9 Easy Ways to Live a More Eco-Friendly Lifestyle
Let’s face it with the cost of electricity, the news about climate change, and the impact on our environment, most of us need to find ways to conserve. Greening your home is not as hard as it sounds. Start with a few small changes and make them habits, then build on that. It’s not really an option anymore to avoid conserving or recycling. Everyone needs to do their part in achieving a more eco-friendly lifestyle. There are many ways to reduce your carbon footprint and be green within your home, and today I am going to share a few easy ways to get there.
Table of Contents
Nine Easy Ways Your Family Can Lead a More Eco-Friendly Lifestyle
Handle those Electronics
Many electronics within your home suck energy when you don’t even realize it. Your kitchen refrigerator will run more efficiently when you vacuum the coils and clean them with a wet dusting cloth on a monthly basis. That computer you have running in the home office may be in sleep mode, but it’s still utilizing a lot of energy. Shut off any electronics not in use at the end of every day. And unplug anything that doesn’t need to be plugged in overnight. Your toaster, for instance, can be unplugged.
Smart Thermostat
Keep your thermostat set to a lower level when you’re asleep at night and higher when you’re active in the home. Get an eco-friendly thermostat and install it in your home. A smart thermostat can be programmed to shift to a lower setting when you are on vacation. That’s my favourite thing about our Smart thermostat. This is such a simple way to start leading an eco-friendly lifestyle without much effort. Smart Thermostats save money while saving energy.
Recycle and Reuse
Many facilities have a zero-sort recycling drop off. This is where you can gather all recyclable materials and drop them without having to create multiple recycle bins for separate items. There are so many items we use on a daily basis that are recyclable. Recycling anything that has that little recycle symbol on its packaging will reduce your throw away trash dramatically. Consider reusing packaging and other recyclable items for décor, organizational efforts, and storage for other useful items in your life.
COLD WATER
This has been the easiest one for us. We wash 98 % of our laundry in cold water. It saves money and is better for the environment. Most washers and detergents do a superb job of cleaning with cold now. Cold water is a simple way to start leading a more eco-friendly lifestyle.
Cut Down on Paper
There are many companies who have started to offer paperless billing. Sign up to get your bills delivered electronically each month, cutting down your paper use. Let’s face it, many throw those statements away anyways and if you truly need one, the paperless option still allows you to print it out at home. File your taxes online, rather than mailing them. Reuse paper whenever you can. Use old printed statements or documents as scrap paper within the home for notes, instead of using up new paper for random notes.
Donate old Newspaper Mailings
There are so many flyers and newspapers in the world that get delivered to your mailbox. These papers often go without much use. Check with your local animal shelter to see if they need old newspapers or flyers. You may also reuse these items in your own home as fire starters for a campfire or the wood stove. OR switch to an app for your flyers and stop receiving flyers at your home. Leave a polite note near your front door or mailbox saying no flyers.
BUY Smarter
Look for products that are made from recycled products. Support brands that have a strong environmental commitment themselves. Easy to shop for paper products made with recycled products. Many of them are labelled with something green on the package.
Consolidate Errand Running
Whether you have a hybrid car or a regular gasoline vehicle, consolidating errand running will help reduce your carbon footprint and easily allow you to live an eco-friendly lifestyle. Consider making a to-do list of your errands each time you venture off to pay bills or pick up groceries. Make the trip more eco-friendly and efficient by doing everything in one day and plan the order in which you do them to reduce vehicle usage. This can easily be done without much effort.
Start Pricing a Hybrid Vehicle, or a Electronic Car
Ask around and you might be surprised. A colleague just purchased an electronic car and he’s indicated his savings on gas was swifter than anticipated. So, that return on investment has been fast and also he’s doing a good thing for the environment. Maybe you aren’t ready yet, but put this on your radar. Eventually most of us will need to make this switch to support a more eco-friendly lifestyle and protect the environment.
There you have it, a few easy ways to start leading an eco-friendly lifestyle without stressing out over extreme change. Slowly I’ve been working on making our home and our family more green. Like any habit, this takes time, but living a more eco-friendly lifestyle pays off. Let these tips guide you forward in reducing your carbon footprint and encouraging your family to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle every day.
22 Comments
Marysa
We do most of these things, but could improve on them. We also use cloth rags, so that we can cut down a lot on our use of paper towels. We also compost, which cuts down on a lot of what goes in the landfill.
Ashley
These are great tips for people trying to go green. We actually follow all of them ourselves. The kids know we have to protect our Earth!
Stacie @ Divine Lifestyle
I’m bookmarking this. With climate change becoming more and more serious and more and more people on the earth, we need to do what we can to reduce our carbon footprint.
Paula
Stacie: Exactly where I am at. I look at the climate and the bizarre weather and think this is completely our fault. We need to stop ruining things and take ownership for the environment we live in. Any small thing we do now definitely has impact. We really do need to work on carbon footprint.
Jeanette
I actually have a hybrid car and we actually love it quite a bit. Another thing that we do is wash everything in Coldwater as you mentioned here. It is very rare that I ever use hot water. You have some wonderful tips here. And I need to put a couple more of these into action.
Heather A Lawrence
We do most of these already but since our move we have added compositing to our list.
It’s surprising the amount you can cut down on when you recycle and compost.
We also have a smart thermostat that turns the heat down if it senses that we have been out of the house for over 30 min.
Lots of easy ways to cut down on use and cut down on cost for sure!
Heather
I never even thought to clean under the fridge to help with energy efficiency. I think our big problem area is our paper use. My kids do so many coloring crafts. We could be better at it and reuse as much scrap paper as we can and use both sides for jotting things down.
Lisa Favre
I should be using cold water more often because it really helps make a difference in such a small way. I would definitely like to buy an electric car one day!
NYC Single Mom
I am pretty much do most of your tips. I live in NYC so car is pretty much out of the picture for me personally. That said, I do wish more people would go electric. The environment, our lungs and my skin would be so appreciative.
Jennifer Van Huss
These are great tips!! I do most of them, but I always forget to dust behind the fridge, until it is hairier then the dog! I will have to try more often!
Jocelyn @ Hip Mama's Place
It feels amazing to have that kind of lifestyle that doesn’t contribute to damaging the Earth. These steps are easy to make and we can definitely do them on a regular basis.
Victoria Heckstall
Living an eco-friendly lifestyle is what we all need.It may helps us in all aspect. we should start recycling and reuse.
Joyce Duboise Santos
I literally JUST upgraded to a SMART Thermostat, so that’s one step I’m taking to an eco-friendly life for my family and I. I definitely still have work to do but I’m getting there. Thanks for the tips!
Heather
This is something I really want our family to be more aware of. We are working on ourselves but really need to think about the environment as well. Thanks for sharing these tips!
Amy
We actually do a bunch of these already. Next thing on our list is to get a smart thermostat. We currently have a non programmable one, but that is going to be changing soon.
Ricci
These are all great ways to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle! I already do some of these but I definitely need to do more. I have been seriously looking at some Smart Thermostats, I think those are such a great idea!!
Catalina
Having in future an electronic car would be wonderful! 🙂 I saw the new car models and they are really cool!
Gingermommy
These are really great tips to get your family to live an ECO friendly lifestyle! I have heard really great things about the SMART thermostats and have been considering one.
Nancy at Whispered Inspirations
I love the idea of cutting down on paper. That is a huge thing in our house! Great tips to help our family live a more eco friendly lifestyle.
Lynndee
We recycle and we do compost. More often than not, I use cold water in washing the clothes too. I would love to have a hybrid vehicle. One of these days. 🙂
Aduke Schulist
I admit, I am such a paper waster. I do recycle though, so I justify it that way
Angela Bethea
Yes this is a great tips to do our part in saving our planet in our own little way. Definitely worth sharing!