We all know how precious our planet is and that we must care for it. Unfortunately, sometimes our good intentions can get a little muddy when it comes to running our households. After all, convenience, cost, and availability often make less green choices the most appealing. The good news is that we can take many easy actions to make each of our households that little bit greener. Keep reading to find out what they are.
Monitor your energy consumption
One way that your household can be kinder to the environment is by monitoring your energy consumption. Of course, the idea here is that by keeping a closer eye on how much energy you are using to heat, light, and run your home, you can also reduce it.
Indeed, there are several benefits to cutting your energy consumption. The first is to put less of a strain on the environment, while the second is that it will cost you a lot less. After all, energy bills can get pretty expensive, and if you forget to budget for them, can really mess up your monthly finances.
There are a few different ways that you can cut your energy usage in the home down. One is to make sure that the lights and heating are turned off in any room that is not occupied. An easy and efficient way to make sure this happens is to invest in smart bulbs and thermometers. Then you can control things from any room in the house, (and even from outside the house as well).
Another smart way to reduce your energy consumption is to make sure your home is well insulated. By adding insulation to the walls, roof and in some cases, the floor, you can help keep rooms a much more constant temperature. Something that means you will have to use less energy to heat or cool them. You can even get insulation made from recycled plastic bottles, which is another way of doing some real good for the environment.
Chose eco-friendly options
Happily, businesses and manufacturers, are starting to notice that we, the consumer, want more eco-friendly products. This is great news for busy family households as it means they can buy the products and services they need without compromising their green values.
The first area to consider buying greener products is cleaning. Yes, that is right, traditionally cleaning products have been problematic for the environment for multiple reasons. The first is that they tend to come in plastic bottles, while the second is that they often contain chemicals that pollute the environment.
Happily, it is now possible to get cleaning products such as laundry powder, anti-bacterial spray, and bathroom cleaners made from much more eco-friendly ingredients like white vinegar, lemon, and baking soda. Many brands also now offer refill packs so you can reuse your plastic spray bottles multiple times before needing to recycle them.
Believe it or not, you can even get services for your home that are more eco-friendly like pest control. Yep, that’s right even if you need to rid your home of nasties like roaches, mice, or rats, it can still be done effectively but in a way that has a much lower impact on the surrounding environment. Excellent news for households with pest problems because they do need to be sorted! However, by choosing a greener pest control operator, householders won’t have to compromise their values to get things back to normal.
Say goodbye to paper towels
Now there is no denying that paper towels can come in useful around the home. They are great for mopping up spills in the kitchen and good for dusting the bathroom before you do a full clean. However, even though they are made of paper and do biodegrade paper towels aren’t very good for the environment. Indeed, they are problematic in several ways. The first is that they use many resources and much energy when being made, while the second is that forests are being cut down to make the paper. Finally, paper towels are treated with chemicals, and these aren’t too good for the environment at large (or our homes and families either).
Happily, there is a solution for your household, and it’s to swap to un-paper towels. Yes, that right, you can now buy cloth versions of paper towels that serve precisely the same purpose. The great thing about the cloth version is that you can use them repeatedly and create a lot less waste in both their creation and disposal.
Set up an easy to use a recycling system
You can also make your home a little greener by making sure your recycling system is set up efficiently. The better your system, the more likely you are to use it, and so the more you will recycle. With that in mind, it is worth investing in some proper bins for your home. Look for ones that have pedals to open them or are stackable so you can maximize the amount of space you have available for recyclable materials.
Watch your water
In a similar way to reducing your energy consumption, your household can also be green by reducing your water usage as well. Indeed, using less water can reduce the strain on our natural resources a great deal. A topic you can learn more about in the video below.
The good news is that there are some simple ways to cut your water consumption, including taking showers instead of baths and turning the tap off when you brush your teeth. Another way to get on top of your water consumption is to collect rainwater and greywater. Then use this in the garden for cleaning and watering plants. Greywater is water that has already been used in the home for cleaning, including washing up water, and laundry water.
However, it is worth noting that using grey watering inst legal in every US state. Therefore it is vital that you check your location’s status before going ahead with this action before you take this step to make your home a little greener.
