Green Living means making lifestyle decisions and engaging in practices which reduce negative impact on and promote the health of the planet and its creatures.
Doing your part to protect the environment doesn’t have to be difficult. Making every effort to conserve energy and preserve the environment just makes sense. You don’t need extra time or money to look after the planet – there are plenty of small, simple ways that you can help, starting with your own household.
Save Energy
Create A Smart-Home System That Saves Energy Use – It is easier to control and save energy if you are managing the home remotely via your smartphone or computer. Some examples include Sonos, Hive or Apple’s HomeKit.
You can reduce your energy consumption by installing motion sensor lights in rooms that are frequently used. This way, lights turn on only when someone enters the room, saving the house from wasting energy on people who aren’t actually there.
Switch to LED Lighting – LED lights last longer, cost less to operate and provide better light quality than regular lights. They are also energy efficient and consume 80% less energy.
Switch to eco-friendly cleaning products
Of course you use cleaning products, but do you know what they are? Do you know where they come from, or how they compare with the alternatives? Most of us probably don’t, but that’s why more people should.
There are plenty of really good eco-friendly alternatives that are a better value than the standard brands – like All Clean, Proctor & Gamble’s top brand, which has been known to come out with environmentally-friendly products more often than the competition. Switching to such products can mean big savings in the long run, too, as you can often use their cleaning agents in other areas of the home that you didn’t realise you needed them in.
Compost
If your local council has schemes to compost your household food waste, and you take the time to turn it into rich, nutrient-rich soil, you could be saving a lot of money in the long run. Once you have given it a go, you’ll never know how much you’ve saved in electricity bills, as well as making a noticeable difference to your home’s health.
Installing Low-Energy Lights
If your lighting is only on for an hour or so at night, switching it off could help save you a lot of money, and is a great way to cut back on your carbon footprint. It’s also a very simple and cost-effective way of making your home much more energy efficient.
Use sustainable packaging
Recycling is just the beginning, and many packaging companies are now offering more environmentally friendly options. Rather than buying single use plastic bottles, take reusable bottles and water bottles. With a little effort and preparation, you can also reuse the plastic containers in your pantry to store leftovers or even fresh produce. The EarthMate Personalised Stainless Steel Stainless Water Bottles are a great place to start.
Utilise smart meters
Smart meters use technology that can tell you exactly how much energy you’re using, down to the unit. This means that you can work out if you’re using energy in the right place and at the right time, and then see how you could improve your energy consumption.
Reduce, reuse, recycle
It sounds like an easy, circular logic, but creating a garden will naturally reduce your need to purchase land, and it makes sense to recycle everything you can. Recycling is all about reducing the amount of waste in your rubbish bin and recycling in order to reduce your dependency on landfills. When you buy an item, whether it be food, clothes or another household item, the idea is to do everything you can to reduce its waste, and to ensure it doesn’t end up in a landfill.
Buy locally grown
Another way to help the planet is to purchase food, clothes or any other household items that you know are grown within 100 miles of your home.
Support local farmers
By supporting the local farmer, you’re helping the people who grow your food, and you’re supporting your local economy. By shopping from local businesses, you’re buying local products. Although the term “organic” is a bit misleading, buying your produce from organic farms is a sure way to promote a more sustainable way of eating and living. When you shop local, you help keep your food local, and it helps to preserve the health of the environment, too.
Save energy
Set your thermostat to 60 degrees when you’re not home. Switch off lights when you leave a room. If you have more than one room with the same fixture, look into replacing them all with LED bulbs, which use a fraction of the energy that traditional bulbs do.
Building a simple waste recycling program into your daily routine, making a few simple changes, and being an active participant in making your surroundings a better place, will help the environment in the long run. If you are looking for an actionable plan, we recommend going through the plan laid out in our article.
