It is easy to make the following 11 lifestyle changes, and they are all guaranteed to help you save money. From the inside contents of your cosmetic bag to your daily trips to Starbucks – let me show you 11 ways that you can save money and have zero waste at the same time!
Keep reading to learn how to have more money for spending on those things that you really enjoy and love, instead of wasting your hard-earned cash on things you don’t really want or need. Many people might be wondering why they should go to zero waste. In my opinion we are all looking for ways to save money and become more aware of how plastic affects the ocean – and that’s a good reason.
So, buy fewer things and cut plastic – at the same time!
1. Carry your Reusable Coffee Cup with you
Cafe Nero, Greggs, Paul, Costa, Starbucks, and Pret will all give you double loyalty stamps or offer a discount on your drink when you use your reusable coffee cup. Pret has the best offer by giving you a 50p discount on your drink. If you are a coffee fanatic, and purchase two drinks per day, then you could save an extra £5 per week!
To find a re-usable coffee cup to use, check out the Starbucks and Greggs apps – they have given free coffee cups away in the past to their new app users. Also, WH Smith has collaborated with Sainsbury’s and Daily Mail to offer a free coffee cup reward to nectar points’ collectors.
In order to take full advantage of your coffee cup, you may want to use a loyalty card in conjunction with it. Waitrose has a great offer that goes with the myWaitrose membership – every time you shop you can get a drink for free!
2. Buy a Reusable Water Bottle
A reusable water bottle can help you stay hydrated while you are on the go. Buying plastic bottles of water in a shop can cost from £1 up to £2. Even if you just buy one per week, that is £52 per year that you could spend on something else that you can easily get from taps.
Cupanion’s app is ideal for earning rewards just from reusing a coffee mug or bottle. Pret is an excellent place to use the app – since most Pret’s have drinking water taps close to the entrance now so anybody can get free water. If you’ve run out of water or there isn’t a Pret nearby, just check the Refill app to locate the closest place that allows free refills.
3. Use a Tote Bag
Do you have a dedicated plastic bag in your house, that is full of other plastic bags? Many of us do but don’t want to admit it. Given the 5p bag tax, everything adds up and when will you get through all of those bags anyway? You can save a lot of hassle, money, and time by getting cotton tote bags from second-hand or charity shops, with online promotions, or at events.
In the past, both TX Maxx and Big Clean Switch have given away tote bags for free, so keep a look out for them. The Outdoor Guide was giving canvas tote bags away for anyone who paid for the postage.
Compared to plastic bags, cotton tote bags are a lot sturdier and neatly fold up and can be hidden inside of your bag – all ready to take with you on your latest retail therapy trip, food shop and every place in between. Even better – your plastic bags can be upcycled fore FREE by weaving several of them together to make a bag that is even sturdier. It is also a free and enjoyable rainy day and craft activity that you can do at home.
4. Purchase a Safety Razor
You only need to purchase one of these in your lifetime, which could potentially save you hundreds, or even thousands of pounds worth of disposable razors that you won’t ever need to be buy again!
Safety razors are easy to clean, made out of metal, and use double-edge single blades that you can purchase in bulk very inexpensively. You can also purchase a blade sharpener – which will save you even more money by prolonging its life.
It is difficult to find free safety razors, so keep a close watch out for incredible giveaways such as the Executive Shaving one.
5. Keep a Handkerchief on hand at all times
Think about all of the winter colds you have had, and then all of the pocket tissues you have purchased over the years.
Handkerchiefs are a simple and effective alternative. All you need to do is toss them in the wash along with your other laundry to reuse them.
They can be used for fun craft projects also – old cotton clothing can be used to make handkerchiefs out of and then you can make them unique by using your favorite embroidering design.
By Hand London has a great guide that you can check out. They also make a very nice, inexpensive personalised gift for a loved one or friend.
6. Use a Gum Stimulator to care for your gums and teeth
This durable tool can be used to clean the edges of your gums and teeth. It will save you money on having to buy and restock floss.
Floss is fairly inexpensive, but those small costs do tend to add up over time! Colgate has an informative post on how to use this incredible tool.
7. Make use of dual purpose items
Apple cider vinegar and coconut oil are both great dual purpose items. They can both be used for hair care, moisturising, cleaning, and cooking.
Corn flour makes a great face powder to use on sensitive skin, and you can clean practically anything with baking powder!
You can purchase these products in bulk very inexpensively, which will save you from needing to purchase multiple items for one purpose.
8. Rewards schemes
Some banks like the Co-op are giving rewards to people when they switch over to paperless billing. In addition, there are some new schemes in the works that offer cash rewards to people for the proper disposal of litter. Check the #DriveDownLitter campaign out to see which service stations are having special machines install to recycle items and issue money off vouchers to you.
The campaign launched in Kent initially, but if success will be rolled out across the entire UK. Continue to check on Hubbub to see if the scheme for this great initiative is head to a town close to you!
9. Beauty and Health recycle schemes
There are some great beauty and health companies that offer money off on your next purchase or great freebies when you participate in their recycling scheme. The company best know for this type of scheme is Lush. You just need to send in 5 clean containers from Lush products and you will be given a Fresh Face Mask for free as your reward.
There is a Back to MAC campaign also, where you can get a free lipstick for simply returning the product packaging to MAC.
10. Invest in more durable/re-usable beauty and health products
Silisponge is a product that appeared from nowhere as a unique new beauty tool but then was promptly forgotten about. This tool is seriously underrated and is actually quite amazing – it is a lot more hygienic compared to makeup brushes since there aren’t any crevices for product to hide in. It is very easy to clean it, and you save money on makeup as well since nothing is soaked up by it. You will end up using very drop of foundation, instead of losing half to an absorbent sponge.
Another great time and money-saving product that a lot of people aren’t sure about is Mooncup. These silicone menstrual cups are reusable and can last for an entire lifetime as long as they are cared for properly. Unlike tampons and pads, and the cups do not contain any toxic chemicals, which means women and girls can get rid of products that are full of chemicals. And they can reduce their lifetime period spend by £18,000!
11. Wherever possible, Upcycle
Turn your regular purchases into new items! That i a lot better than recycling or binning things.
For example, you can wash out some Nutella jars and then use them as drinking glass. They can make quite stylish replaces if you ever end up breaking glasses.
For example I had a candle holder with a heron design that I really loved, and didn’t want to throw out once I was finished with the candle. So I placed it in my freezer for one day, then scraped all of the excess wax, cleaned it up and now use it to hold my makeup products.
The above are just a few of the fun and easy things that you can do to help reduce your spending, and help out the environment at the same time!
