
Secondhand September: Why Buying Used Has Become Second Nature in Our Family
Secondhand September: Why Buying Used Has Become Second Nature in Our Family September always feels like a reset for me. Summer is ending, my three kids are back in school,

Secondhand September: Why Buying Used Has Become Second Nature in Our Family September always feels like a reset for me. Summer is ending, my three kids are back in school,
Managing a household efficiently often feels like a balancing act between staying within budget and adhering to our environmental values. We want to reduce our impact on the planet, but

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Sep 6
♻️ SECONDHAND SEPTEMBER! And around here, secondhand goes both ways. 💚
I buy pretty much everything I can secondhand—but I also SELL tons of things we no longer need. Clothes the kids have outgrown, toys they’ve moved on from, household items collecting dust…you name it.
Instead of clutter, it becomes extra cash in my pocket 💰 AND someone else gets something they need without buying new.
Because someone’s “trash”—or as I like to say, previously loved—is someone else’s treasure. ✨
So before you buy new, check secondhand. And before you throw something away, SELL IT! ♻️
#SecondhandSeptember #ZeroWasteFamily #SecondhandFirst #BuySecondhand #sellsecondhand ...
Sep 3
To my fellow eco-minded parents who are sometimes tired, overwhelmed, and wondering if you’re doing enough… 💚
I see you. Because I have those days too.
Days when I don’t have the energy to make everything from scratch, remember every reusable, avoid every piece of plastic, or make the “perfect” sustainable choice.
And I want to remind you—and myself—that the world doesn’t need us to be perfect. It just needs us to care and to do the best we can, when we can.
Some days that will be a lot. Some days it will be one tiny thing. Both matter.
So please give yourself some grace. You care. You’re trying. And that alone is making a difference.
You’re doing a great job. Keep going. 🌱💚
#EcoParent #SustainableLiving #ZeroWasteFamily #ProgressNotPerfection #SustainableParenting ...
Aug 31
🥒 Homemade Pickles — One of My Favorite Ways to Preserve the Harvest!
It’s cucumber season, which means it’s pickle-making time! There’s something so satisfying about turning fresh cucumbers into jars of crunchy, tangy pickles that we can enjoy for months to come.
And the best part? They’re so easy to make!
Ingredients:
🥒 1/2 kg pickling cucumbers
• 1/2 cup distilled vinegar
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/5 cups water
• 2 heaping tbsp salt
• 5–6 dill blossoms
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
How to make them:
Rinse the cucumbers thoroughly, slice them, and pack them into clean, disinfected glass jars with the garlic and dill blossoms.
Combine the vinegar, sugar, water, and salt in a pot and boil for about 10 minutes. Pour the hot pickling liquid over the cucumbers, screw on the lids, and place the jars in the fridge.
Now comes the hardest part… waiting! 😆 Let them sit for a few weeks before digging in.
Unopened, they’ll keep for months in the fridge, and once opened, they’ll last for weeks.
Preserving what’s in season is one of my favorite ways to reduce food waste, save money, and enjoy the garden harvest long after summer is over. 🌱💚
Do you make your own pickles?
#HomemadePickles #Pickling #PreservingTheHarvest #GardenToTable #zerowastekitchen ...
Aug 30
Celebrate Osea’s 30th Anniversary by shopping Fredrika’s Favorites💚 The 30 Years of Bestsellers Set has 4️⃣ iconic AND full-size products. Shop Osea Malibu with the Zero Waste Family affiliate links at zerowastefamily.com/links💻 ...
Aug 28
STOP throwing away your vegetable scraps! 🥕♻️
I turn mine into TWO zero-waste kitchen staples: homemade vegetable stock + vegetable salt.
Whenever I cook, I save onion and garlic skins, carrot peels, veggie ends, herb stems and veggies that are getting a little sad. Everything goes into a mason jar in my freezer.
When it’s full, I make stock!
🌱 ZERO WASTE VEGGIE STOCK
8 cups water
2–3 cups veggie scraps
2 bay leaves
Parsley + thyme
2 pinches salt
1 piece kombu, optional
Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 1 hour. Strain and save the stock.
But DON’T toss those cooked scraps!
Blend them, spread them thinly and dry completely in a dehydrator or low oven. Once dry, blend with salt to make homemade vegetable salt. 🧂🌿
One jar of scraps → stock + seasoning → almost ZERO waste.
It saves money, reduces food waste and gets one more use out of food we already paid for.
Would you try this?
#ZeroWasteFamily #ZeroWasteKitchen #FoodWaste #ScrapCooking #VegetableStock ...
Aug 25
@oseamalibu and Zero Waste Family were clean before it was cool✨ After decades, we’re both dominating the sustainability space♻️🌎 ...
Aug 23
We 💚 supporting women owned businesses. Osea is a sustainable ✨skin/body care brand✨ and founded by a mother daughter pair. Shop Fredrika’s favorites on the ZWF website🔗 ...
Aug 23
🍎 Nothing says fall to me more than the apples being ready!
We’re so fortunate here in Stockholm to have wild apple trees growing all around us, and every fall we head out to forage as many as we can.
Free, local, seasonal food growing right in our neighborhood? Yes, please! 🌿🍏
We’ll eat plenty fresh, but the rest will be turned into applesauce, apple butter, pies, crumbles, dried apple rings, and other goodies to enjoy long after apple season is over.
Foraging is one of my favorite parts of our zero-waste lifestyle. It connects us to the seasons, gets us outside, saves money, and makes sure perfectly good food doesn’t go to waste.
Now the big question: What should we make with all these apples? 🍎
#AppleSeason #Foraging #UrbanForaging #ZeroWasteFamily ...
Aug 23
Did you know your cup of tea might come with a side of plastic? ☕️🌿
Many tea bags contain plastic, and research has found that steeping a single plastic tea bag in hot water can release billions of micro- and nanoplastic particles into your cup.
One simple way we reduce plastic in our home? Skip the tea bags and make our own herbal tea.
We grow or forage many of our favorite tea ingredients, including:
🌼 Chamomile
🌿 Mint
🌱 Thyme
🍃 Black currant leaves
🌹 Rosehips
🍓 Raspberry leaves
💚 Lemon balm
…and whatever else is growing in season!
Simply harvest, steep, and enjoy. You can also dry your herbs during the warmer months and store them in glass jars for homemade tea all winter long.
It’s cheaper, reduces packaging and plastic, and there’s something pretty special about drinking a cup of tea you grew or foraged yourself. 💚
Would you ditch tea bags and make your own herbal tea?
#ZeroWasteFamily #PlasticFree #sustainableliving #foraging ...
Aug 19
Clean before it was cool. 🌊♻️
For 30 years, @oseamalibu has been proving that skincare can feel luxurious and keep sustainability in mind. The 30 Years of Bestsellers Set brings together four iconic, seaweed-powered favorites that are perfect for summer routines, weekends away, and glowing skin on the go.
Here’s to choosing summer essentials that are good for your skin and a little gentler on the planet. ☀️🌿 ...
Aug 18
Bokashi Living makes composting easy, efficient, and eco-friendly♻️ It allows users to recycle all food scraps without bad odors or pests and create nutrient-rich soil for your garden🪴 Shop Bokashi Living under “Fredrika’s Favorites” on our website🔗 ...
Aug 16
🥕 Carrot overload! 🥕😂
We harvested carrots today. Lots of carrots. Like… an insane amount of carrots. At this point, I’m pretty sure we’re 50% human, 50% carrot. 😂
So we have a new family motto:
“Have you pulled your weight… and a carrot today?” 🥕💪
Because around here, everyone has to do their part when the garden decides to go ALL IN. 😂
Now the real question is… what on earth are we going to do with all these carrots?! 🥕🥕🥕
Drop your favorite carrot recipes below, we’re going to need them! 😂
#GardenHarvest #GrowYourOwnFood #UrbanGardening #CarrotHarvest #GardenLife ...
Let’s stay in touch so we can take this journey together!