Things you've found you can live without

[DontFundHate]

I no longer buy body scrub (I make my own from used ground coffee), I've decided I'll try to stop using bubble bath, maybe a bath bomb for the occasional treat. Instead I'm using some essential oil. I very rarely use kitchen towel, foil and cling film now. Instead I use beeswax wraps, plates on top of bowls in the fridge, tupperware that I already had to carry sandwiches etc. I'm really surprised by how much I've been able to reduce my consumption of things that actually aren't all that necessary for me anymore. What have you stopped using?

Bath puffs. Use a flannel now. Once possibly twice on my face then a couple of times in the shower then into the wash.

The beeswax wraps - are they aa good as the seem?

I've stopped buying bubble bath, unless treating myself to a glass bottle (much more £££ so only an occasional treat). I do miss it, but not as much as I thought I would.

I don't miss liquid soap at all.

Stopped buying fizzy/soda water and find I'm not really missing it.

Dairy milk.

Loathed soya though I tried to like it over the last few years. Easily replaced dairy milk with oat about 3 months ago.

Now just need to replace cheese but not having much luck.

@laurie I thought your meant cadburys dairy milk for a minute! I've given that up too, used to love it, but surviving with green and blacks and lindt

@Thishatisnotmine I like mine, it covers bowls but not airtight like cling film, and sometimes I need to wipe food off it etc, but I'm wary of ruining the beeswax so I only give it a wipe now and again, fingers crossed it's hygienic enough! Maybe housekeeping board has made me a bit paranoid. But yes I like it, I still use cling film now and again but reduced it by something like 90%

Great thread OP!

I have found I can live without:
Cling Film
Kitchen Roll
Cotton Wool
Cows Milk
A car to get to work most days
Meat on 4-5 days per week
Tampons

And yes, I have found beeswax wraps to be very good. I use them for wrapping all sorts of foods. They seem especially good for keeping bread soft and fresh and stopping cut cucumbers from going off.
The downside is you can't use them to cover hot food. I have taken to using old ice cream/margarine tubs to heat things up in the microwave though so it's not that big of a deal.
I wash mine with cold, soapy water after each use. They're still pretty much good as new after about 3-4 months.

A man. My heating bill has halved

Hound... I’d be careful with heating things up in margarine tubs in the microwave, I’m not sure they’re chemically stable to he heated up.

Separate shampoo/body wash/bath. I just buy the big 5 l tubs of Faith in Nature and use whatever smell either on my hair or as a shower gel. Much less storage.

Milk from cows, long haul flights, diesel car and extra money from a buy to let landlord who has a history of running sub standard HMO.

We turned down a higher offer from him for our house and although we could have done with the money, I am so happy that we didn’t sell to him.

I have a very long way to go in other areas and am still quite bad about not checking air miles on food etc. We also have the heating on too much.

Any recommendations instead of cotton buds?

@nesssie depends, what do you use them for? I have never used them

Mostly use them for tidying up after I put my makeup on (eyeliner, mascara etc) or neatened up after putting nail varnish on.
I use them because using a whole make up wipe seemed wasteful but now I realise these are just as bad!

Fabric conditioner
95% of ironing (only work shirts and a few bits and bobs now)
Cling film
Bleach in the toilet
Air freshener (never very keen anyway)
Kitchen cleaner spray (make my own with white vinegar as we're in a hard water area)

Nesssie, can you not just soak a cotton wool pad/bit of tissue in nail polish remover (or in water if cleaning off make up) and fold it up to make it easier to get into the creases? Less plastic waste.

@Nessie Wilkos do cotton buds with cardboard sticks rather than plastic. Granted, they still come in a plastic box so I suppose it would be best if you could do without but it's still better than the plastic sticked ones.

Is cotton wool environmentally friendly?
I will check out the cardboard ones too.

I've only started recently but so far:

Antibacterial wipes
Baby wipes
Disposable sanpro
Shampoo bottles
Conditioner
Have a dolce gusto machine but no more pods, brought reusable ones and grind my own beans

Currently using the left over cotton wool then will move to reusable cloths

I've finally started to reliably remember reusable shopping bags, and we're all carrying reusable water bottles everywhere. It's taken ages for the habits to stick but hopefully we'll have a few more good habits under our belts soon. I'm much more minimal with cosmetics than I was, and I'm using soap bars and shampoo bars instead of plastic bottles. We don't like fish, which is probably a good thing given how polluting the fishing industry is. I want to start meal planning properly next, to eradicate food waste. We waste an embarrassing amount of food at the moment by being disorganized.

What exactly is wrong with bubble bath?

dontall, There's nothing wrong with bubble bath, more the plastic bottles that it comes in. Same goes for shower gel and shampoo/conditioner.

I can live without:

A car.
A man.
New clothes.
Dairy and animal products.
Having the heating on in the morning.
A washer dryer.
A microwave.

I do need most of my beauty products, a bit of kitchen roll and foil. I also need some plastic bags for the cat litter.

coffee grounds in body scrub, don't they clog your drains?
We don't have a freezer :).

I'd love to find a reusable kitchen paper towel... use it all the time and feels like horrible waste. J-cloths just don't 'pick up' enough when wiping and microfibre feels horrible.

@WonkyDonk87
I use washable bamboo. Can be washed up to 85 times and gets better and better . DH still likes kitchen roll but I buy very little .

I bought THESE

J-cloths just don't 'pick up' enough when wiping and microfibre feels horrible. Dishcloths? The white knit kind. Just throw in the wash when you put a wash on.