Is Sustainable Living Expensive in 2023?

Have you ever wondered is sustainable living expensive? I wrote a blog post recently entitled what stops people from living sustainably and one of the main reasons that I found that people are put off the idea of living sustainably, is that they believe sustainable living is expensive.

Although I do think that on first glance some aspects of the sustainable lifestyle might appear expensive, it is not a more expensive lifestyle overall and I’ll go into further detail below.

Are Eco Friendly Products More Expensive

First of all let’s look at are eco friendly products more expensive. In some cases the eco friendly products are slightly more expensive and in some cases considerably more expensive. Although this is not a rule, it can be because sustainable brands will need to ensure that ingredients used are obtained from a sustainable and ethical source. Often the packaging used will be more expensive as well, so this will be reflected in the price.

For example an ordinary tube of toothpaste that you buy in the UK might only cost you £1 but the cheapest pack of tooth tabs could set you back £3.50 for a months supply. Tooth tabs are good though because you get exactly the right amount each time you brush your teeth, rather than trying to squeeze as much as you can out of a tube of toothpaste.

Forbes wrote an article where they discuss thoughts from a survey. 77% of people want to live sustainably from this survey of 913 people 82.6% said that the higher prices of eco friendly products put them off and 51.6% stated inconvenience as well. 61.6% of the people surveyed said they thought that eco friendly living overall was more expensive.

I thought this was quite interesting so I ran my own poll on Instagram over a few days to understand people’s thoughts around sustainable living. 63% of people stated that they thought sustainable living was expensive, making 37% of people as saying that they didn’t think it was expensive.

I wanted to delve into it deeper so I asked if it was products specifically that they considered to be more expensive or something else. The general answers that I received were that they thought eco friendly products were more expensive, although somebody did state that they didn’t think the products were more expensive but they felt that sustainable living can be more time consuming – which I thought was really interesting.

Why Are Sustainable Products More Expensive

I think that sustainable products are usually more expensive for several reasons which I’ve already touched on a little. Sustainable materials and ingredients can be more difficult to obtain or grow meaning that they cost more than the non sustainable alternative.

Sustainable products can be more expensive because businesses who make sustainability a big part of their business will have to consider everything and not just the products they produce. That could mean they use renewable energy or they get certified as Fairtrade or as a B Corporation which can cost quite a lot of money annually.

Sourcing the materials can cost more for businesses as well because the farmers and producers are paid a premium and fair wage to produce the goods. Often the products are handmade and handcrafted as well which means that they take longer to produce.

Due to these factors the higher price is very understandable.

Organic food for example is grown differently and using less harmful pesticides and due to this it may take the farmers longer to produce and package the food.

A combination of any of these things will cost the businesses more to obtain the products or ingredients that they need. I try to buy from small businesses as much as I can but I have noticed that the smaller the company the more you’ll pay for the product. If you can afford it, supporting small businesses is much better ethically and sustainably.

If you’re wondering what the difference is between sustainable living vs zero waste, I’ve written a guide sustainable living vs zero waste, to help you learn the main differences.

Case Studies On People Living Sustainably

I wanted to collect some date from as people that I know are living more sustainably and how much they spend on groceries, cleaning products and hygiene products. I feel like having a bit of data on how much people spend on living sustainably in general is just useful to get an idea of how this might compare to the average household not living sustainably.

In my experience talking to friends and family, some of them spend similar amounts to me on groceries even though they’re not vegan or avoiding plastic etc and some spend less than me so it’s hard to judge how my spending compares with the average household.

Living Sustainably	Household	Food	Cleaning	Hygiene/Beauty
Yes	2 Adults	£188-£222 (orig $)	£8-£11	/
Yes	1 Adult 2 Children	£200-£250	£5	£8
No	1 Adult 2 Teens	£336	£30	£30
No	2 Adults 2 Children	£160-£200	£16	£12.50
Yes	1 Adult	£60 (orig cad)	£5	£15
No	2 Adults 1 Child	£320	£30	£30
Yes	2 Adults	£120-£170	£5	£60
No	2 Adults 1 Child	£200	£20	£10

I wasn’t able to get as much data on how much people spend to do a fair assessment on this but I wanted to include the table above anyway as it is interesting to see. The size of the household and salary will always make a difference to how people spend their money and sometimes people just don’t think about how much they spend in these categories each month.

When I was gathering data I did also have a conversation with somebody who said that their sister had swapped to reusable nappies and they bought a selection for around £150, however after the initial cost they worked out that they saved £50 a month from making the switch to reusable nappies and cloth wipes.

Another helpful thing she mentioned was that she switched from using disposable face wipes priced at £2.30 for 20 to reusable face wipes which were around £10. From these instances you can see that despite the initial cost you will save long term from buying these type of items.

I felt that I should also mention here that Zero Waste Family that I follow on YouTube and Instagram have worked out how much they save from going zero waste and it’s around $18,000 a year which allowed them to work from home and use only one car for their family of 4. They also grow majority of their own fruit and vegetables in their garden showing that sometimes a change in lifestyle can be really beneficial.

How Much I Spend On Sustainable Living

Just a bit of background on my income and budget so you get an idea of my lifestyle. My household income is considered as below average for the UK, I have two children to support as well.

In general I don’t spend any money on eating out and travel. However as you will see from my budget, I prioritise choosing ethical and sustainable options when it comes to food and hygiene products(although I haven’t included hygiene products on this pie chart as I only really buy a pack or two of tooth tabs every few months and everything else like soap, lasts me months.)

As you can see from the pie chart the majority of the money that is spent each month is on my rent and then the next largest amount is groceries.

I’m such a geek with spreadsheets and pie charts etc so I create these each year just for myself!

My first pie chart that I made included having a car and so the maintenance and insurance for that, however I no longer have a car. I do occasionally use public transport but that’s not a regular occurence and only costs me around £6.50 each time so I haven’t included that in this pie chart either.

I estimate that I spend between £200-£300 on groceries this includes a weekly shop at my local supermarket Tesco and a zero waste Milk delivery service where I buy milk and juice in glass bottles which can be returned.

I occasionally buy bulk vinegar and I use enjo cloths so I probably don’t spend a huge amount on cleaning products either and rarely.

I think it’s quite a common misconception that sustainable living is more expensive. I am willing to spend a little more on sustainable hygiene products for example and Fairtrade bananas, sugar and coffee but I’m very careful with everything else that I buy so I can stay within my budget. I also really make the non food things that I buy last as long as possible, so that I’m not buying in excess.

I also feel like taking this approach of being very careful about what you buy basically means that you spend as much as you would not living sustainably. I probably spend as much as I did 4 years ago on food, cleaning and hygiene products. Despite actually making more sustainable purchases than I did back then.

Is Sustainable Living Expensive

So after looking into sustainable living and why are sustainable products more expensive you might still be wondering is sustainable living expensive overall.

Despite the fact that some zero waste or sustainable products are more expensive, some other aspects of sustainable living do save money. Things like buying less in general, making things yourself and choosing secondhand items all save you so much money.

Does Living Sustainably Save Money

I’ve definitely mentioned this before, however living sustainably does save money as long as you’re being a conscious consumer and buying less in general and you’re following the zero waste guidelines of reduce, reuse, recycle, refuse and rot. Sustainable living and minimalism do go together because of the impact of consumerism on our environment.

Some of the main aspects of sustainable living that save money are as follows:

• Buying less – Just generally thinking more about every single purchase you make will save you money as you won’t be buying unnecessarily.
• Reusable items – Many of the reusable items that you buy will pay for themselves quite quickly as you can use them over and over.
• Buying second-hand – I go into more detail below but buying used items for many of your purchases will save you a lot of money.

There’s quite a lot of things that you should only need to buy once as you can reuse them over and over. Some examples of this are reusable menstrual products, cloth nappies and reusable water bottles. Although you have the higher initial cost, these items will save you so much money long term.

Quite often as well when you buy more sustainable hygiene products they seem to last much longer as well.

Some of the bigger purchases will of course be more expensive to choose the sustainable choice, like electric cars, solar panels and ground source heat pumps as some examples. These are really great if you can afford them but that’s not always going to be possible for everyone.

I do think it’s worth mentioning that it completely depends on how you approach sustainable living in terms of if living sustainably will save you money.

I take a very frugal approach to sustainable living as it’s in my nature to be frugal, however things like social media may give some people the idea that they need certain items in order to live sustainably and this is simply not true and can be misleading.

Glass and stainless steel storage containers can be quite expensive but if you use what you have ie reuse glass jars and your existing tupperware then there’s no need for you to buy anything new.

The aesthetically pleasing idea of sustainable living that is often portrayed on social media, is not always realistic for the average person. I do think that this can make people think that living sustainably is not achievable for them.

Of course this is definitely not the case and everyone can do something, regardless of your budget or circumstances and it does really all help!

Buying Secondhand Will Save Money

Another thing that I thought really needs to be mentioned is that sustainable living will save you money if you buy everything that you can secondhand as well. Used items are much better environmentally because you are making use of something already in circulation, therefore there’s no carbon footprint from production like with new items.

Of course you might not always save money with everything you buy used, so if you’re on a strict budget make sure you have a good look around before purchasing anything.

That-being-said things like furniture, electronics, toys and even clothes could save you so much money if you buy them used.

I hope I’ve helped answer some of the bigger questions around sustainability like is sustainable living expensive and does living sustainably save money. It’s quite a complicated issue and I didn’t just want to put it depends even though it sort of does!

If you’re interested in learning if the vegan lifestyle is expensive, you can read about it in my post.

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