Sustainability On The Cheap: Carry A Fork — Any Fork

I started this post in September 2018…. so it’s probably time I finish it? Haha. I start a lot of things (too many ideas flowing all the time) and sometimes they run away from me. So here we are today… well over a year later 🙂

So let’s chat about sustainability a bit! There are SO many great products on the market these days to make our lives more sustainable by avoiding single-use items. We personally have quite a collection of water bottles, food storage containers, travel straws and utensils, and more. And for a lot of us, it’s in our consumeristic nature to want these things. I know I personally love a good handy water bottle that is the perfect size for whatever activity I’m participating in that day. A big one for the beach, a small one for a quick store run, a medium-sized one for Marlowe’s school day, etc.

But I wanted to come on here and remind you guys that while you can spend quite a bit of money (a lot of those products are expensive!) on new *sustainable* products, you can very easily use what you have at home. About 50 or so years ago– that’s just what you did. You used what you had. There was no quick run to target or order on amazon, you took care of the things you already owned and used them for any purpose you could, whether that was the intention of the item when created or not.

Now, don’t get me wrong, like I said, we have a lot of these items too. Sometimes they are much handier than the other items we could use at home. For instance, it’s hot as hell here in Florida and so it makes sense to have a bottle that can keep water cold or at room temp so you’re not drinking scalding hot water after being out in the sun all day. But there are days where we just grab a glass jar (like the jar a store-bought tomato sauce might come in) and fill that up with a smoothie for the morning. Or sometimes we just grab a fork or spoon and toss them in a bag for a day out and about. It really all depends.

So yeah, some sustainable products are pretty rad and highly convenient, but it’s an unnecessary misconception that low-waste and sustainability are reserved for certain people. You don’t have to spend a fortune to be a little bit more sustainable. Being sustainable doesn’t have to exist only for the people who can afford it. In fact, being sustainable actually goes hand in hand with saving money and spending less money.

For us, we don’t really buy new *sustainable* products anymore. We’re looking to maybe invest in some storage food bowls at some point, as we know this is something we’d use often and would be highly beneficial for us and our lifestyle. But for the most part, we have what we need right now. Like, the last time I post a photo of one of our beach picnics, you can see all sorts of things happening.

Some new *sustainable designed* items and a lot of random household items too. Forks and napkins we grabbed from home, old food jars for sauce storage, some purchased glass food storage containers, and a bento and a cutlery set I bought a few years ago with some mixed in random plastic forks and spoons that have somehow found their way in my set in order to reuse instead of tossing away. All the random things. And zero things left behind at the beach or in a trash.

So yeah, this isn’t some groundbreaking post I’m publishing today. Just a gentle reminder that you don’t have to spend money to buy products designed with sustainability in mind. Being sustainable often means you’re just using what you already have. Again, some products are truly great! We love them, but you can get by without most of them. And the earth and your wallet will thank you 🙂

Cheers friends!