Blog post 1: How to start?
While trying to write my first post, I’m probably sitting with the same question as you… how to start?
Let me give you an advice: don’t be too enthusiastic! … It sounds a weird advice from someone who wants to inspire you to a more ecological way of living. But yes, keep it in mind.
Take small steps, one by one. Give it time to integrate all those small changes in your live. If something doesn’t work, don’t worry, step back and take another step.
I’ll try to give you some direction. Hopefully, in some months/years, all topics will be covered in this website. If you really miss something, or are interested in a specific topic which I might find relevant, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Pick one of the bullet point here below and think how you could easily adapt your current life.
- You are a shopping queen? Check for ecological and fair trade brands, exchange clothes with friends, you could even make new clothes from old ones if you can sew.
- Ready to reorganize your kitchen-cupboard? Maybe you can try to find some zero-waste shop or bio-shops offering packaging-free food. Dry food is very easy. Do you really need 3kg stock of rice, quinoa, pasta, bulgur, lentils…? (because there was 10% off when buying 3 pack). Don’t throw away your plastic boxes, but use them until they are broken. You’ll save place, and money (not wasting expired ingredients).
- Holidays… a sensitive topic. Yes, we all need a break once in a while. But did you check for alternative instead of the plane? Will you really enjoy more being on a weekend city trip in Spain than going by train in your own country or neighboring country? If yes, go; but at least you’ll have thought about it. 😉
- Sweets... yes… being ecological doesn’t means no sweets… I love cookies, so I’m baking them myself. Either it become a activity with the girls on a weekend day, or I make them in the evening when they are in bed… it gives me satisfaction to have done something “useful”. And the zero waste shop where we go even have excellent candies!
- Need place? You probably have 2m² with cleaning products as I did. But you probably can do with a 1/5 of it: laundry powder, “all use cleaning”, hand and dishes soap, dishwasher tablets, and small bag of the ingredients for your home made products (citric acid, soda, soap, vinegar).
- Kids @ home? This is a difficult one… I must admit. Bake with them, try to make wild animals or other craft with “nature treasure” (of course, you go on treasure hunt before: feathers, nice stones, tree branches of dry leaves, walnut shells, pine cones,…), make self-made salt-based modelling dough, start a small vegetable garden (on your window sill or inside if your don’t have a garden).
- Smartphone addicted? There a plenty of interesting and motivating apps; making you realize the ecological footprint of your choices (then it’s up to you to decide what to do with it; but at least you know it ;-)). I do have “For Good”. Great app!!! Did you hear about the Fairphone? (I want to make a post on it; all phones should follow their way of thinking… however the phone itself is not (yet) the best on the market).
- Just bought a house? Renovating it? Do you know that there are ecological alternative for most of the building material?
- In the bathroom… there are soooo many bottles, tubes, pot, and beauty-day-night-after sun-(…) cream. Often most are unused; and for many of them home-made or zero-waste alternatives are available. But to be honnest, I find this one a difficult one… there a so many alternatives or you need of some time (and ingredients) to make them yourself. Up till today, I save 3/4 of the space of the bathroom closet: hard soap; one bottle filled in with liquid soap and shampoo from the zero-waste shop, palma rosa essential oil instead of deodorant, washable sanitary towels, and the reusable “cup” for menstruation.
- think LOCAL & veggie: I’m not vegetarian, and I’m not aiming at it. But we are not made to eat food at every meal… if someone in your house (i don’t…) can cook well, you’ll not miss meat in your plate! We also try to eat local and seasonal food: vegetables (including from our own garden of course), once in a while meat from a cow grazing or running in grass fields (not locked inside their entire life) in our own country. Of course we prefer to use biological products, but we also struggle to decide bio strawberries or “normal strawberries” 4 times cheaper…
Eco With Kids 