**This is a collaborative post

I wouldn’t say we are the most eco-friendly family ever but we try to do our bit to help the environment and life a more sustainable life whenever we can. I thought I would share a few of the things we do to try and minimise our impact on the environment, and some of the things we would like to do some time in the near future – like get an electric car!

Swap to an electric car

So, let’s start with this one, even though this isn’t something we currently do. My mum has had an electric car for about 5 years now, and it costs next to nothing to run. Charging is easy, they have a charging point on the front of the house – something like this NewMotion charging station, and they simply plug it in overnight whenever the charge is running low. Switching to an electric car is definitely something we will be looking at when it’s time to change our car for something new.

Cloth nappies and wipes

This is something I’ve written about quite a lot previously – we have used cloth nappies since Toby was 7 weeks old, and with Gabe since he was born. For a year I had two children in nappies and it makes me very proud to think of all the disposable nappies and wipes we have saved from going into landfill. There is of course extra washing involved with using cloth nappies but the environmental impact is still much less than that which comes from using disposables.

In a similar vein, more recently we have pretty much stopped using kitchen roll and tissues too. Gabe was a really sicky baby, which means we have a lot of muslins! Now we don’t need them for mopping up baby sick, we use them for wiping up spills in the kitchen and wiping noses too. We haven’t yet made the switch to reusable toilet roll (yes, it is a thing!) – I think that might be a step too far, even for me!

Switch energy supplier

We recently switched our gas and electric supplier to Bulb Energy. Not only are we paying less for our fuel than with our previous supplier but Bulb supplies 100% renewable electricity and 10% green gas so it’s better for the environment too. If you’d like to switch to Bulb then they’ll even pay any exit fees from your current supplier. And if you switch using this link then both you and I will get £50 credited to our accounts!

Have milk delivered

We recently starting having our milk delivered – it comes in glass (and therefore reusable) bottles from a dairy less than 5 miles from our house, which is definitely better for the environment than using plastic bottles. The only downside to this one is that it is more expensive than buying milk from the supermarket but while we can afford it I am happy to carry on.

Recycle and compost

We recycle whatever we can – our council collects plastic, paper/ cardboard, and glass as part of our normal waste collection (although we can’t recycle as many different kinds of plastic packaging here as we could in Scotland which is a bit disappointing). We also have a garden waste bin but they recently started charging to collect this, and you can’t put food waste in it either (another thing we could do in Scotland) so now we have a compost heap at the bottom of the garden for all our green waste.

Reusable menstrual products

And lastly, one for the ladies… without going into too much detail, after having Toby I found my usual disposable tampons really uncomfortable, and disposable pads were just so plasticky and horrible. As we were using cloth nappies anyway, I started using cloth sanitary towels as well. After having Gabe I decided to try a menstrual cup, and honestly, it’s brilliant! Once you get over the ick factor reusable menstrual products are so much more comfortable than the disposable alternatives, and you also get the warm fuzzy feeling that comes from helping the environment too!

Do you do anything else to help minimise your impact on the environment and live a more sustainable life? I’d love to hear your tips so please do leave me a comment.