This is part two of my new blog series "Sustainable Lifestyle". If you haven't read the first post, click here. Shortly after answering the questions "What is sustainability?" and "Why is a sustainable lifestyle important?" I will sum up a few tips for one of our most beloved hobbies, shopping. They are easy to implement in your next shopping trip or online order. Here they come:

• Buy more
  That's a good start, right? However my next sentences maybe disappoint you. By saying that you should buy more I don't invoke you to buy more stuff than you wanted to buy. Rather I want to encourage you to buy more at once. This will save you time, produce less packaging and pollution made of transport or travelling.

• Buy less
  Do you really need all the stuff you have collected in your appartment and basement? Yes? When have you recently used your juicer, sandwich maker or mini indoor helicopter? If it is a long time ago then you are not alone. We buy a lot of stuff that we throw to all the over unused stuff after a short while. The next time you plan to buy a new gadget, kitchen device or accessoire ask yourself "Will I still regularly use it in three months?".

• Digitize your shopping list
  I was one these "I write everything on paper to not forget anything"-shoppers. However I have made acquaintance with Google Tasks which helps me to write down everything I need to buy easily and save a paper. Here is why it's easy: Tap add, write, tap somewhere, repeat to add more, uncheck while it's flying into your shopping cart.

• Prepare a packed lunch
  A long shopping trip can be exhausting. After a while it is good to eat or drink something. Most people run to the next takeaway and buy something to eat it on the go. Most of the time I do the same. My problem is that I don't really like most of the food I find in the shopping center. Therefore I thought about how to get delicious food and don't be depend on the (more or less) sustainable mindset of the takeaway businesses. Here is the solution: Prepare a packed lunch with your beloved food and drink. With this you can be assured what's in the food, how it was prepared and it produces less waste if you use plastic boxes. Furthermore it will make you happier because it is exactly what you like.

• Don't forget your shopping bags
  Your handbag or backpack with your packed lunch is ready. However don't forget your shopping bags. Either you reuse the shopping bags from your last shopping trip or you have bought cotton shopping bags. Now you are prepared to refuse the shopping bags in the next store to pack your bought stuff in your own bags. Hint: I own cotton shopping bags that are fairtrade. Try to find "good" shopping bags, too.

• Pass your car
  Ride a (shared) bike, walk, take the bus. There is nothing more to write. I only use my car to go shopping if I buy water bottles and juice for the next 2-3 weeks.

• Refuse the sales slip
  Most of the time we buy things that have no guarentee or that we won't take back to the store. Everytime you refuse the associated sales slips it will save paper. However there is one precondition: The cash register shouldn't print the sales slips if you don't need it. In Germany more and more business already stopped printing the sales slips automatically. Maybe they found out that it's totally waste.

• Produce less waste
  So you really like apples but live alone and buy only two everytime you go shopping? That's okay. However it is not okay to put them in a plastic bag. In my opinion there is no extra effort to bring two loose apple to the cashier. Furthermore it will save you a little money because you don't weigh the plastic bag.

• Recycle the packaging
  After you have finished and return home to unpack your shopping bags try to separate plastic, paper and other waste to recycle it. This will make it easier to reuse the materials that are normally thrown away.

Do you have any further tips on shopping? Please let me know in the comments and I will add it with your name to the list.

Picture credits: "NO To Plastic" by Artotem (Flickr)