• Home
  • About
  • Little Leaf | My Web Design Business
  • What do you want to do?
    • Project 333 – Capsule Wardrobe
    • Understand what miscarriage is like
    • Read a pep talk
    • Travel to Puerto Rico
  • Contact
    • Advertise & Disclosure
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Our Little Apartment

Less Stuff, More Life.

  • Minimalism & Decluttering
    • How I Learned to Stop Being a Slob and Started Cleaning up After Myself.
    • Decluttering, Cleaning, and Saving Money in the New Year.
    • Why I Want to be A Minimalist.
    • How to Determine When You have Enough Stuff.
    • On A Bit of Minimalist Travel // Why & How to Pack Lighter.
    • How Routines Have Made My Life Better.
    • A Tiny Christmas.
    • Why I Take a Social Media Break.
    • Or Do Without.
    • All posts about minimalism & decluttering
  • Saving Money
    • My Cleaning & Meal Planning Routines.
    • How and Why We Budget.
    • Doing a Buy Nothing Month.
    • Choosing between Convenience and Values.
    • Frugal Tips
    • 6 Ways We Save Money on Groceries.
    • My Favorite Little Ways to Save Money.
    • Being a One Car Family, Part 1.
    • Being a One Car Family, Part 2.
    • All posts about frugality & saving money
  • Green Living
    • Cloth Diapering
    • 9 Ways I'm Going to be Greener at Home.
    • How to Eat Less Meat
    • Green Living: What I Use to Clean.
    • Airing my Clean Laundry.
    • Still Shampoo Free.
    • All posts about green living & sustainability
  • Motherhood
    • Miscarriage & Pregnancy Loss
    • Pregnancy Updates
    • Gabe's Birth Story
    • Theo's Birth Story
    • Everything You Need to Know about Babywearing.
    • Sleep Training Success without (Many) Tears.
    • On Careers and Ladders and Motherhood.
    • Answering Questions: Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Motherhood
    • Anxiety, Committment, and Childbirth, Oh My!
    • All posts about motherhood & parenting
  • Career & Business
    • Tools I Love for Administrative Tasks & How I Use Them.
    • How I Organize Tasks & To Do Lists.
    • My Freelance-aversary & Some Thoughts on Making Your Life What You Want.
    • How I Make Money Online.
    • Why I Use the Genesis Framework.
    • Why I Love Redbooth for Project & Task Management
    • Working from Home Tips & Time Management Strategies.
    • How Does She Do It All? She Doesn't.
    • Working Mama // Figuring Out Child Care.
    • Reader Question: Discerning A Career Path.
  • Travel
    • Our "Workcation" at the Outer Banks.
    • Traveling with a Babe.
    • Costa Rica and Puerto Rico Visit, Part 1 | Lazing about at a resort
    • Puerto Rico, Part 2 | Eating our Way Through Old San Juan
    • Where to Stay & What to Eat in Puerto Rico. (Part One)
    • What to Do & See in Puerto Rico. (Part Two)
    • Anatomy of a Mini Getaway.
    • Western Massachusetts
    • Toronto, Canada
  • Search
Green Living & Sustainability, Personal & Life Updates

FAQ Round Two.

Filed Under: Green Living & Sustainability, Personal & Life Updates Leave a Comment

Can we call them FAQ even if one one person asked the question?

Anyway, a few more questions and their answers…

Lily asks: What were the first changes you made to your life(style) when you decided that living green was a priority for you?

What a great question, Lily! The very first, most important change for me was reducing waste. This has taken different forms as I’ve grown and learned more in this lifestyle. At first, it was simply getting a water bottle to avoid all the plastic water bottles I was going through. I started to refuse bags at the store if I could just throw what I’d bought in my own big purse-slash-bag. It slowly, naturally spread to other things. One day my senior year of college, we ran out of paper towels in our house. We just started using normal towels instead. And never bought more paper towels. I didn’t think twice about it. And we saved tons of money. I am convinced that no one has an excuse to not be doing these things. It’s insanely easy to get a water bottle. Or wash your towels instead of getting disposable ones. It saves money and resources. Win-win.

Now, I avoid most all disposable plastic containers (particularly if they’re non-recyclable). I make a ton of my own stuff, including cleaning exclusively with baking soda and vinegar. It’s all come so easily and has made so much sense.

I still have some areas where I know I can improve – less driving, not getting coffee if I’ve forgotten my reusable mug at home, keeping the house colder, and so on. I think the more you become aware, the more you are inclined to want to do. And that makes me happy. Nothing seems to take an unusual amount of effort or thought – it’s just the way things are done.

Ashley asks: What about your top 5 fave blogs to read and what your fav blog post you’ve written so far.

Ah! A hard one. I hate picking favorites – because then someone ALWAYS feels left out, you know? Since I am often one who feels left out (I am so sensitive that I am sad when a blogger I love doesn’t have me in their blogroll. It’s pathetic.), I’m going to a few awesome blogs that might be under the radar, how’s that? Those bloggers who I love and think, More people need to read this!

Hilary @ Alt Christian.
Callina @ The Gingerbread House.
Sara @ Walk Slowly, Live Wildly.

And a few bloggers I’ve discovered fairly recently and love them to bits. (Hi Kyla Bea and Nicole Antoinette!)

My favorite blog post I’ve written might be my post for Steph’s summer contest about summers at my grandparent’s growing up. I had such a unique childhood with my growing up overseas, and sometimes that part of me gets buried, so it was kinda of romantic to remember.

Laura asks: How did you find the courage to open your shop & how do you keep yourself motivated?

Ha. Truth be told, I often act and then think. So, with my Etsy shop, it wasn’t so much an issue of having courage – mostly because I figured, Eh, let’s give this a shot. We’ll see how it goes. Maybe people will like what I create?

I haven’t sold a ton yet, so I’m probably not the best person to ask about motivation. I get so much inspiration from books and photos and other Etsy creations that if I happen to be successful with my Etsy shop (when, not if! power of positive thinking, right?), I’m not concered about motivation. There are so many beautiful things in the world. Plus, I aspire to do many things – add candles, soap, and graphic design services. So, I already have big plans and motivation!

I say you go for it, create that Etsy shop! What have you got to lose, honestly?

And I want to share my latest creations for my brand-spankin-new Etsy shop.
My creation
Blue Dots Tote $13, Purple Birds Boxy Pouch $5, Hot Pink Star Mini Pouch $4.25

Share this:

  • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest

Related

December 4, 2008 · Tagged With: etsy, internet, reducing waste Leave a Comment

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to Our Little Apartment and receive notifications of new posts by email.

About Ashley

More about Ashley >>

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hey, I'm Ashley & this is my blog

web designer · vegetarian · coffee addict · obsessed with goal-setting · imperfect mother · wife to an academic · wannabe minimalist

I blog about these things and our attempts to live a simpler, greener life in a small city in Massachusetts.  More>>

Get my posts via email!

Enter your email address to subscribe to my blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Instagram

Follow on Instagram

Most Pinned Posts:




Search

About Ashley

Read More…

Saving Money & Living Frugally

Doing a Buy Nothing Month.

Every so often, my eating junk food gets a little out of control and do a little juice cleanse. To help reset my body’s ideas of … [Read More...]

All Saving Money & Living Frugally Posts >>

Simple Living & Minimalism

Long Distance Moving and Decluttering – A Few Tips.

We're in the midst of a long distance move to Massachusetts this month (in the nomadic portion of our move - we moved out of our … [Read More...]

All Simple Living & Minimalism Posts >>

Green Living & Sustainability

Choosing between Convenience and Values.

A reader asks: How do you decide when to focus your energy on better choices versus choosing convenience? I think it can be so … [Read More...]

All Green Living & Sustainability Posts >>

Motherhood & Parenting

The Story of Eleanor.

(Warning, this post will contain mentions of bodily fluid) How Eleanor Came to Be. I want to write this all down while I still … [Read More...]

All Motherhood & Parenting Posts >>

Career & Business

A New Leaf. Little Leaf.

(Yes, I am a dork.) Your website should be like an extra employee. Who works non stop 24/7. I recently overhauled my site … [Read More...]

All Business & Career Posts >>

Recipes

Recipe: Curried Greens and Chickpeas

Recipe: Vegetarian Ramen.

Recipe: Sweet and Sour Tempeh with Pineapple and Cashews.

Recipe: Tofu Lettuce Wraps.

Recipe: Bistro Broccoli Chowder

All recipes >>

Copyright © 2026 · Our Little Apartment Custom On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in