How to Have a Zero Waste Bathroom for FREE
Welcome back to low waste on a budget! I’ve made this the main pillar of my channels since its early days. You CAN live zero waste without spending any money. Check out the full list of over 475 ways to be eco on a budget here.
But I thought it was time to finally sort my master list. Today, let’s get specific about a zero-waste bathroom and let’s do it for FREE.
No, you don’t have to do everything on this list to live zero waste. It’s okay to not do it all and not be perfect. Take what works for you and leave the rest without judging others. I don’t do everything on this list either!
Let’s go!
Water Conservation
Turn off the water when you brush your teeth, shave, and wash your hands. You never need to leave the water running that whole time. While you brush, lather, or apply shaving cream, turn the water off to save money and our precious resource of fresh water.
Take a shower instead of a bath...or just take fewer baths. Baths use a TON of water. If you can’t give them up completely, just try reducing your number of baths and be mindful of the water usage while you’re filling the tub. Try not to waste too much time with temperature adjustments, refills, etc.
Take shorter showers, too. Start by cutting off 30 seconds or a minute, and increase from there. Obviously, get clean! You don’t need to rush so much that you’re leaving the shower dirty and not getting the job fully done. But also, it may not be the best place to sit and think for 30 minutes. Save the water and the money, and use the shower as a way to get clean.
Flush less...yeah, it’s a bit weird, but if you’re into it, go for it! Of course, don’t do anything nasty, use your own common sense. Use the old adage, “if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down.”
When I shower, I cut the water when I don't need it. It helps save a ton of water! I mostly started doing this when I dyed my hair blue. I wash my hair on cold to preserve the color. But I don’t want to be standing in a cold shower for 10 minutes while I wash and condition my hair. So, I wet my hair, do the shampoo and conditioner with the water off, and then turn the water back on when I’m ready to wash it out. It’s saved so much water!
Catch gray water from showering and while the shower heats up, and reuse it on landscaping or on your plants. Of course, make sure that you either keep soap from getting in the bucket or you’re using natural and biodegradable soap that can go on your plants. I did this a ton in Las Vegas, where our HOA made us keep our landscaping, but we also lived in a drought.
Use the urinal over the toilet: they use WAY less water. Of course, this is a public tip, but it’s great to conserve resources wherever we go!
Brush your teeth, wash your period underwear or menstrual cup, or otherwise use the water from heating up the shower. Thankfully, my shower heats up quickly, but growing up, it could take a few minutes from the well! Give that water some life before it heads down the drain.
Energy Conservation
If you’re into it, take cold showers. They can actually be really good for health reasons, too, but by saving energy to heat up water, cold showers are quite eco-friendly. You can also hop right in vs having to wait for it to heat up, which saves water, too.
Use the steam while you shower to get wrinkles out of clothes, to prevent using the iron, and save energy. Now, don’t take a frivolously long shower, but just hand your wrinkly clothes somewhere in the bathroom, ideally where the most steam is, and allow the shower to do the work! This cuts time out of getting ready, too.
Air-dry your hair instead of using a hair dryer. This is great for hair health, protects color if your hair is dyed, and, yes, saves energy, too.
Do heatless curls with scrap fabric or your preferred method. This prevents the use of a curling iron to help save some energy and a few cents.
Air dry your hands when out in public vs using paper towels and hand dryers. Not to mention, hand dryers are just nasty. But you can also shake your hands off before grabbing a paper towel, so you only need one instead of multiple. Be mindful of your paper towel usage!
Reuse, Recycle, and Donate
Donate old towels and blankets that otherwise can’t be used to the animals shelter. Of course, use them as long as you can as beach towels, pet towels, cleaning rags, etc. But animal shelters will take even ratty towels and bedding. Just ask before donating!
Use old, stretched-out hair ties to keep loose cords together. When my hair ties retire, I always find some way to reuse them, and I encourage you to do the same!
Compost bathroom items, too: There is a lot you can compost from the bathroom, so don't throw them into the trash! Things like hair, nail clippings, anything that is 100% cotton or 100% bamboo (like ear swabs, tissues, etc), toilet paper rolls, and so forth. Don't put any plastic in your compost, but as long as it's organic matter, it can go in your bin right alongside your fruits and veggies. These all compost best in industrial facilities, but can be done in your backyard too :)
Recycle bathroom items, too: Yeah, I figured some people can be a bit lazy about walking their recycling to the kitchen or garage or wherever you keep your bin. But make an effort to recycle those items, even if it is a bit out of your way. If you still want to remain lazy (don't blame ya there!), but another bin in your bathroom: one for trash and one for recycling. Then, when it's all full, you take it out to the large bin. That way, it's one trip instead of multiple and hopefully encourages you to recycle!
Save your soap scraps! You can buy soap savers or make your own out of an old piece of cloth, or you can save a bunch and then melt them down and pour them into a mold (even a lid will do) so you have a new bar of soap to use, and the scraps don’t have to be thrown away.
General Waste Management
Use what you have before buying something new! You don’t need a shampoo bar when you still have a bottle of shampoo to get through. It’s better to use it, even if it’s wasteful, than to throw out a full bottle of product (toothpaste, lotion, etc) and buy something that is eco-friendly. It’s not eco-friendly to waste product!
Ditch the tissues and even SAVE money. I use cut-up old t-shirts as reusable tissues/hankies. This helps save so much waste, and it’s 100% free to make when you have t-shirt scraps!
Make DIY dry shampoo out of things you already have. You really just need corn starch. But some baking soda is also a common ingredient, and you can add a touch of cocoa powder to color so that it’s not so white in your darker hair.
Try your hand at DIY deodorant or toothpaste: You probably already have all the ingredients at home. I am not a pro in this realm, so I suggest you research some recipes that work best for you (depending on what you have access to or have allergies too). But, both contain common ingredients you probably already have like baking soda, coconut oil, and so forth. This will save a lot of packaging and is better for your health too and can control all the ingredients going into your products.
Make your own hair gel: Yes!! I was blown away when I discovered you can make this yourself. I quit using store-bought gel for my tight military buns when they started making my hair fall out. I knew I needed a natural substitute and it also happened to be low waste, too (and super affordable). You only need whole flaxseeds and water (and a container). Here is a good recipe. Don't forget to store it in the fridge to make it last as long as possible!
Ditch all the plastic moisturizers for coconut oil: Coconut oil can be used for SO many diverse things. I use coconut oil as shaving cream, hair moisturizer, lotion, face moisturizer, and even in DIY toothpaste. This means you can swap 3-6 ish products for just one product, even if it does come in plastic it's still less plastic. Plus, most people already have coconut oil at home, so it's completely free!
You don’t need separate cleaning products for everything. You can use a general all-purpose cleaner to clean any and all surfaces. You will no longer need to buy bathroom cleaner, countertop cleaner, and floor cleaner. That is so much wasted water, packaging, and chemicals.
Don’t flush things that shouldn’t be flushed (plastic wet wipes, menstrual products, cotton swabs, etc) not only are these litter but they can cause huge sewer issues. Yes, this goes for wet wipes, too. Many of them ARE made out of plastic and cause clogs and other problems.
Reuse toothbrushes! They are great for crafts, scrubbing grout, labeling plants in your garden, pet toothbrushes, and more. Keep them around and get creative!
And that’s it! Be sure to check out the full, unsorted series with over 475 ways to live zero waste totally for FREE here.
Thanks for reading along! I hope you learned something and live a bit more waste free than you did before reading this. Let us know how you live zero waste on a budget below so that I can continue this series!
As always, remember that your small actions make a big difference in the long run :)
Emma
