5 Easy Ways to Make Your Home More Sustainable
I love how more and more homeowners are becoming more aware of how we impact the planet. There’s some easy choices you can make at home to create a more sustainable and eco-conscious space - with benefits not just for the environment, but for your wallet and family too.
Create a backyard garden
Gardening is one of my absolute favorite things And I know that it does so much good for the planet and for my family. Did you know that having an organic veggie garden can save you 68 lb of CO2 a year? And that's just the beginning! Gardening is such a beautiful way to connect more with the planet and with your family, while growing beautiful flowers, herbs, vegetables, or whatever feels right for your home.
Gardening allows you to have a sustainable food source as well as give back to the planet with beautiful plants and more green spaces. Plus, it’s one of my all-time favorite ways to come back to the Earth, remember how beautiful it is, and see all the amazing things nature can do. It’s also a great way to show your kids why the planet matters too!
Start composting
It really can be as simple as an intentional bucket on the kitchen counter, or a bin in the backyard. Instead of throwing food or organic waste away, you can put things like cardboard, grass, leaves, and food waste into a compost pile. It can be as easy as having an outdoor compost bin, or there are options that can be stored in your kitchen with no mess and no weird smells.
I always recommend keeping the pile moist, turning it regularly, and adding new material to keep the composting process going. Composting not only helps the environment by reusing material, but it adds nutrients to garden bed soil. And it's a great thing to have if you’re starting that home garden!
Swap to LED Lights
It's a quick swap, but LED lights really do make such a difference for the environment. The greenhouse gas emissions from LED lights are significantly lower than any other form of light bulb. Plus, it has the great added benefit of you don't have to change your lights as often! LED lights can change colors, connected to your smart home devices, or be set on a timer.
These energy efficient bulbs can support both you and your household by not only being more environmentally friendly, but just more convenient for you in the long run! You can also easily use LED lights both indoors and outdoors. So I suggest changing all your bulbs to LED!
Repair, Don’t Replace Items
Learning how to care for and extend the lifespan of your items can make such a big impact on the planet. Landfills get way too full of single-use or mishandled items, and it just doesn’t need to be that way! Whether you want to learn how to care for your items yourself, or take some intentional time to find people who can- this can make such a difference in your home and carbon footprint.
Make friends with a seamstress, repairman, handyman, tailor, or people who know the secret to a good deep clean or refurbishing. So many of your furniture items, clothing, household goods, and everyday items can last for years and years if cared for correctly and handled with care. And it’s such a beautiful and important mindset shift while trying to be more sustainable. The real goal here is to not see your items as disposable as soon as they have a small imperfection. Train yourself to look for ways to help your stuff last longer and not end up in a trash pile because of a very fixable issue.
Set your Lights on a Timer
We’re all guilty of forgetting to turn the lights off sometimes- so setting your lights to a timer might be the perfect solution for you! You can get timers, download apps for smart plugs, or buy LED bulbs that connect to smart devices or your phone to help you feel just that much more on top of your energy usage. Finding easy ways to make sure lights stay on or off based on when you’re actually using them can help not only with your power bill- but your energy consumption and impact on the planet.
Time-based lights might also be a great idea for the Christmas tree, outdoor lights, patio lights, kitchen lights, and hallway nightlights. It might work great for your family to have hallway nightlights instead of needing to turn on a big light every night, or for the tree to just pop on and off based on the time of day. Plus, combining timed lights with items like smart plugs and voice-activated lights, can make your home just that much more energy efficient (for you and the planet!)
Sustainability can feel like such a big task, but with some easy swaps and choices, your home can get just that much more green. Those small, easy choices really do add up and as we all make the swaps we need to- we can make such a big impact on our beautiful planet.
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