Sustainable living does not have to be difficult. The key is to make it a fun part of your every day. Because if it isn’t fun, the lazy lady part of me won’t bother doing it (what is ironing?).
I’m always looking for small, practical changes we can make to reduce our negative impact on our environment…..yes, my husband was given a keep cup for Fathers Day this year, I will unashamedly force my beliefs on my loved ones.
The Cheat Sheet to The War on Waste really is the first place to go for inspiration if you are at the very beginning of your journey to sustainable living. If you can proudly tick off all of those things, here are the next steps.
1. Keep a worm farm for sustainable food waste management
Keep a worm farm, especially if you have children, these are so much fun! Once you stop putting all your food scraps into land fill, your kitchen bin stops stinking, and you take away the need for that gastly plastic bag in the kitchen tidy.
We use old 2kg yoghurt containers at our house as our worm bucket in the kitchen, and going to feed the worms every day is a fun thing to do with the kids. So many science lessons happen at our worm farm.
I also think our worm farm is responsible for my smugness on bin night. When our neighbours’ bins are over flowing, and ours isn’t even a quarter full. Who says bin night isn’t a competition? You could get a worm farm online, but check with your local council first, because many of them are running composting incentives. I’ve heard some are even giving residents worm farms for free!
2. Use heating and cooling efficiently
Use heating and cooling efficiently as possible. Open and close windows and blinds at the most appropriate times of the day. This is probably the oldest sustainable living hack that I can think of. Obviously it depends on ALL your other commitments. Keep in mind that two degrees difference on the thermostat is a huge saving in electricity. You can still find me wrapped in one of our 100% Australian wool throws on the lounge most nights at the moment.
3. Be self critical on food waste
Being self critical on food waste is vital. It can easily sneak up on me when my husband helps with shopping and cooking. Last night, when we finished dinner, the two of us looked at the food that we had left. Then we came up with a plan for tonight and tomorrow night so it doesn’t get wasted. For us, like most people I know, the meal plan is the hardest part. So make it a team effort. Halve the mental load and make it fun for all.
4. Grow your own herbs
By simply deciding to grow your own herbs you remove the terrible plastic wrap that they are packaged in at the supermarkets. You also get to eat delicious, nutritious, organic food everyday, without the nasty price tag.
Plus there’s the bonus of zero food miles. The idea of just growing one thing is very achievable.
Plant some rosemary and thyme for a delicious roast and you are on your way to growing your own food. If you are like me, you may be on your way to a fully functioning vegetable garden moments after planting your first herbs. Don’t let space limit you. You can easily grow some herbs in a container on an apartment veranda, see my post about that here. If you’re a northern beaches local, contact me if you want some fresh garden herbs.
5. Sustainable Laundry
You can just about always hang your washing out on the line. Even the smallest of apartments have a window where you can find airflow and sun to put a clothes horse. This one ticks so many boxes, obviously you aren’t using electricity for the dryer. Plus your clothes aren’t having fibres bashed out of them, so they will last longer.
I’ve recently stumbled upon the lovely surprise that the sun helps get rid of some stains. Bonus. If you are lucky enough to have an outdoor clothesline, take a moment to realise how nice it is out in the sun, completing a mindless task. You can also use soap berries as your low tox, no waste laundry detergent.
6. Grow something green
If you’re feeling inspired by spring, go to your local nursery and pick up some seedlings of your favourite green leaves. Ours are lettuce, kale, baby spinach. Grow whatever it is that you like eating. Put seeds or seedlings in good soil, water them daily and feel amazing when you can pick food you’ve grown and eat it.
If you have room for a garden, plant some peas from seed, and soon you will be enjoying the little discoveries of peas hiding in the vines. Even kids that hate peas will eat them if they’ve grown them and can harvest food themselves.
7. Be mindful with textiles
Children are grubby, fast growing critters that can get through clothes faster than you can imagine. Everyone knows that our house loves hand me down clothes. We also love handing our pre-loved clothes onto others.
Where you can, try to buy quality clothing that will last for siblings and/or cousins. I’m rather proud to say that my sister and I have been swapping clothes backwards and forwards through our varying stages of motherhood. So, if you have a friend that is a similar size to you, and you have an event to go to, don’t be too embarrassed to ask them to borrow a dress. No doubt they will be super flattered and chuffed that you made the first move, so they can ask you to return the favour for their next event.
Finally, on the topic of textiles, if you aren’t already aware of it, H&M offers clothes recycling. This is where I take our textiles that are too manky for the charity bin. Yes, H&M do contribute to fast fashion, but they are starting to take some responsibility and change their ways.
So, that’s it, the fun Mum’s guide to working towards living sustainability. It is an on-going effort, that will be a rollercoaster ride as life has it’s natural ebbs and flows.
I started off with herbs in a pot in a tiny little inner Sydney semi. Now we have a worm farm, compost bin, chickens, and vegetable garden, and we really aren’t creating much waste considering we have two small children.
Start your sustainable journey somewhere even if you start small
Most of the time, the only food scraps that make it to the garbage bin are onion, garlic and citrus peel.
For the purpose of transparency, we’re still working on the state of our recycling bins. We are a long way off being a no waste home. Thankfully we are treading lighter every day, and if everyone of us commits to being a little more sustainable each day, our world will thank us for it.
To read more of my posts about Sustainable Living click the link.
“There’s no explaining the wonderful feeling you get when you pick your first peas straight out of your garden-then imagine handing those peas to your children to eat, that’s exactly what we did today.”
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