Simple changes in your habits can make a significant impact on your wallet and the planet. Photo / 123rf
Simple changes in your habits can make a significant impact on your wallet and the planet. Photo / 123rf
OPINION
Want to improve your environmental impact while also pinching pennies? These simple changes can make a significant impact on your wallet and the planet.
Going green doesn’t require a fat wallet. My husband has a pair of shorts that are so worn they hardly resemble shorts anymore, but he’ll wear them until they no longer cover his body appropriately in public. I don’t buy tissues, I use reusable handkerchiefs I inherited from my grandmother-in-law.
Both of these habits stem from sustainable values and they cost us zero dollars. Unfortunately, the poster child for a sustainable lifestyle has become an image of a perfectly toned model dressed in a $600 hemp dress with a woven basket hung over her shoulder, filled with organic produce that totals the amount a family-of-five spends on groceries for the whole week.
In a world where eco-living seems synonymous with extravagant dollar signs and Pinterest-perfect pantries, I’m here to bust that myth and suggest three habits to adopt this year that will truly save you money.
If you stick to New Zealand-grown fruits and vegetables, particularly the ones that are at the peak of their season, you’ll save money. Photo / 123rf
Buy seasonal fruit and vegetables
The cost of making a pavlova topped with strawberries during winter isn’t worth the taste, for your pocket or for the planet. Imported produce usually involves more plastic packaging compared to locally sourced, and then there are the carbon-emitting transportation methods to get the food to Aotearoa.
If you stick to New Zealand-grown fruits and vegetables, particularly the ones that are at the peak of their season, you’ll save money. I’ve shopped this way for years and I promise you won’t feel like you’re missing out. But if you just can’t survive without strawberries in winter, freeze them when they’re available in summer.
Air travel is one of the most polluting activities you could carry out this year, so get inventive and explore somewhere in Aotearoa you haven’t yet. Photo / 123rf
Reconsider your international holidays
I don’t mean to be a spoilsport, and I’ll be the first to admit I’ve flown internationally within the last year, but please think twice about your international holiday this year.
Your winter trip could turn into a winter getaway at a tree house a few hours north of Auckland, or your annual tropical break might look like a Wānaka wander instead.
Air travel is one of the most polluting activities you could carry out this year. (Mile for mile, flying is the most damaging way to travel for the climate, according to the BBC). So get inventive and explore somewhere in Aotearoa you haven’t yet.
When you make that choice, the positive impact of not getting on a plane won’t be the only thing you can high-five yourself for. You’ll save money, support the locals, swap travel time for adventure moments, and experience less stress by avoiding all the logistics that come with international holidaying.
Places like Auckland Library of Tools only cost around $85 a year to be part of. A membership unlocks access to items that we generally use only a handful of times a year but pay thousands for when purchasing new. Think lawnmowers, tents, drill sets, gazebos, and sewing machines.
Paired together, the cost-of-living crisis and the climate crisis can make life feel pretty rough heading into 2024.
But while holding onto the true values of sustainability that encourage us to use what we have, instead of striving for some sort of ‘green goddess’ perfection, we can all do our part to care for the planet without straining our bank accounts.
Buying only seasonal produce, ditching your overseas holiday, and joining a tool or toy library may only be three things, but every little action counts.
