Eco living - what's worked and what hasn't

[Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain]

What have you done lately for eco living? What's worked or not?

For me:-

• shampoo bars Garnier, tried some others which I wasn't keen on but saw Garnier did them, tried one and liked it.
• Soap - can't recall brand but it's a cardboard one, lemon scent, Tescos. I try to use soaps more now.
• Reusable and compostable coloured sort of J clothes (not J) - in pastel colours.
• E-cloth
• Reusable makeup remover pads
• I did use recycled tin foil but its expensive
• Tescos paper sandwich bags (you can recycle)
• Heating engineer for maintenance of boiler was impressed that I don't have hot water/heating whacked up (I do for baths!) but otherwise not.
• Recycled tooth harps for flossing teeth
• May be more but can't think?
• Use water butt in garden
• Use compostable food bin
• Wash and recycle what council takes away and take bags which can be recycled at large supermarkets there plus pill packets in Superdrug
• Flask to keep hot water in
• Grow more of my own fruit and veg where I can

Any others?

Our garden shed burned down last year which meant all my seed trays and plastic plant pots were destroyed. I appealed on local Facebook and people were only too happy to let me have some. I'm also using toilet roll middles, plastic meat trays and egg boxes for seeds. There are instructions on YouTube how to make seed pots from newspaper, but I've stopped buying physical papers.

Garnier do a few shampoo bars for different hair types. I tried another one which I was given and wasn’t impressed. Conditioner I’m fussy about and not sure if garnier do those.

Actually on both mine and my DM’s streets we both have street WhatsApp groups where people ask or offer up things for sale.

SIL managed through both our groups to get new things for her baby - long story which I did mention on here!

I forgot, if I didn’t mention I bought an electric car brand new over lockdown partly as I could afford it and had some investments come good but also my best friend got a hybrid and said it was much better buying new than second hand. My old car was years old. I did also get a e-bike just in case I wanted to use, I don’t use it a huge amount but good to know it’s there. I do eco washes too in dishwasher and washing machine and dry clothes outside.

I thought of a few other things we do/have:

Repair holes in socks and trousers etc (three year old is always ripping holes in the knees of his trousers!)
Reusable period pads
No plastic bags
Tupperware for food storage
Seriously cut down our chicken intake (replaced with fish and pork)

@Toomuchgoingon79 I use Lush's Seanik bar.

I do this a lot, Tupperware but would like to find Eco friendly tupperware. I do have plastic bags but reuse them and tend to if I go to supermarket to use fabric bags. Also for 10 min walk to supermarket I walk now rather than drive.

Thinking of getting chickens.

DM repairs holes in socks and trousers and dresses she no longer wears cuts down into tops.

I do eat chicken but not as much as before.

@Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain Yeah finding eco made versions of items that will be used for a long time is hard. We tend to just wash and reuse takeaway tubs until they crack.

I did manage to find a recycled plastic insulated lunch bag for my son which was a good win. It's also really pretty so bonus points there!

This was one of the ways I thought was about putting this thread up.

My ex NDN (now moved to Canada, I think for good sadly!), was great in eco living, had toilet rolls from Who Gives a F*ck, eco shampoo bars and conditioners etc.

I do find that lots of eco products are more expensive.

My DM uses kitchen towel for lots of things, I use in my house, washable napkins if I need to.

I still think quite a few people day to day don't think much about eco living on a day to day basis but it can be quite easy to make small changes.

Do you mean Who Gives a Crap?

flannels - I'm a big fan
for washing, remiving make up, cleaning

no need to find alternatives to cleaning or skin care wipes, just use flannels (or other bits of fabric)

Who Gives a Crap should rebrand! 🤣

We have recently moved to a new build house. I am impressed with eco side of things. We’ve got an air source heat pump, which I’m pretty happy with. Just need to figure out how it works! It didn’t come with solar panels, so that’ll be our next investment. Probably a few years off mind 😫 Good tip re batteries.

I am also a Nancy Birtwhistle fan. I do pick and choose what I make up. Her Pure Magic recipe is very impressive for line scale etc.

also specialised cleaning products. essentially they are all the same, i.e. soapy water.
that can be achieved with laundry powder or washing up liquid and a bucket of water.

@greenacrylicpaint Flannels are fab I agree :)

A lot of this stuff I've been using for so long I didn't even think of it for the thread - things like flannels and reusable shopping bags are just everyday objects that never cross my mind.

You can get tupperware type things made from recycled plastic https://chimneysheep.co.uk/collections/kitchen-dining/products/lock-lock-snack-box-set-pack-of-3. This company is good for garden bits as well, like wool-based weed matting and insulating fleece instead of plastic.

SoapCollector I'd love to know which solid shampoo and conditioner bars you'd recommend for curly hair!

@BlueChampagne I'm a curly (fine, thick 2c/3a) and use the Lush Seanik shampoo bar :)

Ikea do glass tupperware. No more microwaving plastic, no tomato stains, can go in the oven, nicer to eat out of, easier to clean and they sell the lids, seals and bottoms separately so you just replace the bits you need. I find it survives the dishwasher and freezer much better than plastic

Are the lids also glass? We have some (not Ikea) with a Pyrex bottom and plastic lid. Can't get separate parts for those though, so the Ikea ones are definitely an improvement on that if you can get individual replacement parts.

@BlueChampagne If you are in a hard water area the soap based shampoo bars may not work as well for you ( can leave a lot of waxy residue which can be useful to a point to help with any frizz but can get too waxy).

Shampoo bars that are not soap based work well in all water (so I've been told) these are more like regular shampoo without the added water content.

To tell the difference between the two you need to look at the ingredients list.

Soap based bars would have ingredients like sodium cocoate, sodium olivate and sodium castorate similar to a cold process bar of soap. I've used these with success but it depends on how dry frizzy and curly your hair is and the hardness if the water in your area. I think when people say they don't get on with shampoo bars maybe this is the type they have tried.

Non soap shampoo bars are more like regular shampoo. These will have ingredients like sodium cocyl Isethionate (sometimes listed as SCI) , decyl glucoside and disodium lauryl sulfosuccinate.

I've tried the following so far and would buy them all again.
Shampoo soap based -
Friendly soap, The Natural Spa, The Good Soap Company.

Shampoo non soap based.
Ethique the frizz wrangler, Ethique healy kiwi and Faith in nature.

Conditioner bars that I recommend are-
Friendly Soap - quite a heavy lots of slip conditioner.

The Natural Spa - lasts ages and not as heavy as friendly soap one.

Ethique - The Guardian conditioner bar probably the best but also the most expensive!

Hope that helps, realised I've waffled on for a while there! Hope you find something to suit you 🙂

ha yes I do

Nearly everything has worked for me. I love my recycled paper, reusable cloths, glass tupperware etc. The only things I struggle with is eco deodorant and eco toothpaste that's just not as good.

@mynumerouno yes I forgot about eco toothpaste, I tried tooth tabs but they didn't leave my mouth feeling as clean as regular toothpaste.

I use a rock deodorant if I need to. Not sure about tooth tabs either.

A rock deodorant, is that a pitrok crystal type deodorant or something else?

Yes that's the one. But it's called Salt of the Earth. I'm fairly lucky as peri/menopausal I don't seem to sweat or smell much thank god so only use in summer or if I've been sweating.