So, let's talk about consumption

[minzy]

Some of you may know from the January freeze thread that I've been really focused on "consumption" this month.  Aside from the occasional Marie Kondo or electric car mention, I rarely see other people our age focusing, big picture, on how to reduce the overall amount of energy their household consumes, or what we can actually *do* about climate change.  Think about it - you make dozens, if not hundreds, of decisions about consumption every day.  You have a LOT of personally decisive power in this area.  Many of these choices can help you save money, too.  I am under no illusion that we are going to "save the earth," but I'd like to be able to look my kids in the face in the future and say that I tried.  (Also, I am no expert in this and am looking for even more ideas, so bring them on!)  That said, some of my takeaways from a month of trying to be hyper aware of what my family consumes:

1.  Reducing your food waste is basically the top thing you as an individual can do to combat carbon emissions.  We don't compost yet, but I got the idea to weigh my family's weekly trash, and it is keeping me sharply in tune to what we bring in and send out.  Did you know the EPA says the average American generates 4.5 pounds of waste a day?  Knowledge is power.  Seriously, weigh your trash and try to lower the number!  

2.  Eating a plant rich diet is right next to food waste as the most effective way you personally can combat carbon emissions.  So much energy and forested land is consumed to get meat to your table, and cows themselves produce loads of methane (mostly through burping!).

3.  Make sure the energy intensive appliances in your home are running efficiently and don't use them more than you need to.  Have your thermostat match the outdoor temp as much as you can so you use less energy creating that differential, have serviced and change HVAC filters regularly, clean lint filter and dryer tube, dust refrigerator coils, turn your hot water heater temperature down a little.  If you're driving a combustion engine, try to use less gas by carpooling and even coasting more.  Time your showers, and try to keep them under five minutes.  (This has been hard for me, but I've alternated shorter and longer showers and shaving my legs with the water off.)  Run laundry on the cold cycle.  Etc., etc. x1000.

4.  "Reduce, reuse, recycle" should actually be something more like "refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, repair, regift, rot/compost, recycle." Virtually every single object you come in contact with as a consumer, you are going to have to deal with eventually disposing of - why not make it less stuff in the first place? We all have been taught to push recycling, but it really should be next to trash as a very last resort. The collection, sorting, cleaning, bailing and shipping components of recycling make it an energy intensive process, and the current supply of recyclable material is way ahead of demand. So, I have spent the month focusing on the other, earlier steps.  I signed up at DMAchoice for $2 to reduce the amount of junk mail my household receives, I've refused samples, printed receipts, bags.  I've reduced some of the packaging I bring into the house by buying in bulk.  I've reused grocery and birthday bags.  I've repurposed stained clothes as rags.  I've repaired clothes and sent boots a cobbler.  I've passed several items to others, etc.

5.  Talk about this with other people.  I've been talking about this with everyone I know recently and am trying to influence their choices.  My one friend stopped using paper towels after talking to me (wooh!).  I'm raising issues with groups I'm a part of or lead and am trying to make smarter consumption choices. 

What are your thoughts?  What are you doing and what suggestions do you have?  Are the people you know talking about this at all?  I have a few friends who are starting to pipe up pretty loud, and it's inspiring me to do more, too.

[scout8]

Have your thermostat match the outdoor temp as much as you can

Given that it was negative 23 outside this morning, I'm not going to be able to do this one today.

Seriously though, this is a good list. I am good about some things, but not about others. I know I can do better. 

[aspentosh]

For us we try to:

-Buy in bulk packaging where possible so we have less smaller things to throw away or recycle. From shampoo/conditioner to yogurt we buy big and portion out in our Tupperware containers for portion sizing.
-Rarely use plastic bags, and when we do we rewash and reuse 95% of them. Also rarely use paper towels.
-Wash all our clothes on cold and often try and hang dry when it's not too cold outside.
-I try and group all my errands in one day so I'm not running out in my car multiple times a week for a quick errand. I try and drive less than 30 miles a week (easy as a SAHM). And during warmer months I try and walk as much as possible- to vet appts, grabbing a few things from the grocery store, etc.
-I buy a lot of used clothes for DD and then resell. I've also focused on buying less clothing (of higher quality) for H and myself.

Things I want to work on:

-Create a compost bin
-Weigh our trash! I am fascinated by this. We fill up a trash bag maybe once a week so I'm curious where we would be.

[heliocentric]

We do quite a few things:
- Compost
- Cloth napkins & rags; old towels, t-shirts, and other clothes become rags
- If veggies are starting to go bad I throw them into a bag in the freezer to use later for stock, same with bread (for bread crumbs), and fruit (for smoothies, baking)
- When the weather cooperates I hang my laundry outside
- I keep reusable utensils in my purse & always have a refillable water bottle with me
- Buy large tubs of things like yogurt, applesauce, nuts, etc. and fill small reusable containers with them instead of buying individual packages.
- We are anti Marie Kondo when it comes to stuff that might have use. We hold onto random jars, packaging materials, all sorts of stuff. We usually find uses for these things and have space, so I don't mind. For example, every year a vendor sends me Christmas cookies that come in a fancy box. I had 5 of these saved previous years and used them for gift baskets we gave away this year. In fact, most of the gift bags, boxes, and ribbons I use are recycled from gifts we've received.
- We always use reusable grocery bags. We even take them on vacation with us!
- We don't eat much meat. We maybe have beef or pork 1x a month.
- We actually stopped using our programmable thermostat for heat. We found that turning it down at night caused the boiler to run overtime to catch up in the morning. Keeping a steady temperature has actually been more efficient because we WFH and are both here during the day. We do lower the temperature if we'll be gone for a few days. We don't have central AC, so we use window units and only in the rooms we're in.
- If we have water leftover from cooking (ex. blanching veggies), we let it cool and use it to water plants.
- All appliances are energy star.
- Buy TP that's made from recycled paper.
- DH is handy and I can sew, so we're able to repair a lot of items ourselves.
- We've been gradually insulating our house and replacing old windows.

I'm sure there are others.

Having said that, there's still a ton more we can do / need to work on. One simple thing is to set up one of the taps on our kegerator for sparkling water.

[scm1011]

Jan 30, 2019 11:56:49 GMT -5 minzy said:

5.  Talk about this with other people.  I've been talking about this with everyone I know recently and am trying to influence their choices.  My one friend stopped using paper towels after talking to me (wooh!).  I'm raising issues with groups I'm a part of or lead and am trying to make smarter consumption choices. 

I agree so much with this. Some of my better habits come from the influence of a very eco-friendly friend; things I hadn't really thought of before. Namely baby/kid items and how I should be buying nothing new because they're used for such a brief period of time. 90% of my kids clothes are hand-me-downs or bought used. Same with gear and toys.

The effort has spilled over into non-kid aspects of my life. I joined an active neighborhood FB buy nothing group where I both give and obtain used items. If I can get something I need used instead of new, I do so.

[Pom]

-My H is an avid gardener and compost maniac. We have very little paper waste that doesn't compost. He's even making his own bacteria agent. We have a colony of worms in our garage (sigh) to make better soil since he grows his own plants from seed.
-We keep the heat off at our house as much as possible. Wash clothing on cold. We don't linger in the shower. It's so hot here in the summer, we barely have our hot water heater on for the master side of the house. One summer it was off and we didn't know until November.
-Reduced paper product use. Reuse containers/bags/tags/recycle boxes. Recycle clothing, Make Rags, Buy minimal clothing. Donate.
-Any food waste is composted, but we eat almost everything or freeze extra veggies from the garden for later usage.
We can always be mindful and do better.
I do want to reduce junk mail, so visiting the DMA site.

[lightbulbsun]

Some things I do:

- organic waste pickup - we get a service that picks up organic waste, but before we did that we had a compost pile. I like the pickup service because they take a lot more variety than you can compost in your backyard.
- replaced paper towels and paper napkins with reusable cloth alternatives
- joined Misfits Market, which delivers organic fruit and vegetables which can't be sold in stores and otherwise would have been food waste www.misfitsmarket.com/
- I also meal plan and don't buy a ton of extra food. I eat leftovers for lunch.
- only use reusable bags and straws, including produce bags
- in our last house we had an energy audit done, and did everything they recommended. We plan to do that in our new house, too. (new to us house, we did not buy new construction!)
- try to buy american made as much as possible, including clothes
- I'm vegetarian, and I try to eat vegan at least 2 days/week.  H eats mostly what I do at home, but he still eats meat sometimes at lunch or when we eat out.  
- bike to work when the weather cooperates

I feel like there's more, but I can't really think of anything specific right now.  One thing we're really bad about is travel.  We try to limit ourselves to one international trip per year, but I know air travel is one of the worst things you could do for the environment.  

[sunshinedaydreams]

We do our best, but are always looking for ways to do better. Aside from some of the common things...

The biggest one for us is that we only have one car (a 10yo Prius) and we carpool. My H drops me off at work on his way, and if I need to get around before he comes back, I bum a ride with co-workers or walk places. It blows my mind how many cars are on the road around here with only 1 person in them. And like, big, gas-guzzling SUVs and trucks. For 1 person. Carpooling isn't always convenient, but we make it work.

We have everything in the living room, except the internet router, on a power strip linked to a light switch so we can flip the switch when we're gone and kill vampire power. I'm also neurotic about immediately unplugging things that aren't in use, like coffee maker, phones, etc.

The only clothes we've bought for myself or H in the past 6 months or so have been from Poshmark. (Except socks and underwear, because even I have my limits.) It shocked me in a really sickening way when I first realized the sheer volume of clothes and jewelry and stuff on there that people bought and now don't want. I've gotten some really good, cute clothes, with tags still on, for a fraction of the cost and in very good to perfect condition. I've also sold a ton of my own stuff on there instead of sending to the enormous pile at Goodwill.

I have a set of utensils, coffee mug, metal straw, plate and bowl at work so that I don't ever have to use disposable. I get laughed at a lot, but I'm used to it now. lol

My H bow hunts so we mostly eat venison that he shoots and processes himself. And we do our best to eat local, in-season produce, when possible.

We always do our best to pick up things we need from the grocery or Target while we're out, as opposed to having it shipped from Amazon or other. I feel like, besides majorly promoting consumerism, this is one of the biggest offenses of Amazon Prime. It's so easy to have just 1-2 things shipped at a time, sometimes multiple times in a week.


The one we haven't been great about, and we're committed to focusing on in 2019 is reducing packaging waste. It's so easy to buy single-serving containers and throw them in lunchboxes, but all of that really adds up. We're trying to buy more things in bulk, and be more conscious of types of packaging materials. This is another reason for reducing our shopping online. SO.MUCH.PLASTIC.

[waverly]

For 4 years we had no car at all. Then only 1 car. Then 2, but one was super fuel efficient. We still look for fuel efficiency. When it’s warm we walk downtown a lot instead of drive.

I don’t feel like we waste a lot of food. If DH orders groceries it’s a bit higher sometimes because he ordered 3 packs of hotdogs without realizing it. I am what Gretchen Rubin calls a finisher, I think. But basically I like to finish packages. I like to look at the fridge and say ok what can we eat up and make it happen. I also don’t like to eat meat at every meal.

We recycle, a lot! It’s kind of a problem though if recycling plants aren’t actually recycling plastic. Anyone hear if they are or not lately?

I think packaging is our biggest issue.

We had a compost as a kid and I hated it. It was totally across a very big yard- think an acre. So sorry composting is probably not going to happen for us.

The Kon Mari craze has me wondering though about all that stuff going into the trash. Our boiler and appliances are energy star/ high efficiency.

[k3am]

The Kon Mari thing is kind of love/hate for me. I read a great article on how it’s basically the ultimate form of privilege.

My friend sent me a post of 15 bags full off stuff for donation from her KM purge. One year after her original KM purge of about the same amount.

[konapoppy]

We need to be better. Some of the biggest things we have done:
- We both have 10 mile round trip commutes (for our area, this is insanely short)
- We buy most of the girls' clothes used and resell; almost all of their toys are used or from Green Toys
- We use glass tupperware for almost everything
- we bring our bags into stores and reuse any that we don't (for example, sometimes we do grocery delivery and we get paper bags that we then use to collect composting or recycling, or when gardening).
- When we bought a car, we got a hybrid. Our other car is 10 years old and only has 25k miles on it, so we plan to keep it for at least another 10 years.
- We have a modest house (built in the 60s) and have zero desire to ever move into one of the common McMansions in our city

Things we are downright terrible about:
- Getting to go coffee cups (not me since the first of the year,though!)
- We don't compost as much as we should
- We have two kids in diapers (we don't use a compost service)
- We order too much online (getting better about this since the first of the year!)
- We really should carpool on our 10 mile commute, but it makes daycare pickup/dropoff so much easier if we both drive. Prior to the kids, we should have biked (there is a convenient bike path).

We can tell when we are good about cooking at home because our trash is so minimal (besides the diapers). It is good encouragement to not order in.

[raangoli]

I saw the same article about KonMari being a privilege and it really is when you step back and think about it.

I try to reuse a lot of the plastics that we use or get - like saran wrap/ziplocks/etc. At the grocery store, I am am only buying one produce item, I won't bag it. I save the bagging for multiple items like oranges and apples, etc.

We recycle every bit of paper that is possible to be recycled. What we're not so good about is we use single use drinks like seltzer or water bottles. I need to do better about that. But they do get recycled.

I'd like to get cotton dinner napkins - anyone have any suggestions? I am sure they will be a wrinkled mess but it's fine since we rarely have company.

[konapoppy]

raangoli, for the napkins, I just buy them from Target.

[k3am]

We are not good at a lot of stuff. But we take steps. Most recently (August maybe?), I switched most of the house over from using shampoo/conditioner/shower gel in platic containers to using bars. I actually really prefer it for shampoo and conditioner and am neutral on the bar soap. DH hates the bar soap, so he still gets a plastic packaged shower gel. Bar shampoo/conditioner doesn't travel well, so we have one set of travel containers that I refill from a larger set from Costco that will hopefully last forever.

We use microfiber towels in lieu of papertowels for just about everything except blotting bacon. I have priorities.

[wambam]

Jan 30, 2019 21:31:57 GMT -5 sunshinedaydreams said:

I have a set of utensils, coffee mug, metal straw, plate and bowl at work so that I don't ever have to use disposable. I get laughed at a lot, but I'm used to it now. lol

This is something I never thought of and it's a great idea. We have cookouts a lot during the warmer months and I don't like using disposable. I should just have a set of dishes. Thanks!

[raangoli]

Jan 31, 2019 10:29:09 GMT -5 konapoppy said:

raangoli , for the napkins, I just buy them from Target.

Ahh why didn't I think of that? LOL And I have gift cards so this makes it extra MM, wooohooo! 

[katebeckett]

Jan 31, 2019 9:33:50 GMT -5 raangoli said:

I saw the same article about KonMari being a privilege and it really is when you step back and think about it.

I try to reuse a lot of the plastics that we use or get - like saran wrap/ziplocks/etc. At the grocery store, I am am only buying one produce item, I won't bag it. I save the bagging for multiple items like oranges and apples, etc.

We recycle every bit of paper that is possible to be recycled. What we're not so good about is we use single use drinks like seltzer or water bottles. I need to do better about that. But they do get recycled.

I'd like to get cotton dinner napkins - anyone have any suggestions? I am sure they will be a wrinkled mess but it's fine since we rarely have company.

I just got these reusable produce bags for Christmas and like them a lot. They aren’t waterproof, so wet produce will get all over your cart, but are perfect for apples, oranges, etc. Hopefully the link works. They’re the Earthwise Reusable Mesh Produce Bags - set of 9.

Edited to remove link with name. 

[raangoli]

katebeckett , thanks! I also wanted ot mention that I am really happy to see the stores that I shop at (mainly Trader Joe's and Whole Foods) using plastic bags that are supposedly biodegradable. I also reuse them at home for kitchen waste for when I peel carrots etc. or egg shells. But not using them at all would be even better!

ETA: was that on a wish list of yours? your name (or the person who had this on their list) shows up when I add it to my cart so you may want to edit  

[dellabear]

We do a decent job I think. Although our house is larger than we need, it is pretty new and pretty energy efficient. We don’t drive regularly as we walk to work/school/daycare in winter and cycle in summer. I meal plan and buy bulk to minimize waste.

We try to avoid mindless consumption and shopping - we did a huge purge in the spring and had a yard sale and donated what didn’t sell. Since then we’ve been consciously thinking about everything we want to buy and weighing whether we really need it, can we get it second hand or borrow things we don’t need to own.

DS is still in diapers but hopefully he will potty train in the next few months. We have municipal compost and recycling pickup so that helps but diapers have to go in the trash unfortunately.

[dochas]

Jan 31, 2019 11:06:51 GMT -5 melmaria said:

I think it was mentioned in another thread that having pump bottles for shampoo/conditioner/body wash helps make your stuff last longer vs. a pour out bottle because you're likely to use less. It just hit me that this is why my current bottle of body wash seems to be lasting forever. All of our stuff is in pump bottles, so I guess that helps!

I absolutely love this thread and will add mine later, but I wanted to add this here. For hand soap, the foaming wash bottles save even more especially with kids in the house. I bought one at one of the bath shops and when it was empty I just refilled it with liquid soap. You do about 1/4 soap to 3/4 water. I've been reusing the bottle forever, it's nicer and it saves so much soap. 

k3am where do you find the shampoo in bars? My husband already uses bar soap. I use Aveeno and have a big pump container to get through, but them I am switching to bar. I've heard about the shampoo, but haven't seen it. Thanks!

[minionkevin]

Jan 31, 2019 14:06:55 GMT -5 dochas said:

Jan 31, 2019 11:06:51 GMT -5 melmaria said:

I think it was mentioned in another thread that having pump bottles for shampoo/conditioner/body wash helps make your stuff last longer vs. a pour out bottle because you're likely to use less. It just hit me that this is why my current bottle of body wash seems to be lasting forever. All of our stuff is in pump bottles, so I guess that helps!

I absolutely love this thread and will add mine later, but I wanted to add this here. For hand soap, the foaming wash bottles save even more especially with kids in the house. I bought one at one of the bath shops and when it was empty I just refilled it with liquid soap. You do about 1/4 soap to 3/4 water. I've been reusing the bottle forever, it's nicer and it saves so much soap. 

k3am where do you find the shampoo in bars? My husband already uses bar soap. I use Aveeno and have a big pump container to get through, but them I am switching to bar. I've heard about the shampoo, but haven't seen it. Thanks!

Lush has shampoo bars.

[k3am]

dochas, minionkevin beat me to it. Lush.

[gt7301b]

We use cloth napkins for meals, but my husband still uses more paper towels than I would like. He comes by it honestly, when my ILs were here I hid the paper towels cause they used them for everything and I couldn't take it.

I think I am going to ask my husband for deck compost bin for Valentine's Day. I've wanted one forever, but never actually bought one.

We could do better about the heat, my husband likes the temps warmer than I do so this is always a point of contention in my house. Sometimes I use the app on our thermostat to turn the heat down after he goes to bed cause I get hot if he gets his way.

Next month I want to:
- Not buy any new clothing for DS
- Potty train DS so we can eliminate diapers
- Reduce my food waste. I wrote down everything I tossed this month as a benchmark.
- Stop ordering stuff on impulse from Amazon

[rooster222]

Jan 31, 2019 14:06:55 GMT -5 dochas said:

Jan 31, 2019 11:06:51 GMT -5 melmaria said:

I think it was mentioned in another thread that having pump bottles for shampoo/conditioner/body wash helps make your stuff last longer vs. a pour out bottle because you're likely to use less. It just hit me that this is why my current bottle of body wash seems to be lasting forever. All of our stuff is in pump bottles, so I guess that helps!

I absolutely love this thread and will add mine later, but I wanted to add this here. For hand soap, the foaming wash bottles save even more especially with kids in the house. I bought one at one of the bath shops and when it was empty I just refilled it with liquid soap. You do about 1/4 soap to 3/4 water. I've been reusing the bottle forever, it's nicer and it saves so much soap. 

k3am where do you find the shampoo in bars? My husband already uses bar soap. I use Aveeno and have a big pump container to get through, but them I am switching to bar. I've heard about the shampoo, but haven't seen it. Thanks!

I can't vouch for these myself but I'm on a facebook group that was discussing these and Ethique Hair and Body bars from Amazon were recommended.  They have sample packs for $16 that I think I'm going to try.

[rooster222]

Last spring I started focusing on eating a plant based diet and in the fall I started eating almost completely vegan. It's actually been kind of sad and isolating. I really don't think people want to hear about it at all because they aren't receptive to the idea (the whole ignorance is bliss thing). My dh is the biggest meat eater around and while he wasn't happy about the changes initially, he's seen some dramatic improvements in his health. He isn't 100% vegan/plant-based but he's getting there. So much socializing revolves around food and we're still trying to figure out how to navigate that.

As for me personally, my goals currently are to reduce paper towel usage (my daughter loves to blow her nose on paper towels which makes me insane), learn more about compost, and start planning for a spring garden.

[just]

We went with the best option - no kids!

Half kidding ... but while we do many of these, I'm getting so much inspiration from this post. So thanks!

[minzy]

heliocentric - regarding saving wrapping paper and ribbons.... I saw a statistic (but have had trouble since in finding the original source) that said that 38 MILLION MILES of ribbon are discarded annually.  That made me want to hyperventilate, so I didn't use any at all for Christmas this year, lol.

RockNVoll I haven't used a ziplock bag since I've started reusing cereal/cracker bags, a tip I picked up on here about a month ago.

lightbulbsun - yes, I want to do the energy audit, too!  I've seen several of my neighbors say it's free from our power company.  Good idea. 

waverly , re. market for plastic recyclables, this NYT article is from May 2018 but talks about the declining Chinese market for American recyclables.  China apparently banned certain types of imports and tightened standards on other recyclables, which are somewhat contaminated in the U.S., in part because of "wishcycling" (where you want something to be recyclable even if it's not, so you toss it in, anyway).

gt7301b , I too was thinking that a compost bin would make a great birthday present.  Wild times over here, lol!  

Interesting perspective on Kon Mari being for the privileged set, that's good fodder for discussion for my book club since one of hers was our February pick.  

I think the travel piece is really tough.  I've said it before but part of the reason I feel so strongly about protecting the planet is because I've been to the face of an Alaskan glacier and I've snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef.  Yet, I keep thinking of the 2016 comments by the Science published author that roughly, a round trip plane ride between NY and London melts 3 square meters of Arctic ice.  And I've recently found interesting the perspective of the 16 year old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg - she was nominated for a Children's Climate Award and opted to remove herself from the running because she refused to expend the carbon emissions flying to the conference.  I totally agree there are so many benefits to travel, though.

Thanks everybody for chiming in!

[katebeckett]

Jan 31, 2019 12:09:48 GMT -5 raangoli said:

katebeckett , thanks! I also wanted ot mention that I am really happy to see the stores that I shop at (mainly Trader Joe's and Whole Foods) using plastic bags that are supposedly biodegradable. I also reuse them at home for kitchen waste for when I peel carrots etc. or egg shells. But not using them at all would be even better!

ETA: was that on a wish list of yours? your name (or the person who had this on their list) shows up when I add it to my cart so you may want to edit  

Thank you for letting me know! I was kind of wondering if that would happen. I edited 

[sadlebred]

-Combine trips and errands as much as possible.
-Work from home quite a bit and have at least 1 day/week where I park my car & don't use it.
-Recycle everything. If the city doesn't pick it up in the curbside bin, it goes into the sorting bins in the garage for me to take to the recycling center a couple of times/year.
-I resell or donate clothing if it's in good condition. If it's not, the recycling center has a bin for recycling it.
-I don't waste much food.
-Mainly vegetarian

[indifferentstars]

Jan 31, 2019 18:06:26 GMT -5 rooster222 said:

Jan 31, 2019 14:06:55 GMT -5 dochas said:

I absolutely love this thread and will add mine later, but I wanted to add this here. For hand soap, the foaming wash bottles save even more especially with kids in the house. I bought one at one of the bath shops and when it was empty I just refilled it with liquid soap. You do about 1/4 soap to 3/4 water. I've been reusing the bottle forever, it's nicer and it saves so much soap. 

k3am where do you find the shampoo in bars? My husband already uses bar soap. I use Aveeno and have a big pump container to get through, but them I am switching to bar. I've heard about the shampoo, but haven't seen it. Thanks!

I can't vouch for these myself but I'm on a facebook group that was discussing these and Ethique Hair and Body bars from Amazon were recommended.  They have sample packs for $16 that I think I'm going to try.

I was going to recommend the Ethique samplers for anyone interested in trying to make the switch to bars. I got the hair one (comes with 3 shampoos and 2 conditioners) back in June and just the samples lasted me a long time. I've been using their hair bars full-time since then and I'm pleased. I dye my hair and don't notice any more fading than with the drug store shampoo/conditioner I would use before. I did buy the storage case that protects them from getting wet so they last longer (and it's meant to biodegrade in like 5 years I think. All their packaging is also compostable I believe).

I'd like to try the body sampler too but haven't gotten around to it yet. But I can recommend the samplers as a way to try them out and try a few formulations.