Tips on sustainable living you can start right now

My personal biggest passion is sustainable living. I believe in climate change… wait. I hate that sentence, just because I still have to use the word “believe”. How on Earth in 2021 are there still people who think climate change is not a thing?

I should start again.

My personal biggest passion is sustainable living. The word sustainability is the keyword of my life. I started the brand OMMIK to promote sustainability in home decor, and sustainability in everyday life. Being an AirBnb’s “superhost” for over 4 years, I do everything to educate my guests and promote sustainable tourism in Estonia. I have learnt a thing or two about how to make a positive impact in climate and I would like to share my knowledge with you in these tips.

The beauty of those tips is that they are so adequate and simple, and all you need to do is to build a habit. The impact on the planet, if you apply those rules in your lifestyle, will be tremendous and it will benefit your personal life, too.

Tips on sustainable living

Before you leave…

Lights off. Check if the lights in all the rooms, kitchen and bathroom are off.

Water. Check if the water in the kitchen and bathroom is not running.

Fridge and stove. Check if the fridge is closed and if the stove and oven are off.

Heating. Check of the heating is off.

While you are at home…

Save the water. Don’t take long showers.

Save energy. Turn the heater on only if necessary.

Re-use towels.

Consider using mostly cold water when you do the dishes.

Recycle and sort the garbage in 3 bins: one for paper, one for plastic/packaging and one for biowaste.

Recycle bottles (plastic, cans, glass).

If you can still tolerate the heat, consider using a fan instead of an air con.

When you are out…

Shop with reusable bags, avoid plastic bags. In several European countries, plastic shopping bags are already banned.

Consider buying used things (furniture, clothes, toys, gadgets).

When buying food, try to choose the food without packaging. By the way, in Europe gains popularity the supermarkets that sell food without packaging. The concept is amazing.

Try to use a bicycle to travel within the city. It does not only make zero pollution but also a fun and healthy habit.

More detailed tips for sustainable living

Let’s go a bit more detailed now. My tips will be mostly how you can replace a few things at home with more durable alternatives.

Brushes instead of sponges

We do dishes every day. Sponges are gross and often tossed into the trash bin. Replace sponges with a brush. The good thing about it, you don’t even have to touch the gross part. Brushes are extremely popular in Nordic countries and Scandinavia.

Audit your bank account

The best way to learn your consumerist habits and improve them is to look at your monthly expenses. I have already mentioned, one of the ideas of sustainable living is to re-use, recycle, upcycling things. If you are a big shopper and buy lots of clothes, for example, consider second-hand stores. Furniture and gadgets you can find in classified and marketplace websites.

Educate yourself

We live in times of limitless sources of free information. YouTube and documentaries in streaming services can educate you about bad habits and consumerism, as well as teach you how to change those bad habits. Use the resources to learn about sustainable living, zero-waste, climate change, habits etc.

The big four

“The big four” is the term for the plastic products we use one-time-only before they end up in the bin.

Coffee cups. We love coffee. We drink it every day. We love good cafés that sell good coffee. We don’t like take-away coffee cups because they end up in the bin after one-time use. Replace it with reusable coffee cups. Simply ask the barista to pour the coffee into your reusable coffee cup. As simple as that.

Straws. Straws were banned in many countries in Europe but are still widely used worldwide. Replace plastic straws with metal straws. There is also a paper straws alternative, but personally, I don’t like the taste of a drink with paper straw.

Water bottles. If you live in a country where tap water is drinkable, you can change the nasty habit of buying bottled water with the water from the tap in the reusable water bottle. Check-in Amazon or sports store, there is a massive selection of water bottles for hiking or sports activities.

Bags. I have already mentioned, plastic bags were banned in some European countries. It boosted a nice movement of using shopping bags made of fabric or even using backpacks. A hint to business owners: you can market your product or service by producing fabric shipping bags with your logo to give to your customers. This could promote not only sustainable living but sustainable business.

Let me know what you think about sustainable living and the tips I gave in this article. Hope this will help to change your lifestyle for a positive impact on our planet.

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Featured photo credits: Photo by Gemma Evans on Unsplash

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