Tip number 3: Reduce
Have you ever thought about how much stuff you have? We all love to collect it. If I take the time to REALLY look around my house and consider what's in our cupboards and drawers it actually astounds me how much stuff we can collect. We never seem to have enough space. Yet we've given away so much and had massive spring cleans often over the last 3 years. We don't buy a lot of stuff at all. WE only buy what we need. But I guess you get given stuff by people as well so it's difficult to control. It's crazy how much you can collect over time without really trying. And yet, where does it all go when you don't need it anymore? In the bin.
I used to get taken in by gimmicks. I would see something that was meant to make my life easier and I'd think, "Oooooh, I need that!" I would buy it and take it home, all excited to set it up. But I'd get distracted and forget about it for a few days and it would sit in a drawer or cupboard and eventually I'd come across it when I was moving house and, by then I'd forgotten exactly why I was so excited about it in the first place.
I've made a conscious effort in the last 2 years to think hard about what I'm buying and, if I can't find several good reasons to buy it, I walk away. Now it's really easy for me to say no. My wallet thanks me and so does the environment ultimately.
Have you noticed that, when you buy something, it's never just ONE thing you end up with. It usually comes with packaging. So you have a box, or some kind of plastic packaging. Inside that packaging, you'll have polystyrene or cardboard or more plastic around whatever it is you bought. Then each individual component will have its own little packet or box. There'll be some kind of ties around any cables as well. There will also be a pamphlet using loads of paper because it has instructions in every language. By the time you've unwrapped whatever it is you bought, you are left with a bunch of useless rubbish that will ultimately end up in a bin. Next time you are shopping, consider that. Try and buy the food that uses the least packaging. Buy loose vegetables instead of pre-packaged ones. They loose ones are cheaper anyway. Take shopping bags with every time you shop. Keep them in your car so that you don't forget them.
Christmas and birthdays are times when we really go crazy. I have 4 nephews and 2 nieces. It blows my mind how much stuff they end up with on special occasions! I'll admit, it's wonderful making them happy. But aren't we creating more of a "stuff" problem. It becomes less about the look on their faces and more about beating last years puny 5 gifts. They expect more and more, bigger and better and it's hard to keep raising the bar. So we just give them larger quantities and they come to expect it.
I've told my family that, when we have kids, I only want one gift per child, per birthday or christmas, from each family member. Some may think that's cruel but I honestly don't. Kids have the most incredible imaginations. I think a lot of the toys we give them actually hinder their imaginations. Haven't you noticed how a child, surrounded by piles of toys, will usually focus on just one? They get overwhelmed. It's a sensory overload that they can't really take in. So they zone in on one toy and sometimes they'll carry it around with them for weeks. Unless you give them more. But why do you need to give them more if they are perfectly happy with that ONE?
I think it's because we feel guilty. Adverts are constantly bombarding us with things we should be buying for our kids. If we aren't spoiling them, we feel like we're depriving them. I don't think we are. I think we're teaching them how to value things more. And think about how much plastic you are putting into the environment every time you by a truckload of gifts? Most of it will end up going to charity and, eventually, into a landfill and it's not going to go anywhere after that because plastic doesn't biodegrade. It just leeches into the environment and makes it harder and harder to heal.
That's why it's SO important to really think about what you're buying. Is it something you really need? If so, then that's fine. But then you need to pay attention to tip number 6 which is coming up in a bit!
Tip number 5: Re-use
I grew up in a family with 4 kids. Money was tight. When stuff ran out, it ran out until the end of the month and we'd just have to wait for it. That's just how it was. Nothing was wasted. All leftovers were eaten. Even chicken carcasses were further used to make soup. (Which I still do today. My mom taught me good habits:) Clothes were handed down as they were outgrown. New clothes were birthday and christmas gifts. So were treats. You know what that taught us as kids? Not to take things for granted and not to waste. We really appreciated the things we didn't get to experience often. Sure, I didn't really enjoy wearing hand-me-downs. (unless I'd been jealously eyeing it out in my older sister's closet;) And sometimes you would worry that the kids in your class would notice that your school uniform was used. Silly thing to worry about, really. At the end of the day, as long as it looked neat, why not pass it down? Why add more to the environment that isn't necessary?
Sometimes you can't avoid packaging. For example, I buy my honey in bulk. But I requested it in glass jars because glass is easy to recycle and healthier to use to store things in and it can be used for so much. GLM wants to kill me at times because of the way I hoard containers;) I have a cupboard in our scullery that JUST has all the containers I have collected from all sorts of things like honey, yogurt, my supplies for my cream and soap making etc. I keep them all and I re-use them. I haven't bought a tupperware container for years. I don't need to when I just use all that I collect from food packaging. When I can't re-use containers, or when I have too many, I'll find someone who can. I periodically give glass jars to Gillian at Terre Madre who makes her own jams and preserves. There are lots of people at farmer's markets who will welcome your glass jars. Don't be shy to offer them.
We have a cupboard FULL of gift bags. People are always buying them to put gifts in but really, what's wrong with re-using them if they look fine? We haven't bought a gift bag in over 3 years because we just keep re-using them. When we were young, I watched my dad open presents really carefully in order to preserve the paper. I'm sure lots of families did that years ago. These days, not so much. It's something I carry with me to this day and GLM always laughs at how slowly and meticulously I open presents. Some of it is habit, some of it is the excitement and anticipation and some of it is the fact that I just might be able to use the paper again!
I'm sure you can also find ways to re-use things you buy instead of just throwing it in bin. Reserve a shelf in a cupboard at home to keep them so that you don't start to look like a hoarder. You'll be amazed at how often you end up taking stuff out of that cupboard to use. If it absolutely CAN'T be re-used, you know what the next tip is going to be...
Tip number 6: Recycling
You've heard this before, right? But really, it's just such a mission and life is so busy already and you don't have time to be thinking about washing all the plastic, glass and aluminium rubbish in your kitchen never mind all the "real" dishes you have to wash... The thing is, we ALL have busy lives. There's seldom time to fit everything into one day. Believe me, I get that. But it's funny, once you make the choice that this is how it is going to be it somehow becomes part of your routine without you even noticing and you'll find that it actually doesn't add that much more to your day. No more than the usual washing of dishes.
Maybe right now it IS too time consuming to recycle everything. If that's the case, don't just leave it altogether. Start small, with your excess paper for example. Mondi does a paper pickup once a week. You just need to find out what your day is, contact them and set it up and they will drop off your recycling bags and start collecting from you. Then, when you have a bit more time, start collecting your glass. The glass recycling company makes it really easy to recycle all your glass. Their website will give you locations right in your suburb so you don't have to drive out of your way at all.
What's even better is the Plastics SA website which tells you how to recycle pretty much ANYTHING. Got a bunch of dead batteries? Type in your suburb and choose batteries from the drop down menu. It will tell you where to go. If you have something unusual to recycle and there's nothing in your area, expand your search a bit and you'll find an answer. If you live in Johannesburg it's even easier for you. Contact Mama She's. We used them for 3 years until Pick It Up started collecting our stuff for free. You pay a minimal fee for Mama She's, but R25 a month is really nothing. That's the price of 2 packets of crisps. You throw ALL your recyclables into one bag, which they supply you with, and you leave it on the pavement once a week. They take it away and do all the separating and sorting on their side.
Think about how much rubbish you generate in one week at your house. Now multiply that by several thousand... It's a lot of rubbish, right? And that's just in your suburb. Now think about where that rubbish is going. It's going into landfills. All of that plastic is leeching back into our water supply and messing with our environment and it's a LOT of plastic. You can help prevent that and it's really quite easy to do.
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| Not pretty, huh? |
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