Moving into our new home, we made a conscious choice to adopt an eco lifestyle. This is where the journey has taken us so far and where we hope to go in living more consciously with a reduced footprint on the environment.
Disclaimer: When writing this post, I had so much to say that I almost wrote a book! Instead, I’ve cut it down, so keep in mind that this article doesn’t cover everything. I will continue to write about our eco-journey in the months to come, as I go into more depth on the topics mentioned today. Watch this space and let me know via the contact form or comments if you have questions or tell me what you would like to hear about first!
Isaac and I strongly believe that everyone has a part to play in reducing waste and making more eco-conscious choices every day. I was constantly seeing reminders from some of my favourite eco-bloggers on instagram @ethicallykate and @travelfordifferenceblog. I was so encouraged and inspired by their message that everyone can do something. I’ve clung to the phrase “progress over perfection” – every little bit counts and no one can do it all.
When we got married and were moving into our new home, we made a conscious choice to try and go plastic-free. We knew it was a daunting task, but we were determined to try our best and see where it would take us.
The Eco Friendly Choices We’re Currently Making
We started by opting to reduce plastic waste in the kitchen. We’ve done this by shopping at bulk bin stores for dry food, cleaning products, dried fruit & confectionery. We take our own produce bags to the local fruit & veg shop. When we buy foods at the supermarket, we opt for cans or glass bottles. We take our own containers to restaurants if we want takeaways. As we have tried to reduce packaging, I’ve found that our diet consists of fresher and healthier food – what a great bonus!
The bathroom has taken a bit longer to switch over and find alternative products without plastic packaging. We have bamboo toothbrushes, dental tabs and my new favourite – shampoo, conditioner & face wash bars.
We use the washing machine on an eco cycle and always wash in cold water, reducing energy usage. We also opted in for a green energy power company when we first moved into our home. Since then, I bought a second hand bicycle to commute to work (although it has rained a lot recently & instead I’ve been driving…)
“We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly, we need millions of people doing it imperfectly.”
The Eco Changes We Will Make Next
We view this as a journey and so we aim to continue to make changes to our lifestyle. Some of the next steps for us will be getting toilet paper without plastic packaging, opting in for glass milk bottle delivery, planting a herb & vege garden and maybe even start keeping bees!
I am also looking at switching to beauty products that are better for the environment. As my makeup runs out, I’ll be looking to replace it with natural products, with reduced packaging, made ethically.
While it’s been a long time since we have been charmed by the fast fashion industry, we will continue to shop more consciously, only replacing products or clothes that need to be replaced, shopping second hand before shopping new and buying from sustainable and ethical companies when we do choose to buy new.
The biggest change that we’ve made is the mind shift, the awareness and consideration behind any purchase. It’s the choice to stop being ignorant about the impacts of every decision we make. We have started using our money to vote for causes we believe in, plastic free, ethically made, safe for the environment and sustainable.
Thank you for reading, there is so much more I have to say about this journey, but that will be saved for later posts. I hope you can take something from this and know that everyone has to start somewhere. If we can do this, then so can you! It’s never too late to start and no change is too small.
These are the wonderful girls that have been a huge catalyst in beginning this journey, follow them on social or check out their websites for all sorts of eco-living goodness!
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