5 Tips on Eco-Friendly Living for Beginners

If you’ve been scrolling through social media and finding yourself in a panic as you read news/information about the decline in our ecosystems and wonder what you can do to prevent this, you’re in the right place! As climate change increasingly threatens our wildlife and their habitats, now is the time to introduce yourself to a more sustainable lifestyle and slowly reduce your environmental footprint, so if you’re ready to make the change and begin your journey in creating an eco-conscious household, keep reading! 

Natural alternatives

The last thing you want to be doing is repurchasing products filled with chemicals that can be harmful towards yourself and others, so why not avoid all those health risks by making your own products. This goes for cleaning products, beauty products and much more! As you’re finishing up your store-bought products, slowly replace them one by one with natural alternatives. For example, bleach, which is super toxic to humans, animals and our environment, may cause various health issues in the long term when inhaled due to the acid-like chemicals found in bleach. After doing some research on the toxicity of bleach and natural alternatives, I’ve found that vinegar eliminates germs/bacteria a lot more effectively than bleach. All you need to make your own multipurpose cleaner is a reusable glass spray bottle (preferably amber), vinegar (diluted if desired), lemon essential oil (you can use any essential oils and even create your own blend, although lemon essential oil works best for this as it holds disinfecting properties and cuts through grease), it’s really that easy and super cost effective! You can also save your citrus fruit peel in a jar and infuse them in vinegar for a few days, that way you don’t even need to use essential oils.

Cut down on single plastic use

Minimise your single plastic use by investing in a stainless steel or glass water bottle which in the long term will save you money as you will only be spending around $20-$50 once for a reusable water bottle rather than spending $5 for each plastic bottle multiple times a week, this leads to spending thousands of dollars a year per person just on disposable plastic water bottles that majority of the time end up polluting our ocean or in landfill. Coffee cups cause pollution just as much as plastic water bottles, but don’t be fooled by paper coffee cups as they contain a layer of plastic which is what prevents the beverage from leaking through the cup. To purchase a reusable coffee cup, it’s generally around $10-$20 which again is a lot more affordable than the amount you spend each year on disposable coffee cups. This can be tricky as some cafes might not accept you bringing your own reusable cup, but that’s completely fine because you can save even more money by simply making your own coffee at home. Whether you use a coffee machine or not, you can have fun by perfecting your own recipe and sharing it with your family. If you’re looking for a healthy alternative to coffee, there is plenty out there! Such as cacao, apple cider vinegar, matcha, green tea and wheatgrass.

Grow your own food

Instead of going to your local store and buying overpriced fruit, vegetables and herbs that are packaged in plastic and have been sprayed with chemicals, try growing your own. You might be thinking this is not a tip for beginners, but it’s actually super easy and you don’t even need land to do this, you can simply grow your own produce in your backyard. If you’re just starting out, you can begin with maybe one type of fruit seed, one vegetable seed and one herb (or however many you like) and plant them straight in the ground or in wooden planter boxes. You can slowly expand your garden, even if you’re just wanting to plant the basics that you eat every day which may only be a few things, that’s okay because it’s still so much healthier to grow your own produce. If you’re worried about the time it takes to grow produce, don’t be! It will be extremely worth it by the time you get to start preparing and cooking meals using your fruit, vegetables and herbs that came straight from your garden. 

Keep your pasta sauce jars

When you buy pasta sauce in glass jars, keep the jars to reuse instead of throwing them out, you can also buy organic honey in glass jars that are reusable which are generally found at fresh produce markets. Glass jars can be so useful when looking for an eco-friendly alternative to things like plastic containers and plastic zip-lock bags. For example, instead of putting away left over or homemade snacks in plastic, store them in one of the glass jars you put aside from your last pasta dish, it keeps them just as fresh! 

Jars really do have multiple different uses such as using them to store your homemade cleaning and beauty products, making your own candles with no artificial fragrances, and you can even take them on the go with you to store your snacks in whether you’re going to work or the gym. Reusing things like this has such a positive impact on the environment as you aren’t putting extra plastic into the world and allowing it to harm our planet. 

Invest in reusable shopping and produce bags

On average, around 170 plastic shopping bags are purchased per person, per year which negatively impacts the ecosystems putting at risk our environment and marine life, so do your part in protecting our planet and say no to plastic shopping bags! Reusable shopping bags are typically sold at affordable prices, you can find them for prices as low as $2 if you shop in the right places, whether you spend $2, $5, or maybe even $10, you’re still saving yourself from spending a lot more than that each year on plastic shopping bags as well as protecting wildlife and decreasing pollution. Reusable produce bags can be a bit more on the pricier side but have recently began to make an appearance in your local department stores at lower prices, alternatively you can just skip the bag altogether and take your produce as is, in my opinion reusable produce bags have more of a use at a farmer’s market as you’re purchasing loose produce that doesn’t come with plastic packaging. Investing in resources like these that are created for the purpose of protecting the Earth and preserving its beauty for future generations are well worth it!

Written by Sarah Bennett
Find Sarah on Instagram