Ways To Be Sustainable In Everyday Life

The first thing to address is the equipment you need in order to live sustainably. It’s not just a mindset. Everyday sustainable practices are driven by habit, but often require you to own the right tools for the job. Here are some of the most essential:

• Rechargeable devices and batteries: In this day and age, there’s never a reason to use a throw-away battery, unless it’s quite an odd size. Most battery types come in a rechargeable form. It’s more of an upfront investment, but it will save you money in the long run and it’s far better for the environment. You should also favor rechargeable devices over battery or fossil fuel driven ones.
• Solar panels: This isn’t always possible, but for those who can afford the cost, solar panels are a no-brainer in most parts of the world. Even in places that only get four hours of peak sunlight, the grid energy savings is incredible. In high energy cost areas, for example in U.S., the breakeven point on solar panels is under five years. After that, they’re pure profit… and pure environmental benefit!
• Quality blankets: Avoid using fossil fuels or grid energy by investing in a few great blankets. Get some thin blankets for spring and summer, and some nice thick ones for fall and winter. Make them a normal thing to use around the house. This is particularly useful if some people find it cold, while others don’t. Sealed oil radiators can also do some amazing work, if only one room or area of the house needs to be heated for the majority of the day.
• LED light bulbs: This is literally the least you can do. It will save you money rather quickly and help save energy too.

These are the items you can use. Now let’s talk about sustainability examples in everyday life that you can implement.

The most obvious first move is to eliminate single use bags from your life. You can easily make multi-use bags out of old clothing. This is just one of the many things that you can upcycle into bags, including old curtains, old pillowcases, and old tablecloths. If it’s made of fabric and you can create thick, long-lasting layers, it can be a multi-use shopping bag!

The next lifestyle change that will help you to adopt everyday sustainable practices is composting everyday items. If that’s not realistic, at least make full use of your green waste recycling program, make sure you properly sort your trash and recycle old food. You can also grow many types of plants from kitchen waste.

Finally, walking or biking instead of driving, even just once a week, can have a major impact on your fuel bills and on the environment. Taking public transport is also an option if the routes sync up with your plans.

We hope you can adopt some of these ways to be sustainable in everyday life. If you need more tips, join the Team Clean community today!