This sounds easier than it seams. I started this blog for little than over a week now and once I had the realisation that using so much plastic is so wrong I cannot go back. From one day to the other I have a total aversion to plastic packaging.

Once I started to notice, I see plastic packaging everywhere. There is something that I do not understand though. When I walk into Marqt, (this is a healthy/ eco friendly supermarket in Amsterdam) I see so much plastic! It is not my thing to get irritated very quickly. But in this case I just cannot wrap my head around the fact that the sell so many good and healthy products and then totally forget about the packaging. It just doesn't make sense.

It is like doing things half. It is such a letdown that they sell really good vegetable juices but they sell them in plastic bottles. Since I am aware of this I simply cannot buy the juices anymore. This is easy for me to say. I am not judging the supermarkt who does this, because just a few weeks before I was buying these juices myself and I was enjoying them very much.


This bottle is produced to hold the juice for not more then 3 days and then it will be tossed away. It will take more than 10 years for the plastic bottle to decay.

I also noticed that they do sell yoghurt in glass pots (yeah!) but there is no money depost on them. So if you do not seperating your waste. The glass will be tossed away anyway. At this moment I do not know what to do. What would you do?

I am making my own deodorant for a little bit longer than a year now.

It is super easy and a perfect alternative for the regular deodorant that you can buy in the shop. I personally didn't want to use regular deodorant anymore, simply because it wasn't working. I have tried out several ones and the smell of my sweat seamed to win it every time. 

So you can imagine I was DESPERATE to find something that worked and was not harming my body. I am still in the experimental fase as in trying different smells using different essential oils. 

The ingredients for the deodorant that I made are:

- 1 tablespoon of Cold Pressed Virgin Coconut Oil.
- 1 tablespoon of Corn Starch
- 1 tablespoon of Baking Soda
- 1/2 tablespoon of She Butter
- 8 drops of an Essential oil of your choice. 

I chose 4 drops of tea tree oil, because Tea tree oil is known for its topical antiseptic, anti-fungal treatment and infection-reducing benefits and it just smells very fresh. And 6 drops of Sandalwood. I just love the spicy, woody smell of sandalwood and it is also known for its anti -septic powers. 

This time I added Shea Butter to the recipe, just to try it out. You can definitely make this without the Shea Butter. I live in a quite cold climate and I found the recipe without the shea butter a bit hard to smear.  It is all about trial and error and enjoying the experiment:)

"Trash is about the story of things that we VALUE. "

We live in a world where almost everything around us is designed to be tossed away after an (often) very short life cycle. Because we are surrounded by so many disposable products it needs another approach than "just not use these materials", simply because they are EVERYWHERE around us and alternatives are more difficult to find. I often have the feeling that I do not have a choice and making actual changes can be a bit overwhelming.

I figured out that I need some steps to hold on to to take the pressure of a bit to continue:

1) SIMPLIFY; Realise that you do not need so many things in your life. Ask yourself, do I really need all this products? Simplifying your life gives you space to focus on things that really matter in our lives. Don't worry. It takes time to declutter.

2) VALUE; Ask yourself why are you using the materials that you are using? Try to get a relationship with the things you use everyday. Take ownership of the things that you use by putting more VALUE in your things. If we value the things more that we use it becomes more difficult to throw them away.

3) APPLY; Try to apply your new mindset into your everyday life. It will take time to change things in the bigger picture. But things will change eventually.

If we collectively start this conversation then we can collectively change the way things are designed in the first place.

It is a fact. Today is my 6th day without smoking and I feel good. The process of quitting went very effortlessly I must say. Smoking sigarettes just doesn't fit into a conscious lifestyle. And they give so much waste as well! There was no other way then say goodbye to my bad habbit for once and for all.

I have been (secretly) smoking for as long as I can remember. You could just draw me with a sigarete in my hand. I have been quitting a few times in the past. Some for the longer and some for not so long. But somehow this time it feels different.

I have passed the 30 age sign some while back now and I know that it is just better for my body if I still want to recover from the harm all these years of smoking did to my body. It is never too late to make changes in your life. Luckily the body has the capacity to heal itself.

After 20 minutes of not smoking your blood pressure and heart rate decrease. After 8 - 12 hours carbon monoxide drops and blood oxygen returns to normal. From 2 weeks to 3 months The general circulation and lung function will increase. After 1 to 9 months your lungs begin to regain normal function, including ability to clean and fight infection. After 1 year the risk of coronary heart disease is cut in half. From 5 to 15 years the risk of a stroke is reduced to that of a Non-Smoker. After 10 years the risk of cancer is reduced and the risk of lung cancer is cut in half. After 15 years the risk of coronary heart disease is similar to Non-Smoker.

There are so much benefits of not smoking that I am actually looking forward to a life without sigaretses. Things can only go better from now on!

I am in dubio. I started this blog being super excited. But now, almost a week later. I start to doubt if this (to become zero waste) is something for me? I mean, it should not be a matter of choice. It is something that everyone should do. I also think that everyone will be more conscious in lets say ten years from now. But right now, for me it feels like I still have a choice. Somehow I am not so excited anymore as the day when I started this blog.

It is interesting that I have this conversation with myself right now, because I know this is exactly why other people are not living the zero waste lifestyle (yet). I am not going to write down my arguments of not completely doing it, because I do not say I am never going to do it. I am just going to slow down the process and see were it will bring me.

I can only do what feels right for myself. I will definitely go on with analysing my life and make small changes every here and there. I believe change is always a good thing.

I will write on this blog not only about zero waste, but also about my personal journey to live a more conscious and fulfilling life.

Just as we speak I am sick as fuck. There is just no other way to describe it. I cannot move my body. I am sweating and snot is running down my nose like the Nicaragua Falls. I cannot sit up straight otherwise I have the feeling that my head will explode. So the only thing I can do is lying in my bed, hope for the best and try not to drool all over my laptop.

Yesterday I started to document my waste of 1 week. I will post my waste picture of 1 day tomorrow. Exciting huh! But I had to write this in between post as well about paper towels. My nose is dripping and I am using a paper towel every 5 minutes. So after one day there is a pile of paper towels next to my bed. I saved you from this vision by taking this more abstract picture of the paper towels, but you can see the picture in your mind.

"This is so wrong" I started to think. Normally I wouldn't even think twice about this. But now I feel literally guilty of the pile of paper next to my bed. Not only because of the amount of paper, but I realise that I am not using recycled paper either.

Half way the day, when I find the strength o come out of my bed I change the paper towels for a dishcloth. Talking about the effect my current mindset about zero waste already has on me.