How to be sustainable without going mad or broke

When I started my sustainable journey, the first action I focussed on was trying to shop zero waste.

I was fully committed to buying as little packaging as possible.

I discovered a couple of bulk stores, zero waste shops and local markets around me and only shopped at those places.

I became obsessed with it.

Problem was, they were not always near me, and often reachable only by at least half an hour bus.

But I was adamant about either shopping there or not at all.

Sometimes, this meant that I was either not eating certain foods for weeks because they were not available plastic-free in the shops near me, or I would wait ages for restocking, for example on coffee, because I only wanted to buy it zero waste.

That became unsustainable.

And more expensive too.

My housemates started complaining that our house couldn't be dependent on if we had the time to shop zero waste or not.

Days with no coffee or no pasta hit us.

So, upon reflection, I decided to change.

I reflected on balance and on the real meaning of sustainability.

I asked myself: is zero waste sustainable for my soul and the people around me?

The answer was, clearly, no.

I began a journey of discovery. A journey to find balance.

The balance between not dropping my values of buying the least amount of packaging and the essential needs of my household and me.

The truth was, the prospect of waiting weeks without being able to make my morning coffee with my Italian percolator (we call it Moka) was really not sustainable for my mind.

And nor could sustain the sanity of my housemates.

The journey leads to discovery.

Discovery leads to knowledge.

I discovered that the key is knowing where to shop for what, because there is always an alternative to what is around.

And by around I mean even sometimes at the corner shop or the Tesco down the road.

Sure, those places also have a ludicrous amount of unnecessary plastic, but this is the point. I knew that I didn't need to buy lemons in plastic net in a shop because I explored enough to know that the shop next to it had lemons without plastic.

And this shop hopping started saving me money.

Why should I buy something at this corner store if I know that the next one sells it for less?

So, if I have to give you the most sustainable tip, here is it: know the shops near you and visit them all by buying what is cheaper and more sustainable in each shop.

Sustainability is really about learning about your community, what it has to offer and how you can make your life easier by knowing it.

I discovered that sustainability is to find your own most sustainable way.

There isn't a most sustainable way.

If everything that is plastic would cost double, would this be sustainable? For many people, it would not.

But the alternative is not to give up, or even worse, not try, the alternative is to find a way that includes both goals of living as sustainably as possible, the least stressful life as possible and as much financially doable as possible.

And it's okay to start small, it's okay to buy some plastic every now and then, with no guilt because that doesn't make us horrible, or hypocritical or unsustainable.

It is a journey, and a journey is never linear.

Sustainability is embracing imperfection, embracing that it's always a journey, that the more we try, the more we know, and the more we will learn how to sustain ourselves with peace and intention.