New Beginnings in Spring!

The few sustainable living tips when I do actually tell you to throw something out..

It’s no secret that I love Spring…I mean who doesn’t? Okay well it’s kind of mud season around here, and my allergies flare, and sometimes the overwhelm of doing ‘all the things’ after a cozy winter leads to anxiety…BUT it’s that sense of renewal and rebirth that I feel so much stronger this time of year. Screw New Years Resolutions, I’m firmly a ‘new beginnings’ Spring kind of person. It’s time to thaw out and set the stage for change. Naturally, so many religious and cultural holidays around this time celebrate that same feeling, and of course, none of this has anything to do with the fact that my birthday also happens to be the first day of spring.

Generally, I very much aim to avoid the ‘get rid of all your home toxins’ talk because no one needs anymore anxiety in their lives….but sometimes it its worth re-mentioning for the new folks.

In addition to reducing waste and being sustainable, here at Four Corners another core goal is reducing the toxins in our home, environment, and bodies as best we can. Perfection is not the goal…reduction is. I hardly ever say ‘throw this out immediately'.’ If a sustainable person is trying to sell you a lot of stuff all at once to be low waste….well yeah, they probably aren’t actually sustainable….use what you have first and when it wears out, then go for the more sustainable version, right? well…usually. I have a few exceptions to that rule…

1. Food plastic. I’m okay storing food in plastic. I certainly won’t use new plastic, but frozen fruit in plastic, yeah that’s fine. I try to avoid it as much as I can, but the big offenders…. microwaving in plastic, and those plastic cutting boards. You don’t need to throw out all your tupperware (great for storing laundry powder and epsom salts!), but microwaving it leaches more chemicals that are known endocrine disruptors and carcinogens and all that fun stuff. Same with the cutting board. Seriously…a knife on a plastic board? You literally end up eating that. Just throw it out. I recently found myself needing more storage containers for transporting and I do love these . Just storing leftovers? These lids are great.

2. Cleaning products. Okay you can finish up the bottle of tide. But let’s switch to a Laundry Detergent without the junk. Unknown fragrances? Known endocrine disruptors. Exthoxlated ingredients (aka words that end in -eth) create a known carcinogen biproduct. Who cares? Well do you like to wear clothes and sleep in sheets? Yeah your skin 100% absorbs that. And the other fabuloso cleaning products, just junk that isn’t great for your respiratory system as a starting point. So yeah now is a good time is throw out your plug ins, the room deodorizer you got at the drug store, and all undisclosed fragrances. Overwhelmed? Want help? Just reach out! The cleaning products we carry are all thoroughly vetted for safety, efficacy, and sustainability (so you don’t have to)

A lot of wellness influencers like to throw out “well this is banned in the EU,” therefore bad and to an extent that’s true. In the EU companies have to PROVE the safety of a product before it’s allowed….in the US it’s the opposite…someone else has to prove it’s bad before it’s removed or banned, and with such powerful lobbies it’s a hard thing to do, but I can assure you, the data exists for substances like dioxane 1,4 and PFAS. Looking to get into the nitty gritty? I really love the lowtoxpharmacist (also find Amy on instagram etc) for her digestible information and scientific knowledge.

So hooray for new years, new beginnings, Spring weather, cute duck umbrellas in puddles, the ability to open the windows (yes, fresh air in your home is so important), and spend more time outside without all the layers.