So everyone knows the normal things like setting the thermostat a couple degrees lower in winter or a couple degrees higher in summer, or turning off lights when you leave a room, but what are some habits that you've managed to train yourselves into to be more sustainable or eco-friendly?

Nobody in room or about to enter it = lights off is the first one I learned myself, together with tv or other machine not in use = electricity off (not just the switch).

I've personally gotten into the habit of not eating too much meat lately, but perhaps it's just a lack of desire to eat it tbh. Granted, in the winter, we cook more beef and stuff (like.. beef stew.. cold weather... yesssssss...), but I'm leaning towards vegetarian quite a bit more now than before. There's certainly occasional meat in my diet, but not most of the time honestly.

My brother was complaining one Thanksgiving about how many turkeys have to be killed just for one day of the year (or two, if you eat one on Christmas too). So he bought... I don't remember what it was, but it was like a chicken or something. (We don't normally spend holidays together, for context; he's a grown man with his own family - plus I'm born hella late into the family, he's 40 and I'm graduating HS). Like a protest purchase; you vote with your dollar. I told him, but they already killed the turkeys, why not buy one? And he replied, if nobody bought them, nobody would sell them. So if you at least lower your consumption of meat, you can lower the amount that is sold (because a company isn't gonna sell more of a product than is profitable), and then lower your carbon footprint and quite possibly the company's in the process.

Or something like that. Tbh it's late and I don't really know what I'm babbling about. But I took a good quarter of an environmental science course, so I should know something. Hypothetically speaking. Proooobably not.

I always try to not buy more food than I know I'm going to use. I also have a habit from home that I don't make more food than I'm going to eat. I either knowingly make more and save leftovers I know I'm going to use, or I only make as much as I know I'll eat. I only rarely throw out food that isn't bad. Earlier I would be very wary of the "best before" or "use before" date, but not so much any longer. I taste it and/or use my nose, and some common sense. A lot of the food is still edible after that date, and I haven't gotten sick yet.

I do eat meat, and there's no way anyone would make me go vegan - but I don't eat a lot of it, and vary between red meat, fish, chicken and so forth, in addition to occasionally eating non-meat foods. I'm also more for using foods that aren't too processed, so the closer to the original product and less tinkered with, the better.

As for clothes, I rarely buy more than 3-4 pieces of clothing a year, and use most of it until it's either filled with holes, too small/big, or in other ways unsuitable for wearing outside the house. If it's not too ruined, I use it at home. I'm not a big fan of buying clothes and shoes, so that might be one of the reasons...

I also don't fall flat for the whole electronics thing, you know - buying a new Iphone just because it's number 7 instead of 6. My cellphone is from 2011-ish, and still works, so I don't plan to switch until it shows signs of needing it. It's also got a very sturdy build - has fallen to the ground at least 10-15 times, and the screen barely has a scratch. I'd rather have quality than "ohh, shiny!". I use my laptop and camera for the thigns I can't do on my phone.

I also re-use plastic bags for grocery shopping, and recently got a new grocery net. Instead of getting 5-10 plastic bags a week, I now get perhaps 2-3 new a month, if that. I also sometimes use a backpack for grocery shopping. In addition to being a little more eco friendly, it saves you from having to carry 3-4 bags in your hands.

I don't have a driver's licence, so I mostly take the bus to and from work, and very occasionally bike (which I hate, but enough about that). I've also been smart enough to find living spaces that are within walking distance from work/school, and so far I've managed (with the occasional help from family members with cars, for moving and such). I do have plans to get a driver's licence, because it would make things like traveling or getting around during weekends easier, but just haven't gotten that far yet.

I'm not so good at saving power, because I like a bit of light, and my laptop is on most of the time I'm home. I do turn off the light in rooms I'm not planning to use for a few hours, and I turn off or unplug electronics when not in use. I don't use candles at all (they're very bad for indoor air).

I drink mostly water - and earlier I used plastic bottles from the store (re-filling them with tap water until they started going a bit dirty, then I bought a new one) - but now I use a couple of washable bottles. I'm guessing I save the environment a little there. I used to live with 5 other people in a shared flat, and they could fill up one or two garbage bags of plastic bottles in 1-2 weeks, where my contribution was perhaps 1-2 bottles...

As for heating - our house has a lot of cold spots, particularly in the living room where I usually sit - so if turning up the heat doesn't work, I will use wool socks and a fleece jacket, occasionally a blanket and a hot water bottle, to keep warm. My body has this annoying thing of going "cold, freezing cold, ice cold, kinda cold, way too hot!!!" so it's better to use some things I can just throw off if I get too warm.

Anyhow, I try to re-use things where I can, and try not to buy too much stuff. I also hate throwing away stuff (something I really should be better at because of increasing lack of space, but eh...).

Sometimes occasionally I now put out the fires I start when glamping with the lads.

Not sure if it counts, but I try to use all aspects of a piece of meat now to avoid wastage. The bones for example, go to the cats or used for stock, instead of being immediately discarded. I only wish we lived near some stray animals to feed them, as we all know how fussy our pampered cats can be. One of ours is even scared of raw chicken.

Be very conscious of how much water you're using, especially if you live in a drought-prone area. Shorter showers, turning off faucets when it's not necessary to have them on, etc.

Also: It shocked me that people do this, but flushing expired drugs or medication down the toilet is very polluting AND wastes water. Don't do it!

In general: Appreciate things more. Train yourself to think more about how much resources went into a product and what ecological cost it would have to dispose of it. How many trees went into this notebook? How much fuel did it take to ship this apple to the supermarket? Once I throw out this appliance/sweater/etc, how much landfill space will it take up?
(I found out recently that there's an industry devoted to shipping the clothes we throw out to other countries. We may kid ourselves that the clothes will help those countries but nope! Most of it goes to the landfill.)

We have our own chickens for eggs as I refuse to support the cruel cage egg industry. A lot of our household scraps like vegetable peelings, or stalks from cauliflower or broccoli as well as any other scrap or meat etc, go toward a "boil up" for our chooks. We throw it all into a big pot with some water, and boil everything until it is tender and then when it is cooled, feed it to them. They love it, and it cuts down our household rubbish considerably.
We grow a lot of our own vegetables although we lost our lovely fruit trees to bushfire a couple of years ago. We try not to waste food, and whatever we don't eat, or can't be frozen or made into leftover stew or something, gets put out for the wildlife around our place, or our greedy old cat.

Because Australia is such a drought stricken country, we limit our showers to maximum of five minutes. No taps left running when brushing teeth, and no hosing the driveway, or watering the plain grass or anything that doesn't provide us with food. We donate all our old clothes to the local opportunity shop, and if they are too ragged, they get cut up for cleaning cloths.

I'll add another easy one that I do- if you're the type who usually has lots (or even just a little) of empty space in your refrigerator or freezer, save milk jugs and fill them with water, and use them to fill the space. When you open the refrigerator door, all the cooled air rushes out, and your fridge has to re-cool itself, but the water will stay there and stay cool, saving you that energy. Plus, you'll have potable water if you're stuck with a pipeline break or something that prevents you from being able to drink from your tap for a while! Bonus points for being a one-time thing, not a habit you have remember to keep doing.

For me, it's putting recyclable stuff into paper bags and hoarding plastic ones and using those as necessary. And only running the dishwasher when I can't shove any more into it.

I went vegan this year after learning how the meat and diary industry is dsestroying our earth. Best thing i've ever done, not just for enviromental reasons but for my health as well.

I've also got into the habbit of recycling as much as possible and walking everywhere

Now at I'm in college I live in an area where I can recycle. So, I recycle whatever can be recycled that I'm not reusing. I lived so long with no ability to recycle things and won't take it for granted.

Also, thrift shops are bae. You get cheap used goods. So, they don't go into a landfill, and your money isn't going to the companies that use underpaid child sweatshop labor and whatnot. With thrift stop goods, the damage has already been done and you can't do any more buying there.

I recycle, since my area allows it, and I use reusable bags at the grocery store, including reusing plastic bags from time to time. I also became a vegetarian a few years ago, primarily for health reasons, but I am aware that it benefits the Earth too. This is another reason to be a vegetarian where I am concerned. I also like buying from thrift shops when I get the chance, and I do not have a driver's license yet, so I use the bus and/or walk when not going somewhere with my mom or someone else.