10 small resolutions for ethical living this year

[Bestbees]

Hi!

Have read the small steps thread with interested and would love some insight and ideas on haveinf 10 small resolutions for the new year. So far i have:

*use up all beauty products and only replace with good choices i.e. soap over showergel.

*no new clothes for me. Charity shops/ebay fine. I keep a small wardeobe anyway. Underwear/shoes exempt.

*increase use of veg box to once a week rather than twice

*take resuable bottle and cup out for coffees etc.

*meat from butcher (we only eat a small amount as is. We currently normally only eat reduced waitrose meat/fish as assumed this was decent. Would happily take comments on that).

Things i am thinking about include o ly biying kids clothes second hand (4 year old boys twins) and using milk man for glass bottles. Biggest issue here is cost really. We can afford it but DH not keen on extra costs.

Thanks for any ideas. Happy fpr anyone to join in and post theirs too!!

We are looking at things we can possible reuse for another purpose instead of throwing away. We always end up with loads of odd socks and socks with holes in them. So we are going to collect them up and any that can't be repaired we are going to stuff into tights and the dc will decorate them. We're then going to use them as draft excludes.

Mine (so far) are:

Buy veg from greengrocer/ farmers market, meat from butcher and milk delivered, so I can walk to shop and only visit aldi monthly (by car) for all the other stuff

Starting with one car free day a week and trying to get up to three by the end of the year. (I’m hoping that walking to grocer will help with that)

Reduce plastic packaging (starting with fruit and veg packaging and raising my awareness of other types)

Menu planning, buy less, reduce food waste and use freezer more

Stop using kitchen roll (this doesn’t feel small to me). I’m switching to cloth napkins as a first step, and cutting old stained kids clothes into cleaning rags.

I currently buy most of my own clothes second hand but will try buy better quality when buying new so I can repair and mend, e.g. boots

I’m setting myself a weekly cash budget, instead of using my card to try and curb impulse purchases (hoping that spending less time in the shopping center will help)

I spent a lot of last year decluttering the house and now I want to take that further and have a lifestyle of “less”. Less possesssions to manage and clean, less unnecessary intrusions into my time, less time in the car, less wasteful buying, less waste of food etc,

Since decluttering my wardrobe I’ve found I take much more pleasure in, and care of, my clothes. I’m hoping to extend that to food by buying less but better quality food and taking time over meals.

OP - I like your plans. I'm trying to cut down on plastic too. Just a thought about ethical milk and packaging. We had milk delivered in bottles for years, then when there was a lot of publicity a year or two ago about farmers getting paid less than the cost price for their milk by the big companies I looked into how the milk I was purchasing was adequately paying the farmers. It turned out that that particular big dairy wasn't paying a fair price, despite the fact that we were as consumers paying a huge premium for deliver milk in glass bottles! I switched to buying Yeo valley organic milk - unfortunately this means more plastic consumption but a supposedly fairer price for British farmers.
I also aim to buy fair trade coffee, tea and sugar.
I think my aim next year will be to buy less take away food because of the huge waste of packaging, and take my own lunches into work.

I am going to have at least one vegetarian day per week, and cut down on meat in general.

To try to reduce my use of cling film for leftovers and package in tupperwares instead.

To continue to get rid of ( via eBay or charity shop) more clothing than I buy, for both myself and the kids.

@Annwithnoe how are you making the cloth napkins if you don't mind telling me.

Mycarsmellsoflavender I used to use clingfilm until I remembered my mother putting a plate like a lid over a bowl to keep stuff fresh...

Here is an idea for you OP, use loose leaf tea instead of tea bags (if you don't already) as this reduces the amount of plastic both in landfill (in my case the compost bin) and inside you!

This is great thanks. Will try and answer various points!

I and kids already walk to work and school so got that sorted.

Use reusable cloths for spills etc already.

Hoping increasing veg box will work, but will struggle to convince DH about getting all fruit and veg this way.

Milk in bottles, interesting Rolf. I will maybe do a bit of research. We do drink a lot of milk 10-12 pints a week! Might have better bet convince DH with switching to organic first.

Coffee i shall try to buy from a local company. Already do FT.

Husband and i already bring lunches to work and we dont have takeaways much (due to lack in our area rather than through choice!)

Loose leaf tea- didnt realise bags had plastic in! Ok might try that one once i get through the stock pile!

Rarely use cling film or foil, use tupperware of glass.

Seems like i do a lot of good things, but know i can do better. Also am flying abroad 3x this year so feels a little bit one step foward and a giant leap back.

Great thoughts everyone, loving the idea of small tweaks which make a difference.

Thought of another: reduce palm oil products. Surprised how much it features in cracker, a staple here. Might try making my own.

lostmyemail I literally just trimmed the edges of scraps of cotton with a pinking scissors. Too lazy to hem them properly (and like most of my ideas it won’t get done if I try to do it perfectly). They looked lovely at dinner this evening all mismatched and cheerful.

My main one this year is to switch to using bamboo toothbrushes and be better equipped/research palm oil products to avoid (begin slow process of avoidance!)

I haven't got linking scissors but I'm sure I can find a pair :) can I ask will any type of fabric do? I have some old bed linen that needs replacing and would rather resuse for something other then rags.

Nothing packaged in plastic. Meat from local butcher. Veg from local greengrocer and eggs all my own. No car - easy I don't know how to drive. No flying - easy doc won't let me. That has to be in the hundreds.

I’m reading with interest, making smaller changes as I’m behind you lot! I’m trying use reusable things rather than disposable. And pick products that have less or at least more easily recycled packaging. Like Bars of soap wrapped in paper rather than shower gel. I’ve been using flannels instead of Baby wipes and old clothes as cloths forever. Thinking seriously about a composting bin for the food waste (which I’ve cut down hugely by just making smaller portions).

Tell me, what does one do about stuff already in the house that’s “bad”? I’m thinking about a box of drinking straws and DH’s face wash that’s full of micro beads.

If milkman knocks offering milk in bottles I will sign up.

To banish all Tupperware from my house forever and send it all off to the recycling graveyard.

My milk man brings milk in plastic containers like supermarket milk comes in. I was a bit disappointed with that. I also wonder about stuff I already have. I inherited about 600 straws from my grandparents earlier in the year, but refuse to use them. So they are destined to sit in the drawer forever!

Does anyone live anywhere near a shop where you can buy packing free goods ie help yourself from big barrels of dried goods etc? Many years ago we used to have a shop like this near us, I think predominantly as a money saving thing, but I can't help feeling it's time for a resurgence of this way of buying things. It cold be used for all kinds of dry foodstuffs as well as cleaning products and toiletries.

Stop using single use plastics eg: Cotton Buds (Johnson do paper ones), straws on individual juice cartons, sandwhich bags.

Twig I remember a shop like that when I was in uni but nothing like that nearby now. I’d definitely support a place like that now.
I’ve always enjoyed upcycling but now realizing that in doing so I’ve actually created problems. I don’t think I can recycle glass that I’ve painted, for instance.

Change bank account from HSBC (big funder of unpleasant fossil fuel projects) to Nationwide before the 'recommend a friend' £100 voucher expires. Done switching to renewable energy already. Eat vegan meals more often.

Some great ideas on here and a nice positive-looking thread for the new year. I remember there being one of those 'help yourself from a barrel' shops in Croydon opposite the market place. Don't know if it's still there as I haven't been back for years but I could definitely see that sort of thing taking off more, both with the economic situation and because people are becoming more packaging-aware. They used to have free plastic bags to fill up with, but these days people would accept paying 5p for a labelled bag or carton to fill up and bring back. Would have to be labelled though or else you might get your washing powder mixed up with your food!
Thanks for the plate on bowl tip, Angstina, I'll definitely try that and keep the tupperwares for the freezer.

With stuff you've already got eg the straws, I guess you might as well give them to someone who would buy them anyway. Not so sure about the microbead wash though - I suppose the aim is to avoid it getting into the water system so maybe better land filled although in reality one bottle of facewash isn't going to make any difference to the world.

I've just bought a reusable, collapsible coffee cup to take with me to the coffee shops; some give you a discount off your coffee too, 25p or 50p, so saving money and the planet.

I switched to a mooncup last year and really rate them. Tried bamboo toothbrushes but need to get used to the texture in my mouth and they don't feel as effective. Next step is replacing cotton wool pads with washable bamboo ones. We've also switched from hand wash to soap (and then realised ours contained Palm oil - it's not easy making better choices!)

Recognise my achievements
Be kinder to myself
Recover from my Mental illnes

Oh and be a lot nicer to DP