Top 15 Ways to Live an Eco-Friendly + Sustainable Lifestyle – this post is all about how to be eco-friendly and life a sustainable lifestyle.
As you likely know, we are a vegan family of 4 who moved from Austin, Texas to Lisbon, Portugal in July 2021. Our blog is about our adventures, vegan travels, vegan and eco-friendly, sustainable lifestyle. We believe it’s incredibly important to lead a climate friendly lifestyle and have the least negative impact on the environment.
This post is about the top 15 ways to live an eco-friendly + sustainable lifestyle. This includes what we did in Austin and do in Lisbon to lessen our impact.
Our home in Austin was over 2000 square feet, which is quite large, so we did as much as possible to lessen our carbon footprint. We now live in Lisbon, Portugal in an apartment about half the size of our house in Austin. These are our top 15 tips for living an eco-friendly lifestyle in both the States and in Europe.
This is what we did in Austin to lessen our impact:
Updated HVAC (central heating and cooling) system that runs more efficiently than our previous one that was 20 years old. We chose a TRANE system as it had the best reviews and came highly recommended. At the same time, we added insulation in the attic and weather stripping around the house. We received a rebate from the City of Austin to replace our old system with a high efficient one and do the other tasks.
Had 13 solar panels installed on our roof. At the time, many neighbors contracted the same company so we received a bulk discount in addition to the rebates we received from the City of Austin and the US Federal Government. Total price for 13 solar panels: $6000 – after 7 years, we have already seen our return on investment in savings on our electric bill.
gardening to live an eco-friendly lifestyle
Have a backyard fruit/veggie garden, rain barrels and a composter. The garden provides us with edible fruits and veggies while the plants cool down the backyard. We have 2 large 58 gallon rain barrels in the backyard, which were also subsidized by the City of Austin and we use that to water our plants. The composter diverts organic waste from the trash can and local landfill, probably thousands of pounds of organic, reusable waste. This amazing rich compost is applied to the soil around our backyard plants to provide nutrients and minerals.
best ways to save water
Install water faucet aerators on the sinks and/or low flow water faucets. This is such an economical solution! Install low flow toilets and low flow showerheads. By taking these low cost steps, you will save a lot of money and water-waste.
Use cloth napkins, cloth diapers (when the kids were babies), and reusable glass and stainless steel containers for lunches and leftovers.
the most positive impact you can make for the environment
Vegan diet + lifestyle – this choice has the most impact on the environment and obviously, the animals. Our family has been vegan for 12 years and are so happy with this lifestyle and can’t imagine ever going back to a non-vegan lifestyle. We primarily eat a whole foods plant-based diet, meaning mostly fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains and nuts with sporadic use of lightly processed vegan food.
Reusable water bottles – we couldn’t live without our stainless steel double-walled water bottles. They are awesome at keeping the water cold for hours and they go everywhere with us!
zero-waste lifestyle
Buy from the bulk section at grocery stores to lessen plastic waste. Always, always bring reusable cloth bags to the stores and use a reusable veggie/fruit bag instead of the flimsy plastic bags offered at the grocery stores.
how to save money, the planet and your health
Cook at home and when we go out, choose vegan spots that use reusable or compostable containers. Bonus points for restaurants and food trucks buying produce from a local source. If our favorite places serve to-go food in styrofoam, I talk to the manager and suggest that they use compostable ware instead.
I handcraft vegan skincare products and bar soaps. By always using eco-friendly containers and packaging, this helps to dramatically lessen our environmental impact. We also use reusable washcloths and washable pads to wash our faces rather than using disposable items such as cotton pads and cotton balls.
eco-friendly period products
Use a menstrual disc (my favorite is Luna) or cup, cloth pads and period underwear (our favorites are Bambody) during menstruation. This keeps a lot of trash out of the landfill and has evolved to become something incredibly comfortable and easy to use.
We owned a Soda Stream which was great when we wanted fizzy water, but didn’t want to buy cans or bottles of it. This is definitely an eco-friendly option which can be completely customizable. Adding herbal leaves from our backyard garden imparts a refreshing flavor.
second hand shopping to save the environment
We bought most of our clothes at the various thrift shops in Austin. In Austin, we were completely spoiled by all the awesome thrift shops. We rarely bought new clothes and when we did, we tried our best to choose items that were eco-friendly or high quality that would last for years.
Less plastic – we always try to use the least amount of plastic as possible. If there is a non-plastic version available at the store, we always choose the more eco-friendly alternative, such as glass, wood or stainless steel. And, of course, we abide by the 3 R’s – reduce, reuse and recycle!
how to be eco-friendly when you have to drive everywhere
Cars – in Austin, our cars were a 2012 Toyota Prius and a 2014 Nissan Leaf EV. We plugged in the EV to the normal outlet in the garage and our solar panels helped power the vehicle. I loved and adored this car! The Toyota Prius got great gas mileage as well, around 50+ mpg.
Continuing our Eco-Friendly Lifestyle in Lisbon, Portugal
We have been living in Lisbon, Portugal for the past 2.5 months. Surely, we are continuing to do most of the same steps as above, but with a few differences. We live in an apartment so we don’t have a backyard garden, composter and rain barrels. And since we are renting the apartment, we don’t have the option to have solar panels installed. Our apartment doesn’t have central AC or heat. We open our windows and enjoy a lovely cool breeze at night or use our fans. It’s not like Austin – it actually cools down at night!
Composting
One thing that we are unable to do at our apartment is compost. It kills me to throw away scraps and peels, etc. I haven’t found a good option yet for composting our food waste. I’m searching for electric composters that we would be able to keep in our kitchen. We are also considering a Bokashi bin, although we eat so many fruits and veggies that I don’t want to overwhelm the bin immediately.
Public transportation in Portugal
Cars – as we are now city dwellers, we don’t need a car. Lisbon is fantastic for public transportation! These are the forms of public transportation in Lisbon: metro, busses, trains, trams, ferries, car hire (Uber), city bicycle hire, e-scooter hire, and walking. Now that we have our citizen cards, we applied for our Lisboa Viva cards and we pay 80 Euros per month. This includes unlimited travel in Lisbon and surrounding areas for all 4 of us. This is going to save us a lot of money as we travel all over the city on public transportation. We live a couple of blocks from a metro station and a train station. Besides walking and the e-scooters, the train/metro is our favorite mode of public transportation.
What are your tips for an eco-friendly lifestyle?
All of the above mentioned steps will help you lead a much more eco-friendly, low carbon footprint lifestyle. What steps have you already taken? Which steps do you feel that you will begin taking now to lessen your environmental impact? Follow our blog for more eco-friendly and sustainable ideas! Next blog post will be about making Halloween and Thanksgiving more eco-friendly.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you. Please know that I only recommend items that I love and use.
The 5 items we are so happy to have on all of our trips:
- Merrell women’s light hiking shoes – these are amazing because they are lightweight, but are extra grippy and helpful for all the cobblestone streets! I also have this pair that I always get compliments on: Merrell Rainbow shoes. Fernando loves his Asics trail runners which are also grippy and perfect for walking in Portugal.
- Thermoflask water bottle – like a Hydroflask, but more affordable! We don’t go anywhere without these water bottles full of purified water.
- North Face Aphrodite 2.0 capris – I seriously wear these pants every.single.day! I couldn’t live without these ultra-comfy, lightweight pants that dry so quickly. They are 100% worth the money!
- Osprey Day Pack – this is an awesome lightweight backpack that we can easily put the belongings we need at hand for traveling around the city and on public transportation.
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