12 Simple Ways to Make Your Home Greener
You and your family will spend most of your time at home.
So, it’s important to make it a comfortable, relaxing, and eco-friendly space, especially if you want to have a sustainable lifestyle!
Keep in mind that making your home greener doesn’t have to be a difficult task.
Think about it as adopting a new habit: you need to be consistent!
Besides, it’s easy to remember some green actions while doing other activities, like cleaning or cooking!
Not sure how to do it?
Below you will find 12 simple but powerful ways to make your home greener!
Making Your Home Green
Going green won’t drastically change your life, but it will have some great benefits for the Earth!
You can start with small actions like:
How To Make Your Home More Eco-Friendly
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reducing, reusing, and recycling are key actions to prevent waste in your home.
But remember that the first thing you should do to go green is reducing the consumption of disposable items.
You should also reuse your household items as long as you can. And once they’re no longer useful, you can consider recycling them.
Recycling shouldn’t be your first choice. Only a few “recyclable” items will get recycled.
So, get the best out of these items before considering this option! - Take Shorter Showers
If you want to have an eco-friendly home, you should save as much water as you can! An easy way to go green is taking shorter showers.
If you take a 5-10 minutes shower, you will save more water than having a bath.
Additionally, you could put a bucket in the shower to catch cold water while waiting for the water to warm up! - Use LED Light Bulbs
Once your old light bulbs stop working, make sure to replace them with some energy-efficient ones.
Unlike regular bulbs, LED light bulbs are eco-friendly because they use less energy and last longer.
In other words, you will save money while using energy consciously in your home!
This simple action will help you reduce your waste and carbon footprint, so it’s a great way to make your home more eco-friendly!
- Prevent Food Waste
Every year, one-third of all food produced for human consumption is wasted.
That’s not to mention how much energy, water, and other resources are wasted too! For that reason, it’s important to prevent food waste in your home.
You can create shopping lists and plan your meals to reduce your food waste.
Also, don’t forget to store your food properly to prevent spoilage with beeswax or vegan food wraps! - Turn off the Tap
Another easy way to go green and save water is turning off the tap instead of letting the water run continuously when you’re not using it!
You can do this every time you wash your face, brush your teeth, apply soap, or any other activity.
Water is an essential resource for life and you shouldn’t waste it.
Once you’re aware of this, turning off the tap will become a daily habit!
- Compost
You can’t avoid fruits and veggie scraps when preparing your food.
If you send them to landfills, they will produce greenhouse gases, which are responsible for global warming and climate change!
A greener alternative would be using food scraps and other organic waste, such as cardboard and paper, to make compost at home.
These materials will biodegrade and create a nutrient-rich soil supplement for your plants! - Grow Some Herbs
Whether you have a garden or not, you could try to grow some of your favourite herbs in your home, like rosemary, basil, mint, and so on!
Besides providing an attractive green colour to your house, they will absorb CO2 and you will save money on food shopping.
Don’t worry if you don’t have a garden, you can place your herbs close to a sunny window! - Be Careful When Washing Your Clothes
If you want to do your laundry in a green way, you should take into consideration a few things.
For example, you should run a full load of laundry instead of several small loads.
With this, you will save water and energy.
Also, you could save even more energy if you wash your clothes in cold or warm water instead of using hot water!
- Line-dry Your Clothes
As you’re probably guessing, your tumble dryer uses lots of energy to dry your clothes.
On average, tumble dryers produce around 1.8 kg of carbon dioxide per cycle! So, they’re not an eco-friendly option.
If you washed your clothes on a sunny day, skip the tumble dryer and hang your clothes outside instead.
Doing this at least once a week is a great way to make your home greener! - Use Eco-friendly Cleaning Products
Unfortunately, most of your cleaning products contain toxic chemicals that can affect your health and the environment.
Besides, think about all the plastic bottles you end up discarding each month!
A fantastic idea to make your home greener is buying eco-friendly cleaning products instead of regular ones.
You could even create your own natural cleaning products with white vinegar, baking soda, and citrus fruits! - Turn Off Your Lights and Unplug Electronics
Unless you’re doing several things around the house, there’s no reason to keep all your lights on. If you leave a room, don’t forget to turn off the lights to save energy.
Likewise, you should unplug electronics when they’re not in use.
Even if they’re turned off, they still consume a small amount of energy when plugged in!
- Ditch Air Fresheners
Most commercial air fresheners contain toxic chemicals that could cause you some health problems in the long run.
essential oils, use eco-friendly soy-scented candles, burn incense, boil cinnamon, or use some purifying plants!
Conclusion
Remember that you don’t need to install solar panels to make your home greener, although it would be a great idea too. Every action counts.
You can start with these easy eco-friendly habits today!
