In the past few years, I’ve naturally changed my lifestyle to becoming more environmentally friendly. For me, it’s about living with intent and being kind to the world in which I live in. We only have 1 planet to live on after all and I hope that my children, their children and so on, can enjoy its natural beauty. Becoming more environmentally friendly didn’t happen overnight for me and there are still so many areas that I could improve on. But with every little change that I make, it’s a step towards living a more eco friendly life. If you’ve been thinking about making some small changes yourself, here are 10 simple eco friendly tips to get you started:
10 Simple Eco Friendly Tips
1. Use a reusable coffee cup. In one of my previous posts, I mentioned buying keep cups for me and my husband. Other than not contributing to landfill, their functionality is much better than disposable coffee cups and we no longer have to worry about coffee splashing everywhere while driving. We love our keep cups so much that we enjoy our morning coffee’s in bed with them as well!
2. Use bars of soap. For the past few years I’ve switched from using bottled body soap to bars of soap and I haven’t looked back since. Not only am I cutting down on the amount of plastic I’m bringing into our home but it’s also cheaper as we buy in bulk. I usually use Dove’s Beauty Cream Bar but every now and then, I like to try other brands with natural ingredients such as goat’s milk.
3. Buy in bulk. Where possible, I’ll buy in bulk to reduce the amount of packaging, as well as save money and time. Every few months, I’ll visit Kakulas Brothers in Northbridge to stock up on my spices, flours and grains, while exploring whatever else they have on offer.
4. Use reusable menstrual products. After a lot of research I finally took the plunge a few years ago and got myself a Diva Cup! It was a game changer for me and if you’re sitting on the fence, I would definitely recommend getting one! It was a bit tricky to use at first but I got the hang of it soon enough. I also use reusable organic cloth pads when my period is lighter or on those days that I can’t be bothered with the cup. Surprisingly, I didn’t find it as gross or difficult to clean as I originally thought and the most wonderful thing about using these reusable menstrual products is that there’s no smell!
5. Cook more at home. After a long day at work, I’ve often been guilty of ordering takeaway or zapping up a microwave meal. But takeaway and microwave meals often means lots of plastic containers and packaging that isn’t recyclable. So when I can, I try to plan and shop for at least 3-4 main meals for the upcoming week so that I have everything ready for me to cook when I get home from work. I’ve also recently discovered meal prepping and try to have a few frozen meals ready to go on those days that I can’t be bothered to cook.
6. Use environmentally friendly cleaning products. Over time, I’ve switched from using traditional cleaning products to those that are more environmentally friendly. My favourite brand is Earth Choice and I’m also experimenting with making my own cleaning products, so if you have any tried and tested recipes do please let me know!
7. Use a reusable stainless steel water bottle. Not buying disposable plastic water bottles was one of the first things I ever did but I’ve spent a long time looking for the right stainless steel water bottle. I recently bought 2 Decor Elements Stainless Steel Bottles and it has a convenient flipseal that I can flip open with one hand – perfect! I’ll probably keep one at home and the other in the car.
8. Use up your makeup stash. If you’ve followed me for a while now, then you would know that I gave myself a no new makeup challenge back in 2016 and that’s evolved to me focusing on using up my makeup stash. I have to admit to buying a few new makeup items in the past year, however I’ve mainly stuck to using up my stash and only replacing essential items such as foundation and concealer.
9. Bring your own reusable bags. For the past few years I’ve had canvas bags with the intention of bringing them along with me to my weekly shopping run but more often than not, I would forget them at home! The recent plastic bag ban has finally given me the push to remember to have them on hand and I like to keep them in my handbag and car. In the off chance that I do an impromptu shop, I’ll try and carry the items or pop them straight into the boot of my car.
10. Eat less meat. I’ve never been a big meat eater, so eating less meat was an easy switch to make. My husband however is a big meat eater, so since I’m the one usually doing the cooking, it’s about finding the right balance between meat and non-meat meals that works for the both of us.
I hope that you’ve found 1 or 2 things to get you started on your eco friendly journey. If you have any eco friendly tips yourself, do please let me know in the comments below!
Marie xo
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