Journey to Conserve
In the beginning, I pledged to do 7 things for my challenge. These challenges have made my daily life these days a bit more interesting, and made me very energy-conscious. Let me tell you more about the things that I had to do for this two weeks!
Apply battery saving mode in phone, tablet, and laptop
Before this, I never bothered to apply the battery saving mode. I didn’t even know that this was an option for laptops, I thought it’s only for phones and tablets. As my laptop is quite energy consuming, this is a great way to start conserving!
Making sure to turn off unneeded lights and AC
Turning off the AC is definitely a great thing to do to save energy, as it was the most energy consuming appliance that I have. There were some hot days when I feel like I need AC, but I try to not turn it on, and cool myself with some manual fan.
I always turn off the lights that I don’t need. At night, when I have to continue working on the computer, I don’t need to turn on the lights as the monitor light is enough.
Doing laundry manually
This is a bit hard to do when I have a lot of clothes piling up. It’s best to do manual laundry for underwear and small items of clothing — as the sink space is inadequate.
Do less cooking — cook in bulk, or eat more no-cook meals
I only cook once a day, maximum. I made either salad or muesli for a quick breakfast. For lunch, I usually cooked some pastas or rice in bulk the day before, when cooking for dinner. I put leftovers it in containers, and refrigerate it. Fridge usage are non-negotiable, as my roommate doesn’t want to unplug it. I usually eat lunch at campus, so I just reheat my lunchbox at the microwave provided there.
Air-drying hair
I love air-drying my hair. I feel that my hair will be falling out more if I use hairdryer. To style my hair, I usually wear some hair rollers at night.
I found this product from TikTok, and it unexpectedly works well! It forms beautiful natural loose curls, and it looks like you just had a blowout at the salon. The curls stay longer if your hair is a bit damp when rolling it.
Spend more time outside in co-working or public spaces
Rather than charging my laptop and phone in my place, it would be better to charge it in co-working or public spaces. Other than saving energy bills, it’s nice to have a change of scenery.
Find alternative entertainment or activities to lessen phone and social media usage
I can’t deny that I love to scroll through social media, watch endless shorts and YouTube videos while laying down. It is a bad habit, and it drains both phone energy and your mental energy. So, I try doing more physical exercises such as aerobic and yoga! I bought a cheap yoga mat from Primark, and start exercising with my roommate. It definitely is a great habit to build, and I feel like my body is lighter after a week of doing routine exercise.
Besides that, I also try to go out whenever I can. Touching grass is a nice thing to do for a change, after spending so much time looking at screens. Going to parks are great, I really like to go to BAM in Porta Garibaldi. Milan is full of great places to visit and explore! Especially during the first Sunday of the month, when museums are free. I really like to visit museums, to learn the content of the museum itself and also the way they display the content. There’s a lot of interesting interactive museums out there.
I’ll end this entry of mine with some museum recommendations!
There’s a lot of things about learning to conserve in these museums. What’s that? Maybe you can visit and check it out yourself!
