Keep reusable bags in your car/handbag.
This one is very easy and i have no idea why i haven´t done that way way sooner. I have an extra bag in every handbag or a backpack, cause you simply never know when you will need something or how much. Sometimes I go just for an avocado, but then land up shopping for three days. Let me say this one thing and that is that plastic is forever and our dependence on plastics is killing the Earth. There are way cooler bags that can be used over and over and over again. Just a small step a little change, but overall a big thing.
Use rags instead of paper towels.
You’d be surprised how many paper towels a household can go through when they’re readily available. You’d be even more surprised that once you stop using them, you won’t miss them at all. I keep a stack of rags in a kitchen drawer, and whenever there is a spill I wipe up and throw the rag into the washing machine. That’s really it! As easy as that. And if you still need some persuasion, then just think of money. How much one roll costs and how much do you need per week/month/year? The amount is pretty high isn´t it?
Shop the outer aisles and jars
The biggest amount of trash is from food packaging. The food with minimal to no packaging is usually in the outer aisles of the grocery store and in the middle, you have the pre-weight and extra wrapped specials for "better" price (Psst ... don´t fall for it)
If you have the opportunity to go to stores, where you can fill your own jars. There is starting to be more and more of them. Also, try some markets. You will definitely get better and seasonal (which is better for our body) goods than in a supermarket.
Me and Mathew we love to shop in the "no-packaging stores" we get to bring our jars, get exactly the amount we want, try a piece of that and a little bit of this one....
Use recycled toilet paper.
What is the point of recycling paper, if we don’t buy back products that actually use recycled materials? We buy 100% recycled TP and let me tell you, our ass does not feel the difference, but the planet does! Who needs to wipe their bum with bleached white tissue anyways? It is full of chemicals.
Think of cosmetics
I know that liquid body wash is easy, but a bar of soap is really just as easy and you can totally skip the bottle waste. Plus like a bar of soap wrapped in a bit of paper is cute and with a bow can serve as a nice present.
Let´s talk about coconut oil. We have a jar at home ...i remove my make-up with it, brush my teeth with it, use it as a body oil after a shower and also a hair mask. There you go, four bottles spare and the jar is then used for storing nuts or other dry things in our pantry.
Make a meal plan
Food waste is a big issue these days. We have the ability to buy anything and especially when we go shopping with an empty stomach, we buy way more than what we need. Then we land up throwing away stuff because it was overdue or molding.
Take some time, think of what you want to cook and go to the store with a list of items. Like this, you will less likely be buying what you don´t need. And then, you can even cook for several days ahead, so you skip the deliveries and take-aways, which are usually in plastic boxes.
Bring a container with you when you go out to eat.
And i will very nicely continue on to the takeaway plastic. I know this probably sounds like a weird thing to do, but those Styrofoam takeout containers are the worst! If you know you don´t usually finish, then bring a small container with you.
Don’t buy plastic wrapping
Meaning don´t buy anything that comes in wasteful single-serving packages, like a banana or mango, really does not need to be wrapped. Sliced melon? Just get an entire one, i am sure you eat in any case. Then we have all the candy, chewing gum, granola bars (you can make your own ones and way better ones trust me!), popsicles - none of this is healthy in any case.
Stop buying things you do not need
If you do not need it now, chances are you may never. If you haven´t used that particular thing for a long time, than it might be time to give it or sell it away. Do not have several things for once i loose weight, once we have children, once we go somewhere special etc.
Sell it and make some extra cash. Your space will be breathing again.
Stop buying plastic water bottles, please!
This one seriously has to stop. In absolute honesty, i myself love to time to time have a glass of coke, but i like to get it with my meal in a restaurant where i have it in a glass, or even better ... tapped (Not Coca Cola though, similar Czech drink called Kofola)
There have been studies to find out, that the tap water is actually better and closer to our body than the bottled one (obviously where save, like Europe)But then there is the thing of buying small bottle here and a small bottle there. Why don´t you have a nice, funny one that you can refill? I take it with me even on board of an aircraft,
