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Aspire to be great and rock the sustainable lifestyle with these 8 amazing ways to create a sustainable life.
This post is all about the 8 sustainable living ideas that you can add to your lifestyle!
Check out these easy ways you can rock a sustainable lifestyle! Everyone knows they should save energy and recycle to be more eco-friendly. Here are some great ways that you can live sustainably no matter who you are!
How to Live Sustainably
How can you aspire to be great and rock the best sustainable lifestyle ever? We all need easy ways to better ourselves that won’t set us up for failure. Everyone has had a New Year’s resolution that lasted for a bit but disappeared by Valentine’s Day.Â
So, how can we make fundamental changes in our lives that will last a lifetime? It’s all about habits.
Training our brains to stick to a new routine is a science. In the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, he explains how habits have four stages of development: cue, craving, response, reward.
This book has inspired many people to help develop good habits and break the bad ones. I highly recommend it for your personal development goals.
Improving your sustainable lifestyle is a crucial goal for your health and the health of our planet!
When overhauling your lifestyle to become more sustainable, you will need to build new habits.
It is so easy to get started when new passion for being more eco-friendly, shopping small and overcoming consumerism and fast fashion.
However, like most people, you might begin the year strong. Then end up relaxing a little bit throughout the year to find yourself breaking the rules you set initially.
And that’s OK. That is what makes us human. Perfection isn’t the goal here. Instead, it is the accumulation of many little efforts that we make along the way.
Shop Locally for More Sustainable Living
Shopping locally is essential for conserving resources and supporting your local businesses. There are many benefits for your health as well. In addition, spending money within your local community drives the economy in ways that have lasting effects.Â
When you buy from nearby businesses, this helps small business owners provide for their families. Similarly, that money will stay in the community longer, and taxes paid on local goods support schools and libraries.Â
Buying local creates a demand for jobs, therefore keeping the community thriving. A thriving community with better schools gets better each year.
The value of real estate rises, and so does the demand for homes for the newcomers. The healthy community driven by local shoppers becomes rich with diversity.
The money you spend determines the world in which you wish to live. If you want to live in a thriving community, shop locally.
Shopping locally is a priority in our family. However, there are a ton of small business on Amazon. I feel good about buying online from Amazon when I find products like this one from a family business. – Tara
Check out Amazon’s sustainability report here.
Simplify your garden plans with our amazing FREE Ultimate Garden Planting Guide.
Just click the button below to get yours delivered straight to your inbox free of charge!
We all need to live in an environmentally sustainable society, and for that to happen we need to align our lifestyles with that goal.
Buy your food from local farmers to provide you with higher quality nutrition than you can get from grocery stores.
The food is fresher and in season, which is vital for a sustainable or zero-waste lifestyle. Not to mention, the food taste so much better. If you haven’t heard, grocery store tomatoes have nothing on ones grown at home!Â
Also, shopping within your community has many ecological advantages. You will travel fewer miles to and from stores, saving carbon emissions. Change your grocery shopping with these tips!
You are one step closer to eco living!
Eat in Season to Live Sustainably
To get the highest nutrients out of your food, eat in season. Have you ever considered the number of resources it takes to transport food to the grocery store?
How many miles do you think it travels? Additionally, if you travel farther for groceries or have your food delivered from retailers like Amazon, it produces more greenhouse gases.Â
According to the EPA, 29% of greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation, which outweighs any other sources.
Eating in season reduces the cost of your foods because prices are lower when the supply is high. Buying meats and produce from local farms and markets supports farmers and helps to make sure they can keep growing foods for their community.Â
Read Next: Our Guide to Sustainable Shopping
Grow Some of Your Own Food
Growing your food is a great way to eat seasonally. Create your very own seasonal produce delivery service with permaculture gardening. If you have space for fruit trees or berry bushes, you should do it! It takes minimal effort to maintain trees and bushes, and the reward lasts for years to come.
Pro-Tip: Shop your local nurseries to get quality plants that will grow well in your garden zone.
Try growing a windowsill garden with herbs and lettuces. Also, you can grow strawberries in hanging baskets or vertical gardens. Grow a ton and freeze them to use later.
I LOVE this windowsill garden from Barnyard Designs!
Use this quick garden companion planting reference to save time!
What are you waiting for?
Grab my ABSOLUTELY FREE Ultimate Garden Planting Guide!
I swear by this list! (I even have a laminated one hanging in my greenhouse for reference!)
Simplify your garden plans with our amazing FREE Ultimate Garden Planting Guide.
Just click the button below to get yours delivered straight to your inbox free of charge!
Buy Most Things Second-Hand
Shopping thrift stores is a fun way to get a great deal while living a sustainable lifestyle. Consider borrowing first, then try to get what you need second-hand before you decide to place that order online.
When you buy new, the demand for more items increases (along with more unnecessary production and logistics). Honestly, most things we need exist in thrift stores and second-hand shops. We just need to train ourselves to shop sustainably.
Cook at Home for a Sustainable Life
Cook most of your meals at home for the freshest and most satisfying meals. You control what goes into your food and how much waste you make. There will be a lot less travel time, too!
Set up a routine to make things go easier. Put it in your calendar to remind you of the tasks at hand. Prep veggies, beans, and grains to store in the fridge for later use. Have a go-to salad recipe, and a meal plan for the week. This post about zero-waste grocery shopping has great meal-planning ideas!
Encourage roommates and family members to pitch in and set a day of the week for each person to cook. Host a dinner party, and plan a routine potluck with friends.
Feeling inspired? Check out these posts, next!
More Sustainable Living Ideas…
Buy Nutrient-Dense Whole Foods First
While you can save a lot of waste by just cooking at home, you can do even better by focusing your grocery shopping on nutrient-dense foods. Shopping for the healthiest natural foods that require no plastic packaging means that you can expect nothing but goodness.
Good meals, good health, and the good feelings that come from doing your best by living more sustainably.
Another Sustainable Living Idea: Form a Community
Find your people! We build our lives around relationships. While not all the people in our lives are willing to embrace a sustainable lifestyle, so many people do.
Spend some time seeking out new friends and sign up here to be a part of this community. Friends can give you great ideas and more motivation to help keep your habits sustainable.
I believe that community is EVERYTHING.
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Improve Your Shopping Skills
Learn how to shop smart and avoid the ploys of advertisers and marketing schemes. Change your consumerism habits like Black Friday Shopping and other holidays like Valentine’s Day and Easter. These days can still be enjoyed without baskets of plastic toys that only end up in the garbage.
Sometimes it is better to pay for Spotify Premium just to avoid the fast-food ads, if you know they trigger you.
Spend some time making a Master Shopping List to simplify your needs and plan how to order items with the least amount of shipping or travel possible.Â
This post was all about 8 SUPER easy sustainable living ideas.
Just remember that we vote for the kind of world we wish to live in every single time we swipe our cards! Work on your sustainable development goals by making smarter, healthier decisions when shopping.
What are your sustainable development goals?
Knowing your food and taking responsibility for how it is produced is the best way to make a positive ecological impact.
You are reducing waste and resources while relying less on conventional agriculture and its use of pesticides and herbicides like glyphosate.
Most importantly, you will be eating the healthiest way possible!
Find out how to be more self-sufficient with a garden!
How is your self-sufficient journey coming along?
Have you checked these essential gardening components off the list, yet? I would love to hear how it is going! Let me know about how gardening for self-sufficiency is working for you and your tribe by commenting below.
A NATURAL AND SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE PROMOTES HEALTH
We make decisions on the kind of life we want to live everyday.
Those decisions become habits. Create healthy habits today for a healthy mind and body tomorrow.
Learn tips to make better choices, live more sustainably, and make a difference in your health future and the health of our communities, country, and planet.
