Like with any adventure, you have to start somewhere. Why not start your zero waste journey by tackling the low hanging fruit?

These are the few items in my life I immediately swapped out when I became more conscious of my trash output and its effect on the environment.

Not only are these better for the environment (and more aesthetically pleasing), they're better for your wallet! Whether you want to save money, or even make a little money, consider making these easy swaps!

**All these numbers are rough estimates. Obviously, they fluctuate based on different people's usage of products, etc.

Water Bottles

Every minute, a million plastic water bottles are purchased.

91% of plastic isn’t recycled.

These facts have amounted to an overwhelmingly large portion of plastic water bottles polluting our ocean. But luckily, this is an easy fix.

Let's say the average American uses 167 plastic bottles per year and the average cost of a single-use plastic water bottle is about \$1.45.

Yearly spending:

\$242.15

Zero waste alternative price:

\$33

For this double-insulated reusable water bottle

Yearly saving:

\$209.15

By ditching those plastic water bottles for a sturdy zero waste alternative

Bonus:

Add in this charcoal stick to detox your water if you’re unhappy with your tap water taste for \$13. Still cheaper than throwing away those single use water bottles.

Plastic bags

A person uses a plastic carrier bag on average for only 12 minutes.

On average we only recycle one plastic bag in every 200 we use.

Let's say that the average person in USA uses 425 plastic bags per year.

If you live in an area with a $0.10 plastic ban tax, this means you’d pay $42.50 per year for all those bags.

Yearly spending:

\$42.50

Zero waste alternative price:

\$20

For two canvas bags like this one. You can even compost these once they no longer hold up (but this shouldn’t happy for many many many years).

Yearly Savings:

\$22.50

Bonus:

Now for the lifetime of our bags, you make money!

Razors

Let’s say you use this Gillette razor) which costs \$10.

Then let’s assume you replace the head twice a month by buying this 4 pack of razor head refills for $17 as needed ($4.25 per head replacement).

Yearly spending:

\$107.75

Zero waste alternative price:

\$35.40 total

Instead of that plastic razor, consider this \$30 for this stainless steel razor.

Let’s say you use 3 blades per month, buying these blade replacements that can be recycled in a special facility for $0.15 per blade (10 count for $1.50).

Yearly saving:

\$72.35

Coffee Cups

This one is a bit different in calculations, but bear with me.

Let’s say you buy an almond milk latte from Starbucks 5 times a week at \$3.00 per cup.

Yearly spending:

\$720

Zero waste alternative price:

\$20

For this reusable mug (that keeps your coffee hot for hours on hours, trust me)

If you bring in your own mug, Starbucks credits you $0.10. WIth this same latte habit but this time in your own mug, you’d only spend $696 on coffee.

Yearly saving:

\$4

Ok, this one isn't inherently a huge money saver, but after you've saved the cost of the thermos, you'd be pocketing a whole lot more money.

Paper towels

Let’s say that between drying your hands, cleaning up spills, deep cleaning your house, and using them as napkins for meals you use two rolls of paper towels per month.

That means that this per roll cost of this Bounty bundle is \$1.63.

Yearly spending:

\$469.92

Zero waste alternative cost:

\$0

Reusable old linens and t-shirts like I did!

But let's also factor in how much it costs to wash your cloths on a weekly basis. at \$4.00 total for both a wash and a dry cycle, you'd spend:

\$48

Yearly savings:

\$414.92

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Wrapping it up!

These are just a few of the easiest things I did when I decided to go zero waste.

I didn't set out to save money when I went zero waste, but over this past year or so I've noticed I've saved quite a chunk of change, I attribute a lot of that to these swaps (and a more minimalist lifestyle-- but that's another post).

I hope you were able to pick up some tips. And like always, if you have any questions or thoughts, please let me know down below!

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