I feel like the number one thing that turns people away from living a sustainable lifestyle is they think it’s too hard and so expensive, which is funny because I spend less since adopting a sustainable lifestyle. Anyway, I thought it would be helpful to tell you guys what you don’t HAVE to do to live more sustainably, although it’s helpful the difference is minimal so you might as well not. So here’s my list.
What is Sustainability?
Sustainability has become more of a buzzword and companies have taken it upon themselves to tell you how to be sustainable while selling you unsustainable products. According to Oxford Languages Sustainability means the avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance.
In short, it’s just living with less or using less in order to maintain balance with the world. It’s just that. If you have to use diapers but instead of using the disposable ones, you use the reusable option, guest what? That’s sustainability! It’s not complicated and for me, it’s a lot more wallet-friendly too.
Crazy Sustainability “Hacks”
Let’s get into what are some nice but not necessary to live a more sustainable life. If you do any of these hacks that’s amazing I don’t mean to shame, some of these I have even tried some myself my point is just to let people know that you don’t have to have to do anything outside of using less to be sustainable. If you want to know how I live sustainability you can read that here for everyone else let’s read on.
Save pasta water
- I saw this on a zero-waste Instagram page and instantly was grossed out about it, they suggested you use pasta water to wash your dishes. No, that’s a hard pass for me. I’ll limit how much water I use in general but I’m not having sticky dishes that’s how you get sick and have a stinky house. You can use pasta water to water your plants I heard that was good and I tried it myself, I didn’t see a difference but it didn’t hurt.
Make your own soap/detergent
- This is something I want to get in to I’ll do a post about it, it’s helpful but not necessary. I use an all-natural soap named “Crystal” the bottle is recyclable and cruelty-free. It’s fine just try to use products that do more good than bad then graduate up.
Hand Wash Clothes
- I did this for a while and I dreaded laundry day. It’s so much work and the clothes take forever to dry and I had to do multiple loads. If I didn’t have so many clothes to wear and lived in an area where it wasn’t so humid, maybe. But using an eco-friendly washer and skipping drying or doing smaller loads can still help the earth.
Give Up Toilet Paper
- This is something I refuse to do, I’m not washing out s*** I get pee but poop, no just no. I know even though they biodegrade after few minutes it’s the deforestation that’s the issue. Buy recycled toilet paper costs roughly the same and no trees were harmed.
Spend Loads Of Money
- Please don’t buy every reusable or green product out there. Most of the time they’re green fishing anyway. Buy products you need and reuse what you currently have. Ideally, you want to buy as little as you can so no additional energy or resources are being used that are harming the earth. By consistently buying you end up doing more harm than good, so buy less and use more.
