The Hubby and I have been trying lately to be a little greener when it comes to the way we run our household.
We’re not going to go all extreme and start using washable cloth TP or anything (that was either an episode of Extreme Cheapskates or Extreme Couponers, but whichever it was, I will not forget the way I felt when I first heard about it!) What we are doing is trying to make small changes in our daily routine that will help the environment and, hopefully, also help us save a little money at the same time.
Here are some of the changes we’ve brainstormed so far:
- Only run the laundry when it’s full, and run everything on “cold” unless it’s really super dirty.
- Line dry laundry when it’s nice outside. (So much nicer anyway!)
- Turn off lights in rooms we’re not in. (We’re both really bad about this.)
- Shut our computers down when we’re done with them instead of letting them go into “sleep” mode.
- Start taking shorter showers. (This will be tough because I love my long, hot showers!)
- Get The Hubby to stop leaving the water running when he brushes his teeth, hand washes dishes, etc. (Hear that, Hubby?) 🙂
- Recycle more on a regular basis.
- Use cloths and rags for cleaning instead of paper towels.
- Buy some inexpensive, easily washable cloth napkins instead of using paper all the time.
- Maybe start a compost pile in the backyard? (Has anyone done this before? Any tips?)
- Buy more natural/organic cleaning products. (Not necessarily price smart, I know, but I think I’d feel better with Big Dog and Little Dog around if I was using safer options…and I’m sure it’s better for us, too, not to be around too many chemicals.)
- Setting up rain barrels in the yard to collect water we can then use to water our garden!
How do you make your household “greener”? Any other tips we can try out?
~Heart,
Em
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photo credit: Artondra Hall
We turn off every light in rooms that we´re not in. There´s no need for the light to be on in the bathroom or the hallway all the day long, when we´re not there. we dry our clothes inside on a clothing drying rack, but this is mostly because we don´t have a dryer. But it all saves a lot of money and it´s greener:-)
I forgot that one! I do use a drying rack whenever possible, largely because I’m paranoid that many of our pieces of clothing will shrink or get overly worn out if I put them in the dryer. 😛
A lot of great tips! I wash all my laundry on cold as well.
(PS Welcome to Social Fabric)
Thank you! Glad to be a part of it. 🙂