Tips for living a more sustainable lifestyle?

[Clio_86]

Not sure if this is where this thread fits...

I am interested in living a more sustainable lifestyle. This is something I have not been very great at in the past. So I am looking for some tips from others.

I saw an Instagram post just recently, where a person substituted using paper towels with using reusable cleaning rags. The account showed cleaning rags folded up, similar to a roll of paper towel, which can be pulled off a paper towel holder for cleaning. This is something I might try.

I have also started composting. I know this seems very simple, but it is new to me. I am also considering trying a diva cup.

I already try to wash things with cold water. I don't have a car and take public transit regularly. In summer, I grow at least one of my favorite vegetables (I have a very small garden space.) I am also trying to get better at using reusable shopping bags.

What other things can I do? Some thoughtful tips would be greatly appreciated.

[Golden Angel]

Hi Clio, You could try making your own cleaning products with natural ingredients and essential oil, these are less harmful from all the chemical cleaners we purchase and better for your health, I am sure you can find them online on how to make. We did have a recipie thread here on the forum, where we posted cleaning products etc, I will see if I can find it for you and bump up the thread.


If I can think of any more tips, I will post .

Love GA x

[Altair]

Some things I do..

- No meat eating; biggest contributor to deforestation worldwide, and very inefficient land use practice, especially beef industry..
- Cold showers; I take one every day, after a minute or so your body is used to it and it feels normal. It also gives a very cosy feeling when you get out of it..
- Keep air travel at a minimum; once every two years, usually, and only for trips to other continents.. (could do better here)..
- Buy organic food; better ecologically, no pesticide/herbicide so more chance for insects to survive and with it, birds..
- Wear more clothes in winter at home..

[Golden Angel]

Also some more ideas.

De-clutter your home on a regular basis they say let go of the old to let in the new lol, if you don't want to re-cycle your old clothes you can donate them to your local charity shops or even to help the homeless there will certainly be appreciated.


If you drink bottled water you can buy a water butt and connect it to a drain pipe to collect the rain water, I use this method then I place the water collected in my water distiller, and drink.


If like me you enjoy a bath rather than a shower, then take a shallow bath, occasionally I will enjoy a deep filled bath once in a while.


We are fortunate to have re-cycling bins, so I recycle as much as I can from plastic, food and general waste.

My husband also makes our own Colloidal silver which is a brilliant alternative to antibiotics, so good to dose up on if you are coming down with a cold or any fungal issues etc.

Our home does not have any central heating, so to warm our house up we have a gas fire in our living room and an electrical heater which is just used in our bedroom to take off the chill when cold.

Love GA x

[Clio_86]

Thanks everyone! Great tips!

[Winter Song]

Stop buying stuff. Or at least stop buying so much of it, and, whenever possible, buy it used. I've furnished my house almost entirely from yard sales, thrift stores, friends who were moving and didn't want to take things along, and through online classified ads. I buy most of my clothing secondhand, in thrift and consignment stores. When I do buy something new, it's a planned purchase, and I try to buy the best quality, longest-lasting, most repairable version of whatever it is. It may cost more up front, but I'll be happier with it and have less need to replace it over the long term.

Learn to properly maintain and repair the things you do have. Not only does this extend their usable life and keep them out of a landfill, but it can have other benefits, too. For example, using a clothes dryer is very hard on your clothes. So the decision to stop, or greatly reduce, using one in favor of air-drying will save you money on replacing prematurely worn-out clothes, as well as your electric bill. It will reduce your energy consumption (energy that may not be generated in environmentally-friendly ways). And since the clothing and textile industry is the second biggest polluter (after the oil industry), the longer you can wear a given garment or use other household textiles, and the fewer new clothes and textiles you purchase, the smaller your footprint. Learn how to mend worn and damaged clothes. It's not that difficult; our grandmothers and great-grandmothers all knew how to do it, yet the great majority of people in developed nations act like it's brain surgery, or requires "talent." Nothing could be further from the truth.

And this extends to so many things, not just clothes. The fewer unnecessary or ill-considered purchases you make, and the more things you know how to repair (or at least can take to somebody who does), the smaller your footprint gets.

Also, I've stopped, or at least drastically reduced, eating any fruit or vegetables that are shipped from too far away. I live in the western US, and will buy produce in-season that is grown within a long day's drive from my house (which includes much of California), but no further. I will not buy grapes flown in all the way from Chile just so I can eat grapes in January. I love asparagus, berries, and melons, but I only eat them when they're available in season from local/regional growers (rather than Mexico), which means I haven't eaten a strawberry since last July, or asparagus since last May.

And even then, there are some things I simply will not buy if they have to come from more than about five miles away. Lettuce and cucumbers are pretty packages for water, but that's about it, and the immense amount of resources expended to grow, harvest, pack, ship, and store a food that has no nutritional or caloric value to speak of, and at least half of which ends up thrown away uneaten, is not only unsustainable; it's insane. If the truck farm down the road from me has lettuce and cucumbers available during the summer, I'll buy them and enjoy my salads, but I can't justify doing so otherwise.

And on top of that, I generally try to produce as little non-compostable household waste as possible, and that includes recyclables. There is a glut of plastics and metals on the recyclables market, which means a lot of it ends up in landfills anyway. Recycling is only part of the solution to our ongoing waste problems, and at this point I don't think it's either the most important or effective part. The real solution is to reduce the worldwide demand for plastics in the first place, and that has to start with individuals making decisions, as consumers, to stop buying food and other products packaged in plastics whenever possible, stop buying household goods made from plastics when there are sustainable options available, and stop buying and using disposable products when re-usable ones exist. And yes, it's often more work to locate and use low- or no-waste, sustainable, re-usable options, but eventually you do get used to it, it becomes a habit, and it's just what you do, because you know that doing it matters.

Wow thank you Winter Song & everyone here, and Clio 86 - I wish your post could be pinned.

JL