Sustainable living is the art of more with less. The more we value and longer we use the things we own, the less waste fills our landfills, oceans, and lives. Transitioning to a more sustainable lifestyle can take a lot of time, research, and energy – but it’s worth the effort to remove the clutter from your life and make room for more holistic, mindful practices. For the past four months, I tracked the kinds of waste my household was generating (excluding organic waste), and where that waste was coming from to shape my habits and waste less.

Tracking helped us create more urgency around our waste. For example, more than 80% of our household’s waste was coming from food and beverage packaging, and 70% of that packaging was plastic. Each week we had a tangible goal to work towards and it was shocking to see how the small adjustments we made changed how much we threw away. Below are the top five sustainable living habits that helped us cut our household waste by 60%.