Zero-waste mother claims lockdown is easy for her family because she already grows her own food, cuts up old t-shirt to use as toilet paper and homeschool her children.

A mother of three whose family wiped out debts of nearly $50,000 (£40,000) in four years by following 'zero waste' principles has revealed how their self-sufficient lifestyle means they are taking the COVID-19 lockdown in their stride.

Facing a mammoth debt of $68,000 back in 2016, Amber Allen, 31, a full-time YouTuber, from Ontario, Canada, and her software developer husband Joseph, 32, became solvent again by adopting a minimal eco-friendly lifestyle.

They started selling most of their belongings, only buying secondhand replacements, growing their own fruit and vegetables and using makeshift reusable nappies and toilet paper as well as drastically reducing their spending by living sustainably. The couple said it means their children- Indie, Galaxie and Selkie are not struggling at all with self isolation.

Amber pictured with her children.

Amber in her farm

'we went into lockdown on March 11 and didn't freak out at all because we knew we'd be able to cope. We try and live as close to zero waste as possible, so things like stocking up on toilet paper wasn't an issue for us. In our house we only have ethically sourced toilet paper for guests. We all used reusable cloths instead of toilet paper. I make them by cutting up old t-shirts or blankets. We use the cloths, wash it and hang it up to dry. Then we can use it again and again'.

Amber's husband, Joseph,pictured with a pig

Joseph pictured with their son Galaxie

'I do same thing with Galaxie cloth nappies,wash them out and use them over and over'.

Amber who raises her children on plant-based diet, also strongly believes we should embrace the simpler way of life imposed on us by the lockdown.

She said;'People should learn to enjoy the simplicity of the situation rather than fighting it'.

Amber with their pet-dog

Amber enjoying the company of one of her children amidst the lockdown.

Amber pictured with the fruit she grew herself

'Isolation makes you evaluate what you have in life, and rather than buying more stuff or stockpiling, people should take the time to work out what they don't use and give it away to other people.'

Amber who grew up in Québec, Eastern Canada, first became interested in the environment and the animals in it when she was just 12 and despite her family eating meat, turned vegetarian.

She said; ' I loved animals - I didn't want to eat them - we lived next to a forest and I'd always be running about in there with the animals.'

Amber's child, Indie,in the kitchen

Eating carrots that have been grown on their farm.

'My entire pantry is filled with reusable jars that I've either found, or bought second hand from websites like Facebook marketplace.' She said

'if I found a bird with broken wing, I'd take it back home and nurse it better. Or if I found abandoned cats or dogs then I'd take them home and find them a new owner.'

Amber's next step aged 17, when she moved to student halls at Dawson College in Montreal, Canada, where she was studying film and communications, was to start living sustainably.

'back then I was a king student, so I was living sustainably because I need to'. She said. 'I only wore clothes from what we callt shops, and I'd wash them in the bath using a bar of soap, to save on the electricity.'

Living in a city was difficult for nature-loving Amber, who also found ways to bring the natural world into her home.

Amber said her children (pictured) often go to friends' houses and see that their lifestyles are different.

Amber's children pictured picking seeds from a sunflower to eat or cook at a later date.

She said:'I started growing vegetables inside the apartment. I used secondhand container to grow tomatoes and bean in otherwise, I'd put soil in secondhand kitchen bins, or used kiddie paddling pools to grow larger veg in.'

Then, in 2013, aged 24 and a single mum to Selkie, she met David on a dating site, Ok Cupid. The pair clicked instantly as they say they were both 'spiritual people', but Joseph was not in tune with Amber's sustainable way of life.


She said:'let's put it this way, he had 100 T-shirts, 100 bottles of cologne and couldn't get his head round why I had so little stuff.'

After dating for five months the couple moved in together I'm October 2013 and had baby Indie in July 29,2015.

Amber with her children (Indie and Selkie)

Amber with a placard promoting zero waste initiative and lifestyle

Amber's family don't use toilet roll but instead, a rewashable cloth and her youngest child's nappies are also cloth she washes

Happily building their life together, they did not realise how much they were spending until 2016, by which time their debts had reached an eye-watering amount.

'we had CAD$50,000 worth of school loans to pay off between us and Joseph just wanted to buy everything completely new, all the house furnitures and household items and I suppose that's where we went wrong.' she said.

'I suppose I ignore it for a while, and we were in denial, but we realised on top of the school loans, we owed another $18,000 so $68,000 in total. We knew we needed to do something about it.'

Amber pictured with her three children (Selkie, Indie and Galaxie)

Amber and Joseph make and grow their own food - pictured here making dough from scratch.

So, the couple quickly overhaul their lifestyle.

Amber said: 'i thought "I'm good to lead by example" and I started getting rid of stuff I didn't need anymore. We sold alot of our items and got to the point where 90% of our things were thrifted. We saved so much money by cutting back.

And by 2018, the family was debt free and have since embrace an ethical lifestyle - Amber citing her desire to take care of the environment as one of her main motivations.

'in our house, we only have ethically sourced toilet paper for guests. We all use reusable cloths instead of toilet paper. I make them by cutting up old T-shirts or blankets. We use the cloth, wash it and hang it up to dry the we can use it again and again. I do thesame thing with Galaxie's cloth nappies - wash them out and use them over and over again (pictured).'

Pictured is some of the food including apples, ginger, onions and courgettes Amber has grown.

'I don't believe anyone can live completely Zero waste, but our family try our best - even though we're not perfect - to produce as little waste as possible. But for me, the world, is a gift, and we all need to do what we can - however small to take care of it.'

And Amber, who currently homeschools her youngest children while Selkie (the oldest) goes to mainstream school, has plenty of techniques for keeping the family's waste as low as possible.

'my entire pantry is filled with reusable jars that I've either found or bought secondhand form websites like Facebook marketplace' she explained.

Pictured is a loaf of bread the family made themselves at their home in Canada.

Pictured is the variety of vegetables Amber has grown as well as some pretty flowers.

'I fill them up at a store where everything - from cereal and rice to spaghetti and oat meal - is sold loose, so you don't use any plastic. I do sometimes buy supermarket clearance food, because I know it'll end up on a landfill site, so if I can't save the plastic, at least I can save the food waste.' She said.

But as often as she can, Amber tries to grow her own produce.

'I grow all sorts of fruits and veg in my garden like apples, tomatoes, cucumber and beetroot in the summer time.' She said.

'I prepare for winter by preserving the summer batch. In summer, I'll do things like pick some tomatoes, boil them and turn them into sauce so I can freeze and preserve it.'

Selkie, 8, is pictured drawing chalk on the grounds of their home

Galaxie, 2, is pictured inspecting some of the root vegetables grown at her home.

Living on the bearest minimum, Amber insists that half the items found in an average household are not necessary.

She said : 'our kitchen is very basic - there's no coffee maker or toaster. We use the o en to toast our bread in.
We have one proper knife to chop things up and one chopping board. Not having loads of utensils means we save on washing up water, too.'
We get all our cutleries and crockeries in thrift stores, so it never matches, which means we're a lot more laid back if something does break - because it's not part of a set.'

And thesame rules apply to her children's toys.

Amber's children is pictured spreading homemade germ onto homemade bread at their kitchen table.

Some of the plants grown on the land includes sunflowers, which Amber uses for its seeds.

Amber is pictured picking tomatoes - which comes in yellow, red,and orange - at her home.

'we don't let our children have load of toys, and the toys that they do have are from thrift stores.' Amber said. 'everytime we get them a new toy, we take one away and donate it to someone else. It actually means the kids take a lot better care of their belongings. We don't watch TV much either, we prefer to make our own fun. We built the kids a soundbox made out of wood we've foraged, and our next project is to build a play house.'

The Allen family wardrobes are also reflective of their minimal approach to life.

Amber said 'i have less than 30 items clothes and I only have three pairs of shoes - slippers, rubber boots and slip on shoes.

Amber also use the fruit grown on her land for decorations over winter.

'we have lots of less clothes than most people and all our clothes are from thrift stores. I own less than 30 items of clothes and I only have 3 pairs of shoes - slippers, rubber boots and slip on shoes. I am a vegan, but I do get leather shoes secondhand, because they can last a lifetime - which means I can pass one pair of shoes down to all my kids, plus the meat has already been used, so it's reusing the world's resources.'

Amber, pictured gardening.

Amber, who became a full-time YouTuber in 2016, also shares her pair of wisdom about sustainable living with her 230,000 followers.

She said: 'I set up my YouTube channel as a way to document how we were getting ourselves out of debt. I wasn't embarrassed about it - I wanted to share how we were doing it, and that eventually led to living a zero waste life.'

Nowadays, Joseph is very much onboard with their eco-friendly lifestyle.

'He saw that the lifestyle meant we were getting out of debt. Now he realises family and looking after the world around us are what is important. Not having stuff.' She explained.

But while her husband now shares her philosophy, Amber admits her lifestyle will not suit everyone.

Sun-dried tomato! Amber's garden grows a variety of fruits and vegetables.

Amber recalled 'my oldest kid, Selkie, had been a friend's for tea and she said "mummy, they've got so much garbage in their house." I had to explain that not everyone lives like us and it's okay they have more rubbish than we do. I do appreciate that no one can completely Zero waste unless they live off gird, though, and that it's harder for some than it is for others. Still, even the tiniest change can benefit the earth. I'd never judge for the way they live their life and I know everyone have their own reasons for doing things and I respect that. I know we're very lucky to have gotten ourselves out of debt by living so frugally and I know not everyone can do thesame.'

Amber teaches her children about the environment, with Selkie sketching 'THERE IS NO PLANET B' in chalk in their garden.

Pictured is dried fruit from the garden that Amber uses to decorate their home. 

Now, as the world is gripped by coronavirus and many people are facing indefinite lockdown, Amber believes the time can be spent constructively and may even encourage people to consider a more sustainable way of living.

She said : 'every January, we do a "no spending challenge" where we don't spend any money for the whole month. Occassionally we do a "pantry challenge" where we eat everything in the pantry before buying anymore food.
People should set themselves an "isolation challenge" and see how self-sufficient they can really be. I think alot of people would end up surprising themselves. '