Save the planet!!! What small steps have you taken today?

[Mrscog]

Following on from a thread where we were all discussing how we wanted to reduce our impact on the earth I thought I would start this thread for us to share ideas/motivation etc.

This is a non-judgmental thread and is about whatever steps you want to take to reduce consumption. None of us are perfect and we've all got to start somewhere.

My small steps today -

1. Morning school run incorporated as part of DH's commute.
2. Afternoon school run due to be done on foot.
3. Didn't bother going to Aldi as to be honest I have enough food in to cobble some stuff together.
4. Just used microfibre cloth with water to wipe down kitchen rather than dousing with chemicals (hadn't chopped any raw meat etc so no need to be too clean).

That's a great idea @dementedma

I just fell down a rabbit hole on etsy, and discovered crocheted tampons.

We had our first delivery from a milkman this morning - in glass bottles. Part of our decision to use less plastic.

I use washable sanitary towels and have just bought a bottle to replace the plastic ones I use at work (though one normally lasts me 2 or 3 weeks this is better).

Am liking a buying method cleaner and bamboo toothbrushes.

But where to put the toothbrushes when you've finished with them? We live a flat and have a normal bin and a general recycling bin but no compost bin. Any ideas?

DH suffers with asthma dreadfully so realistically we need to use our tumble dryer. I'm currently looking at UK manufactured dryer balls to help cut down the time. The dc are going to be encouraged to wear their clothes much more too. Any other laundry tips?

I loved the thread mentioned in the OP!

Today I bought a bamboo coffee cup and talked about reusable nappies for 18 month old DS.

Not today, but we made the change to only buying butchers meat and using a local company for fruit and veg - they source everything as locally as possible if they don't grow it themselves, although they do buy in fair trade bananas. They deliver the veg in a mesh sack and the fruit all comes in one plastic bag, so still a plastic bag but not the several bits of plastic you might get from the supermarket for bananas, apples, plums and pears.

@picklemepopcorn is there an issue with Quooker was thinking of getting one when we re-do kitchen as would stop DH boiling a whole kettle rather than just the water we need..they claim to be green (but then so do lots of things)

I need to get some re-useable makeup pads

Haven't had a chance to read the whole thread so sorry if it has already been said but while I agree reusable cups are better, take away coffee cups are recyclable but you have to take them to Costa or Starbucks, at least that is what someone who works for one of their vending machine companies told me.

Costa will recycle any takeaway cups, from any shop. Doesn't have to be there own.

*their bloody autocorrect!

@Splodgeinc I assumed they were bad because they are constantly on. Ok if you are using the kitchen constantly, but presumably while everyone is at work and overnight they are also standing at readiness...

We do only boil pretty much exactly what we need, though with a two mug minimum!

Yeah, we only boil enough for one or two cups. The kettle is rarely

I love my mooncup and washable pads. I love knowing I won't run out, be caught out etc.

I don't know where to put those toothbrushes, @AtlanticWaves . Do you know anyone with a wood burner 5hat could use 5hem for kindling?

At least even if they go in normal waste, they will eventually decay.

Rarely full! I give up this morning!

What I have done in the last couple of days:

Borrowed costume items for my 10 year old rather than buying new from Amazon.

Used my reusable coffee cup 3 times in Waitrose since Saturday - three disposable cups saved.

DH wanted a new holdall for Christmas - got one made from upcycled cement sacks from Vietnam. (conflicted about this, yes it's reusing resources but has been shipped across the world)

Recycled a lot of my old fabric and yarn by donating two massive bags of it to my son's school, who were delighted with it.

Yesterday cycled to fabric shop and bought sone Christmas print fabric to turn into reusable gift bags. Not so Dcat woke me at 5.30 am so almost finished first one before work. Realised whilst sewing this morning I should have looked on local selling sites for second hand fabric first. Doh!

Managed a car-free day yesterday. Hoping for the same today, especially as I don't want to have the dig out the car from under all the snow we've had.

Was going to cycle to the baker's and bank this morning, but as it's still snowing heavily, decided to walk instead. The two loaves of bread I bought went into my reusable bread bag; the woman at the baker's is always very complimentary about it, saying how it reminds her of buying bread when she was younger.

MrsFezziwig I always cut tubes in half before I throw them and it's amazing how much you can still get out of them. You just have to be careful that things like foundation don't dry out, but I find that if I put the top half back over the bottom half, it stays fairly well sealed.

You can do the same cutting thing with toothpaste tubes - we always do and it lasts a few more days.

Yes, I cut any kind of tube - from toothpaste to tomato puree.

In half, I mean - not just randomly cutting all my tubes. . Although slotting the two halves back together wouldn't really work with tomato puree - but then I don't usually manage to get much more than a tablespoon out of the tube so don't need to keep it as it gets used up straightaway. Foundation, primer etc. can all last a week or so longer if I cut the tube in half, though.

Great idea for a thread.

I did a wash at 30*C and because the heating was on I hung it out to dry on a clothes horse rather than tumble dried it. I only got a tumble drier when I had a baby...which i think for a 30something is pretty good. We do use it a lot for the baby stuff, but I still like to avoid it if I can.

Yesterday we had meat free meals all day: smaller carbon and water footprint than if we were to have eaten meat.

I’m wearing my lovely soft bamboo socks and a bamboo top from BAM, and my OH is in a top from Rapanui. I bought a pair of shoes from H&M this week too, and got 15% off by donating an old item of clothing to their clothes bank at the till.

I switched our electricity provider recently - which to be honest was a money thing rather than a green thing. We were with Ecotricity, and switched to Bulb, another green provider who are cheaper and also do one of those 'recommend a friend and both get £50 off' deals. Definitely worth looking into. I also have a code from a friend for a similar deal (£100) to switch bank account to Nationwide but haven't done it yet. My personal account's with Smile (the Co-op) but shamefully we still have our joint account with HSBC who are just awful ethically and funding a lot of the worst fossil fuel projects. And the other high street banks like Barclays are pretty dire too. So hopefully the promise of £100 will finally make me do something about that!

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It's the same with these types of containers too, loads gets stuck at the bottom.

I've ordered some free items from Population Matters.
www.populationmatters.org/resources/leaflets-and-posters/

The bookmarks will go in every book that is returned to the library.

I volunteer with mostly young people so I will ask about leaving the cards on the desk there.

If it's not allowed, some cards might find themselves left around random places. If it encourages anyone to adopt, or control their family size, then yay!

Haven't had time to read the full thread, but here are some of the things I try and do to be more Eco friendly.

1. Married a guy who is rather "tight"!! Joking (a little)
2. Thermostat doesn't go above 17C Ever (we put jumpers on and have a nice selection of throws on sofa for snuggling)
3. Try to only buy what is necessary... Still have half of a £50 Dunelm voucher, that was a wedding present a year ago, DH refused to let me buy new towels, just because I could, as current towels whilst a little faded do exactly what they are meant to...he has a point.
4. Eat a largely vegetarian diet. Tend to try to stick to a no meat in the house rule (although I'm breaching it at the moment as pregnant and a bit Anaemic).
5. Husband adamant we are only having one child, combination of lifestyle and Environmental concerns. I would probably have preferred two (until I had HG), but marriage is about compromise I guess.
6. Buy second hand - almost everything I have bought for (soon to arrive) DD is second hand (except mattress). Particularly aim to use second hand for anything that is a big chunk of plastic (Car seat, High chair).
7. Plan on cloth nappying....wish me luck!!
8. Use all Eco cleaning products, we are on a septic tank, so It isn't really optional.
9. Use a Mooncup (wish I'd known about them and switched years ago...amazing).
10. Live in a smaller than average house, by choice

Almost all these Eco choices also make financial savings which is a bonus and has allowed me to go part time. The only exception is the Eco cleaning products which obviously cost more...but trashing the new septic tank system with chemicals would be a whole lot more expensive!!