5 Steps to Wellness in your Home

My word for 2018 is WELLNESS, so I'm trying to bring this into every avenue of my life. Including inside my home! When I shared a poll on Instagram Stories asking if you'd like to learn how we're incorporating wellness into our home - 100% of you said "yes"! So here ya have it, 5 steps that helped me get started on bringing "Wellness" in your home. 

Sweater // Ankle Jeans

First and foremost (and no this is NOT sponsored, but this is my referral link)...

JOIN GROVE COLLABORATIVE

This is hands down the service that kicked off my wellness in the home journey and quite honestly the #1 way I stayed on track and was introduced to new products. Their goal is literally to bring safe, sustainable products to every family. 

They email and/or text you each month to remind you to order and you can order nothing (no limit on how much you can skip), order what you did last month or add things. Even better, almost all the products are discounted - I did a comparison to the same products at Target and they were cheaper on Grove. They also give you exclusive access to products that you can't find at big stores (like the coveted peppermint Meyers soap!). 

Secondly, download the Think Dirty app on your phone and scan or search cleaning products before buying them so you know what products aren't harmful or toxic. It's absolutely crazy how many products are masked as "clean" but score a 7 or higher on the app. 

{ONE} Wool Dryer Balls + Essential Oils

This is my favorite wellness in the home hack. Where do I even begin on these 3 magic wool balls that I add lavender essential oils to every single dry? Here's everything they do or are:

• Reduce your drying time by 25%
• Soften your clothes 
• All-natural and chemical-free
• Hypoallergenic so even if you're allergic to wool, they work
• Last 1,000 loads
• Save you LOADS (see what I did there ;)) of money by not buying dryer sheets that leave a chemical residue on your clothes + save you energy/money with the reduced drying time
• Naturally, scent your clothes 

Just search "dryer balls" in Grove once you join. They're the Grove brand and only $16!

{TWO} Essential Oil Diffuser

Speaking of essential oils, I'm completely hooked. A lot of the time we diffuse them instead of candles. Why?

• Chemical free - a lot of candles produce benzene and toluene which are carcinogens!
• No flame around dogs or babies
• The smell lasts longer because it's dispensed slowly over a period of time
• Aromatherapy - it's amazing what a little lavender can do to calm us down, what a little lemongrass can do to make my home feel like a spa and what energizing blends can do to pep up our morning

We just use this $25 diffuser off Amazon. I even wrote a whole post on essential oils for productivity over on my business's blog. 

{THREE} Towels (not napkins or paper towels)

Ok, so we made it maybe a week straight with purely towels if I'm being honest. That said, I no longer buy napkins and I only reach for paper towels if it's something truly grimy. It was just crazy to me how many paper towels and napkins filled our trash. This has at least brought us awareness so we cut down on our usage. 

Funny enough, my favorite kitchen towels are the free ones Grove sends me. I have three now and they're so absorbent, sturdy and large. You can also find them on their site by searching "kitchen towels" once you join. 

{FOUR} ManaTEA

Speaking of reducing waste to make your home "well". I normally drink at least 3 cups of tea a day (just can't do coffee y'all) - that's over 1,000 tea bags thrown in the trash in a year! Enter the ManaTEA that I found at Target. Now I buy loose leaf tea, pop it into my tea diffuser and compost the leaves (see #5 on that topic). BOOM - no waste! 

True, you can compost some tea bags, but most of them aren't hemp or ingredients that are compostable so be careful and see #5 below for more info. 

{FIVE} Composting

Is it ok for me to share one thing that we've completely failed at when it comes to wellness for our home? Because we totally failed at composting. 

First off, I thought you literally compost ANY type of food - including meat. Ew, WRONG. So, so wrong. I like this article on 100 things you can compost. Here are some things you CAN'T compost:

• Meat! (including fish)
• Dog and Cat Poop (or any carnivores for that matter)
• Citrus Peels
• Onions - this and the above can kill worms and other things that help everything thing down
• Paper (ok, paper bags sure, but no glossy/coated paper)
• Take the sticky labels off your fruits and veggies!
• Ash and sawdust (from treated wood)

Secondly, the bag leaked on us one time and then another we didn't compost the bag well enough and our dogs got into it and got sick. I'm for sure not giving up here though! I'm determined to make this work y'all. 

I do love our little compost bin. Not to sound like a broken record, but it's from Grove which you can find by searching "compost" once you join. See, I wasn't kidding when I said I really do love Grove and you should join :).  Our bin is only $20 and the bags are $6 for 25, but honestly, I haven't shopped around on those yet to know if that's good or bad for compost bags. 

Any tips for me on this one?

Ok - so that's it! What other things do you do around your home to keep it "well"? I'll be asking this question on Instagram, so pop over to see the answers from others and share your own!

PS: Did you check out my new #CoolMom backpack earlier this week?! Under $100 and it has pockets for days! See it here. Plus, this blush stripe cabana top (as I like to call it) is 40% off!