A Boisbriand woman in her twenties has not purchased household products in 7 years.
“I make my own products for everything that involves washing the kitchen and the bathroom,” Audrey-Anne Guay, 28, explained to us in an interview.
Here are some ingredients used by the young woman to make her household products and wash the toilet, sinks and shower: white vinegar 12%, baking soda, percarbonate (to loosen laundry detergent), white clay, lemon and crystals soda.
“And often, I will mix vinegar with water to wash the floors, the counter and the table,” adds the woman who is a seamstress supervisor in life. I mix my products instead of buying household products.”
The book by Jean-Sébastien Marsan Free yourself through deconsumption also reviews the properties and uses of household white vinegar with 12% or 14% acetic acid by volume. It is described as a “non-toxic, biodegradable product sold at low prices”.
The book also talks about the multiple and very economical uses of baking soda.
Homemade lip balm recipe from Audrey-Anne Guay.
Photo provided by Audrey-Anne Guay
Homemade toothpaste
Audrey-Anne Guay also makes her own homemade toothpaste (recipe below), her hair gel, her hand cream, her lip balm (recipe also below), her bath bombs and her candles.
“I will buy in bulk so as not to have waste when I make my homemade products,” explains Audrey-Anne Guay, specifying that her toothpaste recipe can last a month.
“I buy my ingredients in large quantities from natural product stores, I make my products and then it spreads,” she adds.
The young woman has also already prepared a mascara recipe. “But it didn’t work very well for me, I found that it didn’t last long enough,” admitted Mme Guay.
Audrey-Anne Guay’s homemade toothpaste recipe.
Photo provided by Audrey-Anne Guay
$100 savings per year
Mme Guay began developing this type of habit after gradually using reusable sanitary napkins in his early 20s. This initiative saves him around a hundred dollars per year. “Of course I’m saving for sanitary napkins because it’s been 7 years since I bought one,” Audrey-Anne Guay told us. We are therefore talking about a saving of around $700 over this period.
Disposable sanitary napkins cost between $60 and $120 per year, according to the boutique Öko Créations, which sells washable menstrual pads. The lifespan of washable menstrual pads can be up to 10 years, she says.
By doing some research, THE Newspaper found stores that sell washable menstrual pads for around $14.
Accessible
Audrey-Anne Guay also explained to us that this type of habit is integrated gradually.
“I didn’t do it all at once, I went little by little and I didn’t find it difficult,” she says.
“I also make candles with glass yogurt pots, which can be given as gifts at Christmas,” concluded Audrey-Anne Guay.