So I thought I would elaborate on my post about how to change things about - point by point! I hope it will help you feel inspired, perhaps you have made changes in your life for wasting less, using less plastic, and overall just minimalising? I would love to hear all about it!
Right! So we'll start from this picture here, shall we?
From right to left:
1. Use a shower bar instead of bottled soap - I am still working on finding the right one for me as I have quite sensitive skin, but the lemon bar in the picture from Lush smells A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!
2. Biodegradable bin bags - so the ones you see here are the 50L bin bags made from maize! They are super silky soft, super strong, and you can fill them to the rim, it's basically the hero of bin bags! I also bought some smaller 10L biodegradable bags from AllGreen (which always makes me sing Al Green "Let's Stay Together" <3) and I have just started using them! 3. Right, so this was supposed to be
4. Shampoo bar! This Seanik bar is soooooo good, and my boyfriend totally sniffed my hair the first day and was like "Yum! How come your hair smells better than usual?!" So take THAT all other shampoos!
5. Home made lip balm! There are plenty of different recipes for DIY lip balm, I made it with coconut oil, cocoa butter and candelilla wax plus a few drops of essential oils - et voila! No chemicals, no plastic - it's all good!
6. Bamboo toothbrush - these bamboo brushes has been treated so they are fit for purpose! Mine has held up really well, and I'v egot another one at the ready for when I need to swap it!
7. Re-usable coffee cup for those cappuccinos to go! I bought mine before I got super aware of plastic, however - rather than having a billion coffees in disposable cups, this one will hold up for yeeeeeears!
8. Soap bars - I know some people can be a cringy about this, but in the household with friends and family, I think it is totally fine to have a soap bar at the read, if you feel like you also need to have a liquid soap too - use that only when absolute necessary! And if you feel most comfortable with it - you can have a soap bar each. I am planning to see if I can make my own liquid soap in the future.
9. Yesterday, I got my shiny Klean Kanteen water bottle in the mail! I am so excited AND it is also my favourite colour, yay! I used it straight away for last night's badminton session.
10. Buy unpackaged fruit and vegetables when you can! Most of the time there is no need for packaging. When you think about it - a year of buying vegetables that aren't wrapped in plastic or nets or cardboard, you'll save quite a lot of rubbish!
11. I have a super cute bamboo lunch box! I got it for £4.99 in TK Maxx, which I thought was a bargain!
12. Eco-friendly laundry tablets! I currently use Ecover for my laundry, and also for dishes I do by hand I have got the bottle of Ecover. In the future I am hoping to get eco friendly fabric softener and dishwasher tablets too!
13. Using fabric bags or recycled bags for your food shop! Honestly the times I have forgotten my bags I have either stubbornly carried all of them by hand, or just gone home to do the shopping next day.... Yup, it's true!
14. Minimalise. When you have clothes that are worn out, recycle them! And don't replace them with anything... I went through my whole wardrobe, attended a friend's clothes swap - and brought all the clothes that were in a good condition with me. We had tea and coffee and snacks and we had a really fun time just trying on clothes and get some pretty new clothes - the rest was donated to a charity shop. And we have these swaps at least two or three times a year - it's so much fun! I donate as much as I can, and then maybe bring two or three pieces that I really like with me home, and just like that! Minimalism has begun. My wardrobe is no longer cluttered, and it is SO much easier to decide what to wear! Phew!
Also, if you don't do clothes swaps, then you can donate clothes to homeless shelters or two charity shops - They will appreciate it SO much! And make sure that clothes donated are clean and in good condition, if you wouldn't wear it yourself - you shouldn't donate it.
So these are just swaps that I have found ridiculously easy and I have written down a list of more things that I can easily swap out - I just want to make until the things I have needs replaced, because there is no need to immediately throw out perfectly good things, use them well - recycle and then replace!
Did you find these helpful at all? I am still just learning little by little, but the minimalising has helped me so much already, and thinking about how much waste I can save just by making a few handfuls' of changes! And like I said - if you have made any changes or attempted DIY projects for the home, or care products, gimme a shout! Also, would you enjoy more posts like this?
I hope you have a great evening and guess what? The weekend is juuuust around the corner!
