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Ok, confession time.
Hands up if you’ve always wanted to embrace either green cleaning or eco-living but don’t know where to start?
Now wave your hand in the air if you’ve taken that a step further and actually tried to make the swap — only to fall at the first hurdle.
Please know you’re not alone here and you shouldn’t feel embarrassed.
We see countless comments on socials from people either confessing they’re finding it impossible to avoid plastic completely, they failed plastic-free July, or pleading for environmentally friendly hacks.
Our response is always the same: be kind to yourself as you pave the way to a cleaner life.
It’s an absolutely mammoth task to flick the green switch overnight and become an expert in everything good and bad for our blue planet. The fact you’re trying, already makes you a winner in our eyes.
So, we thought we would cover some tips and hacks to help you embrace eco-living in a fun, easy, — and most importantly — realistic way.
Let’s first break down what we mean by eco-living, because all too often people use the term interchangeably with green cleaning.
So, what is eco-living?
Simply put, by adopting eco-living you’re living your life in an environmentally friendly way.
It’s an EXTREMELY broad term and can apply to one, or many, approaches. This can be through green cleaning, zero-waste, adopting renewable energy, smart transport choices, a more plant-based diet, and so on.
By following that line of thought, if you’ve made the switch to green cleaning (meaning you’re cleaning with eco-friendly cleaning products or methods) you’re already in part eco-living — make sense?
If you’re interested in learning more about green cleaning, take a look at our past blog post here.
And it is here, friends, that we come to our first, and dare we say it, most important piece of advice: when it comes to the question ‘how to start living eco-friendly’ the answer is to make gradual changes.
You may want to look at ways to reduce your energy consumption first, or say goodbye to plastic for good, or tackle the food you eat.
There’s no wrong approach, but we implore you to just pick one for the first few months.
This will give you the opportunity to soak up knowledge — and perhaps more importantly, make mistakes. When you make mistakes, you will learn from them and in time be able to pass that knowledge to others.
Not convinced? One of our favourite articles that helped us in our plastic-free mission is titled “Five Reasons Why I Failed Plastic Free July”.
The key takeaway? Mistakes are human.
We will reiterate one more time, you’re not going to be an expert overnight so be kind to yourself. The perfect eco-living homes do not exist at the start of a journey like this.
Another fun way to dip your toe into eco-living is to look for specific holidays and challenges as an introduction of sorts.
Why?
Because you’re undertaking the same challenge in an approachable way with like-minded people — there’s strength in that community.
Some examples off the top of our head include:
There’s a wealth of resources out there to help people in the lead-up to events like this: from blog posts to articles and official sites, so it’s a prime time to pick up tips and hacks.
And so, we come to an area that’s close to our hearts: green cleaning.
Did you know, Aussies are known to produce 540kg of household waste per person each year? And every day around eight million pieces of plastic make their way into our oceans?
Those are just two of the grim statistics that illustrate the importance of sustainable cleaning products but what are the best eco-friendly cleaning products out there?
If one asks the question ‘are eco-friendly cleaning products better’, sadly, the answer is ‘not necessarily.
Some talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.
When buying eco-friendly cleaning products in Australia you need to look for three things:
• Cleaning solutions that have multiple uses,
• Are plastic-free or have compostable packaging
• Free from chemical nasties
On this last point avoid cleaning products that contain:
• Chlorine
• Mineral oil
• Artificial dyes
• Fragrances
• Phosphates
• Triclosan
Not sure where to buy eco-friendly cleaning products that fit the brief above? Never fear, that’s our whole schtick at Pleasant State.
We live and breathe green cleaning and have developed a slew of environmentally friendly products.You can shop our range here.
