I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, and haven’t for many years. Mostly, because I almost always gave up by mid-February. And that just does not feel good. I do, of course, want to grow, personally, professionally, and in my sustainable style and life journey. A few years ago, I decided to do a sustainability focus.
Each year, I pick one thing that I think we need to change the most or that could have the biggest impact, and focus on it. I try to make sure that it is attainable, and that I can take small steps throughout the year that will help create a new long-term habit. It isn’t an all in sort of thing, like a resolution, more of a process.
This way, as long as I am working to get better, I am not failing. And, a small failure is just a bump in the road, part of the journey.
For my 2019 sustainability focus, I am going to work on making my personal care and beauty routines zero-waste.
My Focus in Years’ Past:
2015: We focused on reducing our food waste. My husband and I noticed we were wasting a lot of food, and besides throwing away money, we realized we were also creating a bigger impact than we wanted to. See what we learned and how we did while reducing our food waste. Also, get a few ideas and recipes if you are interested in doing the same. This post has been updated through the years as we’ve done more, learned more, and cooked more.
2016: I got pregnant in 2016, so I worked hard on really making our house non-toxic. I didn’t quite get to “get some plants” in 2016. But maybe next year…
2017: In 2016, I had a baby, so I decided to let 2017 slide. We chose to cloth diaper, which was a big step. But, because I was entering this new phase and already felt overwhelmed, I chose not to add much more to my life.
I did decide to not buy any new clothes in 2017. I thought it would be pretty easy. My body was changing so much, so I thought I would just wait to see where it ended up after the year. I figured anything I bought wouldn’t fit me right anyway, so it would be pretty wasteful. It was harder than I imagined it would be. I was not successful.
2018: Babies bring laundry! And it isn’t just their clothes. Between the spitup, slobber, cute little dirty hands, avocado, spilled wine (so much spilled wine)…well you get it…I ended up washing my clothes a lot more. So, I worked on greening our laundry and taking better care of my clothes. I think I may work on zero waste laundry in the future. If you’ve done this, let me know how it went and if you have any tips!
Sustainability Focus Update:
02/05/20: Take a look here to see how my zero waste bathroom journey went. Spoiler alert: not perfect. Not even as well as I hoped.
2020: I have two focuses this year. I am going to be more mindful about my kids’ clothes and shoes. I am going to work on being organized and prepared enough to buy much of it secondhand, and if I can’t, I will try to find more sustainable options. Read more about my journey to ethical style for kids here and why ethical style for my kids wasn’t a priority here.
The second thing I am going to focus on is activism. Likely, if you are here, you are taking this climate crisis quite seriously. Read more about what I have been doing and what I plan to focus on for 2020 here.
Oh, and I finally bought those plants.