Things We Do That Are Unsustainable
Disposable nappies overnight
We love our reusable nappies for the daytime and have used them ever since our little girl was two weeks old. We use them all the time, but we don’t use them overnight once our children are sleeping through. We noticed with both of our children that from about six months old, once they could sleep for six hours or more without a feed, the reusable nappies weren’t enough and leaked. We decided that we were all better off getting more sleep and not having to change jammies and bedding… So we do put a nappy a day into the bin; not 100% perfect and yes, I wish we were, but we are doing what we deem best for our family situation.
Underwear
We buy all our underwear new as it’s not that hygienic to get it secondhand unless you can get it with the tags still on and it’s also really hard to find.
With our littles, we’ve also found that by letting them chose their new pants they are a lot more excited about potty training!
Disposable nappies and wet wipes…
When away visiting friends and family for more than one night we opt for disposables rather than reusables. We love our reusable nappies and bags but they need washing after 48 hours and most other people don’t choose to have other people’s baby nappies in their washing machines – which is fair enough – so we pack disposable ones and wet wipes for longer trips.
Shoes for toddlers…
If we can’t find good ones secondhand. All of my little girls’ shoes are secondhand and always have been (bar one pair of blue boots we got two years ago) but for my little boy, we are finding secondhand shoes much harder to find. There are fewer options out there and they tend to be more worn down. If he needs new shoes then he needs new shoes, so we buy them new for him.
Takeaways
Lots of takeaways come in plastic or other types of containers that can’t be recycled. While you can put your chip paper and vegan pizza boxes into your home compost a lot of other takeaways come in plastic containers, and while you can wash and resume them a bit they won’t last for long and will eventually end up in the bin – and there is nothing you can do with anything in polystyrene except put it straight into the bin, unfortunately.
Yet even when knowing this we do still get takeaway food on occasion with groups of friends.
Vegan cheese and gluten free pasta
And a few other food items we get in packets that aren’t recyclable. We chose to eat the healthiest foods we can and do all we can not to produce lots of waste, including growing our own and visiting bulk food shops, but we still can’t get all of our food completely waste-free.
Car snacks
We do everything we can to travel waste-free; children and adults have lunch boxes and small Tupperwares to enable packing sandwiches and snacks but when it comes to the car, toddler snacks need to be vegan, portable, and not too messy. We usually opt for sliced apples, grapes, olives and homemade popcorn but I also buy Hula Hoops for longer journeys as a treat, as our children love them and they tick nearly all of our boxes.
Driving to the shops
We live within one mile of a few shops and they are also on bus routes meaning we could walk or get the bus to the shops and not use the car. However, walking to and from the shops with two small children, as well as lugging back the food, is just more than I can manage.
When I looked into getting the bus last year it was very expensive, and then with Covid hitting, it didn’t feel safe. Our supermarket of choice is also 5 miles away so we take the car a couple of times a week.
Nail varnish
We don’t use this often, in fact, I can’t remember the last time Summer painted her nails, but due to suffering from Raynaud’s my fingers and particularly my nails often turn an unpleasant blue/purple colour. I can get a bit paranoid about it so I often chose to cover it up, especially if I’m going somewhere nice for a birthday or wedding.
A book I really want but can’t find secondhand
Sometimes I’ve read a book I’ve gotten from the library or borrowed from a friend and have decided that I really want to own it. It only happens three or four times a year but when you have that sort of book, the type you know you’ll turn to again and again, I always treat myself and buy a copy.
I look for it secondhand for a month or so, and usually find it, but on the rare occasions I don’t, I will buy it new.
Buy cards for special events…
If I haven’t had time to make them. This is something I do feel really bad about because it’s a lack of organisation on my part, but I don’t like to turn up to weddings or birthday events without one, as to me, a card shows that you have thought about your host.
Is there anything you do that is less than perfect? In a world where social media shows us people’s lives at their very best we would love to know some of the things you do that are not quite perfect, so please do leave a comment down below sharing some of the areas in which you could be more sustainable and environmentally conscious.
Keep on keeping on,
Livvy and Summer
