5 GREEN WAYS THAT ARE SIMPLE | Sustainable Cottagecore Lifestyle

A sustainable lifestyle does not have to be difficult. Here are 5 green ways that are very simple to adapt to your own home. This is cottagecore reaching the next level.

These 5 green ways are very easy to adapt to, but we understand that changes do not happen over one night. For us, it took a couple of years to realize how these small changes could affect our home as much as they did. It feels so rewarding to every day know that we contribute to a sustainable future and at the same time de-clutter our home environment where we spend so much precious time. It is definitely a win-win situation.

Enjoy the road to a sustainable cottagecore lifestyle. 5 green ways that are quite simple and rewarding to adapt.

1. RECYCLING & DITCH PLASTIC:

Recycling is the most basic way to help save the environment. Our excuse to not do it was that we were “too busy”. However when we find the nearest recycling center we learned that it is not as time-consuming as we made it in our heads. It also made our home feel less cluttered which is a sort of a time-saving thing in itself.

When we started to recycle our waste we could see with our own eyes how many unnecessary products that we spend money on. Also, how awful a lot of plastic everything is covered in.

Using baskets instead of plastic bags:

After the weekly trip to the grocery store, our drawers were packed with plastic bags. We managed to eliminate the problem by using baskets to carry things in. Environmentally friendly tote bags are also great. Instead of plastic containers, we started to use glass jars of different kinds. It really added something to the aesthetic of our cottagecore lifestyle.

Please visit this site to find out if your town have a community compost.

2. EAT ORGANIC:

We try to eat as much organic as we can. We have not reached 100% yet, but we are on a good way towards it. Some organic products might be harder to get than others, but a good rule we use is to try to at least make our most frequently used products organic.

Support your local farms:

We like to support our local farms and something we did not know before is that some farms have their own stores where they sell their own products such as vegetables, milk, bread, etc. It feels great knowing that when we buy from our local farm it did not have to travel over the whole country to reach our table.

Get the misfits:

Misfit Market is an amazing service you can sign up for, having organic vegetables from nearby farms be delivered directly to your door on a weekly or biweekly basis. You make your choices online and will perhaps sometimes cross paths with a quirky-shaped cucumber, or onion, etc. As the name says, they are “misfits” but we love ’em for it.

P.S. Did we mention that it is cheaper than store-bought? If you live too far away for Misfits Market, there are other similar companies that offer the same sort of service.

3. NATURAL DIY PRODUCTS:

Living sustainably is for us to find a use for as many extra things as possible before we put it to be recycled, or in the worst case, throwing it in the trash. It is quite fascinating when you learn how much extra use you can get out of plain waste. Let us share our most common DIY’s.

Vegetable stock:

Save your vegetable peels and scraps in your freezer. (Freezing avoid bad odor.) When you have enough vegetable leftovers simply boil them with 1 part vegetables, and around 2 parts water. Season it with salt and let simmer for about 30 minutes or more. Filter the cooled down stock and store in the fridge for 1 week or freeze it up to 3 months.

Citrus Cleaning Spray:

Fill a jar with white distilled vinegar. When you are enjoying an orange or other citrus fruit, feed the peels into your jar, but avoid any pulp to the mixture. You can add a cinnamon stick to it for a nice fragrance. When your jar is filled, simply strain it into a bottle. Add 50% water into the mix and you have a very natural cleaning spray.

Save your tea leaves:

Did you know that dried tea leaves lift dirt? If you are frequent tea drinkers like us you can from now on get an extra use out of your tea before you get rid of it.

Save the used tea leaves on a dry place, we place it on a baking tray. After it is completely dry we collect it in a jar that we sprinkle our carpets with before we vacuum them. We always notice a difference between vacuum with or without tea. It feels a tad fresher. Also, did you know that this technique was used during the Victorian era?

4. BAKE WITH NATURE:

Did you know that you can add a lot of different flowers and plants to your cooking, and baking? Of course, you have to make sure what is edible or not before you try this. (Here is a good site to find out.)

We had an exciting baking experience when we for the first time tried using edible flowers in the kitchen. The violet shortbread cookies that we baked turned out to be a returning spring favorite of ours.

Please have a go at it yourself: VIOLET SHORTBREAD COOKIES

5. SHOP SECOND HAND:

One of the best ways to help the planet is to reduce your consumption of brand new items. We love vintage clothing and antique furniture, and recently we’ve gone so far as to find all our tools and household goods (even light bulbs) at estate sales, or second-hand stores. It is an exciting “hunt” that is so rewarding when you find exactly what you have been looking for.

When it comes to vintage clothing, Mercari and THREDUP are excellent choices to enjoy on your journey to a more sustainable wardrobe.

Try ThredUP today! With our link, you’ll get $10 off your first order.

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Second-hand shopping can take a little extra time digging but when you find what you’ve been searching for it can in many cases be for next to nothing. Plus, the unique pieces that you find make your home decor extra special, what if they could talk, sharing what they have been through?

We hope that you enjoyed these 5 green ways that make our environment happier. Remember, there are so many more ideas out there on how to make every day Earth Day! We certainly aren’t perfect (yet) when it comes to living green and we still have a long way to go, but also want to take a moment to recognize how far we’ve come.

All it takes is being mindful of how you’re living on Earth and get creative with ways you can help make the world a more green place, whether it be big or small!

Please support this cause by sharing this post to your family and friends. Also, let us know if you have a favorite way to live green(er) that we didn’t cover?

Bye For Now,
-Lindsay Dianne & Jonas

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