Turn your home into an eco-friendly space
You don't need to spend months trying to make your home more eco-friendly. Start by making a small change to each room in your house to reduce your water and energy consumption and trash waste. If you can change a few habits and turn a few pieces of your home in favor of the environment, you will start to see how easy it is to practice sustainable living, and the bigger changes will begin to seem easier. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
Save Energy
1. Save energy in your home by unplugging electronics and appliances in your home when they are not in use. Everything that is plugged in is using energy, even when it is not turned on.
2. If you are in the market for new appliances, try to look at EPA-certified Energy Star options, which can save 10 to 20 percent of the energy used by standard appliances.
3. Replace your light bulbs with energy-saving compact fluorescent lights. These lamps use less power and last longer. You can buy CFL bulbs that fit into lamp and overhead light sockets.
4. Try to hang-dry your laundry whenever possible. The average dryer uses about 875 killowatt hours of electricity a year, so save money and energy by letting your clothes dry in the sun or wind, or on a rack in your home. This can also help increase the longevity of your clothes since they are not being heated and tumbled once or twice a week.
Reduce Trash Waste
5. Reduce paper waste and save money by replacing paper towels with washable hand towels or old cut up t-shirts. You can wash the towels with the rest of your laundry and not worry about refilling the paper towel rack every few days.
6. Create a compost pile in your backyard to reduce your trash and to make your own lawn and garden fertilizer. To make a compost pile, you can buy a bin or dig a hole, filling it with a mixture of soil, worms and your biodegradable waste. Cover the pile with a lid to assist with the breakdown process.
7. Reuse lunch sacks and food containers, rather than throwing them away. If you buy yogurt or jam in sturdy tubs and jars, reuse them for leftovers and for canning fruits and vegetables. Make a pledge to live without plastic bags for carrying, packing and storing food as much as possible.
Reduce Water Waste
8. You've heard it before, but make a point to turn off that faucet if you are not using it. When you brush your teeth, you can even fill up a cup and use it for rinsing, instead of letting the faucet run.
Cut back on your shower time as well. The average shower uses about two gallons of water per minute, so try to speed up your rinsing times, and save the shave for the bathtub or sink, turning the faucet on only when necessary to rinse.
9. If you are building or remodeling, think about using or replacing your bathroom toilets with dual-flush toilets. This will save you anywhere from five to seven liters of water every time you flush. The dual-flush toilets have one flush for liquid waste and one flush for solid waste, so you use only as much water as you need.
10. Run the clothes and dishwashing machines only when they have full loads. You can save up to 1,000 gallons of water a month by running a load only when the machines are full -- once or a couple times a week, depending on the number of people in your home -- rather than every day.
Use Eco-Friendly Products
11. Reduce your impact on the environment, and improve your health by eliminating chemicals from your home, by switching to eco-friendly cleaning products. Use nontoxic and biodegradable products for your everyday cleaning needs, and avoid any products that contain warnings or poison labels.
12. Try to buy organic bedding and towels whenever possible. Organic linen does not contain the pesticides or dyes that are often found in non-organic fabric. Buying fair-trade and organic cotton helps support more sustainable farming and labor practices. You can also look into buying an organic mattress if you are in the market for a new one.
13. Think about what items you can reuse and recycle in your home. Rather than buying new bathtub or car mats, use an old yoga mat instead.
Most waste management centers make recycling as easy as sorting your trash. Keep the newspapers, cans and bottles in a separate bin so it's easy to recycle when you are taking out the trash.
Tags: your home, only when, compost pile, dual-flush toilets, gallons water
