Well, it’s finally over.
All of the spring cleaning I needed to do.
Spring cleaning has made me realized there are a lot of things I no longer needed or have use for. I was piling up a lot of items, which felt like I was holding onto them for no absolute reason.
Recently I have tried to make my household a bit simpler by having less. It takes some time to get into the habit if you are starting off on living with less. I’ve held onto a handful of things in life thinking I might need them sometime later. Most of the time these were things I truly didn’t need.
But then I got to thinking. Where do all of these items go? What amount of waste am I simply throwing away and not recycling probably? I realized there are many things I do daily that don’t help contribute to the zero-waste or plastic-free life.
While it’s almost impossible to completely reduce all the waste in your home, especially plastic, there are multiple ways you can reduce it. You’ll want to start with something that comes easy to you and then take bigger steps to help you live a little simpler and reduce the waste in your home.
Check out these easy ways you can reduce waste within your home!
1. Ditch the Plastic Bags
I’ve always ended up with hundreds of plastic bags within my home. Most of these come with grocery shopping or buying something else. Nowadays, most stores are making you pay a couple cents for a plastic bag to help save money, but also to reduce waste.
The average plastic bag is only used for about 15 minutes, but it takes around 500 years for it to break down in a landfill. Can you believe that? This is a big enough reason to ditch the whole usage of plastic bags when we can bring reusable bags to the store with us.
A reusable bag, such as a tote bag, is a great alternative. There are plenty of different brands and designs to choose from. You can even make your own too! And the perfect place is to fold them and store them right in your own car.
2. Shop Local
One way to cut down on waste is to shop locally at your farmers market for fresh produce. It even is a great way to help support your local community.
3. Make Your Pantry Plastic-Free
Who knew that reducing waste can make your pantry look super cute? You can invest in glass jars and containers to organize your pantry. Glass jars and containers are perfect for those bulk goods you might want to store up on as well.
4. Skip the Take Out
Consider skipping that take out order for dinners that take less than 30 minutes to make. If you aren’t really in the mood for cooking, try eating at a restaurant. But if you really need to order take out, consider skipping the plastic utensils and containers if possible.
5. Recycle
Recycling is one of the best things to do. I’ve struggled with this a lot as it is easy to just throw it all into one bin. Whatever the object or whatever it is made of, chances are there is a way to recycle it properly. If something is not recyclable, try finding one that is next time (wherever possible). You can also look into waste management for hire. It can have a 24-hour turnaround between skip orders and deliveries.
5. Learn to Repair
You don’t have to become a sewing expert, but learning the basic guidelines on how to repair torn clothing or even some broken items can really go along way. You’ll get more for your moneys worth and be able to keep that favorite shirt or pair of jeans longer.
6. Make Your Own Soap
Cleaning and beauty products can pile up quickly, especially the large amount of single-use plastic products. You can switch this up buy making your own soaps, cleaning products, and even beauty goods. There are plenty of recipes out there today, and it’s something that can be really fun to do too!
Check out these 12 Best Soap Recipes Anyone Can Make at Home.
7. All You Need is One
Trade your plastic bottles for a choice of a reusable bottle such as metal, glass, or plastic. This can help cut down on the 1 million plastic bottles that are purchased globally per minute, where 91% of them won’t be recycled!
8. Forget the Plastic Straws
The U.S. uses around 500 million straws a day. These straws can easily end up in the ocean and be harmful to marine life. Thankfully, you can switch from a plastic straw to a metal one or even use paper straws.