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?

Thank you. I'll have a look at that one.

Great thread @Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain

For years we've done....
Cloth nappies (now finished)
Cloth wipes for nappies
Cloth period pads /period pants/moon cup
"Wild" garden...pond, waterbutt x 2. Compost heap. Bird boxes/feeders. Log/leaf pile.
Eco friendly laundry/dish/kitchen spray
Reusable towels instead of kitchen towel

I can't get on with...
Soapnuts
Bar shampoo/conditioner/soap it's just a no from me.

Also we drive a dirty diesel tank 7 seater and have far too many plastic wrapped food items/ready meals / takeaway so it's swings and roundabouts!

I've been using Life Supplies refillable toothpaste and love it.
Their roll on antiperspirant is also great, no white marks, great scent and lovely refillable bottle.

(Second hand) electric bike has been great for me. I already had a cargo trailer but didn't use it much due to hills.
I looked at electric cars but they're obviously ££s, and since my mileage is low anyway it feels better to make the most of the embodied energy in my current vehicle.
I reckon I've switched about 750 miles onto bike in the last year (done about 1250 in total, but some are sub for my regular bike), and they're the short highly polluting runs.
Basically I reckon ebikes are (at least part of) the future - not just letting you go further / faster / easier/ carry more stuff, but also it's fine wearing full waterproofs cos you can just turn up the assist & not get horribly sweaty.

Found Smol products really good, their deodorant is actually anti perspirant & it works.

For anyone who's interested on the food front, I've been listening to an interesting podcast called Less & Better? (by Farmerama podcasts)

For anyone who's interested on the food front, I've been listening to an interesting podcast called Less & Better? (by Farmerama podcasts)

Has anyone else been moving their money in order to divest (hope that's the word I mean) from fossil fuels e.g. Cooperative Bank and changing my ISA to Triodos.

@Sorenson I use Smol too - dishwasher tablets and laundry detergent/fabric softener.

We heat our home with wood ( know it’s a MN hate but we are rural with no mains gas) Our wood is all local fallen trees etc that our log man has a council contract for. We have insulated all our wall and use electric heaters for back up with Ecotricity. We eat a small amount of very local meat. The dairy is down the lane and we grow and preserve a lot.
I have a 5 litre bottle of all purpose cleaner, loo cleaner and washing up liquid that I get refilled and a 2.5 litre Faith in Nature shower gel and shampoo. Deodorant is a local company Fit Pit. I am post menopausal so use washable pads for those woopsy moments. For face and body cream I love Lavera All Round Cream in a big tin. I did use Truth Paste but have a few tubes of general toothpast that need using up first. Shampoo bars were useless for my fine hair in this hard water area, hense the Faith in Nature.
My biggest eco win is my hand knitted socks. I use a nylon free British blend now, but I have socks that are 10 years old. I can darn, repair and reknit sections as needed and they keep us toasty and warm and I have not bought socks for nearly 15 years. When they really are passed it they can be chucked on the compost heap or chopped up and used for stuffing.

@AlannaOfTrebond Ah yes! That's the anti perspirant we use too. It's brilliant :)

@Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain you mentioned Garnier shampoo bars earlier in the thread, just to let you know my local Asda had a few different varieties of the Garnier bars on sale for £1 a bar.

I use Salt of the Earth deodorant too, while family does. No smells. It’s amazingly good. I had to get used to actually sweating - it’s not an anti perspiratant- but it doesn’t smell, and I am very active. It’s ace!

Typos 😬

You have reminded me, I did Smol for a year over lockdown only laundry tablets but it was very good, think I’ll try that again.

The refill detergents are excellent. Basically the packaging has all water removed and so instead of a whole bottle of product you get a little gel capsule which is about the size of a small dishwasher tablet and then dissolve it in water. Massively beneficial for the environment due to reduced transportation space. Plus you're not buying a new bottle each time. All the major supermarkets plus places like Dunelm sell them.

detergent with the water removed - oh, laundry powder you mean?

No - ocean savers. Tiny pods of liquid

[https://www.ocean-saver.com/products/the-ultimate-refill-cleaning-collection?tw_source=google&tw_adid=&tw_campaign=20355880983&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImKSN9LjfhAMVSZJQBh1O3w9nEAQYCCABEgLTMfD_BwE]

Great thread! Love looking for new ideas

Over the last 12/18 months

Solar panels and battery, latter useful
Hybrid and hybrid electric car we share
Buying clothes from vinted apart from trousers for my short legs
And for both my daughters
And charity shops
Recycling soft plastics at supermarket, thought it was just plastic bags so very annoyed didn't do this earlier
Fruit trays etc are recycled via my dads recycle as he hasdifferent council
Tablet strips recycle
Reviewing weekly shop, less packaging, less waste
More vegetarian meals as daughter went veggie
Soap shampoo and finally found conditioner I like for me. Ret of family use giant one bulk buy conditioner anddecant
Pencils not pens….
Water bottle each, ice cream tub not lunch box
Makeup pads
Heating thermometers each room / timers.
Don’t put fire on
Just buying less in general and eye rolling at teen plastic tat to guilt them
Wax things instead of cling film
Reusable bag in handbag and store bags everywhere
Composter, water butt etc
Dog toilet. Surprised that all was fine re smell, flies etc. so less bags 4 pick up at home
Reusable nappies many years ago....
Smol dishcloths, reuse and biodegrade
Smol dishwasher tablets
Naked sprout unbleached toilet roll, does look like poo left in toilet though
Darning socks and generally try to repair all sorts
Recycle all clothes, batteries, paint etc. very little goes in general waste
Upcycled kitchen table which was battered, rather than buying new one
Dry clothes outside, rail for inside with dehumidifier
BorrowBox or library for books or second hand
Reconditioned phones, and /or use them for years
Moved savings to nationwide. Supposed to be one of most impactful things to do

Still need to do /not as good

Peat free gardening
Oddbox. Good variety but do we always eat it all so perhaps waste is too high
Would like to know if anyone has found truly biodegradable dog poop bags
Get bit confused as want more 30 degree washes but can’t be full load on my washing machine so not sure which is more eco friendly
Got more financials to do. Pensions, investments etc
Will move to octopus for energy.Currently on fixed green deal. Octopus is best provider overall I believe

Oh and
Soda stream, although not entirely convinced on that one
Washing powder in box
Soap not hand wash

Still keen on more ideas!

Can I resurrect this thread?

I love my local refill store! I now refill:
Shampoo and conditioner
All household liquid cleaners except drain unblocked
Flour, dried stuff like lentils, olive oil, rapeseed oil, oats

Also swapped to soap bars and reusable makeup pads.

Still keen to do more but I feel like our plastic waste is so reduced now, especially after recycling all soft plastic at the supermarket bins

I also get everything from Vinted except socks and pants (unclear why, feels wrong for inexplicable reason)

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

Same they were kinda chalky

@HangingOver I'm still here !
Agree with second hand on all clothing bar underwear and socks .
I've just got the smol set to try , but have since seen washing up soap bars so interested if anyone else has tried these ?

Also trying to cook from scratch and have just seen a recipe for red lentil pancakes so that's on the to do list !