Top tips to reduce waste and shop sustainably this Christmas

 Everyone knows that Christmas is a very commercially busy time of year. Shops online and offline are bustling with people trying to buy gifts for their loved ones. This year is a lot stranger than most due to Corona virus and a lot of businesses in various parts of the world have lost a lot of business due to the fact they may have had to close due to lockdowns. A lot of small and independent companies will be looking at this busy period to help keep their business growing so it's up to everyone as a consumer to help support local and small businesses for Christmas. A lot of people may not know how to support local as we often shop in big conglomerate companies as they are very easily accessible. I'd like to share my top tips for having a more sustainable Christmas for the economy and for the environment.

- Shop Locally: This seems pretty simple, but I think when it comes to Christmas people tend to veer towards bigger shops and buy more extravagant things. The truth is that smaller shops sell just as good stock as the big companies that we all know and love. I'm sure everyone has a local area full of some independent shops that probably sell some of the stuff that you would otherwise buy online, yet buying the products local helps boost your own local economy and the people that you surround yourself with. Plus you never know what gems you'll find!

- Shop on more independent online businesses - As well as shopping locally, you could shop independently - shopping from some smaller businesses, ones who create their own items. There are some great online shops that help smaller creators, and allow an easy platform to search for products you may like. Ones I use frequently are Etsy, and Redbubble. These sites allow creators to sell their creations online and there are some wonderful products. Obviously this is not the only way to find smaller businesses as many have their own sites but I think it's an easy way to find something you're specifically looking for and compare items in one place.

- Support a creator you like - If you really like watching a certain streamer, or youtuber, or even an artists work, it's a great idea to buy some merch from the creator that you enjoy. This would help support the creator that you like and help fund more content from them so it's a win win.

- Shop vintage - There's a lot of really cute shops that sell a lot of vintage items. I've tried to only buy vintage and second hand recently in terms of clothing in particular so that I can cut down on my consumption and save some items from landfill. I'm planning on buying some vintage pieces for my friends as I think you can find some really unique pieces that I think are individual and really show you put a lot of thought into what you gift someone.

- Look for sustainable products - By this I mean products that come in recyclable packaging, more natural products, and items that will get a lot of usage. Rather than gifts that are made cheaply and will be easily disposed of. Think of gifts that you know the person will use like perfume, or makeup or books, rather than something that is cheap and cheerful. 

- Look for sustainable packaging - I mentioned this in the last point but wrapping paper sales are crazy at this time of year, I don't know many people that don't wrap their gifts. An alternative to wasting all this paper is to but recyclable wrapping paper as not all are - a lot a coated in was or other substances that can't be recycled! Another alternative would be to not wrap the gifts but put them in a reusable gift bag instead that won't go to waste! Or you could reuse newspapers or magazines you've had during the year! It looks pretty cool too! 

I'm considering making a gift guide to help small businesses so let me know if that's something you'd be interested in. Let me know if you have any tips for reducing our consumption and being more sustainable this Christmas period!

Looking after Cacti | Tips

I love plants and nature generally, as most people do. But I find that I am very incapable of looking after them, they never have enough light or water or room temperature. There's a lot of factors in keeping plants. Yet they say that cacti are the easiest plant to look after as they don't need as much attention and they save water so if you forget to water them it doesn't matter as much. They tend to survive a lot of harsh conditions as they would in the desert so it is easy to look after them. Although I admit I've had a few die on me too over the years. So I got some new ones to look after properly this time. 

Here's some tips I've learned: Cacti don't need to be watered too much but they do need to be watered frequently, but not in huge quantities. They absorb and hold water a lot but they will use it if they get water frequently so they will grow more, but if you forget it won't be the end of them. I'd recommend a little bit every week. 

They do need sunlight like all plants so do consider keeping them on a window or at least in a place in the room which gets a lot of light. 

Different cacti grow in different ways. I find that the spikey ones don't grow too much but the softer ones like the very first one in the photo if kept right can grow to be very tall and obviously they follow the light like most plants so dont forget to rotate your plants so they grow equally on each side. 

Like any plant don't forget to change the pot if the pot is getting too small as they have more room to grow also. Most cacti will not grow too crazy as they are mini compared to wild ones. 

I've found that you can plant new cacti plants from alive pieces of the plant that you can plant into another pot and it does tend to grow itself into a new plant, it doesn't happen with all but if some parts of the plant are dead you can try and grow a new one with the pieces that are still healthy.

 

Anyone have any tips for me on how to look after any plants at all?

University Tips and Advice

I have just graduated from University this week, which is crazy, and although I am going back, I always enjoy reading tips to get me through the toughest part of the year, at the beginning, I thought that I had enough information over the past three years to share my tips with people just beginning or starting their education journey. 

Being Organised

My number one tip for beginning University or college is to try to be organised, I know this can mean different things for everyone. For me at the start of the year it helps me become more motivated to buy new stationary and planners to keep myself organised and on time to every thing. Taking notes is one of the most important things for me, whether I read back over them or not is not so important, writing them down helps me remember and learn things. I'm a very visual learner too so I really like having my notes neat and different notebooks and folders for each class. I know that will not be for everyone as there are many different ways to be organised. 

Keeping On Top of Your Work

This is something that I don't always follow but it's very important so that things don't pile up and that stress doesn't build. I always make sure that I try to have my assignments done at least three days ahead just so I'm not leaving everything last minute and it also means I have enough time to fix it if I need to and in case a printer has a melt down, there's a lot of things that can go wrong. As I studied English I had a really big reading list, as a lot of other subjects do, and a lot of time it's almost impossible to get it all done but the best option is to pick the ones you think you need the most and skim read others. Also keeping on top of readings means that you can get the most done out of a huge pile.

Pick Things That Challenge and Interest

Sticking to the point of reading the most important texts, always pick the classes and texts that interest you the most, if you have a choice, as the more interested you are in the topic and text, the more you will be interested in working on the essay or assignment. If you also have a choice in essay/assignment topics I would always say pick the one that you think is the best originally as I think your gut instinct is always right and it does help. 

Campus Activities

Depending on where you attend there is going to be different activities and things to do when you're not in class or studying. I personally don't take part in a lot of clubs and societies on campus as they are often on quite late and I don't live near campus but I know a lot of people that make really good friends and have a really good time partaking in these activities. One of my favourite things is to go to guest speakers talks and go for lunch and exploring the town during breaks from class. Having a good balance from studying and taking a break is the best thing to do. 

Exams

I know it's a bit early for exam advice but during the year there is always hints as to what might be on an exam and to write these things down and look out for them throughout the year and not just at exam time will really help when preparing to study and studying. Some classes may have exams all year round and not just at end of term so getting enough sleep is one of the best things that you can do before hand and is relevant all year too.

I'm sure I have missed out on a lot of things that I can talk about but if you need any specific advice or tips on anything just leave me a question in the comments and I'll try to answer as best I can!