With sustainability practices turning into a growing trend, many have tried to turn it into a full-blown lifestyle. There are many benefits to trying to live in a sustainable way.

It helps ease your worries a little bit, since you know you’d be contributing less to any environmental harm. It can also be a lot healthier. So, how exactly can you make these changes to your daily habits? 

1. Use Natural Skincare.

Beauty products tend to have a lot of chemicals in them. And producing these can cause a strain to the environment. There’s also the issue of product packaging, which usually comes in bulks of plastic and paper. With all of these in mind, why not use natural skincare ingredients? Ground coffee can be used as an exfoliator, and using aloe vera on your skin can do wonders. You might actually have some of these ingredients lying around your house. Bonus: you get to save money as well. 

2.  Recycle creatively

Recycling is almost always attached to anything environmentally related. But that’s only because it serves an important role. Reducing as much waste as possible is great for the environment. But the whole idea of recycling can seem a bit mundane. It’s hard to think of ways to repurpose old items. That’s why you would need to reframe the way you look at these objects. Each old item has the potential to be turned into something very useful. You can always follow social media pages that dedicate themselves to recycling items. Or, you could ask others for ideas. After all, i’s easier to think creatively when you have inspiration.

3.  Tote bags are your best friend

That is, as opposed to plastic bags. They are especially useful for when you go grocery shopping. It’s a lot less effort than trying to repurpose the plastic bags. If you’re not the type who has a lot of time to do those DIY recycling projects for shopping bags, it might be better to just carry canvas totes instead. You can even choose what size the bags would be to better suit your shopping needs. And these bags can go beyond groceries. Some shops would allow you to opt out of plastic or paper packaging, which is were your totes would come in handy. It’s useful more so when the store charges extra for plastic packages. Plus, it’s a lot less tacky-looking. 

4.  Keep your water use in check

Water in itself is a precious resource. It can be easy to take it for granted, especially when you have easy access to it. But in creating an effort to be kinder to the earth, you would need to take note of how much water you use on a regular basis. If you take at least 30 minutes to shower, why not try to lessen it? And as tempting as it is, even taking a relaxing bubble bath uses up a lot of water. Or if you leave the water running often while washing dishes, you could try to turn it off as much as you can. Conserving water is a habit that must be integrated into your daily life. 

5.  Turn off your electricals

In generating electricity, a lot of carbon emissions are emitted. That only means that you would have to conserve electricity the same way that you would with water. But if you happen to have the resources to have alternative energy, this would be a huge help. It may be slightly expensive, depending on where you live, but other forms of energy can help lessen the fossil fuels burnt for electricity. You can have small solar panels installed on your roof. It’s perfect if you live in an area that catches a lot of sunlight. You could also opt to move to an area that already uses up alternative energy. There are many areas that rely on wind turbines or hydroelectric energy for their electricals. 

• Give with care

If you’re throwing old belongings away à la Marie Kondo, it would be a lot better to donate or sell them. You can check out your local thrift shop and see if they’re accepting any new donations. Or, if you’re looking to earn a little extra money, you could have a yard sale. Of course, any ads would be more green online as opposed to printing on paper and posting them. But if you’re much to busy for any of that, you could simply as your family or friends if they’re willing to have any of your old belongings. And if they’re much too far away, you could also choose to give them to your next door neighbor.  

The Green Lifestyle

Living a green lifestyle isn’t easy, especially if it’s not something that you’re used to. It requires you to change a lot of old habits and perspectives. But, if you’re willing to take the step and make the change, you would feel a lot better about contributing to the earth’s health. It truly starts with a matter of the mindset. #KhabarLive #hydnews

(Author: Myrtle Bautista)