Casual

10 Things to Stop using to Save money and the Planet

On July 27, 2022 by margheviviani

As the one who cares about saving and protecting the Planet, I created a list of a thing that is better to stop paying for. Plus It will not only help to save the environment but also save you a lot of money. Take it as an informational post, and always try to confirm the information by yourself and take your own decisions. I strongly believe that we must be completely aware of why we are doing some of certain things in this world.

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So here is the list:

1. Bottled water
2. Cable TV
3. Disposable dishes and dishcloth, paper towels
4. Haircut, manicure and pedicure
5. Gym membership
6. Plastic bags
7. Pre-packaged food
8. Take-away food and drinks, coffee
9. Toys made from plastic
10. Tampons and pads

Bottled water 

More bottled water = more plastic waste. So I don’t need it. In Italy is easy, we get drinking water from the public fountains, and for free! If I wouldn’t have this opportunity I would Invest in a filter machine or buy a bottle with filter, to filter tap water and make it drinkable. There are still few places in the world, where you can drink tap water, but you must be lucky to live there.

Cable tv 

Tv is washing the brain and makes you spend money to wash your brain. So is out of my life. I never had cable TV myself and prefer never have. Instead, we watch paid services like Disney Plus, Netflix, or Amazon Prime, where you can decide what to see. But honestly, after a while, we cancel also all those subscriptions because even there you find limited content. And sometimes I decide to take a break also from smart TV and start reading more books 😉

Disposable dishes and dishcloth, paper towels

Another plastic waste. If we talk about the party, I use only washable dishes and napkins. After all we everybody have washing dishes machine and washing machine. The same thing for picnics, I prepare a nice bag with everything I need from the house, but never too much. About paper towels, there is a trick I got from my husband. We save paper towels from the restaurants. I am not joking! Usually, restaurants provide you with these very thick napkins, that you won’t use 100% during your meal, or they give more than you use. And we just save them. I always have in my bag plenty of paper towels and napkins.

Haircut, manicure, pedicure

I know, this is maybe too much, but we talk here about sustainability, right? So what is wrong with going to the beauty salon? Have you ever noticed how much disposable materials are used while doing your hair colour, or nail polish? Since the pandemic started, a lot! And since that I decided to keep my hair more natural, only using a few products to make them healthy, and maybe natural organic lightening sprays. And manicure I used to do myself since ever. Is not so hard, just need to get used to it. And there is another trick, the less you do a professional manicure, the stronger your nail will become, and the less attention they will need. More over, In Europe I find it as very expensive service. So I also save money!

Gym membership 

Only once did I have a gym membership, but I was not able to use it completely, as I was busy, and living in a big city was more convenient to train at home by myself. There are plenty of Youtube channels where you can train. This will radically save you money as the gym membership usually are yearly, and is easy to lose many days, or months of training because of some personal situations. So this trick doesn’t have much with environment, but for sure save your money.

Plastic bags

There are still some countries that pack fruits in plastic bags. In Europe, I guess, already all countries use biodegradable bags in every supermarket or local shop. I just keep a few shoppers in the car in case of grocery shopping. This habit not only saves the environment from the excess plastic in nature but also saves you money.

Pre-packaged food 

It’s already many years since I don’t buy pre-packaged foods. I know is super convenient: you buy it already ready, bring it home, warm it up and us ready to consume. When I was living in China it was super normal for everyone, as in a big city with there is no time for cooking. There are even new apartments that don’t consist of a kitchen anymore. But after studying more and traveling in poor countries, I realised that I have to stop doing it. First of all, those foods packaging is made exclusively from plastic, which means like this we create only more unuseful waste. More, there is another thing: food has its vital energy, and this healthy and positive energy keeps only for three hours after being prepared. So, pre-packaged food is also food without any healthy message in it.

Take-away food and drinks, coffee

Same story, living in China it was normal for me: to buy two-three cups of coffee from Starbucks, and order takeaway food home from the workplace. Now I see that there are many companies start using paper or biodegradable packaging, but they are really few. In Italy is easy, everyone takes coffee at the bar and then goes to work, it’s also a nice habit to slow down for a moment, instead of running to work and drinking your coffee on the way. Only thing I keep taking away is pizza, as is packaged in a paper box.

Toys made from plastic

Here is not much to say. I even don’t like to see my daughter playing with plastic toys. So all the toys she has are made generally from wood. The only plastic toy she has was presented to her in Bali by a local girl. There, unfortunately, is normal to use only plastic things everywhere.

Tampons and pads

“Tampons, pads, and panty liners, their packaging, and wrapping generate more than 200,000 metric tons of waste annually. What’s more, plastic and non-compostable materials in period products can take 500 to 800 years to decompose”. – written by globalcitizen.org.

Before getting pregnant I switched to a menstrual cup made from silicon. What I can say from my own experience is: “Why I didn’t try it earlier?” As for me, personally, periods became not a problem anymore. I love being active also during my red days, and with my menstrual cup, my periods pass as normal days without them. Plus, instead of spending monthly cost for pads, you pay once around $15-30 and it last for many years. I definitely consider this solution to save money and the Planet.

My favourite one made by Saal. You can check it here.

Takeaway

There can be more things which better even not to give your attention. But unfortunately, television, social media, and society make us believe that our lives can not be convenient without certain things. But life is much easy than we think when we live in tune with nature. And then we become really happy.

I hope this post was useful, and I would be really happy if you share your list of things you have stopped buying to save the environment. Leave your to comment below and subscribe to my newsletter or Instagram to stay always in touch 😉

You can also read this Tips toward sustainable lifestyle.

Always yours,

Marghe

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