In my family, my sister is our natural resource guru, she finds different natural remedies and she lets the family know what they should be doing and what they shouldn’t be doing. We give her a hard time, but its all love we know she means well with all of her suggestions. Over the last few years, she has introduced us all to using essential oils and taking a holistic approach to our lifestyles…and living green.
My husband researched ways to conserve energy in our home since we live in a townhouse. He has changed all of our lightbulbs to energy-efficient bulbs, and ways to conserve water with “line-drying” as many of our clothes as possible. If you are willing to do your own research, there are small changes you can make on a daily basis to live better and healthier.
I must admit this transition hasn’t been the easiest but we work daily to make better choices for our family!
Using cheap ways to go green at home not only saves individual homeowner money but also preserves valuable natural resources for future generations. The overwhelming majority of measures that can be used to go green at home are painless and require little effort beyond making a conscious commitment to changing the way we live for the betterment of our planet.
The result, however, can be seen quickly in the amount of savings that can be accomplished in a very short time frame by using as many cheap ways to go green at home as possible. To top these actions off, it will be a real eye-opener for most people when they discover how truly wasteful they have been over the years, and how much money could have been saved by simply paying a bit more attention to ecological concerns.
Two of the best cheap ways to go green at home…is to conserve as much energy and water as can be comfortably reduced from everyday life. Turning down the thermostat of a home’s furnace and water heater can present significant savings, and the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs is an excellent tool to reduce energy consumption. Purchasing energy-efficient appliances and washing clothes in cold water when possible and then drying them on a clothesline is a great way to save money on energy costs while helping the environment.
Using low-flow showerheads and collecting rainwater for garden use can save thousands of gallons of water over the course of a year, and put a few hundred extra dollars into the pocket of an average homeowner. Even something as simple as planting drought-resistant plants and flowers can eliminate the need for frequent watering and is a very smart cheap way to go green at home.
Changing how we shop for necessary items in the home present a wonderful opportunity to go green at home. Purchasing second-hand items that are still functional preserves the resources that would normally be used to manufacture new ones. In the same manner, using old rags instead of paper towels to clean with and making homemade cleaning agents from natural material such as lemon juice can save a good amount of money and resources.
One of the very best cheap ways to go green at home is to purchase locally grown food, as it eliminates the energy resources necessary to ship food items in from a thousand miles or more away.
Ways you can go Green…
Plant a Backyard Garden…I tried this summer to create a window garden, my herbs did well (this is an option if you don’t have a yard)
Stop using disposable bags. Get some reusable bags
Don’t turn on lights at all for as long as you can — open your curtains and use natural light.
Shop at local farmers markets
Pay Bills Online
Reuse scrap paper. Print on two sides, or let your kids color on the backside of used paper.
Make your own household cleaners.
Fix Leaky Faucets
Unplug unused chargers and appliances.
Repurpose old towels and t-shirts and cut them into small cleaning cloths.
Repurpose glass jars as leftover containers and bulk storage