Ten Ways to Keep an Eco-Friendly Home and Practice Sustainable Living

With the environment a serious concern these days, finding ways to practice sustainable living is really important, and thankfully top priority for many people. Whether you are the head of your household or still live with your parents, encouraging sustainable living practices is a great way to help the environment. It may not seem like a lot, but every little bit helps. Every person who practices sustainable living actually influences many around them, and this helps the environment significantly. Here are ten ways you can practice sustainable living in your home.

1. Showers

Saving on water is essential to sustainable living. Getting in the habit of taking 3-5 minute showers instead of 30 minute showers not only saves on your heating and water bills, but will help the environment.

2. Recycle!

This may seem obvious, but recycling is an absolutely necessary part of sustainable living. One can or bottle can be reused many times, making it unnecessary to produce more and more.

3. Paper

Whether your three year old loves coloring or you are a student who takes many notes, encouraging everyone to use both sides of every piece of paper is a great way to practice sustainable living. You will get twice the use out of every piece, and you can then recycle to further your sustainable living goals!

4. Electricity

A big part of sustainable living is the use of energy, electricity included. Doing simple things like shutting off the lights when you leave a room and keeping the house dark at night and while you’re running errands can really help your sustainable living effort.

5. Gasoline

Using as little gasoline as possible is, quite obviously, a major concern these days because of gas prices, but also because of the environment. Finding ways to save on gas will not only save your wallet, but can provide sustainable living as well. Take the bus, carpool with a friend, or simply practice driving less.

6. Plastic

When you have children, it is tempting to buy loads full of the newest plastic toys for them to play with. Unfortunately, this is not the way to go if you want to practice sustainable living. Consider more wood based toys, as they will last longer and can be burned instead of thrown away when they become old or broken.

7. Cleaning your home.

Use eco-friendly household cleaners like Simple Green when you are cleaning your home. This will keep any bad chemicals away from you and your family and make sustainable living even easier.

8. Clothing

Clothing takes a lot of energy and materials to produce and transport for customers to buy. Sustainable living can be achieved by buying used clothing and exchanging some of you old clothes in too. You can also practice sustainable living by wearing your clothes until you actually need new ones, and cutting on unnecessary shopping sprees.

9. Food

Plant a garden for sustainable living! You will spend less gas going to the market for vegetables, you can be sure you’re plants are organic, and you will have healthier and tastier produce every day. Planting a garden for your family is an excellent way to enhance sustainable living.

10. Use Reusable Items

Paper plates, paper napkins, and plastic silverware that you can throw away are very damaging to sustainable living. It may be easier to throw them away instead of having to do all those dishes, but it hurts the environment. Practice using dishes and silverware that you can scrub and reuse, and cloth napkins that you can wash and place out again the next night to help sustainable living.