Hey, Green Junkie!

Today, I am chatting with the founder of Big Bee Little Bee’s, Amy Leinbach.

She is opening up about how her company came to be, what motivates her to invent new products and the messages she wants you to know about living green – from one mom to another.

This convo is full of life hacks and tips on how to lead by example, get your family involved and take off all the pressure while living more sustainably.

In this episode we will discuss,

• How Big Bee Little Bee started
• How to avoid mildew in your bath toys
• A brilliant new take on the straw
• Easy ways to lower waste
• Products that are making lower waste more second nature
• How to stop feeling guilty about not being zero waste and what to strive for instead
• Fun ways to get your kids involved in going green

You’ll discover that and so much more in this episode.

If you love this podcast be sure to leave a review and share a screenshot of this episode to your IG stories. Tag @greenjunkiepodcast so I can shout you out and publicly say thanks. 

Thanks for listening and being here.

Your green bestie,

Xoxo Stephanie

Hang With Amy:

https://bigbeelittlebee.com/

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https://www.instagram.com/bigbee_lilbee/

https://www.tiktok.com/@bigbee_lilbee

Previous Episodes Mentioned:

Episode #9: Eco-Organizing: Reusing What You Already Have

Episode # 27: Eco-Guilt – Just Drop It

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https://www.goodgirlgonegreen.com/green-sustainable-coaching-calendar

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Produced by: Alecia Harris

Music By: Liz Fohle

Listen Below

Transcript for Episode 29

Stephanie Moram 0:07
Hi, Green Junkie, I'm your host Stephanie Moram and today I have the pleasure of speaking with Amy Leinbach, who is the owner of Big Bee little bee. They are a mommy daughter, women owned product based business. Their eco friendly goods make it fun to waste less and reuse more. They've developed several innovations like the Scrubby that replaces disposable plastic loofahs; Build a Straw, which eliminates the need for disposable plastic straws; reusable paperless towels that help to cut back on your use of disposable paper towels, and the brand new marker Parker that protects your markers from drying out and getting thrown away before they should, which little B seven year old daughter personally invented. I totally love that they believe prioritizing the protection of our environment should start young. So they design their products with those kids and adults in mind and they're committed to ensuring that their products are as affordable and as accessible as possible, because they believe everyone should have access to usable goods. 1% of their profits are dedicated to supporting the protection of our beautiful planet.

Stephanie Moram 1:22
Before we continue on, please subscribe to the Green Junkie Podcast on whatever platform you are listening to.

Stephanie Moram 1:29
So hello, Amy, thank you so much for being here. I really, really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to chat with me for a little while.

Amy Leinbach 1:40
I'm so excited to be here. Thank you.

Stephanie Moram 1:42
You're very welcome. So let's dive right into it. So tell me a little bit about yourself. Tell the audience who you are and how you started on your sustainability journey.

Stephanie Moram 1:54
Hey, so who I am, let's see, I'm a mom in Southern California. And I started Big Bee little bee I think about five years ago. Now I'm terrible with timelines. And we started as a baby products business. I actually started with a specialty towel, making it a kind of safer and more comfortable to dry your baby and evolved from there. As my family kind of evolved, I started becoming interested in living a more sustainable lifestyle when I think Marlowe, my daughter was about two years old. And the products that I invent because I'm an inventor, kind of follow what my interests are at the time and I just became more and more and more interested in sustainability as I got more educated on the subject. And so the inventions follow that and we kind of moved away from being a baby products business and into creating fun reusable goods. I'd say where we're not, we're not quite perfect as I know that you always support and I love that. But we really make the effort. We've really cut back on the use of our disposable the use of disposable goods through the use of our own products and other awesome company's products. And it's a fun journey and I'm excited to see kind of where we go as a business and where we go as a family from here.

Stephanie Moram 3:21
Well I love your products because I have them. I would love for you to share because your first adventure was the scrubby and so people that are listening probably have no idea what that is. So I would love for you to maybe explain what that is because it's a great tool. And I would love for people to have kind of a visual of what that is.

Amy Leinbach 3:39
Yeah, for sure. It was actually the second invention, the first invention the towel was well you wouldn't know because not on the market anymore. But the first invention the towel they don't actually manufacture anymore because it doesn't fit kind of the the overall brand as it exists now. So she was a baby when that towel was created and came out and when the scrubby came out she was about two and a half years old. And she was in that phase where she wanted to be very you know really trying to be more independent and I always want to foster that. And so she wanted to wash herself in the tub but a two and a half years old wasn't doing a phenomenal job and I started exploring different tools to help her do that to help learn to wash herself. I know that part of the motivating factor to make her really want to use the thing that would wash her. So I created a tool I wanted her to use. So the scrubbing is a silicone scrubber that helps little ones learn to wash themselves. So when I was looking at the important kind of features I wanted to bring in (that I couldn't find another products) was I needed it to have a comfortable gripper, I needed to be sized for her for one, you know not some big scrubber made for adults. So you know this only has a three inch bristle bass in you know diameter. And it has a handle that's built for her grip, like when they're really just kind of have those gross motor skills, and not the fine motor skills. So it's a nice textured grip. And I didn't want it to trap, trap water in there for growing yucky stuff in the center of it. So it is solid piece of silicone and when you hold that handle, you can feel that it's solid, because there's no open space inside. And, you know, obviously I wanted it to not be disposable.

Amy Leinbach 5:30
So the scrub, Marlo uses now is actually the same exact scrubby she's been using, and is the first sample of the product we ever had. So that sample came out, I think when she was a little over two, and she's still using it, you know, and you know, you can boil it sterilize it, and and all that. So yeah, I needed it to be something that you didn't throw away that could last you, you know, a long, long, long time, and really fit her body. And since then it's funny because I love when when our members of our community point out alternate uses for our products and and a lot of the parents started using the scrubby for as part of their skincare routine before I even saw it or started doing it myself. And so now it's kind of a selling point for us. So the kids use it for their bodies and and parents have one for themselves for their face. And since then, by request of our community, we created a big scrubee a little while back. So that's what the scrubee is.

Stephanie Moram 6:30
And I really appreciate that you made it solid, where you hold on to it. So for anybody that might be a little bit more visual, it's shaped like a beehive. And then it has like the part that you hold on to is looks like also like a honey jar beehive. And so that part is what solid and I appreciate that because if there's any mom's listening, and you've had a rubber ducky or anything like that made of like natural rubber or anything, when there's a whole mold grows in there and that totally grosses me out. So when I bought toys when my kids were little, I made sure that there was no hole because I was on the internet Googling something and people cut open their rubber duckies. And I was like, yup not buying that after I saw the mold.

Amy Leinbach 7:15
Yeah, fortunately I saw a lot of that same stuff at that time on the news was covering a very popular teether item that had a hollow center and it hit the news, like I feel like Marlo wasn't born yet. And so I'm glad that happened. Because I did not know of that.

Stephanie Moram 7:28
I never thought of what can happen with the hollow toys and went through a whole purge of all the hollow toys that we had. And then I was like, Ooh, I don't want that. But I didn't even know about it. You know at first. And so that's really great that you created something that's not hollow. And speaking of ways to use it. I asked because I have a couple of them. Amy was nice enough to send me some. And I have small ones and big ones. And I've used them on my face. The kids use them. And then I've also used them like to wash my veggies.

Amy Leinbach 8:00
Yeah. So that's a popular one.

Stephanie Moram 8:04
So it's a great tool. So there's multiple uses for them, as well. And I just love to see all your different inventions. The other invention I would love you to talk about are your straws, and why you decided to make the Build a Straws.

Amy Leinbach 8:18
Ah, yeah, so there's a couple of reasons actually. So one, I just not a big fan of disposable straws. So the buildable feature was we there was a popular barbecue place we love to go to in our neighborhood. And they had these crazy long straws. I mean, they were bonkers tall, for a very small cup. And with a little kid, you know how they just even if when there's a straw, they're going to tilt it back. And so I always had to go and I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I go to their register and ask them for their scissors, cut the straw down and then try to clean the straw to make it fit for her. And I was like, man, there's just the big cup, the small cup, if I go to different places, and in my own home, every cup is a different height. Right? And I'm like, this got to be a way to to do this better, especially for kids. And then when I was figuring out the way that I wanted to solve that problem. Um, I always like describing I think about what are the features that I wanted to have like, what else about a traditional product, what I wish was different, right? And with some of the silicone straws, we would have a big problem getting to the center of it, like it's so long, and if it's so big, you know, if they're okay, it's like I don't necessarily know what's getting trapped in that middle section of the straw, right? I want to be able to see every part I want to be able to get to it easily. And so I was like well if I build it in such a way that it's segmented, then I know that I'm getting it fully clean and it is not difficult to do so even though I dropped mine in the dishwasher and I have no problem, they get fully clean. In the utensil part of the dishwasher, I separate them, I take them apart, and I put them in the utensil holder. But if ever there was like a sticky substance, there was this green powder I was using one's super easy to clean with a straw cleaner. And so yeah, it was just that segment and part was just my way to approach it that hit both goals. And then you know, of course, like you said, in my bio, I try to make things fun for kids and adults to really kind of get them on started in the sustainability journey and make it fun for them. The kids like to make like an eight foot straw if they could, you know, they find it fun, they mix and match colors. And so they want to use the straws because kids you know, a lot of kids love straws in general. And so this is one that they can have fun using.

Stephanie Moram 10:48
And I like about it because you send like a very small cleaner with it. So there's anyone listening and you've never used a reusable straw. And I get this question all the time. How do you clean it? Most companies, when you buy a reusable straw, you get a tiny look almost almost like a pipe cleaner, but it's not a pipe cleaner. And so with Amy's you get a much shorter one because you take apart the straw, so you can build it as big as you want and as small as you want. And I think you're the first like company or person that I saw with like buildable straws. I don't think I've seen that anywhere else.

Amy Leinbach 11:18
Yeah, it's it's protected. Legally I do file before I put things out into the world as an inventor. If there are buildable straws after me, which does happen.

Stephanie Moram 11:38
That does happen, it shouldn't be right. And I think it's such a great concept, like you said, because they're easy to clean, put them in the dishwasher. And then if you have like a small kid, they don't have to be as long and if you know my kids who like build like the longest straw on the planet with all the pieces, then they can have a long straw if they want to. So it's such a great concept to have. And, you know, straws are one of those things that if we can reduce how many plastic straws we use, generally that's going to help lower our waste. Of course, there's certain people that do still need plastic straws for different reasons. But if we don't need them, then using like a buildable straw that silicone it's easy to travel with too, right? Like it's not allowed.

Amy Leinbach 12:20
Ah, that's an excellent point. Because I just not too long ago, I think I introduced it like a year ago. And I'm now like really putting an updated version on the market is once I saw how many adults used it and used it on the go, I've been selling single straws in a tiny little pod with the cleaner inside of it that like weighs practically nothing, it fits in your back pocket. So it's the same build a straw, it's just a you know, a single pod that so slim that makes it so easy for you to take with you. And you think about like, Well, how would I clean it and take it home, you drop the build a straw in a cup of water, because it's segments, right? You just drop it in the water, swirl it around, dab it dry, and put it right back in your case until you can thoroughly you know, thoroughly wash it for that very reason. Like let's make it easy to just take it with you. And for people like me who will not be washing it I'll just put it back in the package and watch it when I get home because but some people do some people don't you know they want to so I'm just rolling around because people like well how do I wash on the go swirling around the cup, put it right back in this case and then everything is so easy to wash that you just give it a good clean when you get home.

Stephanie Moram 13:28
And I think when it comes to like lower near our waist, you know, or having that idea of like living zero waste. And living that low waste lifestyle when when companies like yourself and other companies can create products that makes it easy for people that this isn't a habit for them.

Amy Leinbach 13:45
I love that. Yes.

Stephanie Moram 13:47
Because for me bringing my reusable bag, my strong was my cutlery my you know napkins and all that stuff. It's like second nature for me, it's been so long, but then there's like that huge population where it's not second nature for them to bring something to bring their water bottle. So you know they're out there we you have like reusable bags that you can fold up into a bowl right like that easily fits in your purse. So the person that forgets their bag if it's always in their purse because it's not bulky, then easier for them to bring it so for your straws, they're not bulky, super small. They just you throw it in your bag, your purse, whatever it is you use, then it's easier for people that it's not a habit to remember to bring it with them or it's already there.

Amy Leinbach 14:34
I just think you have to make it easy and fun right we talk about like barriers to entry sometimes like how do I bring you around like I you know, convenience is such a part of huge part of the world today, right? I love convenience. I love the things just just arrived at my door like I think when they arrive at my door, I don't buy a ton of stuff but when I want to I'm like I need it now because you know it's kind of we've kind of been conditioned that way now, but when I think of my products, I'm like, How do I decrease the amount of work somebody has to do in order to use them? And that's why when you read my bio, it's like accessible, affordable, fun. You know, those are the things that are motivating, like, why would you want to use this over a disposable plastic straw? There has to be a way that I'm going to bring you into this, you know, I have to entice you to want to do it. Because those of us who are like, more deeply in the sustainable living community, like yeah, there's probably a little more work that we're willing to do. But when we're introducing somebody into this way of living, there's got to be good incentives for doing it. Right. And I'm not talking about like money incentives, I'm just talking about like, why why would I want to? Well, let me tell you why you want to, you know, and it has to be something in it for you personally, I think you personally are the planet, you know.

Stephanie Moram 15:57
I 100% agree, like you have to make it easy for that person to want to make different choices. So a glass straw, I love my glass straw, like I love my glass straw, but I only use it at home because it's not convenient to bring it out and about even if I wrap it up. So for somebody that's new to the sustainability world, a glass straw would probably be a barrier for them, because they're like, Well, what happens if I drop it? What happens if this, this and this but then if there's another option for that person, where it's like, it's a tiny little container, and you take the straw part, and you just like put it in your pocket, they might be more susceptible to be like, I'll try it because it's not taking me a lot of work or, Oh, here's a, you know, a reusable bag that you crumple up into another little bag and you don't even know what's in your own, like in your bag or purse. They're again, more likely that they will take that on versus big, bulky organic cotton, cloth bags that I love and bring everytim. But someone that's new to the world might say, Yeah, that's a lot of work for me to carry these with me. Yeah, so yeah, I I just love how you your thought process of creating and inventing is you're looking at the new person, you're looking at that new person that is like that really mint green that like is so light green, where I'm personally so dark. I'm almost black, you know, kind of green, and I love how your mind works that you're like, I want people to start living sustainably. So what can I do to make it easy for them?

Amy Leinbach 17:31
So I'm very lucky to have parents who aren't green minded at all. I'm working on it. Right? I've been working on it. They're getting there. But man oh man, were they not. And with the reusable towels that I have… It's so funny. At first my dad was like, yeah, no, right. He's all paper towels like, this is this. He's conditioned for so many years and loves them. And like, I feel like it was only like a month ago or something maybe two months ago that my dad's like, I'm really using your towels. Thanks, daddy. He said, I like them. I find myself grabbing for them more. Because they're really useful. I'm like, Yeah, Daddy, I wouldn't make them if they weren't. And one of my best friends. She is like the kind of like the anti green. She's like, I do not care. Like, I don't care. And yet she uses a lot of my products because she likes them better. So I'm like, look, I don't care why you're using it. I don't. I've always said this. Like, I don't care if you're using it to protect the planet, or you're using them because you just want to save money and you don't really care that it's a waste producer. I don't care, whatever it is that that brings you around I'm good with and and I've always loved about your message that you are so not judgy right? You were so not judgy about so many things related to you know, adopting this lifestyle, right? You're always saying like, what if I forget my straw? What if I forget my bag? Like, should I feel guilt? No, absolutely not. I've been known to take my daughter right from school to the car and into the smoothie shop. You know, and I forget my straws, right? And, so we use the plastic straw because I'm not gonna take the lid off for her. Because that's a recipe for disaster. And I think of you and I don't feel any guilt. You know, I don't feel guilty. It's like it happens. You know, I'm human.

Stephanie Moram 19:24
Yeah. And I you know, side note, I haven't always been like this. It's also a process for years that I've been on this journey. And it's a learning curve, right? I was that person that would be like, You do know that you can recycle that. You know, you know, that can be composted, and I think we all go through that journey of you know, what I'd rather a large group of people making a change from a handful of people kind of just trying to be eco, like trying to be eco perfect.

Amy Leinbach 19:57
Yeah. Right.

Stephanie Moram 19:58
So you know, if you can get your straws out to like 1000s of people, and they use them half the time. Or you can get them out to like, I don't know, 20 people, and they use them all the time. Obviously, the 1000s of people using it half the time are going to have a huge impact, because they're still using less plastic straws. So that's always been my message. And I think it just resonates with people because it doesn't have to be about perfection. You know, you don't have to feel guilty about things. I just did a podcast episode not that long ago called Eco guilt, drop it, you can go listen to it, I have a huge rant. It's just, I just think that we're all doing the best we can and guilting somebody or shaming somebody because they're not doing it, though, the perfect way. And they're not super dark green, they're not going to want to change.

Amy Leinbach 20:52
No, shaming is never the way right educating, encouraging, motivating, is the way to create lasting change, right, like, and so I fully support that, like, take it lightly have fun with the journey, right? That's, I think why we had like a breakthrough moment. Two nights ago, my husband, we finished a container of ice juice, one of those big containers, and it had a flexible plastic wrap it had a sleeve, right. So you have the the rigid ish container, and you have the flexible plastic sleeve. And I watched this all go down. I watched my husband look at the bottle and he saw that there was a perforation, he read the thing it said to remove the flexible plastic exterior, he starts tearing it off, and takes the bottle and puts it through recycling and I watched the whole thing go down and my husband was like nowhere here. You know what I mean? Two years ago, he did never in a million years when he even looked at the bottle itself, right? And now he's calling to me from the other room. Number four is fine, right? Like, it's so great to watch. And it's because I never have shamed him about it. I'm just you know what I mean? Like just, let's just get there together. Right?

Stephanie Moram 22:08
And, and I talked about this example, when I recorded my Eco guilt. It's very similar to this is that I vegan diet, like I eat vegan, I've been eating vegan for over for like 12 years kind of on and off. And when I started on my vegan journey, I always looked at it as it's one day at a time, I'm going to do the best I can. And if I slip I slip up, if I eat something that's an animal product, literally shit happens, and the next day will be better. And I apply that when it comes to green living, right? So for me, I look at it as you know, there's extremists that are in like the vegan world, and they want everyone to be vegan, and they get very angry when people eat meat. But I look at it as you know, my husband ate a lot of meat 12 years ago, and now he's very plant based still eats meat. And for me I look at it, I'm like, isn't that a win for the vegan community, somebody that ate meat almost at every meal, or an animal product at every meal, seven days a week now might not even eat any animal products in a day. Like for me, that's like a win for the vegan community. So I apply that mindset to like the green living space. Like if somebody used plastic straws, three a day, and now uses them a couple of times a week because they remember to bring their silicone one with them. Again, isn't that a win for like, the environmental community, the sustainability community?

Amy Leinbach 23:36
I think it's massive. And it's just it's, I think if we can all come to it with that spirit, just less, right. It's that's why it's like I don't assign I love the Zero Waste community. But I would not call myself like a full part of it. Right? I'm I'm a less waster for sure. You know, especially with, you know, a young kid, it's it's zero waste is hard, right? So less waste, and I feel good about it. Right? I've had people come down on me a little hard for some of the, you know, not sustainable choices I make. And you know what, I'm so clear in my reason for doing this. And I listened to people like you who encouraged this behavior. Just do what you can and try to be better, you know, everyday and just no guilt, no guilt.

Stephanie Moram 24:28
Right. And I think the idea of zero waste is beautiful. Yes, like, and I think it's just a word that is used, but it's, I mean, if we're going to be honest about it, it's literally impossible to live zero, completely zero waste or something. Right. So it's kind of like the plastic free movement. You know, it's really hard to live plastic free and I strive for it, but with kids. I need car seats and there's plastic on it. So you know what I mean?

Amy Leinbach 24:57
Yeah. And so I think you know seeing low waste and less waste I think resonates with like the average person because they don't feel like they have to strive for like having zero waste. I feel like it's just a trendy word that's used. It's a nice word. But in all reality, it's striving for less waste, it's striving for a lower waste lifestyle. Again, it's a win for the sustainability community, if someone lowers their waste by X amount a week, I mean, that's a win, every little thing that we do is a win.

Stephanie Moram 25:29
So I agree. I agree. And so she has these awesome products on our website, you can go check them out. But I would love to just like, you know, we talking about, you know, the low waist, the zero waste lifestyle. And so if there's somebody new to the like the lifestyle or stumbles upon your website, or you meet on Instagram or anything like that, what is like a tip that you would offer them the everyday person that wants to make a difference when it comes to sustainability? And, you know, reducing their waste and consumption?

Amy Leinbach 26:01
That's such a such a great question. Because it would be the thing that helped, I would choose something that helps people see things in a different way. Okay, just because my priority is not my priority always, like kind of shifting your way of seeing things, right. And so I think that even though I think that I would choose, start making your own household cleaners, and I know that that sounds like you know, when the more of a non toxic living, which is phenomenal. And a big part of you know, what, what you and I are into, but it's more from the the way of looking at, look at those plastic bottles that get thrown away, thrown away and look at the way that the use of water, like shipping water, right isn't necessary, right? So kind of just looking at your liquid house cleaners a different way, like so much of what they're contributing into that bottle, when you buy something off the shelf shelf at the grocery store is water, right? So even if you didn't want to make your own cleaner, I know you do. I believe you do vinegar cleaners, I do an alcohol cleaner. But when you're filling that actual bottle, you're seeing how much water you're putting in, and you're going to save money. So when you talk about helping people see it differently, oh my gosh, I just saved a fortune. That was extremely easy. That's mostly water. Right? And and man, I'm throwing a lot more stuff, less stuff out. Right. And so I think that that would be my choice for, you know, my suggestion for like, what can I do? Right? Because it takes so little effort. Right? If I said, here's a recipe with a little Casteel soap and some alcohol and water and essential oils, you can save a fortune. And the first time you mix your formulation, like you're gonna see its a piece of cake, you know what I mean? And sometimes you're gonna see that actually, that surface could have just been cleaned with water. Right? You have a spray bottle of water. It's amazing. You know, you want to wipe down your cabinets. Do it with water, you know, just spray some water. So, so yeah, I think that that would be my my tip.

Stephanie Moram 28:11
And I think it's such a great tip because I've had this conversation with so many people. I'll have conversation with people and they'll ask me a tip and I do give this tip as well because it's a great tip because it's again, it's easy. And if they just say decide to use alcohol and water or vinegar and water. They probably have to like they have water at home.

Amy Leinbach 28:35
Yeah, well we hope. Yes.

Stephanie Moram 28:37
You don't have to use essential oils if you don't want to. You don't have to buy castile soap if you don't want to you can literally use vinegar and water to get started. And if you already have cleaners at home, you can just use the bottles you already have. You don't even need to go buy a new cleaning bottle.

Amy Leinbach 28:54
Yeah, you bring up something interesting that I'm adding to my site this weekend. So I don't even know if you know because I launched I think last week I have these new glass spray bottles with a full silicone sleeve which is not why I suggested doing the cleaners. They're mostly they're mostly for a refill shops for my wholesale business. What I did was rather than building in the labeling system, uh you know for is it does it contain a stone cleaner or a multipurpose water glass, you know, whatever's in it. I did these little silicone bands that can go on the neck of the bottle. And the reason I did that, I'm about to list it separately that you can buy those bands, those four label bands and put them on your old windex container. It's the most of them it'll stretch their stretching right? So if you have I never encourage somebody which is funny as a person who makes goods and sells goods. I always say like, like you do use what you've got right so far you've got an empty spray bottle or it's about to be empty of Windex, okay. And and I say okay, let's help. Would you consider making your own you know, cleaner and someone says yes, then just write on it with Sharpie. If you don't care what it looks like, right, you don't even have to use the label bands unless you have this bottle that you think is pretty and it's gonna motivate you to clean. You just write in Sharpie, what it is now and reuse the bottle. You know what I mean? Like, just just use what you got and and it's going to save you a fortune and, but you know, I watch a lot of them. It's so funny. I'm on Tik Tok. Now, I watch, um, house cleaners, tackling dirty tubs and grout and kitchen sinks and all of that, and I'm having so much fun. And they just find myself wanting me to clean more. So find the cleaning motivation. So these bottles are very pretty kind of motivating, but you don't need them, you do not need to buy one of my glass spray bottles, you don't need to buy it, it's just you know, if it's gonna sit on the counter and you want to look at it, then great, but if it's under the, you know, the undersink cabinet, you know, why not a reused, you know, a reuse spray bottle with vinegar and, and water. So I'm not allowed to use vinegar and water in my house, by the way, because my daughter complains about it, that's what we do. I will say this, as far as bringing your kids into the process, let's say you're just doing like you're doing a water spray. And you want your kid to like have fun, have fun with it. And obviously they can clean with water, right? Have them pick the essential oil scent that they want to use, right? Like what will make you want to clean more, right? And it was like Do you want to pick from one of these via like orange or lavender mint, whatever calls to them. And and kind of creates that ownership and who couldn't use help cleaning like tackle the baseboards, my friend, you're you're smaller than me get on the ground, your knees are, you know, don't hurt. Get on the ground, and let's help help me clean the baseboards.

Stephanie Moram 31:58
So, and I appreciate everything you said because you know, sustainability doesn't need to look pretty. And through sustainability often doesn't look pretty. It's not Pinterest, it's not Instagram, it's literally using what you have. So using that windex bottle, using peanut butter jars and almond butter jars, instead of going out and buying like the fancy jars, you know, it's really reusing what you already have. And I just want to say, if you do use glass bottles for cleaning, make sure you have silicone, like somewhere on the bottle because I have glass bottles, I use them for cleaning. And I have like a silicone bottom that came with them. And you know, you want it on the bottom because if you put it down a little bit too hard, you might like smashed. So and this led to the fall asleep because I dropped my bottle in the sink. Yeah, it was on the you know, the counter next to the sink and into the sink. And it wasn't, it wasn't? Well, it's smart to have like, I did see your bottles and the full silicone and I did see the little label. And that's so, so smart for that person that is like, I'm just gonna use a sharpie, like, I don't really care. But then you have another person that's like, I want to be green and I want to treat myself and I want to have a pretty label. Well, now they have an option.

Amy Leinbach 33:15
Yeah, I just find that I'm not I know I'm not unique. And like I have pride in how my kitchen looks. I love a pretty countertop and same same you know, and so I'm like I don't you know the the cleaners that I use like all the time, like I like to have right there on the top of the the on the counter, right, like a spray bottle of water I like to use right out there. So for me, that's not the scenario where I'm gonna reuse the Windex container. You know what I'm saying? Like, I want my spray bottle of water right there within reach and therefore I need it to look nice in my kitchen. You know, it's really it's just it's personal taste, right?

Stephanie Moram 33:52
And I think this comes back to like, that whole, like sustainability doesn't have to be perfect. And yes, reuse what you have. But also don't feel guilty because you decide I want to go buy some glass bottles or maybe find a thrift store and buy like the silicone and the silicone this it's still okay to do that. Just the point is you don't have to do it if you don't want to do and I think that's where people get that barrier like you said is oh I have to go by that I have to do this or I'm not sustainable enough when it's like if it's a choice you make you want to buy the glass bottles with the silicone and everything go do it like don't feel guilty because you want to do that. And then over here if you want to use the Windex bottle, that's great, you know what I mean?

Amy Leinbach 34:38
So it's it's we need options, right? We need options and you should see my Tupperware cabinet. It's all like Oh, you know the my daughter likes to slice Turkey in the in the container from Costco if anybody knows that. It's like a big old Tupperware. So most of my Tupperware are these things. No shame. No shame. My friend, she doesn't mean I don't need the beautiful Tupperware because I've got turkey. Oh, Tupperware is you know, and and then here I am with my beautiful spray bottle on my counter right. It's personal choices and it's what's going to feel nice for me.

Stephanie Moram 35:14
And if by having those glass containers on your counter and you're using, you know, alcohol and peroxide, like and doing these things, and it's gonna remind you to clean your house, then that's a win, you know, it's circling back to having the straws all accessible to people and easy to use having the bags that roll up in a ball, like it's all things to remind you to take certain actions, right? So if you have your glass bottles on your counter, and that's going to motivate you to clean and motivate you to make your own products, then hell yeah, do it right. And then there's other times in our life where we use you know, I've organized my whole kitchen, I didn't buy anything and all the drawers if you open them, I believe I did. I did do another podcast episode myself on eco organizing, you can go listen to it. And literally, all my drawers are organized with old boxes, and I cut up old almond milk containers because no one's opening my doors. So I didn't want to go in and buy like the fancy bamboo stuff. And there might be people out there that are like, yes, I want the fancy bamboo. Great, do it. But for me, I was like that's not a priority, right. And so my organization system is, you know, I played Tetris with a drawer and all the boxes to make it all fit, because I didn't need it to look pretty. So back to you know, it's all choices we make and just being mindful of those choices, and doing the best that we can with what we have in the time that we're making that choice.

Amy Leinbach 36:47
Exactly, exactly.

Stephanie Moram 36:50
So I always love your message and I just wanted to say thank you for being on Amy, this has been an awesome conversation. I would love for you to let the listeners know where they can find you where they can get your products where you hang out Instagram, Tik Tok all those places, so they can find you and learn from you.

Amy Leinbach 37:10
Sure, so you can find as the bigbeelittlebe.com like a buzzing bee. And if any of the products call to you, you can get 20% off your entire purchase with code Good Girl Gone Green. And I've been hanging out a lot on tik tock lately, I was resistant to tik tock for so long because it intimidated me. And now I'm on tik tock like every day, like I said, I'm watching cleaning motivation. And I also watch the dog videos. But as sharing on my account, I think my handle is Big B underscore lil b like lil b. And I'm sharing a lot of behind the scenes of my business and how this business goes and how product development goes. And so it's just a little bit of fun, I don't really feature the products I feature kind of how they came to be and the why and running this business kind of, you know, bootstrap this business still am and it's a fun journey. So that's mostly where you can find me on Instagram and Facebook too. But this is just a different way and I feel kind of really connected to the community, which is fun.

Stephanie Moram 38:15
And I will list everything in the show notes so you can find out where to find me. So you can stay connected with me on Instagram at Green JunkiePpodcast. And don't forget to subscribe to the Green Junkie Podcast on the platform you're listening on. If you're curious about zero waste, living sustainable fashion, or wondering how to read food cleaning and product labels, I've totally got you covered. You can have direct access to me your green living expert, you can click the link in the show notes where you can ask me questions and get a customized plan on how you can live a greener life. We can hop on a zoom call together we can you can ask me your questions via email or even use Voxer which is a web based app and we can have a conversation. I will be your personal green google and you can pick my brain. Thank you for listening and thank you Amy for being here and I will see you next Tuesday Green Junkie.