I learned somewhere that the average American produces 4.5 pounds of trash every day. Four and a half pounds every day! To me, this was astonishing and disgusting, but there's no denying that we live in a wasteful society, and not just in the realm of garbage. It seems like we've become wasteful in a variety of ways, so here's my small contribution in an attempt to change this surprising statistic: I am going to make a list of ways that we can each be less wasteful in our own lives, organized by category, and then do my best to implement them myself.
Water:
1. Turn off the water when you brush your teeth.
2. Shave every other shower, rather than every shower. Better yet, fill the sink up with water and rinse your razor that way. Sure it might not be as convenient, but it definitely saves water!
3. Fix any leaky faucets, inside and outside.
4. When emptying out a pet's water bowl or a water bottle that's been rolling around in the backseat of your car for the last 2 weeks, pour it on a plant.
5. Reuse your towels and wear your jeans twice before washing them.
6. Only wash full loads of laundry.
7. Don't run the dishwasher until it's full.
8. Use your toilet for flushing waste only. Sending cigarette butts and tissues down the toilet wastes water unnecessarily.
9. Take shorter showers.
10. When washing dishes by hand, fill up a sink with soapy water and a sink with water for rinsing, rather than letting the water run while you wash and rinse.
11. Adjust your sprinklers to make sure you are watering nothing more than plants. The side walk and your front porch can easily become wasteful targets of your sprinklers.
12. Water your lawn in the mornings, so that less water is evaporated by the heat of the mid-day sun.
13. Don't let the hose run when washing your car.
14. Clean driveways and sidewalks with a broom instead of a hose.
Electricity:
15. Be intentional about turning off lights that you aren't using.
16. Open windows during the day, rather than turning lights on
17. Unplug appliances and chargers that you aren't using (like the toaster/coffee maker/phone chargers).
18. Buy energy-efficient light bulbs next time you need to replace one.
19. Hang your clothes to dry, rather than tossing them in the dryer. This could also help your clothes last longer.
20. If you must use a dryer, toss a dry towel in with your wet loads of launday. It's supposed to cut back on the drying time.
21. Switch out your plug-in air fresheners for candles or a spray air freshener.
22. Use fans when it starts to warm up in order to put off turning on the air conditioner.
23. When its cold, put on a sweater and some warm socks instead of turning the heater up.
24. Let your left-overs cool off before sticking them in the fridge. This way, the fridge doesn't have to work as hard to cool them off.
25. Keep your fridge full so that it runs more efficiently.
26. When it's hot, consider making meals in a crockpot or on the stove top, rather than in the oven, to avoid heating up the entire house.
27. Let your computer hibernate when you aren't using it, as opposed to having it switch to a screen saver.
Gasoline:
28. Drive with the windows down instead of using air conditioning for in town driving. For higher speeds, using the air conditioner is actually more fuel efficient because it does not mess with the aerodynamics the way rolled-down windows do.
29. Use sun-reflectors when you park to reduce the need for cranking the air conditioning up when you get back in.
30. Accelerate slowly.
31. Don't brake abruptly.
32. Drive between 1500 and 2500 rpms by shifting up when the rpms get out of this range.
33. Take the highway when you can. Driving about 55 mph is supposed to be the best speed for getting ideal gas mileage.
34. Keep tires inflated to the right amount.
35. Don't let your car sit in idle. Try parking and walking inside as often as you can.
36. Clean out the junk that you're hauling around. Driving with more weight in the car means using more gas.
37.Change your oil regularly and make sure to take of other routine maintenance to keep your engine running smoothly and efficiently.
38. Combine your errands and plan out the shortest route to get to all the places on your list.
39. Make sure your radio and fan are off before turning off your car. Leaving these things on puputs extra strain on the engine when you start it back up again.
40. Carpool with people from work.
41. Take the bus or ride a bike whenever possible.
Paper:
42. Recycle your shredded paper.
43. Use the front and back of every sheet of paper. One piece of paper just turned into two grocery lists or two scoring notepads for a game.
44. Switch to online billing and online bank statements.
45. Opt for no receipt or an emailed receipt whenever possible.
46. Instead of using paper towels, use a sponge or a wash cloth to wipe things down and a rag or old towel to clean up messes.
47. Use the backs of old receipts to make shopping lists or to-do lists.
48. Print documents double-sided whenever possible.
49. When you can, use smaller font size and smaller margins to fit more on each printed document.
50. Keep paper plate usage to a minimum.
51. When you have the option, buy recycled paper products.
52. Invest in a white board for leaving notes, keeping score in games, and writing reminders.
53. When given the option, use a hand dryer instead of paper towels. If paper towels are your only option, shake your hands 12 times and you will only need 1 small paper towel to dry them the rest of the way.
54. If you can manage, opt for a digital planner/calendar as opposed to a paper one.
55. Only print things that are absolutely necessary.
56. Use thinner paper.
Plastic:
57. Invest in a reusable water bottle, rather than buying cases of bottled water.
58. Use plastic grocery bags to line the small waste baskets in your home.
59. Buy fresh produce, rather than the kind in plastic cups.
60. Use razors with replaceable blades as opposed to disposable razors.
61. Skip on the straw when you go out to eat.
62. Reuse zip-lock bags by washing them out after each use.
63. When it comes time to replace your left-over containers, buy glass instead of plastic.
64. Store your kitchen staples (like flour, sugar, pasta, beans, etc.) in glass containers rather than plastic ones.
65. Invest in cloth bags and take them grocery shopping with you. This also reduces the number of bags you have to haul in, because each cloth bag can hold more than a plastic bag.
66. Buy toys that are made out of wood or other non-plastic materials.
67. Refuse to buy plastic forks, knives, and spoons for everyday use.
68. Start composting so that your plastic trash bags don't fill up as quickly.
69. Use empty pet-food bags for trash-collecting, rather than throwing them away when they are empty.
70. Visit your local farmer's market and buy food that comes in less packaging.
71. Skip on the plastic shower curtains and shower curtain liners.
72. Use a natural loofah sponge rather than the plastic scrubbies that so many of use.
Food:
73. Plan out your meals carefully so you know exactly how much food you need.
74. Buy produce weekly at most. Buying less often (like every other week) runs you the risk of having rotten fruits and veggies because you are stocking up with more than you can eat.
75. Freeze the foods that are getting ready to expire. This works for meats, breads, milk, most fruits and veggies, left-overs, etc.
76. Take smaller portions to start and go back for seconds if you need to, to avoid throwing food away.
77. Don't dread eating left-overs. Look at left-overs as an easy meal that you didn't have to cook. Better yet, transform them into another dish. Add leftover grilled chicken to a salad or turn leftover beans and rice into a tasty burrito.
78. Plan meals based on what you already have on hand that needs using up.
79. Be sure to rotate your food so that you are eating the oldest stuff first.
80. Make a list of all the food you throw out each week to find patterns. If you never finish a whole gallon of milk, freeze half of it the day you bring it home or start buying smaller containers.
81. Store dry goods in air-tight containers to avoid getting that stale taste.
82. Check the expiration dates on food products before buying them.
83. Use expiration dates as a guide. If food still looks, smells, and tastes okay, it's more than likely just fine for you to eat.
84. Make new meals that you're unsure of when company is around to help you finish it if you don't end up liking it.
85. Be sure that you are storing your food properly, especially when it comes to fruits and veggies.
86. Check your fridge before going grocery shopping to avoid buying something you already have.
87. Keep food that needs to be eaten up in plain sight so you don't forget about it.
88. Keep your grocery list realistic and avoid excessive impulse buying when you are hungry.
Time:
89. Create a 'time-budget' by not allowing yourself to spend too much time on certain things.
90. Make a to-do list or a shopping list while you wait, whether it be in line at the pharmacy or sitting on the bus.
91. Be realistic about what you plan to accomplish during a single day in order to stay motivated and avoid frustration or disappointment.
92. Do all you can to keep yourself healthy! No one likes wasting time by being sick.
93. Take 5 minutes each morning to decide what you want to have done by the time you go to bed and write it down to keep yourself accountable.
94. Cut out distractions (like your phone, Facebook, and chatty people)when you're on a mission to get something done.
95. Use a planner to keep yourself organized and to avoid spreading yourself too thin
96. Clean things a little here and there when you have 20 minutes, rather than waiting for the end of the week to do everything at once for a couple hours.
97. Prioritize your to-do list.
98. Take breaks to avoid becoming burnt-out and unproductive.
99. At the beginning of the week, delegate a certain block of time each week to doing the things you know need to get done, like grocery shopping and laundry. To make it even easier on yourself, pick a day and time and make it weekly routine to shop or do laundry during that time on that day.
100. Never go to the grocery store more than once a week. It may take a couple weeks to get the hang of being organized enough to not forget anything, but it will save you lots of time in the end.
101. Learn how to say no. As much as you love your friends and family, you can't do every favor they ask of you, and as stressful as work or school may be, make sure it is not taking over your life without your conscience consent.
This feels like a pretty comprehensive list of ideas, but they seem easy enough for anyone to get started with. There are many more ideas about these sorts of things all over the internet, and in fact I used many other websites to help me compile all these ideas! Tell me how you plan on being less wasteful in the comments section!
