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Last Updated October 4, 2024
If you love the idea of a sustainable lifestyle, you will love these simple tips from the minimalist vegan that we have curated especially for you (with a few anecdotal additions from our side).
One can say that living a healthy lifestyle is easier than living a sustainable lifestyle. But if you look closely, it seems like a sustainable and healthy lifestyle are different sides of the same coin. Or just ask around people. If they love a healthy lifestyle, they would love the idea of it being sustainable too.
And that made us think: if such is the case, then why do many people get sweaty hands when it comes to adopting a sustainable approach? Perhaps the answer lies in their fears about moving away from the status quo and their daily comforts (necessities?) of life. Do we have to give up our cars and go free-wheeling on a bike? Do we have to start composting to grow our own food? Line-drying clothes, giving up our modern lives, or worse than that – going make-up free for a week!
Well, here’s our lazy person’s guide, especially brought to you so that you can save the world, one sustainable act at a time. We really love the 100 tips that minimalist vegan has given us, but we have picked only a few that we can easily implement in our lives. As we progress, we can pick more from the list.
Open up your blinds, rise and shine. And why not! When the world out there is bright, it should be good that you could use as much natural light as possible. And if there is no natural light, make it a habit to turn off lights when not needed.
I keep my clothes in a walk-in closet in a room with no windows. Incidentally, I share this closet and the room with my husband (yes, marriage vows). There's no natural light around, so it’s natural that I will rely on artificial light. To top that, I always have this habit of turning the lights off whenever I leave that room. And even when my husband is around, my hands automatically turn the lights off. This annoys him for a few seconds until I realize and turn it on again for him but I can't help it. That’s the power of habit!
Once you get used to natural light, you will not like the light bulbs, and you will notice it and turn it off even if someone else in your family forgets to turn it off.
I simply don’t get why people use plastic bags at checkout. Instead, you can take your own bags for groceries. Yes, I know you will say – "What if I forget my bag?" And I know it happens most of the time, so now what do we do? We can just ask the staff at the grocery stores to put everything back in the cart. You might get this question when you refuse bags and ask for cart refilling – “Are you sure?” But don’t worry; you will get used to it. Once you have taken your cart to your car and put everything in the trunk and have reached home, you can always get your bags, or you can keep a big box in your garage to collect everything.
It’s not that difficult, trust me.
Yes, this is another thing I despise—why do you need bottled water? Why do you have to drink it with hormone-disrupting chemicals along with the water of that plastic bottle? There are great filters available at cheaper rates that can be installed for your whole house, in your tap, or in your refrigerator, or you can simply get a filter in the jug. I am okay with bottled water if you’re travelling, especially in tropical countries where water-borne diseases are quite prevalent.
But I have made it more of a habit in my family that whenever we do short trips, we bottle our own water, but for very long vacations that go longer than a day’s travel, we get bottled water.
This is for the real lazy ones. You do not need to wash your clothes or line-dry them frequently if you believe in a sustainable lifestyle. The thought alone can be difficult for a beginner. But believe me, just by washing your clothes as little as possible, you can save the planet.
For example, did you know that the denims you wear don’t need to be washed that often? Unless you live in a humid and polluted locality, you can go on for weeks wearing the same pair of denims. Just make sure that you do not tumble-dry them but air-dry them inside out. It is just one of those fabrics that gets better with age.
Can we say the same about our pajamas. We love them more than denims, but is it okay if we wear the same pair of pajamas for weeks at a time? It turns out that if you love PJs and want to wear them only before going to bed and remove them after waking up, a week is not at all a problem.
This is easy. Turn the monitor off when you take breaks, and turn it off fully at night. You may also want to consider the phantom energy (energy lost simply due to unused equipment plugged in) of all your appliances, as they account for 15% or more of the total energy used by these appliances.
Do we even need straws to drink? If you have not heard about the anti-straw movement, then check this out. A whopping 500 million straws are used and discarded every day in the United States alone. That’s 175 billion a year filtering into landfills (environment) and littering our waterways and oceans. Ask for your drink with no straw at restaurants and use glass or stainless steel straws at home.
I was surprised to find out that an energy-efficient dishwasher only uses less than 4 gallons of water, while hand-washing dishes takes 5 times more. But it won’t help if you are obsessed about rinsing your dishes before you load them in the dishwasher. Remember, a dishwasher can take care of bits of food if you have taken care of big stuff scraping them into trash. Just let the dishwasher do its job. It’s cleaner and more water- and energy-efficient than you think.
This is something nostalgic for me - My aunt used to carry this when we were kids and used to lend it to us. This summer, she gifted me a couple of handkerchiefs, and I suddenly realized this old, forgotten habit that is very green. Get some for yourselves and keep clean ones to lend so you can build up new relations and conversations.
So, now you know that once you get used to sustainable practices, they will turn into healthy habits that benefit you and the environment. Small actions that, if we keep repeating every day without fail, can become the cornerstone of a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.
Related blog posts:
1. What Is a Zero-Waste Lifestyle?
4. Simple Ways to Live Life Abundantly
5. Organizations That Are Putting the Plant First
Disclaimer: What is said in this article has been referenced from multiple sources and is intended only for educational and informational purposes. Please note that no content in this article is a substitute for professional advice from a qualified doctor or healthcare provider. Always consult an experienced doctor with any concerns you may have regarding a health condition or treatment, and never disregard any medical suggestions or delay in seeking treatment because of something you read here.
