So you have decided you want to take steps toward a greener, lower waste lifestyle?

THAT'S AWESOME!

No really, it is. But now you are kind of at the hardest part- getting started. There are so many paths you could take and switches you can make to make your life have more positive impact and lower waste. The amazing pool of opportunities can be EXTREMELY overwhelming and it may be tempting to just go a million directions at once. Fight the temptation, and check out what these people say were first steps that worked for them.

Want to get started but think you need some support? Check out groups on Facebook to see just how many people are also on this journey- I like Slow, Eco, Simple Minimal Living, Plastic-Free Support Group, Eco-Friendly USA Group Page, Zero Waste, Zero Judgement, and Zero-Waste Motherhood.

One Thing at a Time

"I’m someone who will tend to go overboard with research, (particularly as a problem procrastinator and money-poor uni student), try and do everything all at once and then get discouraged when I ultimately fail. To stop myself from doing this, I wrote up a monthly green challenge list. Each month I’d pick a new thing to change (ie 1st month no plastic bags - lead to me forcing myself to creatively carry about 20 items on a train because I forgot the reusable bag initially, or 4th month - swap to naked shampoo, 6th month - shop at the farmers markets etc). Worked really well for me, because I was able to focus hard enough on one thing each month to make it a habit, was able to afford to buy eco friendly stuff and was able to keep up and maintain my passion to change. It also meant that I’d get excited and talk about my new change each month with friends, which convinced some less eco-minded people to try the challenge with me, as one specific challenge to focus on was a lot less overwhelming for them than feeling like everything they were doing was wrong and had to change." - Jade

"I’m relatively new to beginning a plastic reducing lifestyle. I use cloth bags and try not to buy any fruit in plastic. I just weigh at the till loose and not put them in the plastic bags they offer. I use a metal water bottle to refill and reuse glass jars to store food instead of using plastic. I’ve changed to a shampoo bar and have a soap bar on order. I am so much more mindful when I shop. I am also baking more and making my own humous. Change one thing at a time and think of it as a learning journey." - Jo

"It begins with awareness. I watched a documentary on plastic in the ocean on Netflix. Then I read a few books. One thing, one piece of advice that I can give is don't be overwhelmed. Just take it one month at a time, replace one thing at a time. We were already using cloth bags and drinking from steel bottles when I started on my journey, if someone wants to know where to start, I would say start there. Get good at bringing your bags, and your bottles. Always be learning. Have fun, be light hearted about the process." - Sarrah

"I agree with not letting it overwhelm you. I had already been using reusable shopping bags, then I watched a couple of documentaries and War on Waste, and decided I needed to make changes. One of the first things for me was reading into recycling in more depth, understanding what can and can't be recycled, how to do it as well as possible, and which items are most resource-heavy in the recycling process. This led me to an understanding that recycling is a wholly imperfect solution sadly, and that the answer is to reduce my purchasing and usage in the first place. Then I began a mission to remove single use plastic from my life - started with a coffee cup, aluminium straw, wax wraps, steel water bottle, and it gradually grew from there. Getting a composter has really helped reduce our landfill waste massively! And since we're now vegetarian, pretty much all of our food scraps go in the compost." - Emilie

"I started small. With a newborn and a skeptical husband it was difficult. But now we only use reusable grocery bags, I bought a Ecoffee cup, make our own wet wipes (I have convinced my husband to do cloth diapers with our next baby) and cloth pads for me :) I'm in the process of learning to sew so I can make small cloth bags to use for fruits and vegetables at the store " -Christianne

"Think before you consume. My 1st change wash cloth shopping bags, 2nd glass jars for freezing, 3rd bar soap. Little by little it will become routine to look for subsitutes for plastic. My new one, yet to try will be bees wax cloths instead of plastic wrap. Farmers markets, bulk food. I live in Spain, have had my own veggie garden for close to 30 yrs, but last 3-4 yrs every thing just burns due to extreme heat, not really sure how to combat that one" - Carlos

"I think it's a progression. One thing at a time. Don't throw out what you already have. Decide to, for example, not use straws and take your own shopping bags. Can then make or buy reusable produce bags, make own cleaning products etc. Work in progress!" - Linda

"I change one thing at a time. Apart from carrying my own shopping bags that I had been doing for years, I first realised that soap was the easiest thing to change - bars instead of liquid soap in plastic bottles, then shampoo in bars. I gradually worked my way around the bathroom, each time I needed to buy something I queried whether it could be bought without plastic - metal razors instead of disposable, toothpaste in a jar, bamboo toothbrushes and so that is the way I have continued. If I can buy something that contains no plastic that is the best option. Food I buy from local markets, butchers and fishmongers - more paper no plastic. I go into the supermarkets for sauce (in glass bottles) or tinned items. -Teabags (yes they do contain plastic) have been abandoned for loose tea. I also try and spend time writing to various companies - perhaps one letter a week/fortnight, each time I notice something that I find unnecessary and ask them why they are packaged that way and make suggestions for them using cardboard, paper or glass. I feel we must keep the pressure on the big companies so that they change their ways. I always say that I would like a choice as to whether I buy plastic or not and I hope that given the choice customers will do the correct thing and buy the plastic free option." - Lorraine

Cut the Chemicals

"We got rid of air fresheners and candles, got rid of harsh cleaning liquids, and started cleaning up our diet. Right now I'm trying to figure out what to do about my KitchenAid mixer, since I just learned it's full of lead too." - Anja

"I started when my son was a baby and I started reading labels and seeing the terrible chemicals in baby shampoo and wipes. I first changed some of those health and beauty products. Although I ended up getting green washers without knowing it. Thanks to this group (Eco-Friendly USA Group Page, which I LOVE) I learned about truly healthy options. I also learned when my son was putting everything in his mouth when he was a baby that I didn't like all of the made in China cheap toys and started researching quality toys and healthier options. After that, I learned so much more about made in the USA products, healthy and organic foods, cleaning products, etc." - Beth Anne

"I read an article about estrogenic properties of plasticizers about 8 years ago. This influenced me to start taking my own bags to the store and also start a small garden." - Cara

Watch What You Eat

"Mine started with Food. I watched Food Inc and from there over the next 3 years changed Food, water, home products etc. We started with store bought organic meats. Then moved to all our other foods. We now buy local meats. About a year in I started to change out my makeup..soaps..hair care etc. Then dishes..cookware etc. Last was clothes, bedding etc. Its never over. Always another way to improve or better options to find" - Rachel

A couple of years ago I discovered that wasn't enough and went vegetarian, reduced my plastic use and this past spring I wrote a paper at uni about the massive environmental problems with cotton and since then I tried to buy second hand, organic and overall reduce my clothing purchases.
In autumn when classes started again I decided to bike the forty minutes to school and have stuck to it almost every single day instead of using the bus.

Noticing the Trash

"Plastic shopping bags first for me.
Then I looked at the amount of rubbish I was throwing out each week. Dropped it by about 90%.
Prob pretty common.
Oh taking a reuse coffee cup where ever I go occurred same time" - Rae

"7 yrs ago i decided to see how long a plastic bottle of dish washing liquid would last . Well, i am still refilling it,i buy large industrial size.The bottle is in perfect condition.Think the idea of plastic pollution hit me when i was scuba diving in Maldivasover 10 yrs ago,The amount of garbage was overwhelming,, we even joked, to take a left at the tube of Colgate. When I came home I started to realise how much plastic we threw out in comparison to other type-we compost" - Carlos

"I bought one of those Verismo coffee makes. Seemed like a good idea at the time 😕 after some weeks of use I started to think what happens to all those little pods..? They can’t be easy to recycle. Then I read somewhere that piles of them were just sitting at recycling depots.. no one really knew what to do with them. So I thought I’d go back to the old fashioned way of making coffee in a press. The coffee I buy in Norwich, taking my own containers, grind the beans at home. The used grounds and tea leaves end up in the allotment." - Ian

Get Resourceful and Supported

"My first step was saving ripped bed sheets to sew up bags for the grocery store. I couldn't bear the thought of throwing them away, so I sewed the easiest thing I could think of- a bag. When I got home from the grocery store with no plastic, I realized that I should be doing it more for more areas in my life. Then I dove in head first to all the information I could find." - Lexi

"I thought I had done enough to reduce plastic pollution, stop using plastic bags and recycled everything I could, I thought it was now down to the big company to change packaging until I came across these groups and found there was a lot more I could do, I just started by changing little things because I was running out of kitchen stuff." - Phillip

"when i started, refusing plastic shopping bags was not as popular as it is now. i would see them thrown out in nature everywhere, and after a few cleanups i started using my scarves às bags when shopping, with a few knots... because i never remembered to cary a bag with me. salespeople would give me funny looks.."



Ok, so who is ready to live a little greener? If you have started down this road, what were your first steps?

It's clear that your stuff is keeping you from being happy. Rather than making you happier, you have too much, and now you waste so much time trying to keep it clean or finding what you want. The truth is, if you are an American, you probably have around 300,000 objects in your home. No one needs that many, so many of us share the challenge of too much stuff.

But once you have identified you need to get rid of things, how do you actually do it? Or if you want to live a more minimalist lifestyle, focused on experiences instead of things, how do you get your life from chaos zone to zen clear counters?

All this stuff seems easier said than done, but the truth is lots of people HAVE done it. And they have tons of good advice about what steps to take first.

If you are ready to start decluttering, downsizing, or minimizing, I highly recommend joining a facebook group for support. Living a more minimal life is against cultural norms- we are supposed to want more, not less! So here are some groups I have joined and I really love- Minimalism: Declutter your Life, Minimize to Maximize, Minimalism for the Sane, and minimalism  + motherhood.

You can do this. Now, let's talk about how.

Start in your Closet

"Clothes. Easy. Filled bags and bags. Then kitchen then dvds and books, shed, bathroom, boys toys, and now onto paper."- Veronica

Embrace a Small Space

"Downsizing to 1/2...I wanted to do it before I moved." - Michele

"I started as I was retiring from running a home daycare 8 years ago and selling my 4 bedroom 1700 sq ft 4 level split home to get married and was moving into a 1100 sq ft home that was already furnished-it was my new husbands home. I called American Rescue Workers and donated all the furniture, and household stuff I had no need for. We then sold that house we gave all of those belongings to family members who needed it and the rest to Good Will and moved to a 896 sq ft condo in Florida. We took what we needed when moving -if it fit into our car-we did not get a moving van. Being in such a small place means you have to take a serious look at what is important-needs vs wants. I hate clutter so I have really cut back on what we own-so happy living with less. I have more time to do the things I love-spending time with friends and family, sewing, cooking, volunteering, etc... I will NEVER regret our minimalist lifestyle!" -Melissa

Give Up on Cleaning, Organizing... And Shopping

" I was looking into organising stuff around the house and came across a quote- if you need organizers to hold your stuff you probably have to much stuff. When the neighbor wanted to do a garage sale over the summer i thought now's a good time. I got rid of duplicates, stuff that didn't fit, not being used etc. I went through the whole house with a box." - Mary Jo

"I minimized shopping first. Then my closet, then the kitchen. Toys, crafts /hobbies /books, and nostalgic things took the longest." - Candace

Love this. If you replace everything you give, you aren't solving the problem The only way to simplify is to stop shopping.

"I have never read a book or watched videos. I picked up a recyclable bag and went from room to room filling the bag. 3 years later and many bags 70+% of what I own is gone and I'm feeling much better. I personally avoided books and movies simply because I dislike being told what to get rid of and how much to keep. Everyone's journey is different." - Jennifer

Be Strategic

"We've used lots of different methods in the past to get started, but nothing has really stuck for us. Last year we started the KonMari Method and it has been really life changing for us." -Emily

The KonMari method really works for some, though it does recommend just throwing things out. Donate it, friend. Celebrate your freedom from stuff by helping someone get what they need. 

"Minimalist challenge.. purge 1 item on the first day, 2 on the second day, etc for a month (so 31 items on the last day). I donate all usable items (mainly to my local charity shop that supports education programs in developing countries - I also shop there as my main source for clothes). I did it in reverse as I found it easier and more efficient to start at 31 and gradually reduce the number of daily purges. I'm currently doing KonMari. It feels very positive to me as my mind is clearer and more able to make satisfying, easy decisions when my space is clearer. I have more peace and productivity." - Cate

Start Small and Specific

"Clean the bathroom. Really clean it. Take everything out of cabinets. Put back only what you need and really use. Toss everything else. You’ll feel amazing." - Tonya

I love this advice, but I will add that this blog does not really go for the "just tossing things" method. I am all about getting it out of your house, but someone else can use it. So even for bathroom, try offering it to friends or on your Buy Nothing Group. If it isn't opened, donate it. 

"I started with my kitchen. I was overwhelmed by mismatched and single pieces of Tupperware and too many place settings. I had a lot of duplicates *just in case I needed extra.* In reality, I never used those extras because they were shoved in the back behind my favorite things. So I started there. I paired down an 82 piece silverware set to 24 pieces. I kept one set of new pots and pans and donated my old set. I kept the bare minimum, and told myself, if I truly missed something that I had gotten rid of, I’d reinvest in a quality piece. I never have. Not once have I EVER missed what I got rid of. I mean really? Did I need 5 spatulas? Nope." - Erynn

" I started with the easiest thing to part with... trash. Expired coupons, junk mail, lots of paper stuff and cardboard boxes.  📦 Everything seems to come in a box. The next thing was clothes my children have outgrown. Things I will never use again. And anything broken. I needed to replace my can opener and hand mixer." - Tammy

"I accidentally found this group, over the holiday season, and reading peoples posts and seeing their examples of letting things go, really challenged the attitudes around me and within me. I started to see my home and belongings with a new perspective;
It was OK to let things go. Yes, you are allowed to remove them
permanently, give yourself permission.
Enjoy your home.
Free the space.
Live in a home you enjoy with possessions you love.
Release the guilt of no longer wanted gifts and purchases.
Deal with your stuff now, dont create a burden for your family.
I was so inspired to start, but not being at home, i reached for the nearest thing, my purse. I threw away old receipts, old store cards, expired coupons.
The purse felt lighter and so did i."

Love the advice to JOIN A GROUP- there are so many out there and you can find TONS of inspiration and support! 

"I was on vacation in Europe, and my big suitcase was stolen out of the trunk of our rental car. I'd had one change of clothes with me in my daypack; I had to buy a bathing suit, but otherwise did fine with almost nothing!" - Chris

Focus on Helping Others

"i met a woman, a lovely woman, who is a Veteran of our country...and life led to homelessness. i have gifted her over fifty percent of my closet and accessories, etc etc. i cannot wait to help her into a real home...im not one to 'throw away' anything bc i feel there are humans who would love what i would toss....this journey has been the best part of my 2017-2018 so far. pay it forward!" - Suzanne

"I grew up Mennonite (still am), and though we are a pretty modern version, there is an underlying principle of doing without extras so others can have the basics. So, I suppose that is minimalism in a way. Also grew up with solar panels, chickens that ate scraps, gardens, etc. The terms "minimalism" and "zero waste" came later and were useful descriptors." - Ryan

Think About What We Leave Behind

"When I began cleaning my dad-in-law's stuff after his death and my mom-in-law's clutter around the same time. I didn't want to leave a trail behind for my kids to clean up. The massive amounts of things we simply accumulate was overwhelming at that very moment. Since then, I detached emotionally from everything and began donating and discarding big time. And then I happened to read about Swedish death cleaning." - Gayathri

Lean on a Friend

After being credited with starting someone else's journey "I started out following Courtney Carver’s project 333 for my clothing and then everything else fell into place Courtney and Elesha are my decluttering hero’s!" - Judy

"A year ago I moved in with my partner whose ex-wife took almost everything in the divorce. That made me realize how much unnecessary stuff I have. So here I am on the minimalism journey I have wanted to do my whole adult life." - Mandy

Get Out of Debt

Elesha wrote me to talk about how becoming a minimalist helped her pay off her debt. You can read all about her journey here if this sounds really good to you!




What advice is missing from this list? If you have become a minimalist, how did you do?