If you’re considering making little changes in your life towards a more green lifestyle, you’ve come to the right place! I’ll prove to you that green living can be achieved with minimal effort and very small changes to your everyday lifestyle.
I must digress, though, because a green living room with a green rug, green curtains and a green sofa is not what I’m talking about here. Instead, what I want to chat about is eco green living.
That’s a sustainable lifestyle that enables you to save money, live in a healthy environment while also contributing to building a better world. To be honest, most of you are probably already doing many of these things!
And as promised in the headline, I’ll do all of this without any whiff of hippies. (No, there’s nothing wrong with hippies! That sort of lifestyle is just not my vibe, deal with it.) So, the question is: Are you ready to live better?
10 Easy Tips for Green Lifestyle
I promised easy tips for achieving a greener lifestyle without any major hassle, so that’s what you’ll get! You’ll quickly realise that these are all quite mainstream things, and as such, you can probably tick off many of them straight away. Well done you, you’re well on your way!
Green living doesn’t mean you have to overhaul your entire life and start from scratch. Sustainability as a word has bad rep, mainly due to all the greenwashing, but fundamentally it means living better with fewer costs to the individual and the planet.
Which ones of these are you already actively doing in your everyday life?
Tip 1: Change your attitude towards recycling
If at this point you haven’t yet accepted the fact that recycling is not a chore, it’s a responsibility, then you’re late. But that doesn’t exempt you from the fact! To make accepting it easier, change the way you look at recycling: instead of it being a nuisance, make it a routine.
The infrastructure is already there (at least in European countries), you just need to get acquainted with it. First figure out an easy way to separate all the household waste:
- plastic waste (food and otherwise) goes into a plastic bag so you can take it all to plastic recycling bin at once
- food waste requires a serried waste dish so the smells don’t start disturbing you
- tin cans can go into a box or a bucket, from which it’s easy to just toss them to metal recycling (give a quick rinse to them so they don’t start smelling!)
- etc.
After just a week of sticking to a routine you’re used to where everything is, so you put the right things in the right containers without even thinking about it. And just like that you are doing your part for a better future for yourself and everyone else! Easy, isn’t it?
Add to that reusable bottles and mugs instead of disposable ones and avoiding single-use utensils or packaging, and I congratulate you.
Tip 2: Replace plastic bags with tote bags
The easiest way to achieve the green lifestyle is to swear off plastic for good. But let’s be realistic: it’s actually not possible with the world being the way it is right now. But with small changes on an individual level we can make a big difference as a community.
And as the previous point showed, plastic bags can be useful as plastic recycling units in the kitchen! But if you still prefer opting for plastic bags in any sort of a retail establishment, you’re actually wasting quite a bit of money:
- Let’s say a plastic bag costs 0,20€£$
- You buy a plastic bag once a week when you go to the grocery store
- One year has 52 weeks so that’s 52 x 0,20€£$ = 10,4€£$ per year
Doesn’t sound too drastic, but how many of us really go to the grocery store only once a week? Not me, for sure! So, in one year you literally dispose of money that you could spend on something worthwhile because a plastic bag always goes to waste.
And these days the obvious alternative, a tote bag, is such a trendy accessory that I struggle to understand why you wouldn’t have one. Or seven like I have. Or 20 like my mum!
Tip 3: Buy better to save money
When buying anything from food to clothes to appliances, we tend to look for the cheapest option. And sure, money is tight. Or is it actually? Or have you just swallowed all that bullshite about buying as much as possible for as little money as possible being cool? Not that long ago that was quite embarrassing…
And for a good reason! Ridiculously cheap prices are a clear indication of abuse of many sorts, which actually means you don’t get any value for your money. Abuse like:
- food being grown using dangerous chemicals that don’t wash away = you eat and your body absorbs the chemicals
- intensive farming meaning pure torture for the animals = low quality and antibiotics-infested produce poisons you slowly
- petrol and dangerous chemicals being used to create synthetic fabrics = your clothes harm your skin and organs in the long run
- all those “smart devices” that none of us need require rare minerals that are difficult to get = by getting on board with every new device trend you support child labour and slavery (because it never ended!)
Sorry, not sorry but you actually don’t deserve cheap prices! You are not entitled to buy as much as you like for no reason whatsoever!
To prove this I talked to the founder of Son de Flor, a small linen clothing brand, about how genuine pricing works in the clothing industry. When a T-shirt made out of natural materials – organic cotton, linen, silk, etc. – costs 50€, it has been reasonably priced. NOT expensive!
A cheap price tag now will actually become inordinately expensive for you later. Especially with multinationals buying up ethical brands and turning them into unethical brands…
But how can you afford more expensive food, clothes and appliances?? By buying less but better. Proper quality products are more durable, can usually be fixed instead of needing to buy new all the time, and most importantly, don’t harm you!
More on the topic: Paying Thousands For A Luxury Brand Bag Is STUPID!
Tip 4: Make second-hand shopping fun
Let’s stay in the clothing section of a green lifestyle for a bit, because clothes are a major part of our everyday life. Whenever you do need something new, how about checking out second-hand options available in your area?
This doesn’t just apply to clothes, but you can also find second-hand furniture, books, and appliances. In addition to the basic thrift stores and recycling forums on social media massive recycling centres with a mall attached are popping up all over Europe. There you can find everything for a new home! Check if your country already has one.
To get inspiration and motivation for second-hand shopping, I recommend following some of the best sustainable fashion influencers available to us.
Tip 5: Wash only full loads
Yes yes, I know a household with small children probably struggles with this. And it’s okay! It’s temporary since kids tend to grow up. But overall it’s a good thing to know that washing only full loads is a big step towards greener living.
There are many people who also talk about using colder water – usually 30°c – but this doesn’t always work. With stubborn sweat patches, underwear, towels and sheets it’s definitely wiser to use minimum 60°c for proper results.
Tip 6: Air-dry your laundry
Personal opinion but I’ve never understood dryers. Maybe that’s because I grew up in a dry and cold climate in which dryers make clothes electric and inconvenient. But also dryers decrease the quality of clothes, and that’s regardless of the climate.
Whereas air-drying allows all the fibers of the clothing to stay intact and the clothes feel much nicer on. It also saves you a lot of money and tons of dryer energy over time.
In the Nordic countries, where I grew up, we used to take all the laundry to the drying strings which were available in every neighbourhood. I wish my current living area had them available but no. If you don’t have any available either, air-drying is easy to adopt indoors as well: just get a portable clothesline.
Tip 7: Upgrade your living space
There are plenty of cost effective ways to achieve a green lifestyle by making small upgrades to your living space. Such things as switching to energy-saving LED lights and living green design, like pot plants that purify the air.
A bit more costly but nonetheless cost-saving measure is insulating your windows, preferably the whole house. I can personally vouch for the huge difference that good insulation can do for your living standards!
- I live in a 100-year-old wooden house that went through a full facade renovation a couple years ago.
- Sure, it was a nuisance to live under a hood for a year. But the benefits overrule all of that 100-0;
- My home is now warm in the winter and stays cooler in the summer! Also, the air quality in my apartment is much better.
In the UK the utility bills would go down significantly, which is why the Green Party advocates for a major housing insulation policy. The problem is, you don’t understand the huge significance of the change until you actually experience it. But sometimes we have to take risks, and insulating your house is definitely a risk worth taking!
Tip 8: Introduce more plant proteins into your diet
I don’t believe in banning or refusing anything from ourselves (as long as it’s not something illegal!) Dieting is a road to ruin whereas having a good balance is the golden rule. That’s why I describe myself as an 80% vegetarian: I only cook vegetarian food but never say no if someone offers me a steak dinner.
Eating less resource-heavy food – food that is not the result of intensive farming – is easier than you ever thought:
- Start by adding one plant-based meal per week.
- Next week add one day when you swap beef and pork for beans or lentils.
- Search for plant based recipe inspiration on social media
- Cut food waste by getting creative and plan meals using leftovers, and prep your meals for next week.
Before you even notice, you’ll be 80% vegetarian too ;) And once you are, you don’t want to go back because you just feel better in every way: lighter both physically and consciously.
Tip 9: Always unplug unused electronics
This may seem obvious but many who are reaching for a green lifestyle miss this tiny step. So, set electronics to power down, unplug chargers when you’re not using them, turn off power strips at night, etc.
Such simple things that they easily go unnoticed. But it’s just as sneaky how all of it fattens your electricity bill.
Tip 10: Walk, cycle, use public transport
Yes, this is mainly for us Europeans and here also pretty much excludes the Greeks (I’ve never been to such an anti-walkable country!) But seriously, if you have the infrastructure, what is your excuse for not using it? Walking and cycling are both eco-friendly ways of getting around and count as exercise in one go.
But you’re lazy, eh? Me too! So lazy in fact that I would much rather walk the 2 km journey than sit at traffic lights in a stuffy car (yes, I jaywalk…) And if you prefer to go fast, why not cycle!? I don’t have a bike anymore but oh my goodness I miss it! What a brilliant way to get from A to B ♥
Public transport I’m not a fan of but since I live in a city that offers free public transport for us local residents, why wouldn’t I take advantage of it? Especially during winter!
Sure, some of us need a car to get to work 40 km away or to drive to the summer house for the summer. But even without wanting to achieve a green lifestyle I see no reason to not do errands occasionally by cycling or on foot to reduce unnecessary car trips.
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So, how many of these 10 points are you already doing and which ones are you going to implement in your daily life next?
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