nzgirl Readers Try Living Naturally!

From ditching the hair straightener to putting a hex on junk foods, check out how other nzgirl readers took up the AVEENO Living Naturally Challenge – and how they fared after…

 

Living Naturally Challenge: No more hair straightener

Over the past year or so I have slowly become addicted to using my hair straightener. It got to the point where I would miss the train to Uni because I was straightening my hair! I didn’t want people to see what I thought was my natural thick and wavy hair. Not only was my addiction time consuming, it was damaging my hair to the point where I was given a set of shampoo and conditioner ‘for damaged hair’ for Christmas.

 

The first few days I found myself reluctant to go out and wanting to tie my hair in a messy bun with a head band - so no one would notice! Then I started to realise that no one actually did notice that I wasn’t straightening my hair and I was creating at least an extra 20-30min worth of work for myself, each and every morning! Another bonus, when I went to the beach on the weekend, I was no longer afraid of actually getting my hair wet in the surf! This challenge has made me realise that yes I do love how my hair looks when it’s straightened, but it’s not worth missing the train for!

Jacqui, 22, Banker
Living Naturally Challenge: Fast Food ban
I really need to cut down on the amount of takeaways that I find myself so often buying for lunch and dinner. It might be the quick and easy option, but it’s also making me feel unhealthy and is really draining my bank account! So I decided to get organised and put a hex on buying fast foods for lunch and dinners. It did mean getting organised (regular grocery shopping and having enough time to actually prepare meals) and I’m not going to lie, this was a challenge!

However now I’ve worked all of this into my daily schedule and it’s become second nature. I’m making some much yummier and healthier fresh and veggie filled lunches and dinners (brown rice salads, wraps and crackers – mmm!), saving at least $40 a week and I’m feeling so much better for it too! Making my own meals and cutting down on heavily processed junk foods has been so good for my body – I love it!

 

Whitney, 23, Office Administrator
Living Naturally Challenge: Ditching the car
After coming back from a few years in Melbourne, I settled in with my parents at Pukekohe. It seemed the logical choice – free board, Mum-cooked meals and no stress looking for a place of my own. However, the daily drag of commuting in and out of the city for uni, work and seeing friends began to take its toll – on my wallet, on the environment with all those fumes, and on my mind! Traffic drives me crazy!

 

So into the city I went with my trusty Nissan Pulsar. Except, despite having work, uni and play all on my doorstep, I still found myself popping in the car to zip around everywhere. The day I popped in the car instead of a less than one minute walk to the supermarket. It was raining, but come on! So that’s why my challenge was to ban all one person journeys for a week (ie the Pulsar and I were not allowed to go it alone). This meant walking to work (or the supermarket), getting lifts with friends and finding out that the bus system isn’t that bad after all. Who knew!

 

The idea of a not so clean and green New Zealand is not cutie cutie! I've realised that we all need to do our part to hold onto this image, and the fact that 65 percent of our "rubbish" could be recycled or composted instead is a scary one! I set out to recycle up a storm in a bid to become a green little kiwi. My first step meant tripling the number of rubbish bins I owned!

Instead of just two bins, I now had a new home for my plastics, paper, glass, bottles, cans and food scraps – and by the fourth day I began to realize just how much rubbish you accumulate when it's sorted! The great thing about this challenge was that I really started to think about if what I purchased was recyclable and how I could re-use items such as shopping bags. I would definitely recommend cleaning up your rubbish; it doesn't take long to sort and you will feel good knowing that you're doing your bit for the environment!

 

Amber, 23, Tea Expert
Living Naturally Challenge: Clean Power Challenge
I’d like to say that I decided upon the 'clean power challenge' for my fellow man, or even because I was trying to slow down the power crisis. But, even with all the facts from here , the real reason I picked this was because I’d like my power bill to be smaller. Sue me.

Armed with knowledge from The Clean Energy Guide I began sorting out my power at home. First stop, my power provider Meridian. Turn out these guys aren't ranked badly when it comes to the way they generate power (from renewable power sources) so no need to switch there. Next stop, all those little things around the house. Changing my lightbulbs out for energy saving types and switching stuff off instead of leaving it on standby, resulting in a power saving of at least 5%! The tips are handy and saving me cash all in one, oh and saving the planet. What's the bad side?