Living my life taking more conscious, thoughtful decisions in 2019
Hi there dear readers! Hope you are having a good morning so far:) 2019 is already running for almost a month, but I came to the conclusion I would like to give myself a personal challenge for the upcoming year. And I’d like to share it with you here, so I can keep better track of myself. And maybeee you would like to join me:)
This challenge came up to me the other day, when I was strolling through the shopping-streets of Amsterdam in search for the perfect winter-pull. It came to my mind that I am having such a hard time buying something these days. In my head I am constantly discussing with myself about more sustainable buying behavior / willing to look good in the latest fashion / finding timeless pieces / recycle more due to the huge amount of clothes in the store / paying a fair price for garments / checking more on qualities and productions etc. This discussion is driving me nuts and I end up buying nothing at all. Still unsatisfied, but at least I didn’t disappoint myself either in buying something ‘bad.’ Anyone who recognizes this discussion?
So, I like to challenge myself to live a more conscious life in 2019, including buying behavior. Be more kind to the world in the way that I consume. These guidelines hopefully will make me feel more confident in living my everyday life without having discussion about every single thing in my head;-)
In 2019 I will consciously:
- Eat more vegetables and focus on food from mother earth. Eat vegetarian when possible.
- Buy my food more locally (market, farmer etc).
- Buy fairtrade, ecological, and biological options as much as I can.
- Avoid buying any groceries that are in plastic. I’ll bring my own cotton totes to buy vegetables and find more options of food in glass or paper.
- I’ll try to avoid buying to many pre-packaged food in general. No cookies, salads or vegetable mixes. Instead, I’ll try to bake, prepare and make things fresh and keep leftovers to eat another day. It’s a time investment but it’s worth it.
- Use my Dopper bottle for water on the go and no longer buy small single use water bottles.
- Candies can be made by myself too, no need to buy these prepackaged.
- Separate my trash carefully – paper – glass – textiles – plastic. In Amsterdam this is fairly easy to do as we have multiple containers in my neighborhood. So no discussion;-)
- Buy more LED-lightning and replace old lamps.
- Turn off lamps in rooms i’m not in (hall, bathroom, kitchen)
- Start tracking my shower-time in order to limit my waste of water.
- Turn down the heat when I’m not home.
- Clean up my home more regularly in order to give away /donate things to charity or bring it to a second-hand store.
- Shop for fashion staples more second-hand (vintage stores, online and vintage markets). As I get bored with it mostly after one season, I expect myself to buy most fashion staples second-hand in 2019. It maybe takes more time, but is definitely a challenge that is making me more happy. My fashion staples include: bags, jackets, jeans, dresses and tees.
- Buy good basics of sustainable & natural fabrics, good quality and fair brands. My basics would be shoes, workout clothes, underwear, some jewelry and tight pants. I should do my research before heading out shopping.
- Make a vision-board of my preferred style, to avoid buying things I don’t love.
- Buy my make-up and beauty products from brands that don’t do any animal-testing. Transparency is there now.
- Try to buy more beauty products is glass (foundation, creams, moisturizers) instead of plastic.
- Use my shampoo bar more and less bottled shampoo.
- Stop buying new nail-polishes. Use the old ones first.
- Make nature more of a priority in everyday life. Enjoy it more often.
- Save my coins, collect them in my pocket at all times and consciously give them to those who need it. No more “sorry I don’t have any” for me this year (which always makes me feel so bad to say, with my debit card in my wallet).
Well, this is already such a list while there is so much more I can do to live more conscious. Do you have more tips or ideas to add to the list? I hope to inspire you to join me and make 2019 the best year for the world we live in!
