The last place you’d think you have to worry about plastics is in your laundry, but unfortunately they’re rampant there as well. For years, I used the liquid version of Purex (choosing the most “nature” variety, free of dyes), but that arrived, of course, in a non-recycle-friendly plastic jug. I then switched to laundry sheets, thinking I had done myself and the world a big favor, only to find out that those “eco-friendly sheets” are FULL of microplastics.
So I did what I’ve been doing throughout these transitions and thought back to the basics: What did people in prior generations use to clean their clothing without polluting themselves and the world? The answer: They used laundry powder. A simple combination of non-harmful agents that still dissolved well in water and cleansed their clothes thoroughly.
So I tried several varieties with mixed results until I found the one that is reasonably affordable, has pleasant scents, cleans all types of fabrics beautifully (and gently), plus offers quick shipping on refills when need be.
That favorite is Meliora, who will get you going with a starter kit (reusable canister) and then send you refills that arrive in minimal paper bag packaging. You can subscribe or buy these items all as needed. Their powder is fresh (I prefer the lemon scent, but all are lovely), comes with a reusable metal scoop and uses a small amount for each load.
One more successful transition away from our toxic world.
My efforts to remove plastic from every part of my routine continue with the fourth item in my daily repertoire, storage bags.
I’m one of those people who cannot stand to have a refrigerator with any odor whatsoever. I have always been fanatic about tightly sealing leftover food and containers, for years using more Ziplock bags than I care to admit.
Of course, they are single-use plastics at their worst and contrary to my environmental values, so I had to find an alternative. Enter: Stasher.
I first heard about these on Chrissy Teigen’s website and ordered a set just to test them. They passed with flying colors, keeping everything from lemon wedges to cheese fresh for days without leaving any weird flavor behind on the food.
What I love is that they are easily washable on the top dishwasher rack and can be reused forever (I’ve had a few since pre-pandemic times and they’re still strong as ever). They also release new colors and patterns fairly often, so if you get bored using the clear version, many options are available.
They’re also great for stashing (pun intended) movie snacks and non-food items like hair ties when traveling.
My efforts to remove plastic from every part of my routine continue with the third item in my daily repertoire, shampoo.
The photo above reflects how I want my hair to appear on any given day—shiny, with lots of volume and body. After developing a habit of getting blow-outs for various events in Los Angeles at the Dry Bar on Sunset, I became quite fond of the scent of their Liquid Glass shampoo. It reminded me of fun times, my “happy place” and the person I became the instant I landed in California.
I liked it so much, I began buying it in Seattle and using it at home, making it a regular rotation in my hair products … until I ran it through my Yuka app and discovered it was made with high levels of BHTs (compounds which potentially disrupt our thyroid functions). Plus, it was only sold in plastic bottles, so I had to find an alternative.
Enter JVN “Undamaged” — a sulfate-free shampoo, which smells amazing, leaves my hair soft and light and has a 72/100 Yuka rating with no harmful ingredients AND it is packaged in (recyclable) aluminum, so there are no plastics seeping into the bottles as they are stored on the shelves.
Win-win!
Bonus: If you’re shopping LGBTQ shops for pride month, JVN was created by Queer Eye’s Jonathan van Ness. 🌈
My efforts to remove plastic from every part of my routine continue with the second item, also related to teeth: Dental Floss.
Until I saw an Instagram reel flash by that was talking about a class action lawsuit, it never occurred to me that dental floss could be harmful in any way. But when I saw my usual brand as the company being targeted in the lawsuit, I decided to investigate.
The suit alleged that there were dangerous PFAS, more commonly known as “forever chemicals,” in the floss, meaning each time you used it you were potentially jamming harmful substances up into your gums. Substances that often come from the production of … plastic! This, coupled with the news that poor oral health can increase your chances of getting dementia, gave me pause.
Spoiler alert: The big corporation won the lawsuit. Not because their product was proven to be entirely safe, but because the studies weren’t extensive enough. Not satisfied, I kept digging and found the evidence I was hoping for, then began trying various non-chemical brands.
So … after years of satin gliding, I’m now a happy customer of Cocofloss, which has a fantastic reputation and also offers unconventional flavors so you don’t have to settle for boring mint (unless you want to) every time. Plus, all of their packaging is cardboard or recycled plastic, so no new plastic is generated in their production.
Stay tuned for my next swap (I promise the third installment won’t have anything to do with teeth)!
Leading a charity that promotes sustainability and care for our planet, I’m in a constant state of learning about the harm that everyday products can cause. Armed with this knowledge, it would be hypocritical of me not to heed the warnings of scientists and medical professionals, so I have begun the process of removing perhaps the most harmful substance of all from every part of my life: plastic.
It’s everywhere and it’s dangerous. In its intended form, whether it be a cup or a synthetic fabric, it can take anywhere from 20 – 500 years to break down, and when it does, it will release toxins into the atmosphere. So I’ve started a process of doing a complete overhaul of my lifestyle, one item at a time, to find safer alternatives that accomplish the same thing.
The first: Toothpaste.
It’s something everyone needs and consumes every day, and something that comes in a container that will need to be disposed of when empty. For years, because I love the taste of cinnamon, I’ve been a loyal user of Close-up toothpaste. Many of the leading brands were found to have microplastics in the toothpaste, which is not only harmful to those who consume it, once the user spits it back into the water supply, the plastics travel to pollute other areas. Furthermore, the tubes they are packaged in are plastic.
I began researching to find both a toothpaste that didn’t contain plastic and a container that wasn’t plastic, even if the product was clean. I started testing out different brands for flavor and texture and arrived at my favorite: Bite. Though it’s a bit more expensive than a tube of mainstream paste, it arrives in a reusable glass bottle (these are especially great for travel) and has a variety of flavors including Mint, Berry and Cinnamon (though that one can be harder to find). Furthermore, they’re tablets, so there’s no spilling or wasting any toothpaste because it’s already measured out for each use. It’s been a smooth transition.
I plan on making a series out of my swaps so stay tuned if you want to follow along for tips to un-plastic your own environment!
The world is coming back to life just in time to make the most of what summer has to offer. One of my favorite pastimes is adding to my ever-evolving “bucket list” of places to explore. My criteria for the list includes the following:
The destination has to be somewhere I’ve never visited previously.
There has to be something in nature to do at said destination (even if that’s not the main purpose for visiting).
The destination must include the availability of an activity that I’ve never done before (i.e., when I went to Fairbanks, Alaska, I went dog mushing).
There must be at least one type of cuisine at the destination that I have never sampled before.
Neighbors to the North
Living so near to Canada, pre-pandemic I visited the country every few months to see art exhibits at Vancouver galleries, stock up on my favorite tea (only sold there) and explore new places around British Columbia.
One area that’s quite popular with my friends who love to ski, is Whistler. Seeing their Instagram photos of beautiful snowy vistas has always made me want to go, but the more I research it, the more I think I’d actually like to experience it first in the summertime.
So, does it qualify as a Bucket List destination?
It is somewhere I’ve never visited previously, so that’s one requirement met. But what about the other variables?
Recreational Opportunities in Nature
Of course, as I mentioned above, skiing is the no. 1 activity in the region, but as I did my homework, I realized there are several things I would enjoy in the great outdoors there:
I hike regularly at home, so a great trek in the Canadian countryside sounds ideal. I’d especially like this jaunt.
Something I’ve heard a lot about are Whistler Jeggs—a savory pancake that I think I would definitely enjoy, if they’re all presented as extravagantly as this.
So yeah … every Bucket List requirement is met. But what about the vibe?
Real Estate Reality
A great way to tell if an area is thriving is by browsing homes and values in nearby areas. Looking at the beautiful properties here, it appears Whistler is going strong. Check out the real estate for sale in Whistler.
When the border is open—hopefully next month or the month after—I may have to make Whistler, BC, one of my first excursions …
For example, in King County where I live in the Seattle area, the median income is approximately $103k — and rents actually decreased (though I can sadly say, mine personally did not). Compare that to Pierce County, which is further south, where the median income is around $79k. They saw a 21% average rent increase, which leads me to believe something is clearly wrong with our system. The more rural and suburban areas seem to be getting punished for their hardships.
Historically the fluctuation in rents has not been directly correlated to the geographies aligned with specific income levels. More often it appears the trends follow the economy of the area (i.e. when Amazon thrived in Seattle and several wealthy tech professionals moved in, everything skyrocketed).
Now, seeing headlines about the local housing market being “on steroids,” I can’t help but think this is an awful time for a first-time buyer who doesn’t have $800k readily available to consider even looking for a property. There is also an urgency to lock in the rates us renters currently have, if possible, because increases are on the horizon for just about everyone despite trending down in my county during the outbreak of the virus.
In a bigger picture sense, I think the markets are upside down in many locations because the coronavirus changed the way so many people work. Some who had never telecommuted before became masters of their home offices and realized how productive they were when not confronted with constant interruptions or on-site office distractions. Now, they don’t want to go back. Alternatively, companies realized how much money they could save from office space and commuter reimbursements and how much less damage they could do to the environment for allowing their teams to go remote. If anything positive came out of the disaster of a year that 2020 was, it was these revelations.
I made the switch to telecommuting in a hybrid way back in 2016, then took on a new role at a startup to work exclusively from home the following year. Every job I’ve had since, including the one I have (and love) now has been 100% remote with only occasional travel (which I also love) required. The beauty of it is that if I want to pick up and go to another city, or even another country, I truly could. I already juggle multiple time zones, so really life wouldn’t change much.
Those with families are finding they may prefer their children and pets having a yard to play in vs. a busy city street, or are simply tired of the fast pace of life near where they work. They’ve discovered that they now have the freedom to choose where to live without risking job loss—and so they’re selling (at a great price) and perhaps even upsizing (at an even better price) in a less populated city or state.
I’ll be curious to see in five years what the trends look like once everyone is settled. Hopefully our collective mental health will improve, the environment will get cleaner, the system will right its wrongs with regard to inequality … and the housing prices will come back down for those of us who hope to someday own vs. rent.
Since I arrived in Seattle in the summer of 1999, I’ve contemplated whether or not to continue life as a renter or take a big leap in life to purchase property. When my career was just getting off the ground, there was no way I could afford anything in the neighborhood I was renting in at the time (a suburb just north of the city), but as my salary grew, I began to consider home ownership more seriously. In the summer of 2019, I thought I may be in a financially stable enough place to begin looking … and then we all know what happened: The pandemic arrived. Now, I just have to research, calculate and breathe to make a determination either way.
Pros and Cons
Every time I prepare for a big life decision, I make a list of the pros and cons of whatever outcome I expect from said decision. Considering a home purchase, my list looks something like this:
Pros
It’s a potential wealth-builder.
Paying a mortgage on time regularly could boost my credit score.
I could paint the walls whatever color I want (this is something I’ve desired since I moved out of my parents’ house at age 17).
It would feel good to put down some permanent roots.
I wouldn’t need to ask someone’s permission to install a satellite dish or knock out a wall to increase the size of a room.
I would feel like an adult (finally, in my 40s).
Cons
The upfront cost is significant.
If something breaks or needs replacing, that’s on me.
Property taxes are high in my area.
If I marry or remote work is no longer an option in my career, I can’t just “pick up and move.”
Though I survived a spell of unemployment and ultimately re-shaped my career for the better during the pandemic, like many Americans, I’m still nervous about what the future may hold. If 2020 taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected and learn to adapt to whatever the world may throw our way. Though there are places like Freddie Mac that have increased the flexibility for buying during these trying times, I still have to consider the impacts to my life if I begin taking on a big mortgage payment and also prepare for unknown costs like repairs if they should arise.
Solving the Equation
As someone who excels in language, I’m unfortunately not great at math of any sort. Thankfully, there’s a helpful website that specializes in mortgage calculators that doesn’t require any number gymnastics to get the answers I need about buying a home for the first time.
I used the Mortgage Qualification Calculator to help determine what salary I need to make to realistically afford the type of home that I’d want to buy and preserve the quality of life that I have as a renter. There I can take an amount from one of the listings I’m interested in and plug it in along with my current debts and budget details to have an accurate scope of what I’m truly capable of owning.
The Outlook
So what have I decided to do? Unfortunately there are still too many unknowns for me to make a final decision. Like one of those classic Magic 8-balls, my reply will be to “Ask Again Later …”
I wasn’t allowed to do much as a teenager. I couldn’t date boys or go on overnight trips in groups where boys would be present—I wasn’t even allowed to cut my own hair (which made me all-the-more alluring to said forbidden boys).
I grew up in an ultra-strict household, ruled by my abusive, alcoholic Greek immigrant father who had irrational views on child-rearing in 1990s America. Never mind that my mother (the sweetest, kindest woman you could ever know) was American and had been raised in a household with few rules, yet turned out as prim and proper as one could hope. Never mind that I was an honors’ student who had skipped a grade, never got into trouble and possessed an IQ that qualified me for Mensa membership. Never mind all of that. I was pretty, so therefore would certainly ‘sin’ if given the chance.
Around age 16, as a junior in high school, I began considering colleges for a future escape. Learning that I was investigating schools close to home in Oregon, my older sister gave me perhaps the best advice I’ve ever been given: “Go as far away to college as you possibly can—something not within driving distance. Get away from him.” And as the Universe so often does, once that seed was planted, it began conspiring to make it happen.
Soon I was writing for a regional student newspaper, working in the newsroom of the city’s daily paper, The Oregonian, and solidifying my plans to pursue a career in journalism. One of the “perks” of this new role was the opportunity to represent the West Coast at a journalism workshop that summer in Washington, DC, where I’d live in a dormitory at George Washington University with fellow teenage journalists from around the country and work on a national student newspaper.
In the months leading up to that trip, I took solace in one of the few things I had total freedom to do: Choose to watch whatever I wanted to on television.
I chose The Real World on MTV, which ran on an almost continuous loop from May to August that year. It was the perfect coming-of-age show for me, as I could identify in some way with each of the cast members, all of whom were just a few years older than me.
I was a dancer like Julie—captain of the dance team at school and enrolled in private lessons for my true love, ballet.
I was a writer like Kevin—captivated by poetry and journalism alike, he was discussing the things that mattered and doing so in an eloquent way that I aspired to emulate.
I was musical like Heather, Andre and Becky—blessed with perfect pitch and years of playing the flute, I was always singing or performing in some capacity or another.
I was a model like Eric—my first jobs were fashion shows for my local Nordstrom store, which evolved into additional work as I got older and more comfortable in my own skin.
I was an artist like Norman—though not professionally, I offered my best attempt at watercolors for anyone who would observe.
The original Real World was nothing like the trashy shows we associate with reality television today. It was an unvarnished look at seven young artists trying to make their way in New York City, living with a group of people completely different from them, yet also so alike in many ways. It was most profoundly a metaphor for life: We are all constantly navigating the world with people very different from us, but yet, whether we see it or not, people who are very much the same.
I wanted so badly to have an experience like theirs—and in a way, I did. The journalism workshop made me take my first solo flight (which began a compulsive travel habit that only paused for the pandemic) and delivered me to a group of soon-to-be close friends from the Midwest and East Coast who were of different faiths, ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds.
The workshop itself was life-changing—the first conversation about the still-recent Rodney King trial and resulting rebellion led to very uncomfortable (but necessary) conversations amongst the students; my time with a mentor from the Hearst Newspapers taught me interview skills I still use today. And it nudged me to take my sister’s advice, moving a year later to Columbia, Missouri to attend Mizzou for their award-winning journalism program.
But I could never shake the emotional attachment I had to the seven people I watched repeatedly in my youth, at a time when I needed them most, which is why when they returned this year for The Real World: Homecoming, I literally cried. I’d thought about them all over the years, catching various reunions they filmed and Googling them every-so-often to see where there lives landed, but this was different. They were moving back in, to the same loft in New York City, with the same people.
I had apprehension, as I didn’t want the sanctity of the original to be compromised, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case at all. This new production captured all of the magic of the original by showing us how the individuals had evolved (or in one case, regressed) and most importantly vibrated with the love they all still feel for one another and their shared experience.
After a year of almost complete solitude (my only visitor being my 80-year-old mother), curling up to watch these six sacred episodes felt like more than a guilty pleasure binge. It felt like a reminder to reflect on how far I’ve come from that damaged, naive young girl from the rough side of Portland and give thanks for the continued learnings about race, spirituality and love that our present world brings.
