My contraception experience

The joys of hormonal contraceptions is something that most females are going to have to experience at some point in their lives. I was lucky enough to have to start going on the pill at the ripe age of 15, but that only lasted around 18 months before I had to move onto the implant.

I tried multiple different pills as forms of contraception and as an attempt to manage the horrific cramps I got as well. I first went on the pill 5 years ago so I can’t remember if there was any specific side affects except from the fact that the pills gave me horrendous migraines and didn’t help my cramps at all.

THE IMPLANT 

There are some key positives from the time I spent on the implant – my period pains and cramps disappeared. I used to have to take combination prescribed pain killers to ease the pain from my cramps on the pill and before, but the implant completely mellowed them.

The change in my mood was gradual on the implant – I’ve always been someone who has struggled with low mood issues so it wasn’t as easy in black and white to tell if the implant negatively affected my mental health. Looking back, I do think it caused my mood swings to worsen and made me in general more short-tempered and irritable.

The most annoying side affect of the implant had to be the fact I more or less had a constant period. For a while I was happy to have got rid of my crippling cramps, but after a while I was fed up of more or less having a constant period. Some months I would bleed for three weeks then not for one, I would go through spells of bleeding for months on end non stop. It was an impossible cycle of irregularity that just became frustrating. Every time when it seemed like it was going back to normal, Mother Nature would hit me  like ‘surprise bitch’ and I would get a period for six months.

After 18 months of irregularity I finally went to the doctors demanding something needed to be done which was the worst decision ever. A lot of my friends had similar issues with the implant and to combat the side affect of constant bleeding, my friends were put on the pill by their doctors. I wasn’t allowed to go on the pill but the doctors offered to put me on a one time use of the depo injection. I accepted this but quickly regretted the decision as I have never felt so out of control of my own body and mind in my life. I didn’t even feel myself at all, I was angry ALL THE TIME. I don’t even mean a little bit grumpy, I mean full on raging angry and would snap at just about anything. I remember going to the doctors to try and beg them to get it all out of my body because I felt so out of control of my own emotions.

As soon as the injection wore off, I immediately felt better – it was a huge relief  that I finally felt like myself again. It was really scary not to feel in control of how I felt.  I more or less decided then I would wait until it was time to get rid of the implant (which was one year away) then go off contraception.

WHERE I AM NOW 

Fast forward a year, and it’s been two weeks since I’ve been off hormonal contraception for the first time since I was 15. That’s been five years –  many pills, an implant and an injection later.

Since coming off the implant, I almost feel lighter if that makes sense? I genuinely feel happier and I think this is definitely the right decision to make for myself right now.

I’ve had my first off the implant period and I can confirm my cramps are back to being horrendous, although not quite as bad as they were when I was 15.

The thought of having to go back to hormonal contraception one day really scares me. I don’t like how negatively it affects my body and my emotions, and it wouldn’t be so bad if I could rely on one which was the lesser of evils.

Right now it’s great for me to have to a contraception break, whether or not I go back on anything in the future is something I would have to really think about. Maybe by the time I will have to reconsider this, there will be some form of birth control for men.

Contraception affects everyone and their bodies differently – it’s not a one size fit all kinda deal. My experiences shouldn’t put anyone off the pill or injection. I know just as many girls who have had amazing experiences on the implant, and just as many who hated every second on it.

Have you had trouble on contraception?

I hope you enjoyed this read,

Siobhan x

 

 

 

SAVE THE PLANET: some small sustainable changes

It’s 2019, there’s no one left who hasn’t heard the cries from the scientists that we only have 10 years left to save the planet. The ice caps are melting and the oceans are over-run with plastic, and we only have until 2030 to save the world before the apocalypse commences.

Not everyone can turn their life around in 24 hours and stop bad habits to become a zero waste, zero plastic living vegan with no carbon footprint. But we all have to start somewhere making small changes.

Swap to bamboo toothbrushes

The main difference between bamboo toothbrushes and regular brushes is the material they’re made with. Regular toothbrushes are made with plastic which takes over 400 years to decompose whilst still releasing toxic chemicals into the environment. A bamboo toothbrush takes around 5-10 years to decompose if you were to just throw it out into your garden. Plastic toothbrushes are cheap and convenient and although that can be alluring, we can’t keep buying things just for our convenience. I recently purchased a set of six bamboo toothbrushes on Amazon for £8, if you’re looking to make a small change – this is something to invest in.

Swap to a moon cup or eco-friendly period products

Something about getting a moon cup does seem ridiculously daunting. I totally get that and have to expose myself here that I don’t even own one so feel free to call me out on some hypocritical bullshit. I’ve been shook however since realising how much plastic just is in period products. Tampons and sanitary pads are estimated to produce over 100 billion waste products every year as well as 80% of single use period products containing synthetic materials and plastics. 

Period poverty is a HUGE issue and I’m not here to write and tell people they must spend their already limited amount of disposable income on cotton tampons or a silicone cup to put in their vagina. BUT, if you are interested in making an eco-friendly change in the period product department, here are some products to look out for – TOTM Organic Cotton Switch Kit, Athena Menstrual Cup, DAME Reusable Tampon Applicator,

If you’re still wondering why it might be important to look into more sustainable products in this department then here we are. It’s because the average women uses around 14,000 tampons in her lifetime resulting in 27, 938 used tampons and applicators are found on world beaches every day. 

Buy biodegradable face wipes

Face wipes are another easy and convenient way for us all to take our make-up off. Although they have come under scrutiny in recent years as not being the best for our skin, we also need to acknowledge they aren’t the best for the environment either. At one point we were limited to wasteful wipes that take years to decompose in landfills, but today we are left with more options than ever. Keeping in line with the cheap, easy and convenient appeal of face wipes, Simple has solved our problem by creating their range of biodegradable face wipes. For less than £3, shop Simple’s biodegradable wipes at Boots. OR, better yet – invest in some re-useable cotton pads. This is way more sustainable and less wasteful than single use face wipes. Shop re-useable cotton pads here. 

Invest in an eco egg for laundry

I also don’t know if it was just me who was perhaps either very behind on this knowledge or just painfully ignorant to the fact detergents are bad for the environment. According to a How Stuff Works article, since the average family does 300 loads of washing per year using Tesco brand detergent which has a carbon footprint of 1.3-1.9 pounds per load – the carbon footprint of laundry detergents for one year is 480 pounds per year.  This might seem like nothing, but that doesn’t even take into consideration the carbon footprint of even using washing machines or dryers.

However, when I saw one of the local shops at home was stocking the eco egg product, I had my mum go out and buy one because I was so excited. The Eco Egg provides a replacement to harsh chemically filled laundry detergent whilst being good for the environment and cutting down on plastic by using recyclable materials. The natural cleaning pellets inside the egg work together to lift dirt, stains and smells from clothing.

For £24.99, this product gives you over 700 washes for your machine and can last over 3 years. This just seems mental because imagine spending £25, then not having to buy any washing detergent or anything for three years which actually results in spending less than 4p per wash. You can also buy refills for the egg as well which cuts down on plastic waste too.

Pay attention to which shops offer recycling schemes

Recycling is something we should all be doing but it goes far beyond putting our tins and plastic bottles into the blue bin once a week.

Lush have had a recycling scheme for as long as I can remember, and probably long before that. In the wake of the sustainable beauty and fashion revolution this is something consumers are more interested in now. Lush operates a 5 pot program where it encourages customers to save up their empty pots, bring 5 of them back in and you get a free face mask. This is a great way to 1) help the planet, 2) save some dolla on face masks.

The Body Shop have recently brought back their recycling scheme by popular demand, ‘Return, Recycle, Repeat’ is an initiative in partnership with Plastics For Change. Once you bring in 5 items for recycling, you get a £5 voucher for your next purchase.

H&M have had a clothing recycling scheme across all of their stores globally since 2013. This programme prevents all clothing donated from going into landfills around the world. Clothing that is suitable to be worn again gets used second hand, if there’s clothing donated that can’t be worn it is recycled into textile fibres and used for new materials.

I’ve tried to think of some small lifestyle changes that could make quite a potentially big difference in the long run. Most people are aware of the situation our planet is in right now, but perhaps don’t know how to make changes to help.

I think people are a bit sick of hearing about plastic straws and coffee cups too so I’ve picked some different products to raise awareness of.

If you’re looking on more tips on how to cut down specifically on plastic, check out my other blog post dedicated to that. A website that has recently come to my attention is Plastic Freedom, this site has literally every product you could ever need in adapting to a plastic free life. It’s a super difficult thing to transition into but this website certainly helps along the way.

Is there any ways you’re making changes for sustainability that I missed? Let me know in the comments.

Hope you enjoyed the read,

Siobhan x

 

Why I have stopped buying new clothes

I’ve been planning on writing something about fast fashion for a while, because it is hugely topical and is an issue which greatly concerns me. My original idea was to focus on the high street brands which are making a difference. However, I don’t really feel comfortable promoting or condoning shopping with certain brands just because they turn down their lights in store during the day. I’ve made the decision to stop buying clothes, inspired by my dear friend Hannah, and this post explains why.

Fast fashion is a huge issue facing the world now, and one I was not aware of the impacts of until embarrassingly recently. Personally, I never gave a second thought about where my clothes were coming from or how they were made. I was just totally ignorant but now I can’t stop thinking about how our buying habits are affecting the planet.

The fashion industry is the second biggest consumer of water, producing 20% of waste water as well as generating more greenhouse gas emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.

I don’t like to sound preachy or stuck up but this is not an industry which I can contribute to anymore, at least for the foreseeable future. Shopping for new clothes is one of my favourite pass times: I love searching online for clothes, seeing new trends, looking for the new items coming in every season. I can still do these things, just without purchasing.

My decision has come from the fact that there are many other options to get new clothes if/when I need them. I can buy from reliable, sustainable online clothing stores as well as Depop and charity shops for second hand options.

Most of the clothes we buy from the high street are simply not designed to last, new stock comes in weekly and we as consumers are urged to buy now before stock is gone.

“We used to have a traditional fashion calendar with two to four seasons a year,” explains Elizabeth Cline, author of Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion. “Now we have new trends coming out every week — it’s a constant rotation of new styles.”

Everyone has been tempted by the fact you can buy full outfits in Primark and websites like Boohoo for less than £20. I’m not going to sit here like a saint and say half of my wardrobe isn’t currently from both of these stores. However, it gets to a point where we as consumers need to think about WHY these clothes are so cheap. What really is the cost of us getting £4 t-shirts?

The prime example of the cost of fast fashion is the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh 2013. This is what the fashion industry produces. Workers at these factories in third world countries suffer working in horrific conditions with very little pay to produce clothes for UK consumers. War on Want have various reports made to educate and inform people on what working in the garment industry is like.

With both the impact of fast fashion on the environment and third world country garment workers undeniable, I will be stopping buying items from fast fashion brands for a pro-longed period of time. I could sit here and say I’m never buying fast fashion from the high street again, but that’s most likely a lie. At some point, I will probably need new underwear and have to go to Primark.

At the end of the day, nobody is perfect. We can’t all be super woke, environmentalists who are completely plastic free vegans with no carbon foot print. Everyone can only do their best. I’m all for realistic goals, so my realist goals for my clothing ban is to avoid the high street and fast fashion as best as I humanly can whilst aiming to not buy ANY clothes for a solid few months.

For anyone looking for more information, here are the articles I’ve used to inform myself on the issues I’ve discussed:

6 Ways to Quit Fast Fashion

https://www.unece.org/info/media/news/forestry-and-timber/2018/fashion-is-an-environmental-and-social-emergency-but-can-also-drive-progress-towards-the-sustainable-development-goals/doc.html

What’s Wrong With Fast Fashion + What You Can Do To Help

How To (Actually) Give Up Fast Fashion

Siobhan x

 

The F Word – Lilly Pebbles Review

I’m starting off the new year by writing my first blog post on the last book I read in 2018. Upon finishing this novel, I felt like I really enjoyed it but thinking back I think I just enjoyed the simplicity of this easygoing book.

The F Word by Lilly Pebbles is a very wholesome book describing the many types of friendships she’s had throughout her life highlighting the good and bad parts of friendships.

I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t followed Lilly or aware she was a blogger before reading this book. My favourite blogger, Hannah Gale posted a photo of it on Instagram and I bought it because I liked the look of it.

I was hugely pleasantly relieved when I read the back to see it was about friendship, because I hadn’t read anything like this before. It is such an interesting topic that could have had a book with such amazing depth covering it.

When I first started the book and Pebbles was discussing her long standing friendships with the girls she was friends with when she was 4, I didn’t think I could read on. I had to take a break from the book and think, “is this for me?” purely because it just made me sad thinking of all the friendships I had when I was younger that have fizzled out.

Friendships fizzle out all the time, and thinking back to when I originally read those pages, I was most likely just having a super emotional time. I can now say after completing the book it made me think back to all of my friendships, new and old, with fond, warm memories which is always a nice feeling.

The book offers a lot of advice about how to handle situations within friendships. The photo above which gives advice on how to handle friendships whilst either being single or in a relationship. This could potentially be useful to younger readers who maybe need advice on situations like this, but not adults as we have all likely navigated our way through situations like this before.

Overall, I’m not gonna say this book is a must-read because your life could probably continue to function if you didn’t, however, it was fun and nice to read. This is a book I would read on a Sunday afternoon with a cup of tea purely because it’s nice and not serious. It’s not hugely serious and doesn’t take a lot of effort to get on board with which I think is something the author was perhaps going for.

There has been a lot of mixed reviews on this book, some loving it whilst other disappointed fans of Lilly Pebbles were not impressed. I had no expectations coming into this which is perhaps why I’m left with a more positive impression of this. Despite my enjoyment, I would like to add this book is definitely for a primarily younger audience of teenagers and young adults who would probably appreciate the content more. It’s slightly insulting to assume women in their late 20s and thirties don’t know how to act around their single and non-single friends.

I can understand why fans would be genuinely disappointed by this book, as it has such an exciting premise (to me, anyway) because I really didn’t feel any wiser or better after reading it.

I don’t really like leaving negative reviews on things, but honesty is always the most important thing.

Have you read this book? What was your thoughts?

Siobhan x

Collaboration with Case App

This is a super exciting post to write because this is the first time I have EVER collaborated with a brand for content.

As you can tell by the title I have been working with Case App for this collab where I received a personalised iPhone case and a personalised laptop skin.

I was so pleased when Caseapp reached out to me to create and review a custom phone case and laptop skin. I recently got a Mac so this was perfect timing.

The process for this is really simple and customisation is easy. Once you are on the Caseapp website, you just select whether you want to design a laptop skin or phone case then select the model of the item then use the drag and drop tool.

Phone cases start at £19 for a glossy case or £22 for a matte case, laptop skins are also £22. For me I thought this was a little bit pricey but when the products arrived I was SO impressed by the quality. I opted for the matte phone case and it is a really tough hard plastic. You can tell the Case is sturdy and well made but also has a really nice feel to it too. I am also really impressed with the quality of the laptop sticker too. It was a thicker type of sticker which is goods it made it easier to put on.

Here are the patterns I picked for my case and skin. I have to say the phone case is my favourite of the two, I love it so much and am so impressed by it.

I absolutely love this sticker as well. The colours from the photo came out so well and have resulted in such a nice summery pattern.

If you are interested in ordering your own phone case or laptop skin, go to caseapp.co.uk and use the code FOREVERSIOBHAN20 for a nice 20% discount.

Siobhan x

*disclaimer: these products were sent to me for the purpose of reviewing but all opinions are honest and my own.

Volunteering Abroad

Some of you who have been following this blog for a while might remember in previous posts id mentioned I would be volunteering abroad this summer. This is something I got a little tasted of a few years ago when I volunteered in Greece for two weeks, however this year I was away for 8 weeks.

I love travelling and wanted to feel like I made a difference somewhere in my summer break so volunteering with Plan My Gap Year was the perfect option for me. I’d had my trips to Bali and Sri Lanka planned since this time last year but yet it still feels totally surreal now that I’ve been and gone to both of these places.

My first trip was to Bali where I stayed in Tabanan with the most amazing family who opened their home and let 70 volunteers come and stay there. They cooked for us and made sure we got safely to project and wherever else we wanted to travel too. Bali is somewhere I have always wanted to travel too, more so since my obsession with Eat, Pray, Love began a few years ago. I never expected myself to fall in love with a country as much as I did with Bali. I opted for the wildlife project during my stay in Bali mainly because I love animals and wanted a relatively stress free project which it was. It was a nice break and often didn’t feel like working as we fed animals, cleaned their cages and got to spend all of our time outdoors mostly just in awe of where we were and what we were doing. Everyones favourite animal here was definitely Balou the sun bear who was rescued from an owner who trained her to fake cry for money, so unfortunately she can never be released. We were all amazed that for a bear, an animal which we have always taught to be afraid of, that Balou was just like a slightly bigger friendly dog. There were so many travel opportunities in Bali as well so even after volunteering I managed to see so much of the country. It completely breaks my heart to see such a beautiful place effected by the earthquakes that are striking the Lombok area.

My second trip was to Sri Lanka which I had really high expectations for given that I had just had possibly the best month of my life in Bali before. Here we weren’t staying in a family home but a rented out villa area with multiple sort of houses in the grounds, this already made things a bit segregated. My room over looked the river below and had the most amazing views. It was one of those moments where I was sat on the balcony reading my book and looked out at the view and just thought, wow I can’t believe this is my life. I worked at the turtle sanctuary here for the same reasons why I chose the previous project. I expected myself to get bored of this project after a while as it was a little repetitive and didn’t expect myself to stick the full month at it, however once I was there it was so much more fun than I originally anticipated. The highlight of this trip was definitely the long weekend I spent in the Maldives which really was breathtaking. Photos don’t even do the place justice with the crystal clear water and blue skies as far as the eye can see. It really was one of the highlights of the entire trip. I don’t think I appreciated my time in Sri Lanka as much as I should have – I spent a fair amount of time moaning and not really seeing how lucky I was to be there. However, there is only so many times where you can find ants, spiders and cockroaches in your bed and food before it starts to get to you.

I think volunteering abroad especially with companies like PMGY is probably one of the best ways you can spend a summer.

Despite minor hiccups and annoyances this will forever be cherished as one of the best summers of my life.

It’s an amazing way for people to travel, meet new people and experience life in another culture.

So thankful to have had these experiences,

Siobhan x

Personal Growth

I’ve never really been a shy person or anything like that but recently I’ve been doing some soul searching and have noticed I’ve really changed. I always thought when I was around 16 that I knew exactly who I was and what I wanted to do (I still wanted to study journalism and now I do so I guess that’s something?). I wasn’t the most pleasant person really which I would like to blame on hormones but I think I was also just a bit of a bitch too.

I really didn’t like many people growing up which I stand by to a certain degree because I live in a really small place so you’re obviously not going to like everyone. However, I think a lot of my dislike for others stemmed from myself not really fitting in with anyone. I did have friends throughout school but never really felt like they were 100% my sort of people, you know? I guess it just made me bitter which is a shame to think back on.

I really began to notice a difference in myself once I returned home from Bali a few weeks ago but I think since moving away from home last September is where I really started to grow as a person. Throughout school I had a lot of resentment and bitterness towards other people which maybe through no fault of their own I held onto. I always felt really held back and restricted in my small home town and slowly after moving away I started becoming more like the real me than this watered down version I was at home.

I still love the little village where I come from as it will always be my home but perhaps one of the biggest factors of me being bitter was the constant gossip and small town syndrome that carries on there. Everyone feels entitled to know everyones business just because you know them. Things that are literally none of anybody else’s business become public knowledge for everyone to discuss. I immediately noticed a difference after moving away because nobody cares what happened to you in second year or how many boys you kissed because they realise its none of their business.

The biggest difference I can see within myself is my focus on positivity which has made me an undoubtedly happier person. I used to hold grudges forever and claim i’d take them to the grave but holding onto negative energy like that just isn’t necessary and doesn’t bring me joy. I’ve really been trying to practise a lot of forgiveness lately for my own benefit. Instead of being mad and holding grudges against people who have wronged me in the last year or two years ago or whenever just to forgive and let the anger go.

It’s easy now to sit back and think about the previous aspects of my life and personality which made me unhappy now I feel I’ve removed myself from them. I feel more confident, more self assured and so so much happier with the way my life is and the people I have around me and the things I am achieving.

Rimmel London Influenster Vox Box

Hi everyone, first beauty related post in a long time.

So this was something really exciting for me when I got sent my first Influenster vox box last month.

This was a total surprise for me when it arrived as I never saw the email I got telling me the box was being sent out. I picked it up from the post office and was so confused as I couldn’t remember buying anything. However when I got home and opened it, it was the best surprise.

In this box I got 5 full sized products which I thought was just amazing! Three lipsticks, a foundation and concealer.

The concealer ended up being the most used product out of them all as I just ran out of mine before this box came. The concealer didn’t really work with my skin if I’m honest. I didn’t find it very full coverage and it had a yellow/orange tint to it which didn’t match my skin well. It was fine under foundation but I wouldn’t rush out to buy it because of the yellow tones and formula to it.

The foundation matched my skin perfectly. It was a nice medium coverage foundation that blends well and sits on the skin nicely. It doesn’t feel heavy at all and looks nice and fresh all day which is a huge bonus.

Matte lipsticks are my all time favourite make up product so I was immediately drawn to these. I experimented with these products straight away and immediately realised what colours worked and what didn’t.

In the first photo I am using the pink shade ‘be my baby’, I found this shade the most wearable and best suited to my completion. It is fairly similar to my pink every day lipstick I wear from Too Faced which is a nice bonus. It’s good to know there is a drug store dupe for if I am ever running out and don’t have time / can’t afford the Too Faced one.

In the second photo I am wearing the shade ‘plunge’, this is a darker brown that I really like as well. I wouldn’t wear this every day as it is edgier than my normal lip stick choice. I feel like I need to wear eye make up so it doesn’t look out of place on my face if that makes sense? This is perfect for a night out or if I’m feeling bold with my make up.

The third shade ‘stripped’ did not agree with me at all. When swatching it on my skin the lipstick looked very peachy and nice to wear everyday but when applied to my lips it just looked like a weird shade of concealer. It didn’t have the same nice formula as the other two lipsticks either which is weird. It was disappointing that this didn’t turn out like I thought it would but the other four products worked well.

I am also wearing the Rimmel Match Perfect foundation in the photos below so you can see what the product looks like on my skin too.

These products were sent to my complimentary for the purpose of testing from Influenster. It feels amazing to be one of the people selected for this as I feel like hard work is paying off.

I am spending so much time on the Influenster app because it’s fun to me to read about the upcoming new beauty products and read other peoples reviews.

There has been a lot of pictures of my face for this post which I don’t normally do. However, I thought since this box was sent out to me for testing it was best if I actually take photos so you can all see for yourselves what the products are like.

I hope you enjoyed this post, if anyone else got this box let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the products!

Siobhan x

My Favourite £6 Sunglasses

Sunglasses are an essential for summer fashion whether you need them because of the weather or to complete an outfit by sitting on top of your head.

The recent sunshine we have been having has inspired me to write this post about my new sunglasses.

I always buy cheap sunglasses for my holidays and summers because I really detest spending a lot of money on a pair.

The summer saviours I got for this summer are from Nasty Gal. They were originally supposed to be waiting until my holidays to be worn but unexpected sunshine has brought them out earlier than expected.

I am obsessed with all things pink in my wardrobe – every outfit has some shade of pink involved so these sunglasses were the perfect addition for the summer.

I adore the pink frame and the blue tinted lense on these. Perfect for going with an already bright summer outfit or brightening up a darker toned outfit too.

I’m keeping this post fairly short as there is only so much you can say about sun glasses.

I hope you guys enjoyed this short but sweet post on these sunglasses! This is my first fashion related post which I have really enjoyed writing.

I want to focus my blog on more fashion related things in the future.

If you are interested in purchasing these bad boys, you can do that here. Nasty Gal also have 50% off sale on right now if that isn’t tempting enough either.

Siobhan x

5 Ways to Easily Reduce Plastic Waste

I have always tried to be as environmentally cautious as possible for as long as I can remember. There is an increasing amount of awareness about just how damaging plastic is for our environment and eco system.

Plastic is around in our daily lives and it seems like such a huge daunting thing trying to get rid of plastic from our lives. I imagine many people want to reduce plastic consumption, but maybe don’t know how to go about it.

This post is just going to be detailing the smallest changes we can possibly make to reduce our own plastic consumption.

1. Use metal, paper or bio degradable straws.

I recently made the switch and purchased some biodegradable straws for my flat and to take out with me. This is something a lot of restaurants are getting involved with like Wetherspoons who have opted for paper straws and Nando’s who have now eliminated straws unless people request them I believe. Buying metal straws is the most economic option as they are re-usable so would be a one time purchase. You can get paper, metal and biodegradable straws all from Amazon for under £5.

2) Carry re-usable cups around.

One thing I am guilty of is forgetting to bring my reusable cup with me to Starbucks when I occasionally go. However, I do remember to fill up my water bottle in the morning and take that with me most days. Carrying things like reusable coffee cups (most brands paper ones aren’t recyclable) and water bottles would make a huge as in the UK around 35 million plastic bottles get thrown away every year. This is also a money saver too, lots of coffee chains now do discounts if you bring your own cup as well as saving money on bottled water.

3) Carry reusable shopping bags.

Again something I was hugely guilty of was not doing this until last September when I moved to Glasgow. This is another money saving idea too; most plastic bags are either now 5p or 10p but it soon builds up if you have to keep purchasing them too. I got an amazing reusable bag from Primark for £1 that fits so much in it its unbelievable and I carry it everywhere now.

4) Avoid buying foods with excess food packaging.

I know this isn’t an option for everyone as we all have different circumstances and reason why we buy certain things packaged this way. This is just a tip for when it isn’t necessary to buy foods wrapped in plastic, don’t. In supermarkets this is hard to avoid as many things have plastic wrapped around it but even just buying loose fruit and veg makes a difference.

5) Try naked toiletries.

This is something Lush has been experimenting with creating things like naked shower gels and soaps as well as wrapping products in paper instead of plastic. I have always admired Lush as a brand for their ethos of being as environmentally friendly as possible as well as their recycling scheme they have going on in store.

These are the five tips I could think of that would have the least impact on everyones day to day lives. I am trying to live by these steps as well as plastic consumption and waste is a huge worry of mine but even still I don’t live by these rules completely. I just try to do the best I can.

Do any of you try to cut down on plastic? What methods do you use?

Siobhan x