Tag Archives: eco challenge

Sustainable Living ideas

How to Encourage Kids to Care about the Environment

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Encouraging children to care about the environment, for me, is crucial. From a young age, we notice how naturally curious children are and their eagerness to explore the environment around them. Ever remember when your little one tried to crawl up the stairs completely oblivious to the dangers or trying to take a sip of your wine?

Encouraging them to use that curiosity to care for the environment and natural world around them requires a little support from us and it’s something we can do as a family.

In a survey conducted in 2021, “Nearly 8 in 10 8-15 year-olds (78%) agreed that looking after the environment was important to them, and more than 8 in 10 (81%) said they wanted to do more to look after the environment“. As time goes on, I wouldn’t be surprised if this increases.

Children learn a lot from their parents and when they see us doing something, positive or negative, they tend to adopt that. In order for them to care about the environment, we need to show them how to do it – after all, they’re going to inherit the planet from us.

Here are some things that work for me

Spend time outside

This is always the best place to start. I remember why my little one was at nursery, she loved getting her hands dirty in the mud and it never bothered me when I picked her up covered in mud. She enjoyed it.

Looking for wriggly worms, spotting birds, watching a cheeky squirrel try to eat food from a bird feeder or even getting them to run around on the grass barefoot is a great way to connect with nature (plus, it’s free to do!) – We’ve got a free scavenger hunt download in the shop you can use.

Allowing them to love and care about the environment around them and having those memories will encourage them to protect it as they get older.

A great way to get kids involved is to take part in Community Garden Week which is usually around April time in the UK.

Alternatively, You could also bring in the outdoors indoors (I’m not talking about muddy shoes) by looking at the types of leaves they’ve collected, looking at the different colours, shapes and sizes. Encourage them to ask questions and if you don’t know the answer, look online.

Check out this fabulous blog for some other things you can do for a great day out in the park

Get them involved in recycling

My little one enjoyed getting involved in putting recycling in the correct bin that now she does it automatically.

Children naturally want to be helpful so if there’s something to do, they are keen to get involved. Teaching them which bin an item goes into is so important because as they see us recycle, they will adopt that as the norm and more likely to continue doing that as they get older.

Coincidentally, This was where I got the idea to create the Sort the Recycling Waste print at home game.

We laminated our one so my little one can play it over and over and it keeps her busy while I’m trying to do something (another plus).

Rather than waiting for it to arrive, it can be downloaded and printed at home. Great if you need to come up with something quickly to occupy them.

Another great tip is to get them to apply for their very own Green Blue Peter Badge. My daughter got one for eco efforts and she’s really proud of it.

Growing food

It’s important for them to know where food comes from, how it’s grown and how much work is needed to grow it.

I always think back about the time when my ex-husband’s nephew was asked where eggs came from. His reply was Tesco. Everyone else found it funny but I found it a little sad. Surely he should have be corrected – he was six.

Pick something easy and doesn’t take up a lot of space (especially if you’re limited on garden space). Strawberries are great to start with. My little one and I grew strawberries and she loved it (here’s my blog about it). In addition, she regularly checked to see if it needed watering and remembered me telling her that the evening is the best time to water them. It felt like her own little project and she enjoyed the fruits of her labour.

We’ve grown potatoes, carrots, strawberries and spring onions (the onions didn’t go well). I would highly recommend growing something your little ones will eat. They (and you) will get such a sense of achievement by eating something you’ve grown yourself – trust me!

Plants

Insects pollinate the food we eat so they are crucial to our survival and biodiversity. A great way to help our pollinating friends are planting flowers.

Sunflowers are a favourite in this household. Plus, we make it a bit of a game. We have a competition to see who’s sunflower is the tallest. My daughter has won every time and I’m hoping to win this year. Start off them inside as seedlings. Once the frost is over, get them used to being outside and then plant them permanently outside.

Insects love colours so there are so many flowers you could plant – go nuts!

You could attempt to build a bug hotel from things you find in the garden. Or buy a bird house and encourage nature to come into your garden. Just watch your kids fascinated with them and learn to care for the environment.

Why not try a game that teaches children to sort animals into their habitats? It’s print at home so you can get started straight away!

Eco dates

There are a number of dates throughout the year celebrating the environment. A household favourite for us is Earth Day which is celebrated on the 22nd April every year.

Many schools get involved with environmental issues and can be continued at home. My little one loves doing puzzles and activities which led me to create some digital downloads. This has encouraged her to learn more about the environment and ask questions. I’ve created some free ones too.

National Children’s Gardening Week is a great one to get involved with as a family – its usually at the end of May.

Keep talking

It’s important to keep having conversations about the environment. If they find a bug when you’re out and about, encourage to think about what that bug was up to, where they’ve been, where it lives.

Think about toys and games they ask for. My daughter was invited to a birthday party and one of the pass the parcel games was a bee jigsaw – which she won. We learned so much about bees and she’s still got it.

Museums (and there are some free ones) tend to have great installations about the environment and are usually over the half-term period. Check them out.

Recently my daughter said something that really made me smile. We were on the way back from school and it started raining heavily. Us Brits usually like complaining about the rain (or the weather in general) and I complained about not bringing an umbrella. She said “The rain is fine, the trees and plants get to have a drink”. I still smile about it now.

These are some ideas that work for me but may not work for everyone. Here are my terms & conditions for further reading

If you want to adopt more sustainable living practices into your home, check out the 30-Day Eco Swap Challenge – it’s only £7

Self-care, Sustainable Living ideas

How to Overcome Barriers to Sustainable Living

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As we are learning more and more about the effects humans are having on climate change, the number of individuals opting to live sustainably is steadily growing. Making conscious changes to your lifestyle is key. However, in a world where we are reliant on the things that are bad for the environment and sustainable alternatives aren’t always readily available, it’s not as easy as it should be. These barriers can be difficult to overcome.

I think back about when I started sustainable living and tried making so many changes in one go. I ended up becoming overwhelmed and I did everything badly – it starts with changing habits. After failing miserably, I starting again but this time I tackled one habit at a time.

Old Habits

This was the biggest barrier for me to overcome. It starts with habits. Have you ever tried to give up something you’ve been doing for a long time? Smoking? Drinking? It’s like that. You will do things automatically because that’s how you’ve done it and that’s how your brain and learnt that habit. The great thing is habits can be broken and new ones learnt.

Apparently, it takes between 20 – 30 days to break a habit and starting with one thing is key (don’t make my mistake!). Start with something small like switching your plastic razor to a safety razor. I’ve written blogs about using safety razors and they’re my favourite place to start. Once you get used to the safety razor, make another change.

Once you decide to want to start doing something different and you worry that you may forget. A handy tip is to write it down somewhere just to remind yourself, before you know it, you won’t need the reminder.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/row-of-barriers-on-empty-track-3763878/

Cost

I’m not going to pretend this isn’t an issue for many people – it’s a genuine barrier. This is one of the biggest challenges I found to sustainable living and can really take a chunk out of your budget.

My advice is to speak to friends and family and see what they do. Have a look at social media for sustainable living ideas. There are little brands as well as the big brands who can offer great products. Second-hand shops are a great habit to create as these clothing items have already been made and you can find some real gems.

A few more examples are swapping from menstrual pads and tampons to menstrual cup/period pants or swapping to a safety razor. Just these eco swaps can help you save money in the long run.

Availability

This is another barrier that really gets to me and it’s hard to overcome. Not all shops offer a decent range of sustainable products. Some don’t offer any at all, so it’s understandable that people will buy from the options available to them. This is where shops need to do better.

Plastic is low cost and therefore, cheaper and they’re convenient but single-use plastic is the problem. Once you’re done with your roll-on deodorant, you’ll throw the who thing away (or recycle it, if you can) and get another one.

Do what you can – if you regularly get a takeaway coffee, use a reusable cup. keep a plastic bag folded in your bag so you don’t need to buy another one, walk (if you can) rather than taking your car.

It’s OK to be different

If anything, I embrace being different but I appreciate that isn’t the case for everyone else. When you’re with a group of friends, it’s OK to refuse a straw, if you’re at someone’s house and you need to throw something away, it’s OK to ask where the recycling bin is. It takes time to overcome this barrier.

I posted this on my Instagram page a while back and it made me chuckle

I wear odd socks because when there’s a hole in one sock, sadly, both pairs tend to be thrown away and I feel that’s a real waste, It’s a great conversation starter too!

Where to start

This was where I fell down at the start. I would highly suggest trying to make one change at a time and start with something small.

What got me started was lemons! I wanted to buy a single lemon but the only option available to me to me was a plastic net bag of about 4/5 lemons, which was way more than I needed. So I starting looking at what fruit and veg I could buy loose.

People are starting to think about sustainable living so some of your friends may have already started – swap ideas!

Something I created so people don’t make the same mistake I did was the 30-Day Eco Swap Challenge – I created this challenge for anyone who wants to adopt sustainable living practices for their home and families without stress, overwhelm or judgement.

Over 30 days, there are 30 different ways to become eco-friendly and live more sustainably. There will be some things you may not have even thought about and one that is a bit of a wildcard!


The path to sustainable living isn’t smooth but it is rewarding and there’s no such thing is a ‘perfect environmentalist’. It’s a myth. Sustainable living looks different for everyone.

Something I always say in my social media is – Start small, Do what you can, build from there!

These are some ideas that work for me but may not work for everyone. Here are my terms & conditions for further reading

Self-care

How to cope with eco-anxiety?

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If you worry about climate change and the impact humans are having on the environment to the point where you may not be able to stop thinking about it, there’s probably a chance you suffer from a level of eco-anxiety.

This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something we may earn a commission. Thanks.

Eco-anxiety affects people in different ways; some people can be a little anxious whereas others may feel more anxious. There is no right or wrong. Given the environmental challenges we are facing putting our long-term security at risk, it’s no surprise that eco-anxiety is on the rise and I’m glad people are more open to talking about it.

Even as an environmentalist, I have to keep my eco-anxiety in check – I’m not ashamed to say I find it overwhelming at times too. However, I have found some ways that helps me keep my eco-anxiety in check.

My tips to cope with eco-anxiety

1. Actions matter

It’s easy to sometimes feel powerless, there’s only so much an individual can control. Something I always say is ‘start small, do what you can, build from there‘. Our actions do matter and make a difference, regardless of how big or small. Never forget that!

2. Find like-minded individuals

It’s important to find other people who share the same passion for the environment and who want to do better. One thing I realised quite early on is that you can learn so much from each other and sharing this knowledge can only be a good thing. Plus, you will be part of a team that may want to set up litter-picks or a local eco group.

3. Happy Eco News

This is something that I started early on. There is so much negative news about climate change so any positive news is largely ignored. There are good things happening in the world when it comes to the environment which is why I send out a fortnightly newsletter filled with happy eco news. I also sent it on Mondays – start the week on a good note! If you would like to receive happy eco news – sign up here and grab a freebie download too.

4. Don’t argue with deniers

This took me a while to get to grips with but I’m much better at it than I was previously. You will always come across deniers. It’s inevitable. But I’m not referring to people who are aware of climate change and would prefer not to talk about it (out of sight, out of mind), I’m referring to people who will argue with you about how climate change is a hoax and want to argue their ‘reasons’ as to why it’s a hoax or not as bad as it’s being reported. DO NOT ENGAGE. After having a number of heated discussions with climate change deniers, I found that I was left frustrated and exhausted from the encounter and the only person affected from this is me. Nothing you can say will make a difference, so don’t bother.

For the little ones

If you have little ones, I’ve come across this gratitude journal for children. It’s so important for children to notice the good about their day rather than just the bad. My little one has a gratitude journal and now I don’t have to even remind her to fill it in, she enjoys doing it on her own.

Above all, it’s about protecting your mental health and only you can do that. It’s OK to protect your mental health.

These are some ideas that work for me but may not work for everyone. Here are my terms & conditions for further reading

Sustainable Living ideas

30-Day Eco Swap Challenge

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Are you up for a challenge?

Since I started my blog, my friends and family have asked me for my opinions on sustainable living and eco swaps.

I love that they ask me for advice because I love helping others to learn to live sustainably and I will always give my honest opinion.

This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something we may earn a commission. Thanks.

More recently, I’ve had messages from people who follow me on Instagram and they often ask me for my suggestions on alternatives.

Just last week, someone messaged me to say they tried Wild deodorant and he found it irritated his skin. I asked him if he tried the sensitive range and he wasn’t aware that Wild had a sensitive range – he’s going to give that a go – I helped 😊

Something else I noticed is that, even though we’re all trying to do our best, some don’t know where to start. That was me when I started so I got to thinking cap on to see how I can help others?

After quite a few weeks of thinking about it, I figured out what to do.

I’m so excited to have created the 30-day Eco Swap Challenge.

Everyday for 30 days, there is one item that can be swapped for an eco-friendly and sustainable alternative – what it is, what impact it has on the environment and where to get it from.

Some are easy, some may take a little longer, there’s a wildcard and some where you won’t have to buy anything at all.

I’m a firm believer in starting small, doing what you can and building from there – for me, there isn’t a right or wrong to sustainable living – doing something is always better than not doing anything.

I’ve spent a lot of time researching, creating this guide and included links to other articles for further reading/stats (can you tell I’m an Open University student?! LOL)

At a one-off price of £7, the challenge can be started when you’re ready.

Do let me know how you get on

These are some ideas that work for me but may not work for everyone. Here are my terms & conditions for further reading