6 Sustainability Habits that Helped me Save Money

We know how some sustainable changes in life can empty the pockets quickly. The factor of money often restricts a person from engaging in sustainable habits. But among the whole list of sustainable habits, there are a few which are rather helping me save more.

Here I have listed down all the sustainability practices that I started following in 2020 to cut down on my bills. These habits can be practised by anyone very easily for their entire life.

1. Indulging in Smart Grocery Shopping

At this point in time, we all have to limit the number of times we visit the grocery shop. So what other perfect time will you find to direct your brains into smart shopping so that you can ensure eating healthy, not going out often and also saving a good amount of money?

I often join my mother for grocery shopping. My mother actually taught me this smart technique of shopping just once in a week for groceries. She begins with planning the meals of the week. She includes whole foods, vegetables and meat, all in equal chunks so that we don’t run out of any of them quickly. After planning the meals for a week, she prepares a list of the ingredients required. We then go to the grocery shop or a nearby farmers market and buy the entire week’s food ingredients at once. When you buy in bulk you save some money. 

I have also started to learn cooking from scratch. There are channels on YouTube which  I sometimes refer for to learn how to cook. Cooking my own food has helped me save a lot of money which previously I used to spend while eating out.

2. Switching on a Shower Timer

Well, it’s not hard to imagine how we lose our mindfulness while taking a shower. We get so absorbed in the calming splash of water that we tend to forget for how long we have been in the bathroom.

Lately, I have started to follow two specific methods to limit my shower time which ranges between 10 to 15 minutes. I either set a timer on my phone and keep it right outside the washroom. When it starts ringing after 10 minutes I quickly dry my self up and head out to switch off the ringing.

The other method that I apply is taking a shower right at the end when I am almost running out of time. This is when it’s almost time to head to work and if I don’t complete my shower in 10 minutes, I know I would be very late. So this way I have no choice left but to spend less time under my showerhead. These two methods have saved me quite a few bucks on my water bills.

The monthly savings that I have from saving water, at first seemed to be very trivial. But when I actually added up the money saved in a month for a period of five to ten years I  knew how much I would be saving which I could preferably spend on other value-adding experiences.

Along with a shower timer, you can also switch your existing showerhead with a water-saving showerhead.

3. Digging up my Closet to find Old Clothes

During this period of lockdown, I got plenty of time to clear my closet from the stuff that I don’t need. One of them was my old clothes that have been lying in my closet for who knows maybe an entire decade. It was time to dig them up.

I found so many old clothes that didn’t fit me anymore and began collecting them in a bag. When everything gets normal I will sell them at a nearby store that accepts second-hand clothing and earn some bucks from it. I even sometimes buy any cloth that looks nice on me from these stores at a cheaper rate than the ones we get from a branded store.

4. Practising Eating the Ideal amount that my Body Needs

I am a big-time foodie. I love eating. Previously I used to combine eating with other tasks like taking breaks, while driving, while reading and also while watching television. Though it’s not bad to eat while you are doing other things, it is surely making a difference if you are not mindful about the quantity.

I now practice eating the amount that fills my belly just right. I chew my food consciously and give my stomach the time after which it signals me that it is full. Right now as we all are confined to our homes, it’s also the best time to get into the habit of eating home-cooked meals which can set your health just on the right track.

5. Applying Natural Beauty Ingredients

I am not a big fan of makeup. I only apply beauty products on my face when it is absolutely necessary, like when going for an invitation, etc. Every year people spend millions and millions of dollars on buying branded makeup products. Little do they realize how much power there is in nature to make us look beautiful.

I am a fan of natural ingredients like honey, milk, rice water, coconut oil, turmeric. It has amazingly altered my beauty game and helped me save so much. 

I apply honey on my face once a week to get rid of any blemishes or tanning. I sometimes mix turmeric in my bathwater which soothes my skin and washes out all the dirt from my skin. Every week I apply coconut oil on my scalp to keep my hair healthy and strong and then also rinse my hair after shampooing with rice water, which helps it to grow and also acts as a natural conditioner.

So there are plenty of ways you can switch your beauty products with natural ingredients which do not only help you to save money, but it also saves your skin from harmful chemicals.

6. Switching to Cloud Computing

We all know what happens to our important documents, photos and favourite movies when our hard drive or our laptop suddenly stops working. The dread of losing your important documents can be easily wiped off if you start storing all of them on the cloud.

You might think this will cost you money, but it won’t even take a penny out of your pocket. I made use of the free cloud space that Google offers with my Gmail account. This is a big-time saviour. Google offers so much of cloud space you might not even end up using it entirely in a few years.

This has saved me from buying expensive hard drives and then spending money on repairing them.

These are so simple habits you can form which helps in making our planet more sustainable and the great part of all these habits are that they help you save those extra bucks that you always couldn’t end up saving. The money that you save will help you to mindfully understand the areas where you should spend so that you can get the maximum experiences out of life. 

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Written by Ishani Roy. She is the PR and Marketing Head at The Strong Traveller. Dr Instagram, she is a lifestyle and wellbeing writer, an avid reader, fond of minimalism and an ardent supporter of leading a sustainable lifestyle. Being a fitness enthusiast, she loves to work out when she’s not working. Apart from that, she also loves to check out delicious recipes from the internet while waiting for the perfect day to try that out by herself!

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