fan of all things French inspired! My husband and I often travel to NOLA, and part of our seasonal trips include browsing vintage shops for ideas of cool vintage pieces. In one such shop I saw a pair of shutter headboards that I loved, unfortunately the set cost $1,200.00! Fortunately, some time ago I found a set of headboards in town, laying on the side of the road, and so I knew just what I wanted to do with them, make new headboards! This is where this tutorial was born!

What’s the best part of this project? The project cost me nothing, as I found the shutters, took them home, steamed them, lightly sanded the edges, added a white wash finish, touched them up with homemade rust solution on the nail holes, then gave them the one over with my Shark vacuum! They were hung with silver wall hooks, and sit snug to the wall! They are beautiful, funky, and fabulous!

I also stained two wooden crates, in walnut, which are used as light stands, topped with plexi-glass squares which allow the pieces to be functional, and then I finished the look with blue, vintage mason jar lamps! I used linens I had on hand, just in a mismatched scheme that matched both the headboard and room accessories. I feel that the shutters give the room a bit of a breather, and lend itself to my notion, that bedrooms should be an area of realization and comfort!

So, if you all have created any new upcycled projects this week, please let me know below!

Here’s to creativity!

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Greener Living Tips: Recycle Your Received Packaging Materials!

Hello again, savvy savers! For this weeks Greener Living Series Post, I wanted to share with you a way that I have found to save on shipping costs for my various online businesses, as well as to keep items out of my local landfill, and that is by recycling, and ultimately reusing my protective shipping materials! As some of my readers may know, I work from home as a clerical assistant, in the legal field. When not working this position, I devote time to several other online business ventures, including my ETSY Shop, my Amazon, and Ebay sellers accounts.

Often times more than not, I require protective packaging for the various packages I send, and one way I find to underwrite my shipping costs is to reuse the protective materials that come from Amazon, by way of personal purchases and product reviews.

I purposely save my protective materials, bubble wrap, pillows, and peanuts, in baskets to use while shipping, and this far this year have saved over $35.00 doing so; previously I would have purchased my bubble wrap at the Dollar Tree, and my other materials annually during back-to-school sales, with coupons at Office Depot. I also save boxes that are not heavily marked or marred during shipping to be reused as well. This one method of purposed recycling saves both my customer, as well as my businesses petty cash fund, by upwards of 25% monthly; all fund which help cushion my long-term project savings and retirement accounts!

Beyond this, I always print out labels to attach to the inside of my packages, letting my customer base know I recycle my packaging materials! I have actually received several emails from customers thanking me for doing so, as they will also be reusing the materials again themselves! As I look at it, I am saving its from landfills, saving on shipping costs, being frugal, and living a greener lifestyle! This is a win-win in my book!

Here’s to greener living!

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DIY Hanging Pot Rack, Only $3.00!

Good morning, savvy savers! It’s Tuesday, and you know what that means… another awesome upcycled project tutorial!

For this weeks Tuesday Tutorials, I wanted to share with you how I made my kitchen, vertical hanging pot rack, for only $3.00!

That’s right, $3.00! How did I do this?

I used two $1.50 decorative, metal garden fences from my local Lowe’s, inverted them together, and secured them to the wall using metal hanging hooks.
The spokes of the gates fit snugly inside each other and will not come apart!
I hang pots and pans using coated s-hooks as well; I purchased the hooks, here, from Amazon.com using gifts cards earned by taking online surveys!
The $3.00 for the garden gates came from iBotta cash earned from redeeming grocery store offers.

This is such a super simple project, which can be adapted to hang pots, kitchen supplies, garden tools, and office and art room staples as well! I also plan to construct something similar to display my marionette collection as well! This rack could also be adapted for horizontal hanging, as a full unit, or a half-unit extending from the wall as well; this method would need brackets, though!

Here’s to DIY’ing!

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Everyday Household Items Which Can Be Saved & Reused!

Hello again, savvy savers! For this weeks Greener Living Series Post, I wanted to discuss ways you can save money around your home, by reusing common household items.

Here’s my list for items we re-use in our own home:

Save used CD’s! Old CD’s make for inexpensive coasters. Also consider hanging discs from windows to prevents birds from crashing into them!
Save roll-on deodorant containers! Empty roll-on deodorant bottles can be used as paint pens for small children; pull out your used ball, and soak over night in a solution of dish soap and rubbing alcohol to clean. Then just dry, fill, and reuse!
Save plastic ice cream buckets! Create a compost bin under your sink reusing old ice cream plastic buckets; these buckets will contain smells and make it easy to transport to larger bins outdoors!
Save your wine corks! Corks can be used to make homemade trivets, picture frames, carved stamps, and bottle seals.
Save your butter lids, as they can be used under shaving foam cans in the shower to prevent rust from touching enameled tubs! Also great as plant saucers!
Save the funny pages from your local newspaper, store it in your gift closet for inexpensive kid’s wrapping paper; the comics generally also include holiday-themes which can go with most celebrations and activities!
Save used milk jugs! Jugs are an awesome way to store used oil from your deep fryers needing to be discarded
Save your newspapers! Newspaper, cut into strips, and saved in a kitchen drawer can be used in a myriad of ways; layered in cast iron pans to prevent scratching, to line bird cages, and to line Terra cotta pots from sticking together, while storing for the winter, stacked together!
Save your Wipe containers, as they make great yarn and ribbon dispensers!
Save old shirts and jeans, those that cannot be donated, and cut them into rags for use in cleaning car wheels, gas grills, and smokers!
Save lip balm pots! They can be used to hold aspirins in purses, cars, and while traveling!
Save bottle tops! They can be placed under legs of furniture to prevent damage to floors and carpeting!
Save your bread bags! They make excellent waste pick-up bags while walking the fur-babies!
Save your glass jars! They make for excellent storage, as well as for salad kits; add all salad ingredients together, and before serving add dressing and shake, for a quick, healthy lunch!

So, that’s my off-hand list of things to save around the home for reusing! Not only will you be helping to save a few pennies, but the planet, too!

Here’s to greener living!

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Please note, I received these bags as a review sample from Urban Market Bags. All opinions are my own. Thank you.

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