5 Simple Ways We Can Become More Sustainable in 2023

 **Collaborative Post**

AD: As we enter December, and the end of 2022 draws ever closer many of us will be reflecting on the year as well as looking forward to next year too. Settings goals or intentions for the year ahead is something that lots of people do these include things like losing weight, saving money and even career related goals, but how about setting yourself a goal to become more sustainable? Becoming more sustainable has so many benefits from saving money to cutting down your own environmental impact and making the change can be so simply. 

Becoming more sustainable might sound like a daunting task but actually there are so many little changes we could all make in our day to day lives that would help us live more sustainably, can you imagine if we all made some small changes and the impact that would have? '

Here are 5 simple ways that we can all become more sustainable in 2023. 

Shop Smart

Whilst we can all do more to be more sustainable, the bigger companies need to do more to, but in order to make them act, we need to act with our spending too! Make a stand and shop smart, if you can try to purchase products from companies committed to making a change to the environment and their effect on it. For example, beverage packaging that is fully recyclable or that uses recycled products for its packaging such as recycled plastic bottles, fully recyclable cardboard coffee cups or even packing that can be reused and repurposed. 

You can also shop smart by writing a list and only buying what you need, food waste is a serious issue and by only buying what you need you can help reduce that problem.

Meat Free Meals 

Did you know you could be more sustainable just by taking meat out of your meals a few times a week? By switching out meat (and dairy) from your meals you can help lower your carbon footprint since the meat industries plays such a huge part in climate change. If you do still want to include meat in your meals try to shop around and find more sustainable farmed products. If you are a family who eats a lot of meat why not try something like" meat free Monday's", something that even schools often incorporate into their menu's and you never know when you stop resorting to having meat with each meal, you may find some delicious new recipes too, pasta is a firm favourite in our house.  

Ditch the Car 

It's so easy just to hop in the car and make your journey but do you ever stop and think about whether you really need the car for that journey or whether you could travel another way? If its walkable, try to walk, you will probably feel better for it and will save money on fuel (as well as travelling in a more sustainable way!). If it isn't walkable, you could consider public transport, with lots of money being poured into public transport in recent years, services are much more comfortable, accessible and reliable. You may even find them cheaper then fuelling your own car with the current fuel prices! 

Reuse, Recycle and Donate

We live in such a throw away culture with things like fast fashion making clothing cheap but at poorer quality meaning people often wear it and throw it which isn't very sustainable at all. Instead try only buy what you need, have a rummage through your wardrobe and restyle an old outfit for an even rather than buying new. And don't forget charity shops! These can be the perfect place for some amazing finds from brands to vintage, baby to adult, clothes, shoes and even toys, they often have it all and at a fraction of the cost too. If you don't have any charity shops locally why not set up a clothes swap near you, you could swap with friends or work colleagues etc too. 

Don't be afraid to mend things either, we are all so quick to see a hole in something and throw it out, but if you have a needle and thread small holes and be mended and add new life in clothes. This works for jewellery such as where you can repurpose much easier and more personal too. There are also places such as CARAT London who offer a sustainable gemstones

If you have clothes, you will no longer wear but are in good wearable condition, don't forget to drop these off at a charity shop to donate rather than ending up in landfill, after all what you might be bored of, is brand new to someone else. 

Switch Off

Did you know that just because you have "switched off" an appliance that it might still be costing you money? That's because most appliances don't actually switch off, they go into a standby mode which still costs you money and uses electricity too. If your appliance is plugged in then energy will still be travelling to it and whilst this may only be a small amount (pence per day most likely), this soon adds up over the months. Charging your phone overnight is another thing many people do that could be costing you extra, phones nowadays take a maximum of a few hours to charge but if you have your charger plugged in all night, remember you are paying for all those hours even after your device is fully charged. 

Hopefully these 5 simple changes we can all make in our day to days lives can help and have given you a bit of inspiration to make a change. Don't forget to share this with your friends and get them on bord too, making small changes together will certainly help you stay on track. 

Is being more sustainable something you will be trying to work on for 2023?

xXx