Hello my Lovelies!
It’s been a minute since my last blog post – wow! Upon entering #lockdown I had this vision of writing a new post every day – ha! Famous last words… moving on to today’s topic, I wanted to write about ways to live a Greener life. The wonderful giveaway on my Instagram page (July 2020) is focused on promoting a lifestyle of LESS. Less plastic, less waste, less money!
I have always been a mini-environmentalist since a young girl – wanting to recycle whatever I could, re-use instead of throwing away, and save the whale vibe. It breaks my heart when I see the plastic and waste that fills our rivers, oceans and landfills that are purely from a lifestyle of “fast and cheap” instilled by our current society.
That being said, I believe it takes conscience steps from every one of us to make this change – the governments and corporates won’t make these changes until we do. Every little change helps, no matter how small, and this ripple effect will influence your family and friends to do the same.
Below are some awesome and easy steps that you can take to change your current lifestyle to be more environmentally conscience:
- Plastic straws – eek! A contentious issue – as a Mom of toddlers I know that paper straws do not work for me, but rather I invested in some good stainless steel and rubber straws for when we are out and about, as well as using pasta (yes, pasta tubes!) in my house.
- Stop using single plastic bags – either reuse the ones you have until you can’t use them any longer, or invest in a few reusable produce and cotton bags. A single plastic bag can take 1,000 years to degrade – that’s insane!
- Recycle as much as possible – in my house I have a ‘paper bin’, a ‘plastic bin’, a ‘glass bin’ and a bin for items that I can’t recycle, and the other items that don’t fin into any of these gets composted!
- Compost! Make your own! It’s so easy and such a great feeling to see your endeavours turn into mushy goodness for the earth once you start. Have a little container in your kitchen to collect any food (no meat or processed foods) which you can add to your compost bin outside. You can either make your own (like I did), buy one from a garden shop or bury it straight into the ground – they all work!
- Where you can, purchase foods that are in bulk bins – like rice, beans, pasta and coffee. These bins are usually found in food markets or bespoke local grocery stores – not your generic supermarkets. This cuts down on packaging and saves you money! Don’t forget about eggs and milk – these can be bought “farm to table” too.
- Use a reusable mug for your takeaway coffee – many places offer a discount for using your own mug, and you save on the coffee cups which end up in the trash!
- Ditch that plastic lighter – we have a wonderful thing called a match – matches are super cheap, 100% effective and 100% compostable.
- Start switching from plasticwear to glasswear. In my house I collect glass jars (peanut butter, jams, pickled foods etc) and reuse them to store my food in. Ever heard the saying it tastes better when its in glass? It’s true. Plus, if the glass breaks, you can recycle it!
- Disposable nappies – ouch. This one is tough. I am guilty of using disposable nappies myself, despite me having invested in great quality cloth nappies (which are so much gentler on my baby’s bottom and so much cuter, never mind the environmental benefits). It’s a mind over matter issue – using the excuse of ‘it’s convenient’ doesn’t cut it – disposable nappies take centuries to decompose, and it’s estimated that over 7.6 billion of them are discarded into the environment a year in the USA alone.
- Start swopping out your beauty products that come in plastic bottles to either glass or zero waste – like shampoo bars, soap bars, razor blades and facial products.
There are tons of other ways to live a lifestyle of less, with positive eco-friendly steps that you can take in everyday life to reduce your own carbon footprint and that of your children… Mother Nature thanks you!
Pray & Slay,
#MotherMuses
mother muses 