DIY Christmas Cork Decorations

A friend of mine was recently discussing what to do with corks in Vilnius. I threw a few into my compost pile, but I'll see after the winter how well they broke down. I discovered a few places to bring the corks for recycling, but decided there had to be something I could do with …

DIY Autumn Light Decorations

We're all suffering from some CAD (Covid Affective Disorder) these days and instead of decorating for Christmas already, I decided to decorate with some autumn colors. With the help of Pinterest and inspiration from our beautiful city park, I gathered up some leaves to get started. Bernardinu Sodas After coming home with my collection of …

Reusable Food Wraps

I have a love/hate relationship with plastic wrap. Sometimes it seems like it's the only thing that will get the job done, but then it is so obnoxious to handle! Living in Europe, they don't sell the stuff with the handy box with the serrated metal edge to cut it off, so it's even harder …

Sustainable Snacks

One of the most challenging things about moving toward a plastic free life is the lack of snacking options...were you actually to ditch everything plastic. Since becoming expats we discovered that making the food that you can't get is a great option. It turns out it is also a great way to reduce plastic. The …

Sustainable Crochet Solutions

Part of getting into a sustainable mindset is thinking of unique solutions to a problem. Here are three ways that I crocheted a solution to my problem. One problem I encountered was that my Fitbit band kept breaking. I went through several of them a week! After coming across some bracelet patterns on Ravelry (the …

Cheap sheet

Yes. Pun intended. Cheap, budget, low cost, used, thrifty, economical. All these words tend to have negative connotations. And it’s true... sometimes. Because sometimes when you go to the cheap route, you get low quality. This one is hard for me. There has only been about two years in our marriage that we haven’t had …

Mask sewing

Since we've been required to wear a mask, I decided it would be good to own more than one. My husband bought our first masks due to the necessity of the law requiring masks that same day. However, I was able to borrow a sewing machine from a friend recently and have been sewing various …

Sugaring

As a teenager, I didn't start shaving for quite some time and I didn't even know about the alternatives for an even longer time. Upon seeing my razor bumpy legs, a well meaning pedicurist asked if I also wanted to get my legs waxed. I quickly declined because it sounded like an extremely painful experience, …

My trip to Zeroteka

A colleague of mine recently informed me about a zero waste store in Vilnius, so last weekend we went to go check it out. I brought a few jars and my own cloth bag. The shopkeeper was very helpful and spoke excellent English. She weighed my empty jars and did all the necessary math to …

DIY Experiments

Do-it-yourself is always a good way to ensure that you know what’s inside. I’ve been looking at various DIY skin care products because my skin is sensitive and trying new products gets to be quite frustrating, not to mention expensive. Sometimes DIY projects are amazing! Sometimes they’re disasters. One thing that has worked is eye …