Meet the greenest family in Belgium

No shower, no soap, no flush toilet, no TV, no radio, no refrigerator, no freezer, no lawn mower, no vacuum, no meat... Evelien Matthijssen - nicknamed Green Evelien - and her family have drastically reduced their ecological footprint, simply because they “are happier this way”.

A few years ago, Evelien and her family moved from Essen, in Antwerp province, to the rustic Vielsalm, in the Ardennes in the south of Belgium, far away from what they saw as a hectic way of life. They traded in everything they owned for a radical ecological lifestyle free of electrical devices, plastic packaging, sugar, animal products and with minimal water consumption and waste.

“We consume 400kWh of electricity per year [almost 10 times less than an average family in Belgium] and 4L of water per person per day (the average Belgian uses 120L per day, or 30 times more]. We pay about €10 for water and €8 for electricity per month.”

Evelien’s blog is filled with practical savings tips.