Eco-friendly lifestyle – simple ideas

Since starting this journey to a more eco-friendly lifestyle, I have learned that each person has different experiences, and it does not have to be stressful.

An eco-friendly lifestyle is a way of living. For me, it means being more conscious of how we live our day-to-day life to reduce our impact on our beautiful planet.

I have always thought that I was living an eco-friendly lifestyle because I like to recycle and distribute my garbage. But the reality came when I looked at all the plastic I used to use daily and the ingredients of our cleaning and personal care products I used to buy.

Because I wanted to live a more intentional life, I started to read books and watch programs about this topic. I was trying to implement a method by which I could make these changes progressively without stress.

What does eco-friendly mean?

This was my first question before I started this journey. The meaning of Eco-friendly by the Cambridge Dictionary is ” No harmful to the environment, or trying to help the environment.” This sounds good to me and goes well with what I would like to accomplish with these changes.

Is living an eco-friendly lifestyle easy?

This process can sometimes be overwhelming; however, making one swap at a time has made the transition easier for us. I didn’t see significant results all at once, but I have seen the amount of improvement we have made over time without stress.

There are many ways to start an eco-friendly lifestyle. Let me give you some simple ideas of how I made (and continue making) these changes.

Eco-friendly products swaps

I have made these changes progressively. I would not throw away something that still works well and only replace them when it doesn’t work anymore.

Then, I will look for different eco-friendly product alternatives and reviews. Sometimes a product can be eco-friendly because of the materials it is made of; other times is because the product can be reused several times.

I have also found that I can find more varieties of eco-friendly product alternatives and better prices today than many years ago.

Using Natural Products

There are many ways this can be implemented, from buying products that contain more natural ingredients to making them yourself at home.

I have made a few DIY cleaning products, like my homemade powder laundry detergent, with natural ingredients that have been working great for us.

Homemade personal care products like homemade oat face scrub using natural ingredients are easy to make. By making our product at home, we get to choose which ingredients to use and adapt them to our own needs.

I also try to use containers that can be reused (like glass containers), which help to reduce the amount of plastic we bring at home. In addition, I have used eco-friendly containers (made of cardboard) like the one I use with my homemade lip balm that works great.

Useful tip: If you are making your own natural products at home, have an extra (store-bought) of the same item in your cabinet. Why? Because we want to make these changes without stress. If you run out of a homemade product and you are too busy to make a new one at the moment, it is always nice to know that you have an extra one that you can count on it.

When buying a store product, I like to look at the ingredients and the packaging so I can be as closer as possible to the one we made at home.

Cooking from scratch

There are so many benefits of cooking your meals from scratch. Homemade meals reduce the number of plastic containers we bring home and increase the number of nutrients we get in our bodies because we are using fresh food.

Growing up, I saw my mom and grandmother cooking from scratch, so I learned to cook that way. Throughout the years, we have seen the benefits it has brought to our family health.

Cooking from scratch also connects you more with real food. The experience of cooking with fresh vegetables and eating fresh fruit is priceless.

When buying our food at the supermarket, I bring our reusable bags to avoid bringing plastic bags home.

Be more intentional when buying things.

Reducing the number of items we buy helps to reduce the number of things we throw in landfills over the years.

With time, I learned to buy quality instead of quantity and look for things made with natural materials, which also helped in my journey to a more intentional and simple way of living.

I like to donate the things we are not using anymore or reuse items we already have and see ways to restyle them to our new way of living.

Making some of our home decors with natural materials instead of buying have been a great experience, and they are beautiful crafts to make with our kids.

Nowadays, I think twice before buying something, making sure that this item is needed, the materials it’s made of, and if it will bring joy to our lives.

Gardening

The benefits of growing your own food are endless, from eating fresh and organic (no chemicals added) to learning new skills in life. You will save by taking away some of the items you grow to the supermarket list!

Gardening is an art to enjoy! Seeing a plant grow from seed is an experience I recommend to everyone. Kids benefit from learning the process of plant growth but also (if you start growing vegetables or fruits), they will learn to appreciate even more the food on their plate.

For me, it’s a relaxing time where I get to water our plants and harvest beautiful vegetables, fruits and herbs.

You don’t need to own land in order to grow some of your food at home. I live in an apartment in a big city, so I plant in containers. I have a post about How to Urban Gardening with great tips on how to start your own garden.

Do you have land to grow your food? This is great because you can grow different kinds of vegetables and fruits for you to enjoy!

For me, living an eco-friendly lifestyle is a win-win; it helps our planet reduce the number of residues and helps our home by reducing the number of toxins. I hope these ideas help you as much as it has helped us in this beautiful adventure.

We love to hear from you. Share with us in the comments below if you have tried any of these or other ideas and your experience in this process.