Declutter Your Life, Lighten Your Impact: Sustainability Tips for Expats

Dreaming of living light while living abroad while following practical sustainable tips that make everyday choices easier and greener?

The expat lifestyle presents its own set of sustainability challenges, especially when adjusting to expat life in a new country. Staying on top of mail coming from home. Keeping important documents accessible. Preventing unnecessary waste.

The good news?

With a few simple systems in place and the right sustainable habits, you can de-clutter your expat life, minimize waste, and live sustainably anywhere in the world using practical sustainable tips that actually work.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• Why living abroad requires a plan for sustainability
• How traditional mail forwarding hurts the environment
• Easy solutions for keeping your mail under control
• Simple sustainable habits that work for expats
• Digital tools that can help you live light
  
  

Why Living Abroad Requires a Plan For Sustainability

The number of expats continues to grow each year.

UN data shows there were over 304 million international migrants in 2020. That’s up from 222 million two decades ago. And it’s expected to increase.

Consider this:

Every single one of those 304 million people needs mail from home. Bank statements, legal documents, tax returns, bills, and packages arrive regularly. Most of these papers get forwarded using old-fashioned shipping services.

Leading to lots of unnecessary waste that complicates expats life, especially for people constantly moving between countries.

The easy fix? Go paperless as much as possible. Services like ipostal1 mail for expats scan and digitize your mail so you can view it online using digital mail systems instead of moving envelopes across continents. No physical documents are shipped to you or across borders.

Smart, right?

How Traditional Mail Forwarding Hurts the Environment

Did you know that around 40% of waste Americans generate each year is paper?

While we could talk about that problem for days, let’s focus on mailed paper waste for now.

Think about your life overseas for a second.

You have a bank in your home country. You get mail from your insurance company. Credit card companies send you offers monthly.

All that paper gets forwarded to you overseas. Then it needs to be shipped back to the States or wherever you land next, creating unnecessary emissions and clutter in expats life.

Yikes. Between the emissions created by shipping and resources wasted on unwanted documents, it all adds up.

Here’s the kicker:

As an expat, you probably don’t even need most of that mail. Really, you just need to know what’s in those envelopes, which is why switching to digital mail services makes so much sense.

Easy Solutions for Keeping Your Mail Under Control

Enter virtual mail services.

A virtual mailbox service can solve most of your mail woes. Sign up for a service that gives you a permanent address in the States. Mail gets sent there, scanned, and uploaded for you to view online through secure digital platforms.

From there, you can:

• Read or view mail and delete junk.
• Request full scans of important documents.
• Forward physical mail or packages to your address.
• Shred unwanted mail or documents.

This process ensures that only necessary mail gets physically shipped across borders. Everything else goes straight into the virtual recycling bin, helping you manage digital mail efficiently.

Pro tip: Call every company you have accounts with and set up paperless billing. Banks, utilities, subscriptions, and magazines can all send you electronic statements. You’ll save trees and eliminate tons of mail.

Simple Sustainable Habits That Work For Expats

Decluttering mail is just one part of living sustainably abroad.

There are easy habits you can adopt no matter where in the world you live. Habits that will help you live lightly and hopefully keep the planet breathing just a little bit longer.

Travel Light

Most expats move countries at least once. Maybe twice. Maybe even more.

But every time you pick up and relocate you have the perfect opportunity.

You get to lighten your load.

Every single thing you own has to be packed up and shipped to your next location.

Heavy. And expensive.

Ask yourself:

When was the last time you used that item? Do you truly need to keep moving it with you across the globe?

Rather than pack it again, sell it. Donate it. Toss it.

Buy Local Whenever Possible

Expats love to travel. We see our home country as our extended vacation.

And while that’s wonderful, all of those flights aren’t doing our planet any favors.

One of the easiest ways to live more sustainably is to buy local.

Local fruits and vegetables. Restaurants. Shops. Artisans.

Make an effort to:

Purchase in-season produce grown locally.

Support local businesses instead of international chain retailers.

Buy goods made by your host country.

You’ll save money and reduce your carbon footprint at the same time.

Avoid Single-Use Items

Bring your own kit with you when you travel. Simple things like:

• A reusable water bottle
• Cloth shopping bags
• Travel size utensils and containers
• Cloth napkins

These may seem like small items. But imagine how many plastic utensils you toss after a meal.

How many plastic bottles end up in a landfill after a beach day.

Investing in reusable materials means fewer single-use items entering our oceans and ecosystems.

Store Documents Electronically

Make it a goal to stop printing documents.

Be diligent about storing electronic copies of important files like passports, visas, and birth certificates. Use secure cloud services so you can access them anywhere.

This way:

You cut down on paper use. And you have backups stored online if physical copies are ever damaged or lost.

Digital Tools that Can Help You Live Light

Technology has made it easier than ever to live sustainably abroad.

Check out the services below to reduce waste and live light wherever your adventures take you.

• Banking apps allow you to ditch paper statements for good. Almost every bank lets you manage accounts, transfer money, and pay bills on the go.
  
  
• Document scanners turn your smartphone into a portable scanner. Scan receipts, contracts, or any important documents. Store digitally and recycle the paper copy.
  
  
• Virtual mailbox services handle every piece of mail that comes to your house without you being there. Mail gets scanned and uploaded for viewing online, allowing you to manage digital mail wherever you are.
  
  
• Translation apps help you learn key phrases and navigate local recycling or sustainability programs in your host country.
  
  

Creating Habits That Will Last

Here’s the thing about new habits.

They take time.

Don’t dive head first into everything on this list. Start with one or two items that jump out at you. Create automatic systems first.

For example:

Sign up for a virtual mailbox service this week. Paperless billing can be your goal for month two. Shopping locally becomes habit number three.

Before you know it, you’ll have sustainable habits you never knew you were missing.

Wrapping Things Up

Life overseas is as easy or hard on the environment as you make it.

By going digital with your mail management, you cut down on unnecessary shipping. Live with less each time you move. Shop local products and produce. Carry reusable items to avoid single-use waste. Store documents electronically for fewer papers and safer backups.

Need a recap?

• Set up digital mail management for correspondence from home.
• Switch all of your bills to paperless statements.
• Choose a minimalist lifestyle with each move.
• Buy local and seasonal produce whenever possible.
• Always carry reusable items when you travel.
• Store important documents electronically instead of printing them.
  
  

It’s all about living with less clutter and managing what you own better.

You’ll save money. You’ll help the environment.

And bonus?

You’ll reduce stress in your everyday life.

Living light is amazing. And it’s one of the many benefits of living abroad.

So what are you waiting for? Make a change today.

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