The Product that opened my eyes

 Now............I hesitate to bring this company up because they are an MLM. And because I love their products so much, I became a consultant. I wanted as much of what I could get for a reasonable price.  Selling that product has never been a real "job" for me, as I have only thrown one party and that host asked me to without me going to her.  It really was a way for me to get as much of it for as cheap as I could.  Frankly, I wish they weren't an MLM because 

A) finding someone to sell you a product when you know you want the product but don't know anyone that sells it makes it harder to get ahold of 

B) there is a ton of skepticism around MLM products, based solely on the fact they are an MLM 

(and I will say rightfully so in some cases)

C) I never wanted to be associated as the person who just peddled things 

(which is why I never pursued selling it, even though I love the products).

But it wouldn't really be fair to start the blog about finding a waste-free or waste-reduced alternative to things without mentioning them, because they are the ones that really opened my eyes to what I was throwing away each day.

Norwex.

Now, I don't know how many of you had heard of Norwex, but I was pretty new to the concept at the start of 2020. One of my high school teachers is a consultant and she was throwing a party and showing just how much easier it is to clean your home with Norwex.  As someone who has solely rented, cleaning my counters was always a big priority for me because I didn't know how clean the person that lived there before me was and I never felt like Clorox did a thorough job.

Norwex has a certain type of microfiber they have patented to have each fiber 1/200th of a human hair whereas most microfiber you buy in the store is 1/6th.  There is plenty of research out there that shows that these cloths actually do a much better job of cleaning than spraying a solution and wiping away. And you are supposed to wipe off any residue from the cleaners as they are actually harmful to humans to leave on surfaces.  So that got me interested.  A way to mechanically clean instead of chemically clean, and I could finally have peace of mind that my surfaces weren't still grody from the person that lived there before me.

So I stopped buying traditional cleaners, and started using their cloths. Honestly, I was amazed at how much cleaner my home looked, and it didn't take chemicals. Just water and microfiber. Check one on the list of things to quit buying. And that got my attention.

The other thing that got my attention: when I opened the box, the items had a cardboard sleeve around them, and no plastic. That actually caught my eye as someone who has purchased a fair amount on Amazon. The box it came in had my items. And very minimal waste. That was the moment it truly caught my eye that there is a ton of waste I bring into my home just to get some other product. 

So that's the origin, folks. That's how I started thinking about what I unnecessarily bring into my home, and started wondering what small items I could do to make a tiny difference in our giant ecosystem.

Not all posts will have Norwex, but I'd be lying to you if I said they didn't have a lot of great solutions that are very reusable.  More to come!