Are you feeling overwhelmed on how and where to start your authentic, low impact living journey? Creating do-able daily habits for low impact living: use what you have weaves together the many elements of living more simply and sustainably.

Using what you have is your top-of-mind approach for the first step in your journey towards a more sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyle. Sarah Lazarovic’s Buyerarchy of Needs pyramid gives a wonderful visual representation of these daily habits. In this structural ladder, Use what you have is the most important.

Some links in this post are affiliate partnership links. I may earn from qualifying purchases.

Use What you Have

Using what you already have is a way of phasing out the wasteful products you already own. Heading towards a more resourceful lifestyle is not about buying the most eco friendly products in a flash. This is inconsistent with the concept of reducing your waste! Give yourself a chance to be more aware of your current way of thinking in order to make actionable adjustments to your new ideal to buy less. Don’t throw out your perfectly good, unfinished items – make sure you use them up before switching to less wasteful alternatives. Becoming mindful of what you really need and use will path the way for your future needs versus wants purchases.

Finishing or using up what you currently own means being:-

Creative – Is there an alternative way to reuse or repurpose this item?
Organised – Knowing what you already have makes your prior-to-buying decisions a whole lot easier.
Resourceful – Can you use up all of the food items in your fridge and pantry before buying more? Are you able to give a new lease on life of that pair of jeans? How to Get the Most from your Lipstick and Surplus Pear Syrup Jelly are examples of being resourceful by using what you already have.

Your home’s consumables are the easiest to tackle when starting to use what you have, as you probably use these products on a daily or frequent basis. Examples of these consumables include food, personal care products and products for cleaning your body, clothes and home.

Food

Check your pantry – are there things in there that you’ve had for a while that can be made into another meal? Are you stuck for ideas on how to use up these foods? Search for recipes online by typing in that key ingredient.

What about your fridge? Rather than making up your lunch the next day, can you use the leftovers from the previous night’s dinner? What about that leftover salad from the weekend get together?

Personal Care Products

Can you use up your multiple lipstick shades before buying a brand new more eco friendly option? Remember to finish off the packets of single use, disposable sanitary items before considering waste friendly options, such as a menstrual cup. Do you have multipack toothbrushes to use before you consider a synthetic free eco friendly toothbrush?

Cleaning Products

In preparation for less wasteful cleaning alternatives, think about your cleaning habits as you clean with your current cleaning products. Is your aim to reduce the number of chemicals in your home by using more toxin free cleaning alternatives? Do you want to reduce and simplify the number of cleaning products? The online, twice a year Go Low Tox Course is a brilliant starting point for going low tox. The course really helps you to ditch and switch your toxic load and gives you actionable ways to go low tox across all areas of your everyday living. Go here for more details.

As you become more resourceful, creative, and more organised, you will notice that by using what you already have you’ll begin to see a difference with needing less stuff and saving more money. Keeping this first element in your daily habits for low impact living: use what you have in mind when you feel like you need something is a handy way to reduce your consumption and minimise your carbon footprint. Taking these small actions will make a key difference to making the most of your authentic, resourceful living by living simply.

Some links in this post are affiliate partnership links. I may earn from qualifying purchases.