Hey there! It's been a minute. We moved into our new home in January and life has been an absolute whirlwind to say the least! We are so much more busy here day to day than we were back in Pennsylvania, which is both nice and hectic. We spend a lot of time outdoors, at the beach, at the skatepark, the pool, and we are absolutely loving our new home and our new life here! I'm so incredibly grateful to be able to live here so close to the ocean (we're about a 12 minute drive to the nearest beach) and raise our kiddos here. And it's obviously been a hot second since I shared some favorites with you guys, I'm stoked to share some new favorites with you that we've been trying out recently and grown to love, here they are below, let me know if any of them are your favorites too!
One thing I've always loved are zipper bags, because they're so useful; but one thing I also truly dislike are zipper bags, because they're so wasteful. Use them once and throw them away, if you're careful you might be lucky to get a few uses out of them if you carefully hand wash and dry them, but usually they end up getting a hole in them pretty quickly or the zipper or slide closure gets jammed or breaks. So as much as I love them, I stopped buying them regularly years ago, I think I only bought maybe 2 boxes in 6 years. One of my biggest issues with zipper bags (one of the main reasons I quite buying them) is because if I have them, I'll use them. I mean, they're so convenient, perfect for throwing snacks into for kiddos (crackers and cookies and apple slices and everything fit perfectly) and also great for temporarily storing small seashells and shark teeth when you're at the beach. So when we were staying with family at the end of last year while we were waiting for our new house to be ready, and I found myself reaching for them quite often, I knew something had to change. Especially since we live so close to the ocean and it's easier for plastic to find it's way into the sea here. So in came Stasher reusable silicone bags to the rescue! I first heard of them a few years ago when they were on Shark Tank and a few months ago purchased our first small Stasher snack bag at World Market and let me tell you, the Stasher love is real. Stasher was kind enough to send some our way not too long ago to add to our collection (because once you have one Stasher bag you'll realize how much you love them and need more) and we are so stoked about them! I love that they are made from platinum silicone which means they are heavy duty and can be used for years and years (instead of a day or less), they have about a million uses, and at the end of it's life (which will most likely be a looong time from now) you can actually send it back to Stasher to upcycle it so it stays out of the landfill and ocean (they'll even send you a prepaid shipping label)! What exactly is platinum silicone? It's a type of silicone made from sand (silica) & oxygen (it also contains no added fillers, polymers, or by-products). Stasher bags are completely non-toxic (they pass FDA and EU food grade standards), and can be safely subjected to heat without the worry of toxic chemicals. One small change can make a huge impact and Stasher definitely does. Find your own reusable Stasher bags HERE!
My favorite scent on earth is without a doubt coconut, it gives me all the summertime, beach, surf and island vibes... and one of my favorite brands that gives me that coconuty goodness is Ulu Lagoon! You can find their products at most local surf shops, as well as online on their website and amazon! Their signature Coconut Surf Wax scent is undoubtedly one of my favorites favorites, you can find one of their Scented Mini Waves Air Fresheners (which are ONLY $2.99) hanging in our car at all times and I may or may not have a couple stashed around the house (closets and bathrooms are one of the greatest places to put them). All of their products are made in the United States, and if you couldn't get enough of the coconut surf wax scent with their hanging mini waves, they also sell candles like this one and this super aesthetic one (um, yes please) and reed diffusers (this one lasts for up to one year)! If you're like me, and the hanging mini waves, candles and reed diffusers don't even cut it because you're so obsessed... then their Beach Please! Roll On Perfume is gonna be perfect for you (when I say I'm obsessed with this stuff). It's formulated using natural ingredients, so it's as friendly to your skin as it is to your (and everyone else) nose, the formula is phthalate free as well as prop 65 compliant. If your love of Ulu Lagoon spills over into other areas of your life, their keychains (I mean, how cute is this one), stickers and trucker hats might be right up your alley. Head HERE or stop by your local surf shop to grab some coconuty goodness and be transported to an island paradise!
I've shared about Open Spaces in the past (you can check that out here), and here I am doing it again... because when you find something good, it's hard to keep quiet about it, ya know? Their products are some of the best around for aesthetic organization, the colors are so pretty, but best of all, their quality is absolutely amazing! Since we moved into our new home earlier this month, I've found the need for A LOT more baskets and bins for organization and storage, and the ones from Open Spaces are perfect for all our needs. From books storage in the kids rooms to household cleaners storage to... well, pretty much everything you can think of, these Large Wire Baskets and these Medium Storage Bins work wonderfully. We got them both in powder blue last year and love that color, but I chose the cream color this time and love it even more! We actually decided to forgo buying a dresser for our bedroom in our new home (both the kids have dressers though) because we don't love having extra unneeded furniture taking up space, so since we have a big walk in closet attached to our bedroom/bathroom, we decided to just hang everything we could and then use baskets on the shelf for storage of things like socks, underclothes and pajamas! I'm honestly loving that we done that because it utilizes our space so well, space in our walk in closet doesn't go to waste, we aren't using space in our bedroom that could be better off for extra room AND we didn't have to spend several hundred dollars buying a dresser for our room. All around win-win. I also love them for putting an extra beach towel and sunscreen in for guests when we have friends or family visit us! Find all the best organization products HERE!
Did you know that The average American uses and throws away 110 pounds of single-use plastic every year? And did you know that only about 9% of that plastic waste is actually recycled? The stats blew my mind a little bit honestly. I've tried over the past few years to be more live more sustainably, but now that we live near the ocean, I'm trying to be even more conscious of how much plastic we use and bring in and out of our home. I can't tell you how much plastic and trash I pick up on the beach every single time we go, and I want to make sure my family doesn't contribute to that trash we find on the beach. Thankfully our community has a huge bin to put recyclables in and we also have a recycling facility down the road from us, but I also want to make sure we aren't using single use plastic needlessly. Which is why I was really stoked to find the brand Better Basics! Better Basics is a brand that makes going green so much easier, they believe that doing better and caring for the environment (and the world we are living in and leaving for the next generation) should be easier, so they created a line of products to help do just that. Cleaning and soap refills, reusable containers, and biodegradable products designs to help us eliminate plastic from our lives, or at least seriously lower our plastic usage, and every little bottle saved from a landfill or not purchased, adds up and creates an impact over time. Better Basics was so kind to send over their Simple Suds Starter Kit (I chose the Mandarin, Cedar, Basil scent). Each kit comes with one extra-large refill jug filled with enough soap to fill and refill your soap dispenser 4 times, a stainless steel reusable soap pump (I chose the white "cloud" color, but they also have other colors like natural and charcoal). The soap is great because it's so gentle and versatile, it can be used as hand soap, body wash, or even washing dishes! They also have this awesome "Better Grocery Kit", that has reusable (and super cute) grocery bags perfect for your next shopping trip (it's also made from 100% organic cotton and fair trade created). Find everything you need HERE to make your life a more plastic free!