marissa belle ｡･:*˚:✧｡࿐

Good day everyone!

A slow and steady start towards something completely new is always a good way to get into the habit of things without experiencing any sort of ‘culture shock’ towards the change. Something I’ve been working towards lately has been becoming a bit more eco-friendly within my own means!

I know it can be hard to change certain habits as you’ve grown up with them all your life, so I am going to teach you how to start small, slow and steady, and how to do the littlest of things to lead a more eco-friendly life.

It is always hard to rush into a new routine especially when you’re already set in the old ones, so don’t worry about rushing into being eco-friendly, do it at your own pace and don’t set deadlines. I am not always successful at being an eco-friendly warrior, it does take time to get used to it. I’m almost 3 years into living a greener life and I’m still no where near perfection.

Replacing Plastic Straws with Bamboo/Metal Straws

My good friend Natalie got me started on metal straws about 2 years ago and I’m so thankful she did! She bought metal straws in bulk for myself and a few of her friends and it was a very new and exciting thing for me. I did at times forget to bring my straws out, but that was going to happen the first few months anyway. I’ve even accidentally thrown straws away with my drinks!

In the past year I’ve discovered bamboo straws and I love them so much! I might be biased as they’re a little bit more aesthetically pleasing than the metal straws (which can also come in very pretty colours!) but I love both a lot! I get my straws from Bamboo Straw Girl – her store does lots of eco-friendly items that I’m going to mention in this unsponsored blog post.

Using Reusable Cotton Pads instead of Disposable Cotton Pads

This was one I struggled with for quite a long time. Disposable cotton pads are just SO easy – you use them once and throw them away. The picture above are some organic cotton pads! I actually found it quite hard to find affordable reusable cotton pads in Singapore, so when I went to the UK in December, I was looking all over for a cheaper alternative and I found them in Primark!

Primark sold 5 reusable cotton pads for just £2 so I thought I’d give it a try and I surprisingly like them quite a lot! The material is soft and the pads come in a cute little mesh bag. It was a shame I only bought 1 bag of them, as they’re getting quite stained (I wear liquid eyeliner and waterproof mascara everyday!). I find myself picking up disposable cotton pads more often now, but I’m happy to have found myself using more cleansing oil instead of micellar water, which makes the use of cotton pads more redundant so I’m still using less disposable cotton pads than I was before.

Bring Your Own Bag

This is probably the easiest way to be eco-friendly at almost no extra cost. When going grocery shopping or any sort of shopping, always try to bring an extra tote bag or carrier with you so you don’t need to ask for plastic bags. Tote bags are mostly very thin and soft so they can be folded very easily into your main bag.

For me personally, I use my Disneyland carrier that I bought from Disneyland Paris!

Most supermarkets also sell reusable bags by the tills, so you can opt for those while at the supermarket itself, and then proceed to put your items in there instead of taking a plastic bag from the cashier. Reusable bags are almost always less than £5 and will last you ages.

Don’t Grab Utensils From Takeaways

Who doesn’t love a good takeaway? I had loads when I was working from home over the lockdown period.

Most takeaway places (if not all) provide you with plastic, one-time-use cutlery, which is a big waste. On a good note, most takeaway places also give you the option to choose “No Cutlery” when ordering your food and I always choose that option. It makes absolutely no sense to take plastic cutlery from them when you’re eating at home and have your own steel cutlery to use.

Alternatively, you can also use bamboo cutlery – or any sort of reusable cutlery! Bamboo cutlery is SO cute!

I’ve also noticed a few takeaway places now charge for cutlery – makes being eco-friendly a bit easier!

Buy Soaps With No Packaging

There are many many stores out there that currently sell naked palm-oil free soaps with no or very little packaging. Many small businesses on Etsy are also doing this, which is fantastic for the environment.

I get my naked soaps from Lush, TK Maxx and online as well! There’s so much to choose from, and I love the handmade aspect of it, it makes it feel so much more special and unique.

If you really prefer liquid soaps to bar soaps, another alternative is to reuse soap bottles which my family and I have always done. Just buy liquid soap refills and pour them into your old soap bottle. You can even get eco-friendly organic soap bottles from online and in the high street.

Being eco-friendly is very ‘trendy’ in 2020 and for good reason – it’s one of those trends that I can actually hop on with. And to think it all started with a simple metal straw!

There are many more eco-friendly things I’d like to try in the future as I’d been looking at Bamboo Straw Girl’s website a lot, and their deodorant really really intrigued me! I’m currently using an organic, natural deodorant but it does sadly come in a plastic push tube. A naked deodorant sounds very interesting to me. I’d also like to one day try the period cups, the laundry blocks (THEY’RE SO COOL!) and also maybe get a little bamboo thermal flask.

I would like to just remind everyone that we’re all human and sometimes it is not within our means to be as eco-friendly or sustainable as we’d like to be. I do sometimes forget to bring a carrier bag out, or sometimes I order too many things online that end up coming in multiple plastic packaging – and I do feel bad for that! But sometimes, it is out of our reach.

Just do the best you can to save Mother Earth! It’s the only one we have.

What eco-friendly products would you recommend to someone who is just starting to get into it? Do you use any of the products I mentioned? What are your thoughts on my recommendations? Leave a comment below letting me know!

Till next time,