Sustainable Living
How To Live Sustainably

OwnMuse brings you an easy to follow daily sustainability checklist...

Use these eco living daily tips to keep your contributions to sustainability in order.

There are many ways you can make a big ecological difference each and every day. The below list of sustainable living tips and techniques, ideas and advice will help support you create change.

Often we can be confused about how we can help reduce waste, lower emission, which products are the best environmentally friendly ones to use. OwnMuse endeavours to support you to have an unstoppable ecological mindset, making sustainable choices and living sustainability easier.

Take charge of the way you live. Be your own muse in your daily life, that is your own; 'self', muse; 'inspiration' in everything you do.

Together we create ecological change and, together we will make a big difference. 

Your Eco Living and Sustainability Daily Checklist

Why sustainable living is important?

Sustainability is vital to living in a healthy, unpolluted, ecologically balanced world. This is not the current state of our world. Sustainability involves everything and every person on this planet. The world we live in is at a pivotal point, we must take charge of our ecological decisions.

The choices we make today about waste, emissions, resources, disease control, how we eat, how we dress, how we run the energy in our homes, how we commute how we choose to live every day - does matter. It matters in a way SO BIG, so significant - it's about the survival on this planet and every living thing.

If we don't wake up and become aware, conscious of every choice, we will not be able to correct the incredible damage already done. 

WE CAN correct the damage done to the earth. WE CAN reduce waste and hopefully one day live zero-waste. WE CAN reduce pollution and emissions and hopefully one day live carbon neutral. WE CAN eat better, stop the spread of disease, and care for this beautiful world better. WE CAN - we are in this together!

Our ecosystem is powerful, mother nature, our world CAN repair the damage done. BUT WE MUST make a daily effort to reduce, reuse, refuse, and recycle each and every day in everything we do. Every choice and action we make - matters. 

Living sustainably means you care, you are mindful and you are contributing to reducing waste, emissions, educating and voicing environmental concerns.

Question industry, manufacturing and governments, support and educate each other, all generations. Consciously make an effort to lessen the effects of climate change on future generations. Make a difference and stop contributing to environmental issues.

What is Eco Living?

Eco living is a lifestyle choice, it is a way to take charge of your individual carbon footprint. 

What is the difference between sustainable living and eco living?

It is similar to sustainable living but not as broad. Eco living is about making an unstoppable commitment to the environment.

Sustainable living includes the entire eco system of living - every living things, the environment, climate, communities, nations and the future of our world, as well as all resources.

Eco living is to be consciously environmentally friendly awake.

Why we need to have a sustainability daily checklist

A sustainability checklist is a way to remind you of what you can do daily to support a sustainable lifestyle and what you are doing to live a sustainable lifestyle! Feel good about being green and the eco choices you are making. 

There is a lot of sustainable shopping online products now available which are overall better sustainable consumer products. Products that stand the test of time as they are manufacture to last, saving you money.

Sustainable consumer products that are made from recycled, low emissions and environmentally friendly resources. Choose ethically made, support fair pay and working conditions that are safe and free from harmful chemicals.

1. Be Fashion Conscious

Consider your wardrobe, what you actually need for your lifestyle and day to day? Consider what you don't need?

Consider what you have before buying more. Equally consider swapping, gifting and selling unwanted clothes. Before giving old clothes to charity or your local thrift store consider whether they are beneficial. Are your old clothes in a good and sellable condition? Too many clothes get dumped in charity and thrift bins, creating waste and ending up in landfills.

2. Consider Natural Material

Smart clothing shopping is growing your knowledge of materials, fabrics and textures. Natural linen and organic linen are low carbon footprint materials. There are other natural fibres and materials such as hemp, cotton and bamboo good eco choices. They breathe better against your skin, wear better over time and a far less impact on environments and resources.

3. Recycle: Unwanted Clothing

Fabrics and materials which use recycled or fabric remnants are gaining momentum. They are often attached to lower cost production and manufacturing. Clothing companies using recycled fabrics means consumers are getting a more cost effective product and with less environmental impact. 

Companies like H&M have collected more than 12,000 tons (11000000kg) of unwanted garments in their stores annually.

H&M turns unwanted and often unwearable clothing into new material. This new recycled material creates more than one million products annually. These products contain at least 20% recycled materials to be included in this calculation. H&M offers incentives to bring unwanted clothes in to the store with discount shopping vouchers.

4. Reduce: Mindfully

Be mindful of how much you use. Reduce consumption and you will be surprised how much less you spend and how less often you need to replace common household products. When you do need to replace products to help reduce waste consider refillable pouches and zero waste stores with refill stations.

Shampoos and conditioner are available as bars. Reducing the need for plastic single-use containers, read more about bar shampoo and conditioner here. The same goes for hand soap and body wash, the bar options are economical in reducing waste, usage and money. Give them a go, see for yourself!

5. Refuse: What you Don't Need

Many items we buy don't seem to last. This is a waste of money and is generating waste on a huge scale. Make wasteful products a thing of the past and support well-made consumer products that last. Ultimately you save money! You reduce waste and save time as you don't need to replace them as often.

Refuse to support brands and companies that don't offer ethical working conditions, and fair pay. 

REFUSE single-use plastics, REFUSE products that are made to break and REFUSE throwaway items and stuff we just don't need. They are a waste in landfills, a waste of resources, of your money and time.

Demanding longer-lasting ethical and sustainably made products is a consumer responsibility. Choose to support products that endure daily use. 

Only buy products that are manufactured and produced to last. 

"Rather than buy a cheap product 10 times a year, it makes more sense to buy one that will last much longer - you can't beat an investment that comes with a lifetime guarantee". buymeonce.com

6. Reuse: Whenever Possible - Save Money!

Reuse sustainable shopping bags and always refuse plastic bags.

A good strategy is to keep the three 'R's' in mind: 

'Reuse, Recycle, Reduce'

7. Recycle: Consider Reuse First

Seeking brands to buy from who are making an effort to reduce waste communicates a lot about brand values. These may be large electronic brands or household product brands. Often the smaller sustainable shopping stores and zero waste stores are willing to accept hard to recycle items such as batteries, toothpaste tubes and razors. Supporting sustainable and zero waste brands that do have a recycling program will encourage others to do the same. More and more all sorts of larger stores; grocery chains, supermarkets, IKEA, H&M and large stationary stores are also starting to have recycling stations for hard to recycle items. Please use these recycling stations!

The fact is some products need to be recycled, you can't use them again. Working towards buying products that are made using recycled materials, and or biodegradable or compostable materials is our consumer responsibility. Please check the packaging, materials used and familiarise yourself with brands that are using recycled materials, reducing waste or are completely zero waste.

Pinterest has many innovative reuse ideas for products that you would be surprised can be reused. This blog post highlights some ideas for reuse of old jumpers. If you can't find a reuse for your used product, always try to recycle somewhere you know that you are actually going to have that product recycled. Adding items like toothpaste tubes to your council recycling bin does not help. They won't get recycled, you may feel better, not adding them to the landfill bin but you are adding to the reason why globally 92% of curbside recyclables are not getting recycled. Overproduction and contamination! 

Worth noting, the products that sustainable stores and zero waste stores offer are a far superior ecological and sustainable shopping option. These products usually last longer, reduce waste and are made using lower emissions resources, sustainable materials and or recycled materials. When products are made better you won't need to replace these items as often and this saves you time and money.

8. Environmentally Friendly

9. Turn off Lights and Unplug 

From time to time everyone has left a light on or an electrical switch. Once you are consciously aware of saving power through turning lights off and power switches it will become something you do without much thought. Dining by candlelight is both relaxing and romantic. It can also make kids (all of us) understand how lucky they are to have power for tv and computers, an insight into how life was before we had electricity. 

The same goes for heating, from your stovetop to your entire house during the winter months. What seems like a small act, using a lid on a saucepan to keep water heat in, is a far more economical use of power. Power bills add up quickly. Each time you cook food, heat water, reduce the length of time you need to use the power by using the lid of a saucepan. You will be reducing your electricity bill and the demand for fossil fuels. Only use heaters and air conditioners when necessary, and use thermostats and timer settings. Try wearing an extra layer, or removing one, shutting curtains to keep heat in or out. When cold add a blanket to your bedding or snuggling in a blanket to watch tv or at your desk as you work.

Earth Hour, encourages people annually to make the #SwitchforNature to support a renewables-based economy. Find out more about Earth Hour here.

10. Solar Electricity

Homeowners support a renewable-based economy, make the switch to solar panels (with a battery for storage). This may seem like an investment, and it is! An investment in reducing your power bills and also supporting the reduction of necessary fossil fuels to power your household. OwnMuse writes in more detail about solar energy in this post.

When ever possible use electric and say no to gas, switch your bill to green energy. Choosing green energy is as simple as a phone call, a tick box on a form or online. See this as a way you can take charge, reduce emissions and support a healthy green environment and future.

If you rent or lease a property then request your landlord invests in solar panels. This is of benefit to the landlord, as a renting asset for future tenants, equally in the sale of the property. Even if you do offer or agree to a little more in rent you will be heavily compensated by the savings from not needing to pay power bills. A win for you and the landlord! 

11. Pick It Up

Pick up litter, trash, rubbish what ever you call it its all the same. Waste exists everywhere, when we make a conscious effort to pick it up and disposal of it correctly we are all living in this world together - do your part and let's clean up together!

12. Creative Culinary

Have a dedicated leftovers night, clear out your fridge and place everything on the kitchen bench or table. Get creative and make dinner from what you have to reduce food waste. Sure enough you have pasta, rice, noddles or corn chips in your pantry cupboard. Add some veggies, beans and or a protein, maybe check the freezer. You might just create an entirely new favourite dish.

13. Meal and Food Portion Control

Mindfulness when serving food and considering portions are vital to reducing food waste. Don't over serve. Generally people over eat, and we do not need to eat large evening meals that sit heavy in your belly over night is not necessary. If you don't over eat them often you discard the excess food. 

Keep leftovers and reheat the evening after or at lunch, for a quick low stress meal. This is the perfect way to reduce food waste and save money. Groceries are expensive and the resources required to get food from farm to table is high in resources and emissions.

Meal and food portion reduction, reduces the demand on resources, including water usage, energy, manufacturing emissions and transport fossil fuels.

14. Mindful Eating

Consider where your food came from next time you cook, as you hold a veggie, canned food or loaf of bread. Mindfully acknowledging the produce we consume and savouring the experience of preparation and eating is a rewarding skill in gratitude.

Wishing your a happy day!

XO

Harper and The OwnMuse Team