Biking, shampoo bars, and more: my monthly goals
For my New Year's Resolution this year, I promised to live a more eco-friendly, ethical, and sustainable lifestyle. This is a pretty big, vague resolution and as anyone who as ever made a big, vague resolution before ("eat more healthily" springs to mind as one I made and failed to keep every year for a long time...), they're pretty hard to follow through on. One of the reasons for this is that it's hard to keep track of progress and hold yourself accountable. What does a "eco-friendly lifestyle" look like? How do I know if I'm on track or not?
To try and solve this problem, I went on good old Google and spent some time researching changes that other people have made to be more sustainable. I put together a big list of changes that I thought I could make, and then I picked 12 that particularly appealed to me and decided to make one change the focus of each month. That way I wouldn't spread myself too thin and get overwhelmed by trying to change a million things at once, and I'd have time to make each change into a habit before moving on to the next one.
So without further ado, here are the 12 monthly lifestyle changes I decided to make this year:
January: Ride my bicycle instead of driving
I always used to be able to walk to work and university, but since we moved house I've been driving more and more. Sometimes I won't have any choice but to drive (if I need to take more things than I can carry on my bike, for instance), but I resolved to take my bike whenever possible.
Since January is now finished, I can tell you that this resolution has been going pretty well! It was a bit of an expensive start because although I already had my old bike from when I was a kid, I needed a helmet, bike lock, and a basket for the front. Once I had that sorted I think I only drove to university a couple of times (once when I was sick, and once when I had to rush from university to work in a very short time). I also found myself taking my bike to other places, like the supermarket. It's become a habit I've kept up in February, although as I get busier throughout the year I think it will become a little harder to keep up.
February: Make my own snacks instead of buying things in plastic packaging
I never used to eat packaged snack foods, but since moving in with my fiance I've picked up on a few of his habits and now muesli bars, rice crackers, and their kind are a regularly-purchased item. As well as having some guilty feelings about the healthiness of these snacks, I feel bad every time I throw the plastic packaging into the bin. I really enjoy baking so I thought it would be fun to see if I could make my own alternatives (that don't come individually wrapped!)
So far this hasn't been quite such a success as the biking, mostly because we were away for the first half of the month so I didn't get much of a chance to bake. Now that we're home I'm trying to make up for lost time - I'm even making my own bread today!
March: Buy reusable containers and sandwich bags
I take a packed lunch most days so I can get through a lot of ziploc bags and plastic wrap. I've tried washing and re-using ziploc bags but they're just not the same afterwards. (Probably something to do with me buying the cheapest ones in the supermarket!) I've seen some reusable ones online and I thought I could give those a try and see if I can reduce my plastic waste even more.
April: Try out shampoo bars
Rather than buying shampoo and conditioner in plastic bottles, I thought I'd try hard bars of shampoo and conditioner, which come in cardboard packaging. The bars also take up a lot less space, so less packaging is needed.
May: Eat one vegan meal a week
I hear a lot about how the meat and dairy industries impact on the environment. I already eat vegetarian breakfasts and lunches, but I do eat a lot of milk and cheese! I also don't think I'll be able to go fully vegetarian or vegan as I have IBS and can't eat legumes, pulses, and some vegetables, which is a bit limiting as a vegan. I thought I could start small with one vegan meal a week and if that goes well I could eat vegan even more often than that.
June: Try alternatives to makeup wipes
I feel like taking of my makeup creates a lot of unnecessary waste. Rather than throwing away makeup wipes each day, I'm planning on getting a microfibre cloth (like a Face Halo except, hopefully, cheaper) to take my makeup off.
July: Try reusable feminine hygiene products
Pads and tampons create a lot of waste. No judgement to anyone for what they use - I think each person should use the products that work best for them - but since I've never tried reusable alternatives, I thought I should give it a go and see if I like them.
August: Get some beeswax wrap instead of Gladwrap
Kind of a follow-up to March's goal. Hopefully I can make my lunches waste-free by the end of the year!
September: Time my showers
I love a long hot shower at the end of the day. Unfortunately it's easy to get lost in thought and waste water having an unnecessarily long shower. I'm going to try and stop that from happening by setting a timer for myself.
October: Use cardboard Q-tips
This is a similar one to April and June - I want to make my beauty routine less wasteful.
November: Make my own cleaning products
I'm not sure how this one will go to be honest. I remember Mum doing this when we were kids - and eventually stopping because of how much time it took up. I'm thinking I'll start with just one or two products that are relatively simple (e.g. window cleaner). Again, this is trying to use less packaging, as well as exposing myself to fewer harmful chemicals.
December: Re-use wrapping paper and gift bags
December is the season not just for Christmas but also for my birthday and my fiance's birthday. We get a lot of wrapping paper! Why buy more rolls of paper (that will just get thrown out) when I can re-use our wrapping paper for other people's presents?
To try and solve this problem, I went on good old Google and spent some time researching changes that other people have made to be more sustainable. I put together a big list of changes that I thought I could make, and then I picked 12 that particularly appealed to me and decided to make one change the focus of each month. That way I wouldn't spread myself too thin and get overwhelmed by trying to change a million things at once, and I'd have time to make each change into a habit before moving on to the next one.
So without further ado, here are the 12 monthly lifestyle changes I decided to make this year:
January: Ride my bicycle instead of driving
I always used to be able to walk to work and university, but since we moved house I've been driving more and more. Sometimes I won't have any choice but to drive (if I need to take more things than I can carry on my bike, for instance), but I resolved to take my bike whenever possible.
Since January is now finished, I can tell you that this resolution has been going pretty well! It was a bit of an expensive start because although I already had my old bike from when I was a kid, I needed a helmet, bike lock, and a basket for the front. Once I had that sorted I think I only drove to university a couple of times (once when I was sick, and once when I had to rush from university to work in a very short time). I also found myself taking my bike to other places, like the supermarket. It's become a habit I've kept up in February, although as I get busier throughout the year I think it will become a little harder to keep up.
February: Make my own snacks instead of buying things in plastic packaging
I never used to eat packaged snack foods, but since moving in with my fiance I've picked up on a few of his habits and now muesli bars, rice crackers, and their kind are a regularly-purchased item. As well as having some guilty feelings about the healthiness of these snacks, I feel bad every time I throw the plastic packaging into the bin. I really enjoy baking so I thought it would be fun to see if I could make my own alternatives (that don't come individually wrapped!)
So far this hasn't been quite such a success as the biking, mostly because we were away for the first half of the month so I didn't get much of a chance to bake. Now that we're home I'm trying to make up for lost time - I'm even making my own bread today!
March: Buy reusable containers and sandwich bags
I take a packed lunch most days so I can get through a lot of ziploc bags and plastic wrap. I've tried washing and re-using ziploc bags but they're just not the same afterwards. (Probably something to do with me buying the cheapest ones in the supermarket!) I've seen some reusable ones online and I thought I could give those a try and see if I can reduce my plastic waste even more.
April: Try out shampoo bars
Rather than buying shampoo and conditioner in plastic bottles, I thought I'd try hard bars of shampoo and conditioner, which come in cardboard packaging. The bars also take up a lot less space, so less packaging is needed.
May: Eat one vegan meal a week
I hear a lot about how the meat and dairy industries impact on the environment. I already eat vegetarian breakfasts and lunches, but I do eat a lot of milk and cheese! I also don't think I'll be able to go fully vegetarian or vegan as I have IBS and can't eat legumes, pulses, and some vegetables, which is a bit limiting as a vegan. I thought I could start small with one vegan meal a week and if that goes well I could eat vegan even more often than that.
June: Try alternatives to makeup wipes
I feel like taking of my makeup creates a lot of unnecessary waste. Rather than throwing away makeup wipes each day, I'm planning on getting a microfibre cloth (like a Face Halo except, hopefully, cheaper) to take my makeup off.
July: Try reusable feminine hygiene products
Pads and tampons create a lot of waste. No judgement to anyone for what they use - I think each person should use the products that work best for them - but since I've never tried reusable alternatives, I thought I should give it a go and see if I like them.
August: Get some beeswax wrap instead of Gladwrap
Kind of a follow-up to March's goal. Hopefully I can make my lunches waste-free by the end of the year!
September: Time my showers
I love a long hot shower at the end of the day. Unfortunately it's easy to get lost in thought and waste water having an unnecessarily long shower. I'm going to try and stop that from happening by setting a timer for myself.
October: Use cardboard Q-tips
This is a similar one to April and June - I want to make my beauty routine less wasteful.
November: Make my own cleaning products
I'm not sure how this one will go to be honest. I remember Mum doing this when we were kids - and eventually stopping because of how much time it took up. I'm thinking I'll start with just one or two products that are relatively simple (e.g. window cleaner). Again, this is trying to use less packaging, as well as exposing myself to fewer harmful chemicals.
December: Re-use wrapping paper and gift bags
December is the season not just for Christmas but also for my birthday and my fiance's birthday. We get a lot of wrapping paper! Why buy more rolls of paper (that will just get thrown out) when I can re-use our wrapping paper for other people's presents?
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