The Best Reusable Items On Amazon!

It’s been a bit of a process the past few years switching over to more and more reusable items in our household, but I’m so glad that we put in the time and effort to reuse more and reduce our waste. Since it can feel like a bit of an overwhelming process to switch over your life to more reusable items, I thought I’d share with you some of my favorite items we use (and some that are on my to-get-soon-list) and you can get them all easily from Amazon too!

1. I use these amber spray bottles all the time to make my own cleaning supplies with essential oils, for homemade baby wipe solution, for hair sea salt sprays—the possibilities are endless!

2. I was a little skeptical these beeswax food wraps would work when I first tried them a year or two ago, but they do and I love them! Use them in place of plastic wrap, aluminum foil, or sandwich bags (or you can make your own as well!)

3. These steel lunchboxes are a great alternative to plastic and paper bagged lunch sacks and they come in lots of different sizes for big and small eaters.

4. These cleaning cloths are a must to replace paper towels (read about how Elsie uses hers when she gave up paper towels) or you can make your own unpaper towel roll like I did!

5. It took me a long time to finally ditch the cheap plastic and go with all glass food storage containers (these totally stainless steel options are on my wish list). For a more cost effective move, you can also get a bunch of glass canning jars in different sizes and use those for leftovers too.

6. I started using a coffee sock last summer with my Chemex and I love it! It actually tastes better to me, I never have to fold cones again, and you can use them hundreds of times instead of once.

7. I love our stainless steel straws for juice for Lola or iced coffee in the summer (they make larger ones for thick smoothies) and you can also get a straw carrying case to keep some in your purse or diaper bag to avoid plastic straws when out and about (you could also make one with a little scrap of fabric too).

8. I started making more bread at home lately, but I quickly realized that I didn’t have anything to put the bread in unless I kicked another loaf out of its plastic bag. So a bread bin would come in really handy to keep baked good fresh for days.

9. Ahhh, the Chemex! I love that my coffee doesn’t travel though hot plastic anymore like in my old coffee maker and it’s still really simple and fast to make (for those of you who love a French press, feel free to get your coffee fix with one of these babies!)

10. I think most of us have or have almost bought a reusable water bottle of some kind by now, but whether you like a glass or steel version, they are super handy to remain hydrated on the go.

11. These small glass amber jars are perfect for DIY skin care and bath items like sugar scrubs and lotions, and are a great size for gifts too!

12. I absolutely love these silicone food storage bags and I have them in the sandwich and snack size—great for snacks on the go or for leftovers in the fridge.

13. Cloth napkins are another great way to reduce waste at home and once they get really worn they can just join the rag pile and continue to serve for a few more seasons (and they make you look super classy as well).

14. It may seem a little “Grandma” to you, but using cloth handkerchiefs instead of tissues is another way to cut down on one-use items and if you really want to go wild, you can monogram them too ?

15. Don’t forget the kids! We have one of these stainless steel sippy cups for Lola and they are great as a travel cup (she uses these at mealtime).

16. Trade out the flimsy plastic baggies for these produce bags when buying your fruits and veggies. They have the tare weight on them (how much the bag weighs) so the person at the checkout stand can adjust your weight if needed.

17. I’m trying to take a reusable coffee cup with me now for when I want a coffee out—you’ll want to get a size that corresponds with your coffee volume order, so make sure to choose appropriately!

18. We have a ton of reusable grocery bags in the back of our trunk (I tend to like this type the best) and we are finally remembering to take them into the store just about every time now (haha, it takes a little while to retrain your brain). My next goal is to always remember at every store, not just the grocery store, so if I forget my bags I just go bagless and put it all into the cloth bags in my trunk instead.

19. These fine mist glass bottles are also great for all your DIY beauty and home needs—I use mine to make room sprays for almost every room in the house (we have a toddler and cats so room sprays are a good idea!) as well as face mists, bug spray, and hair sprays as well!

I definitely suggest looking around your house to see if you already have something in one of these categories before heading out to buy one (like I had enough old dish towels to make into cleaning cloths when I started, so I haven’t had to buy any new ones). Also, another tip, I found for me that I had to remove items I didn’t want to be using anymore from the house and that forced me to make a change. Once I stopped buying plastic food bags, I became annoyed that I always needed one and that’s what finally made me get some beeswax wraps and silicone bags instead. Hope you found a few practical ways to reduce waste at your house! xo. Laura