How to Save Money and the Planet with Lottie Dalziel

In today’s episode, I’m joined by Lottie Dalziel - sustainability expert, founder of Banish, and author of the brand-new book 365+ Ways to Save the Planet and Your Money at the Same Time.

We’re diving into practical, easy-to-do swaps that can save you serious cash - from reducing food waste and embracing slow fashion, to cutting your power bills and cleaning your home without harsh (and expensive) chemicals.

Whether you’re just sustainability-curious or already living that low-waste life, this episode is full of smart tips that are good for the planet and your bank account.

And hey - if you’re loving the episode, the best way to thank us? Hit that subscribe button. 💸🌏

CHAPTERS

00:00 – Welcome to Get Rich & Molly’s financial journey
01:17 – Meet Lottie Dalziel: Founder of Banish & author of 365+ Ways to Save the Planet and Your Money
02:30 – How Banish began and Lottie’s mission to simplify sustainability
04:07 – Food waste 101: How Aussies can save $2–3k a year
06:36 – Recycling made easy: The scrunch test & reducing plastic use
08:09 – Slow fashion on a budget: Shop your wardrobe, rent, borrow
10:29 – Fast fashion red flags: Why cheap clothes come at a cost
13:05 – Cleaning hacks: The 4 low-cost ingredients that clean everything
15:32 – Sustainable swaps that make the biggest impact
16:36 – Where to buy Lottie’s book & how to follow her work

LINKS AND RESOURCES FROM THE EPISODE

365+ Ways to Save the Planet and Your Money at the Same Time (Lottie's book): https://banish.com.au/pages/365-ways-to-save-the-planet-and-your-money-at-the-same-time

CONNECT WITH LOTTIE DALZIEL

Website: https://banish.com.au/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lottiedalziel/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/banish.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/banishau/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@banishau
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@banish.au
Pinterest: https://au.pinterest.com/banishau/

CONNECT WITH LADIES FINANCE CLUB

Join our free Facebook group - Ladies Finance Club Money Chat
Website: https://www.ladiesfinanceclub.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ladiesfinanceclub/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ladies-finance-club/

TAKEAWAYS

• Banish helps teach people how to live sustainably.
• The average Australian household wastes $2,000 to $3,000 on food annually.
• Shopping smarter can significantly reduce food waste.
• Using reusable produce bags can minimize plastic use.
• Soft plastics are generally not recyclable.
• Renting clothes can be a sustainable fashion choice.
• Cost per wear is a better purchasing strategy than price alone.
• Four simple ingredients can clean your home effectively.
• Turning off chargers can save energy and reduce costs.
• Being mindful of banking choices can impact sustainability.

SOUND BITES

"Rent when you can for fashion."
"Think about cost per wear."
"Check who you bank with."

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Molly: Welcome to Get Rich, the podcast that helps you do just that. Get rich and stay rich. Hey, I'm Molly Benjamin. I'm the founder of Ladies Finance Club, one of Australia's largest financial education platforms for women. But before I started helping thousands of women take control with their money, I was a hot financial mess when it came to my own finances and not the fun kind of hot, more like crying in a supermarket, wondering where all my money went kind of hot.

[00:00:29] But here's the thing, if I can go from financial mess to owning a share portfolio, investing in property, and building wealth. Then you can too. My mission is simple to make women rich because when we have financial freedom, we have choices, confidence, and control over our future. Every week on Get Rich, I sit down with some of the best experts in the industry to break down how we can all start investing, growing our money, and creating long-term financial security without the jargon, boring bits or overwhelm.

[00:01:02] Because when women get rich, we don't just change our lives, we change the world. So if you're ready to start making some smart money moves, hit that subscribe button and let's get rich together.

[00:01:17] In today's episode, I'm joined by Lottie dl, sustainability expert. Founder of Banish and author of the brand new book, 365 Waves, to save the planet and your money at the same time. So we're gonna be diving into the practical, easy to do swaps that can save you serious cash from reducing food waste and embracing slow fashion to cutting your power bills and cleaning your home without harsh and expensive chemicals.

[00:01:43] So whether you're just sustainability, curious. Or already living a low waste life. This episode is full of smart tips that are good for the planet and your bank account. And hey, if you're loving these episodes, the best way to thank us is by hitting that subscribe button. Hi, Lottie. Welcome to Get Rich.

[00:02:00] Thank you so much for having me. Now this is great because you have just written a book, 365 Ways to Save the Planet and Your Money at the same time. And look, we are all about saving money and saving the planet at the same time. So very excited to have you on for a chat about this. And also massive congratulations because I know like books, they, they can be, they can be a bit of a slog.

[00:02:23] So well done.

[00:02:25] Lottie: No, thank you so much. I'm really excited to kind of break down a couple of the tips and chat to you about it.

[00:02:30] Molly: Yeah, absolutely. And I just thought, like I did your intro before, but just to hear it from you yourself, could you just tell me a little bit about Lottie and I guess, and your company Banish and, and how it all came to be?

[00:02:43] Yeah, so

[00:02:43] Lottie: Vanish is an education platform that helps teach people how to live more sustainably. I started it seven years ago as a way, because I was trying to do live sustainably. I was trying to reduce my waste as much as possible, and I was finding it really confusing, really difficult, and really overwhelming.

[00:03:02] I. I thought, well, I can't be the only one feeling like this. And inevitably, if we need people to make a change and to live more sustainably, it needs to be so easy that there's no reason not to. So I was working as a journalist at this at the time in health and fitness, and I thought we kind of can apply the same principles.

[00:03:22] So I started doing a little bit of work on it on the side and. Things just really took off. I was disseminating all of these really juicy and hard to understand research and studies and giving people practical tips on how they could live more sustainably. And it was really resonating with people and it's just kind of grown from there.

[00:03:42] Molly: Yeah. 'cause even like this morning I was going to the fridge, I was throwing out food, just like just everything comes in plastic and I'm just like, this feels so unsustainable. So I was just wondering like. Maybe if we jump straight into like food and food waste. Like I know Aussies like waste a lot of money on food every year, but what are some like easy ways that we can save in that area?

[00:04:07] Lottie: Yeah, it's a really good point because it's estimated that the average Australian household throws away between two to $3,000 worth of food. Every year. So it's pretty much like when you go to the shops and you have five bags. Yeah, one of those five bags is just going straight into the bin. So not only is it a huge waste of money, but it's also really terrible for the planet because when all of this food goes to landfill, it creates a toxic methane gas.

[00:04:34] So we need to stop throwing things out. Also for our plant, for our pockets perspective, we just need to eat everything that we've already got. So I think the best thing that you can probably do when it comes to food waste is to shop smarter. I think we've got so much in our fridge, in our pantry, in our freezer that we don't even realize.

[00:04:53] So my thing is always going to the shops with the plan. I'm never just browsing and just popping things into my cart just because I am always going there going, I know what I'm gonna be cooking. This is what the recipe calls for. And I'm not being upsold. So if a recipe asks for 200 grams of carrots, I'm just gonna buy 200 grams of carrots.

[00:05:13] I'm not gonna buy a one kilo bag because it might seem cheaper to buy in bulk. But often when you buy those big bags, they come in plastic packaging as well.

[00:05:23] Molly: Yeah. Absolutely. And what about markets? Are markets a good if you've got a market close by, is that a better alternative than like, I know that's not like possible for everyone, but is that a better alternative?

[00:05:35] Lottie: It really depends on the type of market that it is, because sometimes we can see with markets is they kind of lean on convenience and they might not actually be as cost efficient. Yeah. As you would find a, like your fresh. I don't know. Your fresh fruit and vegetable shop would be. Yeah, but I think for me, the biggest thing is I'm always shopping seasonally.

[00:05:56] It's a really great way to not only nourish your body, because that's what your body needs at that time, but by shopping the specials, you're inevitably shopping what's seasonal, and that's going to mean that it's going to be fresher, it's gonna be better for you, and hopefully it won't have traveled as far as well to get to you.

[00:06:13] Molly: Yeah, and with like, like I just find, if I go to Cosworth Audi, like. Everything is in plastic these days. Like it is so hard to buy things not in plastic. I've found my local scoop at the moment, which I'm obsessed with, but is there a plastic that's better than other plastics if we kind of in this point that we, you know, it's hard to avoid it sometimes.

[00:06:36] Lottie: Yeah, so I think the biggest thing is acknowledging that we're actually not going to be plastic free, but we can use less plastic than we're currently doing. When I'm going to my local grocer or my supermarket, I'm always taking my own reusable produce bags. Yeah, so everybody has a. Bag that they use when it comes to the checkout.

[00:06:54] But when you're in the fruit and veg section, there's often reusable bags that you can use there. So I'm buying my spinach loose. I'm buying loose carrots over things wrapped in plastic. Yes, there are going to be some things like berry punts that I'm going to obviously consume, but at least there are a one that can be actually recycled.

[00:07:12] So trying to avoid those soft and squishy plastics wherever possible.

[00:07:16] Molly: Awesome. And this is such a good kind of 1 0 1 recycling because not all plastics can be recycled. Some come, some can't. So you say the soft plastic, so is that like the what? Our bread comes in, they're the ones that can't be recycled.

[00:07:29] Lottie: Exactly. So the ones that can go into your curbside recycling bin at home, generally speaking, are your stiffer plastics. Okay? So what you like to do is if you can do a scrunch test, and if the item popped back to its original shape, then generally speaking it can go into your curbside recycling bin.

[00:07:48] Whereas if you scrunch it and it holds its shape, that's when you go, okay, this is a soft and squishy plastic that I can't curbside recycle.

[00:07:55] Molly: Okay. That's really good to know. And I guess moving on now to around like just fashion. 'cause we love our fashion here at Ladies Finance Club, but we had a lady on the podcast last week, Emma Edwards.

[00:08:09] She's now doing a year without buying anything new. I guess. What are some good like hacks around sustainable fashion, but on a budget?

[00:08:19] Lottie: Yeah, it's a really great question, and it's estimated that we only actually wear one third of our wardrobe. So my biggest thing is when you're going to go shop something new is actually to shop the rest of your wardrobe first.

[00:08:31] Yeah. Pull out of those items that you haven't worn recently and give them some extra love, style them differently so that then you can wear something that would be quite, I don't know, dressy, wear it down. Vice versa. My other. Piece of advice as well is rent when you can. So this means that you can kind of have those luxury items for a portion of the price, because if you are going to a fancy event, it's really much more affordable for us to rent those different items.

[00:08:58] And I also love borrowing from girlfriends. I don't know, when I was in my teens, I was borrowing absolutely everything from my girlfriends all the time. And then for some reason. We fell out of this routine, and I've only started bringing it back in the last five or six years. Yeah. And it's so much fun because we have such better taste now than we did

[00:09:18] Molly: in

[00:09:18] Lottie: our

[00:09:18] Molly: teams.

[00:09:19] Yes. No, I love that. I did a road show around Australia last year, and I rented every single time I presented because I was like, I'm not gonna, well, number one, I'm not gonna pay $600 for a dress. I refuse to, but also like I got variety. I tried different things, so I got to see what I, yeah. Different colors I wouldn't normally wear, and it was so great.

[00:09:40] And then at the end of the day, I didn't have clutter in my wardrobe and I didn't have the huge expense that it would've cost me to buy these dresses, which was just, yeah.

[00:09:49] Lottie: Exactly, and you probably wore all of those dresses for the road show, but you're not gonna wear them in your everyday life. Oh. So it's one of these things that it's just a waste.

[00:09:58] Molly: Yeah, absolutely. There were statement pieces and I was like, as far as naming and shaming, are there any companies out there in the fashion world that we should just be like avoiding? Because I see so much, excuse my language, shy from like machines and I'm just like. You are selling this for like $8, how is that sustainable?

[00:10:18] Like how is someone getting a good deal, whoever's making that? Like when it comes to these fast fashion brands, are they the devil reincarnated? Are they really cat?

[00:10:29] Lottie: Well, look, as you just said, if there's an item that you can buy for $8, it's not going to have been made well, and it's not also gonna be paying the people who made that garment well.

[00:10:38] Mm-hmm. So I think the biggest thing when it comes to making purchases and looking at fast fashion is it's. Really something that we should try and avoid wherever possible. Yeah, and I know that there's a lot of arguments with cost of living at the moment, the kind of purchasing items that are really cheap.

[00:10:56] But if you think about buying a t-shirt that costs $3 from a big retailer. Think about how many different hands have had to touch that garment in order for it to be made and how little each of those people will have actually been being paid. But also, if you're buying an item that is only a couple of dollars, it's obviously not going to last you a very long time.

[00:11:19] So if you really trying to reframe your. Spending by cost per wear rather than by purchase. That's something that I really like to do, so it means that I can invest in pieces that would be a little bit more expensive to kind of go, okay, if I'm buying a T-shirt, that's gonna cost 50, $80, but I know that I'm going to wear this t-shirt.

[00:11:39] Upwards of 30 times the next couple of years, then my cost per purchase is gonna come down to that $3 mark. Rather than buying something really cheap that's not gonna last, that's going to tear or rip, or won't even sit well because it's made so cheaply. So I think that's my biggest thing for people is just think about.

[00:11:58] But the questions that I recommend people ask are, who made this? Yeah. What is it made from? Where is it going to ultimately end up? And how long am I going to be able to wear this for? And it's just thinking about those questions before you make a purchase.

[00:12:13] Molly: Yeah. And I know even when I was. Like in starting out in, in this world like world, and I was earning my first paycheck and I was just spending so much on crappy clothes that are gonna end up in landfill.

[00:12:25] And then, you know, it took me a few years to be like, oh, I wanna be buying quality over quantity. Just because it's on sale doesn't mean I need to buy it. And it was actually a real, it was a bit of a mindset shift, which sounds a bit crazy, but sometimes we're in such a scarcity mindset of always going for the cheapest thing, looking for, you know.

[00:12:43] The most frugal way here and there, but sometimes actually in the long run that's, yeah, we, we need to just ask those questions, so I love that. That's great. Okay, so we've gone food, fashion. If we just think about the home, what are some like, I guess just easy low cost hacks that can help us live more sustainably in the home.

[00:13:05] Lottie: Yeah, I think a really big one that I've spoken about quite a bit in the book is cleaning because when it comes to cleaning your home, it's so easy to be caught up in all the marketing and needing a glass cleaner, a kitchen cleaner, a bathroom cleaner, a toilet cleaner. All of these different cleaners that pretty much are doing the exact same thing.

[00:13:23] So what I recommend is I only have four. Ingredients with four items in my cleaning cupboard, and they're all super affordable. So they are white vinegar, bicarb, soda, lemons. Probably don't keep those in the cupboard. And also Castile soap. And the reason why I have these is because using them. Either on their own or in combination.

[00:13:45] They're able to clean absolutely everything. You're not using it at masses of chemicals, but you're also able to do it relatively cheaply as well. Because if you think about it, you are wiping down your bench with like an all-purpose spray that's filled with chemicals. Ultimately, you are gonna be consuming whatever's on that bench because you're chopping on it.

[00:14:03] You're doing, you're eating off it, pretty much. Yeah. So if we just kind of think about that, then it's going, oh, I don't really wanna be eating whatever chemical cheese in there. Yeah.

[00:14:11] Molly: I love that. And I actually soaked all my coffee cups in by Carb the other day. I saw this thing on TikTok and cleaned them this morning, and they all came out literally brand new.

[00:14:22] I was like, ah,

[00:14:23] Lottie: love that. Exactly. And it's like all of these things, you're like, oh my gosh, I didn't realize that this could do so much.

[00:14:29] Molly: Yes, I know. And I was like, well. Just as you said, like I have no idea what chemicals are in the items you buy in the supermarket, but I don't like the way they make me cough.

[00:14:39] I'm like, I don't think they can be good for me. So I love that. That's just the four items you need. And some of these like. Shopping market supermarket, um, sprays are so expensive as

[00:14:49] Lottie: well. Exactly. And if you look at the back of the pack to like seedy ingredients that's on there. One, you probably can't pronounce half of the ingredients on there.

[00:14:58] Yeah. But normally the number one ingredient on there is water. So inadvertently paying so much money for like an item that is made with like 80% water and it's going well, it's cost a bucket load to get it here. The freight would've been more increased. Carbon emissions. It's all of this stuff.

[00:15:15] Molly: Yeah. No, I love this.

[00:15:17] And I guess kind of wrapping up, like in your world, what do you think are, I know we've talked about a few, but what do you think are the most impactful kind of sustainable swaps people can make and, and start with today? I. It's

[00:15:32] Lottie: really hard because everybody's life is different. Everyone's lifestyle is different.

[00:15:36] I think definitely eating what you've already got in your fridge is one of the most impactful things that you can do from a planetary or and a monetary perspective as well. A couple of other things could be looking at who you bank with. This is a one that I don't think many people do, but just checking in to see who your super is with who they're investing in.

[00:15:56] The same with your. Bank as well. Where is your money ultimately going and to what kind of organizations is it supporting? Another one could be as simple as just actually turning off your charges when you're not using them. This is something called phantom power. When we leave something plugged in and it is just sitting there trickling away and drawing all of this power when it's not actually doing anything.

[00:16:18] So it's another really simple one. Just switch it off at the wall when you're not using it. Don't use standby mode on your computer. Just shut it down.

[00:16:25] Molly: Love it. And there's been so many good tips given in like this 15 minutes. So thank you so much, Lottie. And if people want even more, they can obviously buy your book.

[00:16:36] Where can they get your book from?

[00:16:38] Lottie: So you can grab the book from any good bookstore. That could be Dimmick, it could be Booktopia, Amazon, big W, and a lot of Independences as well.

[00:16:48] Molly: And if people wanna learn more about what you are doing, how can they find you?

[00:16:52] Lottie: Yep. So we've got the Banish website, which is just banish.com au.

[00:16:56] Or they can follow us on socials at banish au for Instagram and by full name. Spelled up properly on TikTok.

[00:17:05] Molly: Awesome. Alright, well we'll pop those links in the show notes. Thank you so much Lutie, and thank you so much for what you're doing for the world as well. It's so brilliant. Thanks for having me, Molly.

KEYWORDS

sustainable living, food waste, eco-friendly, sustainable fashion, cleaning tips, plastic use, money saving, environmental impact, green living, conscious consumerism