The one good thing that happened to me in 2020 is stumbling upon the concept of sustainable living. While I’ve heard about green initiatives before, I wasn’t aware of lifestyle changes that I could make to help our planet. While I started off slow, first researching on this lifestyle and then slowly incorporating changes but I did manage to make a few major and a few minor changes to facilitate a sustainable lifestyle.
Change #1: No more H&M
This one hurt A LOT! I have been a HUGE H&M shopper over the past few years. 80% of my wardrobe is from H&M. My friends would joke around that I should be made a brand ambassador of H&M considering the amount of shopping I did from there. While I was aware of the non-ethical aspects of H&M’s supply chain including not paying their workers proper wages in third world countries – I wasn’t fully aware of the extent of how bad fast fashion was. Since H&M had their sustainable line of clothing – I believed (I was naïve) that they were a brand rapidly moving towards sustainability. But having sworn off fast fashion – it totally sucked to end my relationship with H&M. It hurt almost as bad as my last break up! 😦
Change #2: Alternate Menstrual Products
This one was an easy switch. I’ve never loved using sanitary napkins and tampons so I had an additional motive to look for sustainable alternates. Moving to period panties and menstrual cup was easy and a natural move for me. I haven’t used sanitary napkins over the past 4-5 months and I am super proud of this move that I’ve made. If you want to read more about my experiences with alternate menstrual products, checkout my post here. (Checkout period panties here!)
Change #3: Less Wastage
I’m not proud of this but I haven’t always been careful about wastage including food, water, electricity etc. I have failed to return many items that I’ve ordered online that I didn’t like or didn’t fit me. Overall I haven’t been the most conscious about wastage but this year I have tried extremely hard to ensure I don’t waste anything. Switching off lights before leaving the room, switching off the AC when not needed, not spending hours in the shower but setting an alarm to leave the shower in dot 5mins (the aim is to move away from showers but it isn’t possible in winters) and other such small but significant acitivities.
Change #4: Not buying plastic water bottles
Anyone that has travelled even a little has contributed to plastic waste in the form of the disposable water bottles. Starting last year – I made it a point to carry a metal bottle with me to ensure that I don’t end up buying a disposable bottle. I even force my parents to do the same now ! (Sharing the product link in case you are interested in buying this product – link)
Change #5: Moving to sustainable beauty products where possible
I moved to reusable bamboo make-up pads to replace cotton pads. I’ve recently started using bamboo brushes. I have also moved to shampoo and conditioner bars instead of liquid in plastic bottles. I’ve moved from plastic body mist bottles (why Victoria’s Secret why? :() to glass bottled mists (The Body Shop). While beauty products will take some time to find alternates to since I need to find products that suit me – I am trying to slowly find sustainable replacements for all products I use.
(If you want to check these out- Reusable make up pads, shampoo bar, conditioner)
Change #6: Less consumption, less shopping & more reusing, recycling
Thanks to the pandemic, my shopping has reduced A LOT. I did move from clothes, fashion to household shopping but I try to buy sustainable products such as jute, bamboo, wood products. I have also moved to reusing the products I have and recycling them till I’ve gotten the best usage out of them.
Change #7: Being more conscious
I have become more conscious of my actions and I have started factoring in sustainability into my decisions. Eg: I recently wanted to buy a pair of jeans and I researched for a few days about different brands both local and global before making a decision about which brand to order from.
Change #8: Moving towards Vegan-ism
While I haven’t become gone full vegan, as of now I am vegan 3 days a week. I’m proud of the start that I’ve made since going vegan hasn’t been the easiest for me even though I am a vegetarian. I have tried to reduce my consumption of dairy and other animal based products. Here’s hoping I do better in 2021.
These are some of the changes I have made to my lifestyle this year. My goal is to be 50% more sustainable in the next two years than I was when I began my endeavors. I hope that people across the globe become more conscious of their ways and work together for the betterment of our planet. If you aren’t already, I hope you’ll make being sustainable a goal for 2021. ❤
Stay safe and go green! ❤️
If you liked this, read these others posts on sustainability –
Sustainable Living | 3 Easy Ways To Start
10 ways to be “SUSTAINABLE” on the cheap!
Moving To Alternate Menstrual Products
Shoutout to other some other bloggers who write about sustainable living –
Happy Panda 
Seems a lovely almost the last post of the year and important one that too. Will try coming back and read it soon Moksha !
Nara x
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Thanks, Narayan! I hope the post makes an impression. 🙂
I think I’ll do one more post before the year ends. 😀
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Great post! It can be really hard to switch to a more sustainable lifestyle so congrats for all the steps that you’ve made this year, it is very impressive and all of them actually contribute greatly to helping the climate! This really inspired me a lot, and I’ll try to talk more about sustainability in my blog this new year! 😊
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It is so nice to connect with others that are headed down the sustainability route! It motivates me even more. Would love to read about your journey and get advice on what more I can do. 🙂
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Thanks! I’ll definitely try to write more about sustainability in the new year 😊
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These changes are amazing and I think it’s really important to reuse and recycle. 🙂
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Thank you! I’m glad you see that at such a young age! ❤
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🙂
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Well done Moksha, you’ve made some really incredible changes and a lot more than most people are doing. Also congratulations for ditching H&M, I know that must have been really hard but sadly, even their sustainable initiative is just green washing. I find the site Good On You really helpful for finding out how sustainable and ethical fashion brands are – https://directory.goodonyou.eco/ xx
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Thank you! ❤ Ditching H&M still hurts – they recently launched their H&M membership thing in India and it took some effort to ignore it and not sign up! 😦 I love Good on you! I am constantly on that site researching brands, products and materials! I hope more brands go the sustainable way soon. 🙂
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Hey girl, fantastic post! I’ve been doing similar in 2020, this year’s been a real eye opener x
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Yayay! I feel so happy to connect with other people that are going down the sustainable path. Proud of you! 🙂
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Thank you so much lovely! X
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Wow! This was interesting. This is something I have to be more aware of and start. Thanks for this post. Really eye opening!
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🙂 I’m so glad! I want people to know that being sustainable doesn’t mean BIG changes, it can be small changes that add up over time to make a big change! 🙂
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I love reusing clothes and other items. I always felt like since I paid my hard-earned money for it, I should wear/use it as much as I can. However, some people do call me cheap. I think we’re just being smart and getting our “money’s worth”.
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Definitely! It is also beneficial to our planet that we get the maximum usage out of all our products before discarding it. I used to be someone that used to hate reusing my clothes – which is why H&M was my favourite place to shop since I could easily switch my wardrobe out without spending A LOT. But now I keep finding ways to revamp the clothes I already have. 🙂
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Inspiring post!
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Thank you 🙂
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Wow, you’ve made so much great progress! I’ve gotten more interested in sustainability lately, too. I’d love to switch over to a menstrual cup eventually, but they still intimidate me 😨
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This year actually gave me time to research and carefully make switched to sustainable products that I would actually use. Menstrual cup is SCARY! I’m not going to lie – it is still very freaky to use. So I prefer using my period panty – which is so convenient! I’d definitely recommend the period panty to the cup!
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Proud of you!
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❤ ❤
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Congratulations on the achievements! I had to skip over the H&M part so fast because I’m partly in denial… I don’t do fast fashion but when I do, that’s my go to!
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hahha I was too! I’d keep reading these articles but then convince myself that H&M was actually trying to change – but the reality sucks! But yayay that my wallet gets drained a lil less now. 🙂
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So proud of you!! Very well done. 🌿🤍 I’ve been avoiding fast fashion for a while now and it feels great. Good for the wallet as I don’t impulse buy and I find so many unique pieces in thrift stores!
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Same! I used to impulse shop as well as shop when I was emotional but since I’ve made these changes- it has been so much better on my wallet. I wish we had cool thrift stores in India – that concept is still catching up here. 🙂
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Woah! This is so amazing!!! Congratulations on making these amazing life shifts! 😊🤗
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Thank you! It hasn’t been the easiest journey but hopefully it will make a difference in the bigger picture. 🙂
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Lovely. Goes to show the power of intention. May you make bigger strides towards sustainable living next year and influence more people!
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Thank you so much! 🙂 Wishing you both the same! ❤
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Tropic skincare is fantastic ⭐️
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These changes you have made to your lifestyle are amazing! All the little things we can all contribute add up in the grand scheme of things ❤
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Thank you so much for your kind words! I hope I can do even more in 2021. 🙂 ❤
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Great tips! I used to feel so alone in my sustainability efforts, so it’s encouraging to see that you and others care too. I’ve also started using more bamboo products this year, including toothbrushes and floss. We still haven’t tried the bamboo toilet paper I bought, but I can count on my foster teen to give her honest opinion of it soon!
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Same! It is so nice to hear of other people’s experiences with sustainable products cause not a lot of people are doing that around me! Would love to know your experiences and more about your sustainable journey. ❤
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It’s not always easy, is it? We saved ALL of our aluminum cans when we lived in an apartment for a year and couldn’t recycle. When we finally filled my little crossover suv and took the cans to recycle, we only got a whole $2.48 for the aluminum, lol!
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It isn’t, so I’m trying to incorporate the easy changes first.
Haha – it’s the same here! Paper, glass, tin cans – for kilos of it we barely get $1!!!! But it’s worth it. 🙈
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Kudos to you! That’s a great effort towards a sustainable lifestyle👏
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Thank you! It’s been tough – but it’s worth it 😊
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Seems like you are super-committed to being eco-friendly! Quite inspiring!
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I am but I’m not rushing into it with BIG life changes. Taking small steps so that I don’t intimidate myself out of leading a sustainable lifestyle. 😊 Thank you for reading!
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Great post, thanks for sharing!
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Thank you so much! 😊
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The changes you have made to your lifestyle in 2020 are wonderful! Thank you..
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Thank you so much. It wasn’t the easiest but it wasn’t that difficult too. Really focusing on going vegan this year. *fingers crossed*
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You are welcome!
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Very informative post! I have adopted these changes too, the only one I struggle with is using the menstrual cup, I find it makes my cramps worse ☹️ I might give the reusable pads another go after reading your post! x
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Loved your blog and also your outlook towards life in general. The list of sustainable living is actually endless and it is possible to add many items to this list of yours if only one has the urge. Kudos to you for making this effort towards living a sustainable life. 🙂
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So what did you swap H&M with? This is a very pertinent question!
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Hahah it is. 1. I’ve reduced my shopping A LOT 2. I’m trying to shop local Indian brands – Taavi (on Myntra), Indie Picks (Ajio) – for budget shopping. Taavi is a sustainable brand which isn’t too expensive. 3. For items I can’t find from local brands – I research bigger brands that have gone sustainable and try to shop from there. Eg: Levi’s is working on being sustainable. So if you see their jean’s product details they mention whether the jeans are sustainably manufactured or not. (Good On You is a website that tells you which brand is where on the sustainability journey) 4. Exchanging clothes with siblings and friends to have access to newer clothes without buying at all.
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Great…thanks! I am gonna check out Good On You and also go through Taavi and Indie Picks. Exchanging clothes is something I have always done so I am good there.
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