The 6 R’s of Living Green and Sustainable!

1. Rethink.

First, remember this is about simplicity, so re-thinking anything and everything that you are about to purchase or add to your life is good….and the first step to living a more sustainable life. For example, think about your parents or grandparents house and what they own/ed. Now think about how long they have owned their bed or washer or couch or dinnerware or dining table. 20 years or 30 years maybe?! Now, think about how many you have gone thru and where they went. Too many non-compostable items head straight for the landfill and from there….they go nowhere else and will be around longer than any of us! Think about all of the used toilets we’re leaving behind! Yikes...so let's re-think it! Before you buy or even accept things into your space, ask yourself, is this a true need or just a want? Whether it is a large item or those $1 trinkets, make sure you are willing to be responsible for the item from beginning to its end life. We don’t actually need everything our first impulse tells us we do (I personally find that being plugged in to this societies ideals breeds impulse shopping and poor choices!) so take the time, slow down (sound familiar yet!) and re-think. Opt for higher quality (perhaps less quantity) items that will have a longer life and not end up in the landfill. It also makes financial sense to not waste money, even $1, on items that will soon be out of your life and needing replaced! So, take a breath and re-think!

2. Refuse.

Say no thank you to things you do not need. Simple! This can be anything from friends and/or families well intentioned giving, to those napkins and utensils you get every time you order anything, to all those paper ads stores want to put into your bag at checkout. If you do not need it, just say NO. You will be surprised at how empowering it is and how it is a great gatekeeper to your household clutter! Just be forewarned, saying no and explaining briefly that you do not need it and are choosing to live simply and de-clutter your life may surprise or even irritate the other party who isn’t thinking about living simply yet! Stay firm and enjoy your newly found power!

3. Reduce.

As you can see, these steps clearly build on one another. If you practice steps 1 and 2 routinely, it will naturally result in less stuff so the need to reduce will be less and less. However, reducing your intake, simply buying what you need, (think quality vs. quantity again!) means you have less to organize, less to store, you spend less, recycle or garbage less, save more time and money and resources, use less packaging (think buying used and end life, again!), and free up space, personal time, and personal energy. De-cluttering is a whole topic I will get to the nitty-griity details of how-to soon, but know that reducing your intake is the gate keeper and a very good place to start.

4. Reuse.

So, this too takes a bit of re-thinking. We purchase things for a purpose and at their end life (the point at which most would garbage) we have the opportunity to re-purpose them! It is a bit of creative thinking or even just researching / googling ideas for what you can do new with an old item. Up-cycling is trending now so depending on the item, you can probably find somewhere, someone, or something to do with it. I have re-purposed an old surround, repeatedly re-purpose packages and containers, we collect, clean and donate various cool containers and bottles, and keep all sorts of what would otherwise be garbage or recycling as craft do-dads for my daughter! I know schools and churches collect items for crafts too so there are many ways to reuse and re-purpose items that you might throw away! I am adding a list of reuse ideas to the Inspirations & More tab for more ideas!

5. Recycle.

I love this as the END step. We are not very good at recycling right now (the U.S. stands at 34-35%) so as a final step we need to make sure we take the time to recycle absolutely everything! The convenience of trashing an item over taking it home to recycle is practiced too often as apparent by the low numbers of recycled products. So as your final step, recycle it! Let’s also re-think this step too as many people feel that if they recycled it, that is good enough. It is….but let’s be honest, we can definitely do much more! If we are doing the first 4 steps than we should have less garbage AND less recycling and less is better! We need to refuse to purchase, support or in any way use disposable products (whether recyclable or worse yet, not recyclable) altogether. The Earth can no longer take the justification of our choices for our lifestyle wants (think, straws, grocery bags, plastic cups for smoothies or coffee). We can do better and simple living supports and encourages such choices. It is simpler to have your own coffee mug and wash it than to recycle a paper or plastic one every day! It saves time, money, resources and Earth! Beautiful, simple!

6. Respect.

"You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." Jane Goodall.

It is through respect that positive differences are made and great change can occur. Respect for yourself, your home and your surroundings, respect for your neighborhood and community, respect for your parks, forests and wildlife, respect for your oceans and lakes and rivers, respect for the air that you breathe and the Earth that is your home. It is with great practice and diligence of the steps above that we can show our respect, choose to Live Simply and be the change in the world!