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).

Eryri yes the money saving is massive.

re the eco products I don't know how they work but I find that washing up liquid and warm water will clean any surface so it works out cheaper to just buy the one thing. I suppose there's washing powder too, so okay - 2 things

no Amazon. Any physical books come from charity shops, the library or the real bookshop in the town. The e-library is also fantastic - our physical library is good but revoltingly overheated year round. I must contact the council.

no tomatoes until next summer; the ones in the shops are now round red balls of no taste. Ditto other summer items.

Doing stuff properly costs more. The UK needs to learn that.

If I need to buy something new I try to look for recycled options. I recently had a big birthday and treated myself to one of these:
www.elvisandkresse.com/collections/womens-bags/products/tote-bag

It is super tough and I imagine it will last forever. Elvis & Kresse now recycle ALL of LFB's old hoses.

Ultimately it is about consuming less though.

We've switched to bar soap. I'm undecided what to do about shampoo/conditioner. Is ordering shampoo/conditioner in a 5ltr container much better than all the smaller containers?

I've been walking and/or running to work most days since April so using the car a lot less than I used to, plus getting fit for free too.

Morning! I received three catalogues in the post today - Hush, Lands End and Cox & Cox. I have emailed all three asking to be taken off their mailing list.

I'm on the mailing presference service list already but obviously catalogues from companies you've used slip though. I used to just put them in the recycling but now I'm going to email each time to try to stop them sending them out.

I am in the process of buying a house, and chose a quite small one!

Mooncup - amazing, love it.

I use dishwash wherever possible - I bought some screen wash for my car earlier in the year and have been regretting it ever since (sorry planet). Water with a few drops of dishwash does just as good a job as the nasty chemicals.

I use Method or Splosh where possible.
Microfiber cloths are a conundrum - they make it easy to clean with less chemicals, but then they shed the fibres every time you wash them (clothes too) , which end up in the sea and in fish and so eventually in us. www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/20/microfibers-plastic-pollution-oceans-patagonia-synthetic-clothes-microbeads

Sometimes the "equations" are tricky.

Polyanthus, good plan! I don't shop much but at Xmas a couple of odd ones come through so I will do that.

Rebecca, I think - not sure - that massive bottles must be better but as well as switching to bar soap I'm looking at solid shampoo bars too. Fait in Nature do massive bottles.

Re conditioner, I have swapped to leave in conditioner, use much less and I think it makes more sense anyway. Still a problem with plastic bottles so I'm wondering about making my own. I presume coconut oil based stuff will clog pipes eventually so can't use that.

We have bar soap in the kitchen, but I like liquid soap in the bathroom, so have bought a reusable foaming dispenser, which just needs a tiny bit of liquid soap (I use castile soap + a few drops of essential oils) then water at a ratio of about 1 in 10 (so really not much soap at all). You can also use the foaming dispenser to make your own shaving foam.

Polyanthus those cataloges sneak up on you don't they? I always tick the NO boxes yet still end up getting them.

I've just sent 2 emails re recently received ones and will endeavour to stay on top it it. Its really upsetting to get post that goes straight into the bin.

I'm also going to have to change some of my charitable donations also - I dislike giving to organisations where they insist on sending me lots of stuff by post. I'm afraid the Humanists are on my hit list now. I will donate instead to an organisation that promises not to post anything to me.

Eryri, could you tell us more about that please? Thing is, you only need a tiny bit of liquid soap of the ordinary kind, so refills would be the same?

what would be really good would be if it could foam up the bar soap?

@Nyx1

This is the dispenser, will have a look for the shaving foam recipe later (it was just one I found online).

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B071CDNFV6/ref=twister_B075VYF1QT?psc=1&_encoding=UTF8&tag=mumsnetforum-21

This week:

Started emailing supermarkets asking why they keep bringing out new product ranges in non recyclable packaging.

Uninstalled the Amazon app from my phone

Got my Xmas box down from the loft and got out all the leftover Xmas cards, gift wrap etc rather than buying new.

Eating seasonal produce
Buy loose - not packaged - fruit and veg
Eating only small amounts of high quality meat and poultry (locally sourced/good provenance)
Introduced veggie Thursday, and Tuesdays starting to go that way too and prep lots of pulsed based dishes
Reduced food waste by meal planning, shopping for small amounts more frequently (bought myself granny style shopping trolley instead of taking car)
Regularly make batches of vegetable soup for freezer
Haven't totally managed this yet but working towards banning all disposable plastic bottles in house (have bought us all water flasks) and have certainly stopped buying bottled water, but the odd bottle still makes it into the house somehow.
DD clothes all get passed on to younger neice and younger neighbour
Refusing to buy any Christmas cards or wrapping with glitter or metallic writing on (cannot be recycled where we live)
Twice annual clear out of clothes and toys go to charity shop
Stopped taking car out for short trips and try and walk everywhere
Save up all corks to take to Oxfam
Assiduous recycling of paper, cardboard, plastic, metal and glass (live abroad with really good twice weekly collections)
Sew patchwork quilts made from old cut up clothes
When it's just me in the house I have heating on at 17.5 and wear a jumper
Use paper sandwich bags for dd's lunch (she also has reusable flask and container)
Dh and I keep and wear our clothes and shoes for a long long time by looking after them well and mending and repairing
Use fabric fold up shopping bags

Tbh, I don't feel like this is nearly enough and I want to do more. Tried recycling organic matter but had to stop because it attracted rats. All three of us still consume to much.

Too much not to much!

It's interesting with boiling water taps. Theres a huge tank in the cupboard under, it's basically machine with its own carbon footprint to manufacture plus an extra cupboard to house it. Whereas you probably already have a kettle.

Phillips do a good energy saving kettle, the water window comes down low enough to easily see one cup. Simple but obvious.

Yes sometimes eco is the cheaper option - like cycling vs driving and the associated costs. But often it's not which is really frustrating. We've always used plain soap due to allergies but when I looked at shampoo bars from lush I was shocked at how expensive they are. I am happy with £1/bottle shampoo, is there a cheap type of shampoo bar or no market for it?

Oh yes, have used same Christmas decorations for 20 years and they still look good!
Use dw
Wash lots of clothes at 30
Use lots of pure white vinegar and baking powder for cleaning

Agree with whoever said the "equations" are difficult sometimes ie using loads of hot water to rinse out plastic containers or glass jars for recycling

Oh gosh I didn't no that about t-bags containg plastic

Or that about e-cloths

Great info on here!

thank you Eyri

but so far as I can see, all that does is make more lather out of soap you already have? The thing about liquid soap is you only need a tiny dot anyway so this is just making more foam without you lathering up more - I think it's better hygienically to wash hands more thoroughly.

So I will give this a miss and stick with bar soap anyway....

That's a good idea re emailing to be taken off mailing list, I've used their freepost envelopes in the past, very rarely get random mail now.
I know the postie gets paid for those leaflet drops, I have no interest in but feel bad about stopping it as they'll lose money, I'm not sure you can actually stop it anyway.
Re coconut oil conditioner, yes that's a concern about pipes getting blocked. I use almond oil as a moisturiser, not sure if a small amount of that would work.

You never really need to buy boxes for parcels or for moving, or packing material, local shops or supermarkets usually will let you have some of their boxes. Packing material for parcels can be shredded newspapers or in the past I have saved the wrappers from toilet roll/paper towels.

This thread has been really inspiring.

We've cut down our meat consumption to almost nil. It wasn't that much anyway, so now we just try for one organic chicken a week, and most other meals are simple vegetarian (I'm not agood cook).

I ordered 3 Kleen Kanteen water bottles for us this morning. We go through so many water bottles in this house so this will help greatly. The only issue is that DS never brought his reusable water bottle back home from school, so we will probably stick with disposable bottles for him at school, the Kleen Kanteen one for all other occasions.

I used to make soap from scratch for craft fairs but stopped when I stopped doing fairs. I have ordered a batch of ingredients to make soap again. I already make my own cleanser and lip balms. The cleanser is just oils and I refill a brown pump bottles about 2 or 3 a year. saves money, is better for my skin and uses so much less packaging than if I bought cleansers and balms from the shops.

We've been together for 15 years and keep using the same Christmas tree decs. We add yo them now and again but we've never thrown any out.

Frequent trips to charity shops for donating but have,t really looked for purchases apart from books. Will try to change that.

No tumble drier.

Can I ask people who say they wear their clothes for years. Where do you get your clothes from? We are on a really tight budget, and we don't have many clothes or shoes. So we do wear them until they are shabby. However, this doesn't really take all that long because they get washed a lot. I do wear tops twice before washing but even my lovely seasalt organic top (birthday voucher purchase) lost its shape pretty quickly. I now just wear it round the house, not for going out as it looks quite poor now.

We've just lost 2 of DSs shirts in the past month as they ripped at the elbows. We can't afford to replace them with expensive shirts so it will be another £20 shirt that will go the same way in about a year.

It's a small thing from me, but I've changed over to palm oil free peanut butter.

*@FiddlesticksRiddlesticks *
I ordered 3 Kleen Kanteen water bottles for us this morning. We go through so many water bottles in this house so this will help greatly. The only issue is that DS never brought his reusable water bottle back home from school, so we will probably stick with disposable bottles for him at school, the Kleen Kanteen one for all other occasions.

Could you offer your son an incentive to remember to bring his reusable bottle home, say 10p per day for remembering, it will still work out cheaper for you than buying bottled drinks all the time and he gets some extra pocket money, and hopefully wouldn't be long before he got into the habit of it. Maybe start with a cheaper reusable plastic bottle rather than a Kleen Kanteen just in case.

re clothes

I don't know if this helps but we use non-bio washing powder - are clothes fading more if you use a bio one, or too much powder maybe?

also clothes are from standard places like M&S or Debenhams - the cheaper ranges - and really have been fine barring the odd "fall over and something gets ripped". Certainly for adults in the house clothes can be kept for ages - perhaps it's luck?

I do dye any faded black clothes. I'm a big fan of black, mostly black for office stuff with a jacket or cardi of some kind of colour. Makes everthing really easy and you buy the minimum, doesn't matter if a white shirt gets ink etc on it.

the shapeless top thing - I don't know, just not a problem I have had. The only tight stuff I have is cami type tops but they seem to keep their shape.

eryri an incentive might work. We did get him cheaper reusable ones (from mountain warehouse) twice by twice he lost them, couldn't be bothered to look for them and they were not at the lost and found table on parents night. So we stuck to disposables but some incentive could very well work x

nyx1 we use fairy non bio and have done since DS was born but I'm looking to change. We also wash everything at 30. I just assume it's because they get washed so often. So for instance, I have 2 pairs of jeans for round the house, one better pair for if I'm leaving the house. One pair on smart black trousers and one pair of jeggings. That is it. Top wise, I get them from fat face usually and they last ok in fairness, but normal t shirts for me go a big baggy and saggy. I think I'm doing it wrong. A few tshirts have been coming out the machine with a little hole now and again. I think I'm overloading the machine and this is the cause.