To hate waste even if its not costing me money

[saralqv]

My sister is staying this weekend. I find her really wasteful as she does things like bin half her food (that she bought), sit in the car stationary with the engine running wasting her petrol and leave the tap running while cleaning teath and we are not on a meter so doesn't cost extra.

I've said I really don't like it and she's just argued back that it'd her food and petrol etc to waste its not costing me so its her prerogative to waste them.

I don't really care who its costing its irrelevant to me, its still waste.

Aibu?

I'm not saying turning the tap off while you clean your teeth will change the world but I think it's odd to say because you do one bad thing you may as well do a million bad things.

but I think it's odd to say because you do one bad thing you may as well do a million bad things

I agree. Nobody can be perfect but we may as well do what we can.

My mum is incredibly frugal with her water because she's on a meter in Devon, and water there is very expensive because of the coastline. Personally I think the cost of water and energy should be equalised across the country. It's ludicrous that she pays twice as much as we a family of 3 do. But on the other hand, the cost does what it's designed to do, it makes people take care with water. No ridiculous sprinkling of gardens after 2 days of sunshine there.

The other thing that really bugs me is people who park up and leave their engine running. It's not just wasting petrol and money, it's also polluting the atmosphere.

Thing is with food waste - I do think the "not wasting food" mentality does lead to a lot of people to overeat, even if it's just a little bit. I know people like my Dad who hates waste, will try to get everyone to finish up the food that's left over from a meal, particularly if there's not enough left over to make it worth saving for another meal (like 1 roast potato or a couple of carrots etc).

It was rather a lightbulb moment when DH said it was not more wasteful to throw out left overs than it is to eat more food than you need or want. Over eating is just as wasteful as binning that last roast potato.

not wasting food means serving less. Stuff that hasn't been on plates can be kept for later. It's not hard somewhere with fridges and freezers.

cooking more than is needed reduces fuel use, so is a good idea.