I’d have to say, I haven’t been as eco-friendly as I probably should have been in the past. I mean, I’ve always recycled, but when it came to taking active steps to reducing my carbon footprint, I can’t say I’ve been the most deliberate. However, the changes to our planet are undeniable, and thanks to young people like Greta Thunberg bringing attention to the need for active steps to combat climate change, it’s lit a fire under my you know what. The thing is, there are small changes we can make that really don’t involve much inconvenience on our end. I’ve been methodically altering simple things to be more eco-friendly in my life, and I haven’t felt like I’ve missed out on anything. It was just a matter of changing and age-old habit.

Now, obviously one person alone doesn’t make that huge of a difference in climate change, which is why I’m sharing these with you, in hopes that you try a few of these (none of which is outlandish) and share them with your friends and family, too. It’s like crowd sourcing! Let me disclaim this post by saying that it’s obviously going to take major changes from corporations and to our laws in order to make a big difference, so don’t think I’m discounting that. I’m also not saying that I’m the pinnacle of an eco-friendly person. These are just the things I’m doing now that I hope you try, too.

Reusing my towels & clothes

Less laundry is more water and energy saved, so we’ve been using our bath towels for several days in a row. If we hang them up to dry, it’s never an issue. We’ve also been wearing our clothes a few times before washing them if they don’t become too soiled. Summer is a little harder, but for the most part, this is actually more convenient because we don’t have to do the laundry as often.

Always carrying a reusable bag with me

This one was a major game changer. I bought a few of these cotton mesh reusable bags, and have been carrying one or two with me in my purse or backpack whenever I go anywhere. You never know when you’re going to need to pick something up, especially the odd grocery or toiletry items. The mesh bags wad up into tiny balls, so they even fit into a smaller purse, but expand an insane amount when you actually put things in them.

Switching to recycled paper towels

While I do realize that eliminating paper towels from our lives altogether would be better, it’s been a tough one to quit since we use our kitchen so much. We switched to unbleached paper towels made from 100% recycled paper towels, and haven’t looked back. Many brands are actually more affordable than regular paper towels, and by switching, you save energy, water, and trees.  If every household in the U.S. replaced one 6-pack of 140-sheet virgin fiber paper towels with recycled unbleached paper towels, we could help save over 2,900,000 trees.

Reusing shipping boxes

We all have an Amazon habit that leaves us with tons of boxes. I’ve been holding onto them and reusing them to ship out clothes to my Poshmark buyers, as well as any other things I send to family and friends.

Selling clothing on Poshmark & buying more vintage

Speaking of Poshmark, instead of tossing lightly used clothing I no longer want or need, I’ve been letting someone else enjoy it by selling it on Poshmark or donating it to Goodwill. I’ve also been looking into more vintage items, which not only makes for a unique look, but also doesn’t contribute to harming the environment like fast fashion does.

Ditching the fabric softener

Did you know fabric softeners have toxic chemicals in them? The Environmental Working Group gives most fabric softeners a ‘D’ or ‘F’ rating. Yeahhhh. So we don’t use that anymore. I always grew up with my mom using them, and just never really thought about it. We haven’t missed them. I’ve also read that it’s not great for your clothing either.

Cutting back on plastic wrap & ziplock bags

We’ve significantly cut back on the amount of plastic wrap and ziplock bags we use just by storing things in reusable glass or BPA-free containers or jars. When we can, we also try to get meat directly from the butcher, who wraps the meat in paper rather than styrofoam and plastic.

Buying metal straws

With iced coffee season upon us, I realized how much I was using plastic straws when grabbing a coffee. I just bought this really cool collapsible metal straw from Amazon that you can put on your key chain. We also got reusable straws for home, too. They both come with a wand that you can clean them with.

ECO-FRIENDLY PRODUCTS I’VE SWITCHED TO: