“Sustainable lifestyle”—it’s the hot new buzzword capturing the fascination of many everyday consumers

So, what exactly does it mean to live a sustainable lifestyle? In a nutshell, sustainable living revolves around reducing your impact and use of the planet’s natural resources in whatever way possible. Ask anyone living a sustainable lifestyle about how to do it, and you’ll often get a variety of tips and pointers, all of which involve the challenge of minimising your carbon footprint, or the amount of carbon dioxide and carbon compounds generated by the use of fossil fuels, fossil fuel by-products, and objects that use fossil fuels.

Advocates of sustainable living are all about living their lives in a way that’s more respectful of the natural balance our society should strike with the earth’s ecology and natural resources.

Now for the big question: How do you live a sustainable lifestyle?

Below are 8 ways to help you do just that.

• Use Reusable Shopping Bags

Switching to reusable shopping bags is arguably the best way to cut back on having to use single-use plastic bags when you go shopping. According to Cleanup Australia, “Australians use 3.92 billion plastic bags a year, that’s over 10 million new bags being used every day. An estimated 3.76 billion bags or 20,700 tonnes of plastic are disposed of in landfill sites throughout Australia every year. Australians dump 7,150 recyclable plastic bags into landfills every minute or 429,000 bags every hour.”

Clearly, something has to be done to change this, and it all begins with the little things. The simple act of carrying a reusable bag in your daypack or purse and using it whenever you go to the grocery store goes a long way to cutting back on the unnecessary and wasteful use of plastics.

• Reduce Your Dependence on Plastics

And it’s not just plastic bags causing problems. We live in a world that’s become far too dependent on plastics, for the simple reason that it’s convenient.

Besides single-use plastic bags, you can cut your use of disposable plastic bottles by bringing your own water bottle, whether it’s a Nalgene bottle or a Kleen Kanteen tumbler. If you like to buy coffee at your local coffee shop, have it served in a mug you or bring your own coffee tumbler with you.

• Cut Back on Your Waste

Plastics are just one of many items that almost automatically go to the bin after just one use. You can also cut back on your waste by doing the following:

• Buying items like food and toiletries in bulk to cut back on unnecessary packaging
• Selling or donating furniture you no longer need (the same applies for any kind of goods for that matter)
• Avoiding disposable items like disposable razors, cups, spoons and forks, and even toilet paper
• Buy refills of common items to cut back on packaging

• Switch to LED Lighting

LED lighting is another simple investment that goes a long way toward reducing your carbon footprint. Light-emitting diode bulbs are up to 90 per cent more energy efficient than incandescent light bulbs. A better way of explaining this would be to think of the light generated by a 100-watt incandescent bulb; its LED equivalent would only need about 10 to 15 watts of electricity to generate the same intensity of light, if not more.

LEDs are also durable and long-lived, which means you won’t need to make as many replacements in X number of years, which in turn means fewer dead bulbs go to the landfill.

• Use Lighting Timers and Sensors

Lighting takes up a considerable percentage of any home’s electricity consumption. The Australian Government estimates that “Lighting in homes consumes 8–15% of the average household electricity budget (or about 6% of its energy use) although the makeup of the installed lighting technologies, lighting design and user behaviour can make a difference.”

You can bring that percentage down if you’re more mindful of how you use your lights. For example, if you are constantly leaving your lights on in rooms with no one inside, you can install motion sensors, which ensure your lights come on only when people are around.

On the other hand, timers ensure that your lights come on and off at specific times of the day. With a timer, you no longer have to worry about forgetting to switch off the porch lights.

• Minimise Your Electricity Consumption

Your efforts to save electricity don’t have to end with your lighting. It pays to be more mindful about how you’re using electricity in your home—you might be surprised just how wasteful your habits are. For starters, you can shut down appliances that aren’t in use. Your WiFi router is a good place to start—be sure to power it down at night.

You should also consider switching to more energy-efficient appliances, whether it’s a new refrigerator, air conditioner, or television with power-saving features.

• Bundle Up Instead of Turning Up the Heat

Your home’s HVAC system accounts for a significant percentage of your home’s electricity usage. As tempting as it is to turn your heat up to a balmy 26°C in the middle of winter, don’t be surprised if you end up paying a small fortune on your utility bill by the end of the month.

The good news is that it’s relatively easy to rein in your heating costs. Instead of turning up the heat, simply put on an extra layer of clothing to keep yourself warm—you’ll be surprised how comfortable adding an extra layer of socks is.

Keep your thermostat to 17°C, which should keep your HVAC from using too much electricity. Once you’re in bed and bundled up underneath a comforter, you can even bring that down to around 13°C.

• Start a Compost Pit

Wondering what to do about all your food waste? You can start your very own home composting bin, where you can throw food scraps like old bread, fruit and vegetable peel and seeds, grains, coffee grounds, stale boxed foods like cereal, egg shells, and corn cobs among many others. Check out this great guide from Home Composting Made Easy to help you get started.

The great thing about living a sustainable lifestyle is that it’s far easier than it looks. Sure, it takes a little discipline to change certain habits like using plastic and saving electricity, but with time, these things will get easier.