Suggestions for my ‘sustainable living’ list

[Twoweekcruise]

Like everyone, I want my family to do our bit towards living more sustainably.
I am on a tight budget so my list will need to be ticked off over the next few years, bit by bit.
I want to cover everything from reusable make up removers, sanitary products etc through to things like reusable sandwich wrappers for lunch boxes to eventually more expensive products like changing my water filter jug for something more long term and replacing our log burner to something less damaging (we are hoping to replace that next year).
Any suggestions would be great to add to our families list, ideally items which are within ‘normal’ household budgets (unfortunately as much as I would love an electric car, atm it’s not something I can afford but am working towards it).

[JassyRadlett]

Do you have a pension?

Either changing it yourself if it’s self-invested or pressing your work to shift to a sustainable provider is the single highest-impact thing you can do as an individual.

[Bontanics]

The single biggest impact you can make doesn't involve spending any money at all but looking at the bank who keeps hold of your money for you. If your with one of the traditional high street banks then its highly likely they are investing your money into fossil fuels. Move your money to a ethical bank and maybe change to a 100% renewable energy provider. The next biggest impact changes are no car, no kids, no pets, no meat.

[MachineBee]

Washing soap strips. I started with Tru Earth but have found Melt do similar and are a UK company, which reduces shipping miles. Love the extra space it frees up by my washing machine and in my bin.

Composting
Water butt collection
Reducing use of sellotape - haven’t quite weaned myself off it completely but will buy adhesive paper tape when I need a new roll.
Brown paper for gift wrap with saved ribbon.
Save and reuse any gift bags or pretty boxes I get.

[WhatDidISayAlan]

I'd second the previous poster who said not to beat yourself up too much if you use something that you shouldn't - sometimes it's for a reason. James Wong, the botanist tweeted the other day that one of our biggest wastes is food waste, and the reason some things are in plastic is to extend their life. Spuds, carrots, etc no - but if you put a cucumber in the fridge without plastic, it'll go soft within about 48 hours. If you carefully unpeel it, take what you need, and then rewrap it, it'll last about a week. I live alone and love cucumber but can't eat a whole one in two days, so I buy a full one, and rewrap.

I have an allotment and do grow them but not enough. If you use a lot of herbs, either grow them in a pot and they'll last all year (repot when you buy it) or buy a big bunch, chop and freeze in a small tupperware - parsley, chives and dill keep really well in the freezer.

[Twoweekcruise]

Great ideas.
Dd has just started her periods and I’ve got her some periods pants so hopefully they will last a while.
We are looking to change our log burner next year. We have had it over 10 years and it cost us absolutely nothing and neither do the logs but it has always bothered me that it’s not environmentally friendly. I would like to replace it with an electric stove and switch over to a greener energy supplier.
Does anyone know much about electric stoves, are they cleaner/greener?
Just can not afford a heat pump, totally out of our budget unfortunately.

[EntreMummy]

As pp have said - being “green” really is a mindset thing.

Instead of approaching your question from a “what can I buy to be more sustainable” it really is a case of “what can I do without altogether/ consume less of” that tips the balance into greener living.

In our family we:

• have never owned a car (but live in London which definitely makes this easier)
  
• never owned a tumble dryer - we hang clothes outside most of the year and then use airers inside to finish drying in winter
  
• fly rarely (like every 10 years)
  
• buy organic veg and fruit from UK farmers and meat from same sources
  
• eat vegetarian a lot but rarely use substitutes like soya
  
• don’t buy many cleaning products, and use vinegar and bicarb type mixtures as much as poss
  
• don’t have heating on excessively (wear layers in the house)
  
• buy second hand, especially use hand me downs and pass on clothes for kids and toys etc
  

We just wouldn’t use things like water filters and sandwich wrappers (we use tupperwares etc)

We are not rich and equally don’t feel that we live especially frugally. We do go on holidays abroad etc but use trains, boats etc.

[Plantstrees]

@InvincibleInvisibility

Delete all unnecessary emails and files. The energy used to send and stock emails is huge

"A typical office worker sends and receives around140 emails per day, which, over the course of a year, creates as much CO2 as flying from London to Bruges"

Wow. I consider myself eco-friendly but had no idea that emails were such an issue. I probably have more than most so will definitely delete more now.

[BarbaraofSeville]

It's not just emails. All those photos and videos that magically appear in cloud storage from our phones must add up to a significant amount of data storage.

Plus Bitcoin mining, which is so energy intensive that people have moved on to stealing electricity for this instead of cannabis farming.

[InvincibleInvisibility]

The emails and files is such a quick win. As is unsubscribing from marketing emails if you never read or use them.

My work has also led an emergy saving drive, to reduce number of emails sent and kept as well as attachments etc.

[ParmigianoReggiano]

I don't think anyone has mentioned the laundry egg yet? Saves buying plastic bottles of laundry detergent.

www.ecoegg.com/product/laundry-egg/

[DelphiniumBlue]

@Twoweekcruise

Please keep them coming. My list is getting longer and I am determined to tick off as much as I can.
Does anyone have a sustainable way to dry clothes in the winter? I don’t have the heating on during the day and obviously they stink if I put them on the clothes dryer without a source of heat. Obviously they go on the line if the weather is dry and sunny but what about when the weather is bad. I do try to spin dry them as dry as possible. What does everyone else do? I only want to use the tumble dryer if at all necessary.

What do you mean "obviously they stink if I put them on the clothes dryer without a source of heat" It's not at all obvious to me.
I use a Kitchen Maid which is screwed into the ceiling over the landing outside the bedrooms. If you hang spun clothes on it at a time that gets the benefit of central heating ( eg early evening) then they dry reasonably quickly ( school uniform would be dry in time for next morning.) We only get a problem with smells if the washing has been left in the machine wet for hours.

[Starisnotanumber]

Keep what you have for longer if your phone contract is up do you replace it straight away, if you keep it for longer then it's better for the planet.
Keep your functional log burner the environmental cost of a new electrical stove is quite high.
Take stuff off standby if they are not bring used.
Turn down heating if you can or switch off a few minutes earlier 20 minutes a day is over 2 hours less fuel needed.
Electric blanket if its cold in your bedroom rather than heating the room if she's not got one a good Christmas present for dd.
Shut curtains to preserve heat in the room as soon as it goes dark.
Keep freezer full as its more efficient you can put in bread that is sliced so you just take out what you need rather than buying and it going stale.
Showers rather than baths use less water.
Things you don't need now or want on freecycle or to charity shops so others can use them if they are in good condition

[scottishnames]

Delphinium I said this earlier, up thread - perhaps you didn't see it? Very sorry to repeat myself, if you did see it and thought it no good:

Re drying clothes without tumble dryer:

• as others have said, outdoors on line if possible
  
• ceiling racks (heat rises - it's warmer up there) with pulleys, aka 'maids'
  
• an un-insulated basic garden shed or garage can get warm even in winter , especially if there's something like a freezer in there. If it's draughty that's even better; airflow increases evaporation. I have a drying rack in the shed where my freezer is - very good for drying heavy things like jeans
  
• light things - underwear, tights - on drying rack in bath
  
• almost-dry things on radiators or (if carefully attended) on a clothes horse next to a stove or fire
  
• clothes on a rack next to an open window (so long as you don't have the heating on)
  
• clothes hung up in the sunshine on a curtain rail (eg in a bedroom, during the day)
  
• a modern, efficient dehumidifier in a small room or in a big cupboard, with the door closed. Dehumidifiers use much, much less electricity than tumble-driers. This is an old article but gives a good explanation //www.greenchoices.org/news/articles/humidity-in-the-home-controlling-condensation
  

one of those multi-model review sites:
//www.expertreviews.co.uk/home-appliances/1405810/best-dehumidifiers

[southlondoner02]

Following this with interest. There's lots of things we do (eg don't drive or fly) but I think there's lots of small changes we could make - some great ideas here. Has anyone got any recommendations of the reusable make up remover pads? I had a quick look online and lots had poor reviews

[KeflavikAirport]

Don't buy shit you don't need. Don't use Amazon. And don't invest in cryptocurrency.

[ForeverbyJudyBlume]

@southlondoner02

Following this with interest. There's lots of things we do (eg don't drive or fly) but I think there's lots of small changes we could make - some great ideas here. Has anyone got any recommendations of the reusable make up remover pads? I had a quick look online and lots had poor reviews

I don't use the pads as I use a balm cleaner to remove make-up (and you can splash toner if you use it on your face with fingers) but dd does - can't remember the brand but I think from Holland & Barrett they've lasted a while, just to say because they're so small you must wash them in a mesh bag, otherwise they're forever blocking the machine filter

[gogohm]

Plastic reusable tubs for lunches, ditto to store leftovers, batch cook meals with long cook times, reusable or natural scourers and washing up cloths and other cleaning equipment. Reusable wipes if you have kids (or additional needs adult in our case). Eco washing powder or similar, heat pump tumble dryer (and avoid using when feasible). Air source heat pump and solar panels (5-8 years is our target, system a already compatible thankfully) I drink ordinary tap water, no need for filters (chill if you prefer though) eat local and seasonal - this often trumps meat free btw as far as impact, avocados and almonds are off limits 😥. We are thinking of replacing one of the cars with electric in next 5 years but hell will freeze over before he rides an electric motorcycle - not willing to give up other petrol car until range is over 300 miles and/or charging is under 15 mins.

Controversially we aren't giving up meat but I am buying it from local butcher who sources locally, and we eat quite a lot of venison currently which is culled thus guilt free in my mind. Also have goat in the freezer which also is not raised specifically for meat

[IToldYouIWasFreaky]

See if you have a Terracycle collector near you. There's a wonderful women near me who collects all manner of things for recycling. I originally found her when I was looking for something to do with Tassimo pods (I've ditched those in favour of loose ground coffee now) but she also takes things like crisp packets, biscuit wrappers, pet food packaging, bread bags, and even toothpaste tubes and empty makeup containers.
It is quite a lot of work to clean and sort everything ready to take to her (food packets need to be properly rinsed out etc) and also to re-train the rest of the household not to just bin everything, but between that and taking our soft plastics to Tesco, we're currently only sending about one bin bag a week to landfill (3 person household with 1 pet)

There's still lots more we could do to reduce consumption but at least what we are using is getting properly recycled.

I'm off to unsubscribe from marketing emails now - I had no idea!

[BarbaraofSeville]

I run a Terracycle collection point for Lavazza coffee pods. I've only been doing it a few months, but I've raised about £80 for a local charity that I'm involved in, just from sending off the used pods that we use and also those left at my collection point, which is just 'near the bins on my drive'.

I also have a collection point for Babybel wrappings, but I think it will take years to collect enough to send off, I think I need about a kilo of them.

we eat quite a lot of venison currently which is culled thus guilt free in my mind

I heard that the other day. Perhaps as a nation we could have a significant carbon reduction by swapping from beef to venison as much as possible as an alternative to cutting out red meat completely?

This is something I'm going to look into, I hardly eat any meat anyway, but do sometimes use brisket, so perhaps will look for something like a venison shoulder instead next time.

[KeflavikAirport]

Slow cookers are very low in energy use.

[OriginalLilibet]

The single best thing you can do:

Don’t have children. (Or just 1 if you must…)

Everything else pales into insignificance.

[Twoweekcruise]

I really need some kind of filter (been looking into refillable ones). Our tap water is awful and tastes like bleach. Dd was getting loads of UTI’s as she just would not drink it but since having a water filter she has had zero infections and drinks loads of water, I do too. I

[Twoweekcruise]

I don’t actually use too many make up remover pads as I use oil and a face cloth to remove but I do find it doesn’t take my eye make up off well and I wake up looking like Alice Cooper! I just need something which I can reuse.

[Twoweekcruise]

DelphiniumBlue yep they absolutely stink. I always take them straight out of the machine but if the don’t go on the line or there is a near by source of heat near the air dryer they will smell very fusty. My friends have the same issue too!

[Twoweekcruise]

I’ve purchased an over the bath airier as the bathroom is small and south facing so does get warm. Hopefully things will dry nicer during the day in there as there is no heating on during the day.