When you want to make a personal effort to go green, your home is typically a great place to start. And there are lots of little things that you can do to make that happen. And, although many people feel like whatever to do won’t ‘be enough,’ it is more a case of every little change that someone makes will equal a bigger overall global impact. There is where the difference happens.
Buy Local
Buying local makes a big difference not only to you but to the vendor that you choose to buy from. Often the veggies will be high quality; they won’t have been exposed to any harmful chemicals either. It isn’t just about that, though. There are millions of dollars and plentiful C02 emissions when transporting the product to a bigger supermarket.
Solar Panels
Even if you don’t live somewhere particularly sunny, you can massively benefit from having solar panels installed. You will see that over the sunnier months, you are likely producing more energy than you are using too. A key element of maximizing this year after year is booking a solar hot water system service.
Toilet
There is a trick that you can use to reduce the amount of water the household uses when it flushes the toilet. You can add a full water bottle into the cisterns. This will mean the water level in the cistern will be at the right height, but you will be using much less water for every flush. You might have to do a bit of trial and error with this one in order to get the amount of water in the bottle right.
The other option is to use a standard house brick instead. Or, if you are ready to upgrade your toilet get a low-flush, dual-flush model.
Natural Detergents
When you use a lot of harsh chemicals and then rinse it down the drain, those chemicals wreak havoc on the environment. Even more so when they end up in rivers, lakes, and other water sources. They then impact wildlife and the habits that they live in. You can opt to use more natural cleaning products. Usually, they will be biodegradable. And switch from bleach wipes to a reusable cloth too.
Go Digital
If you want to do something that makes a big impact, then set everything to digital. This will help you to reduce your paper usage. You can submit almost all forms online rather than need to post them, get travel tickets in an email, and every read newspapers online too.
Shopping
Most countries have a charge attached to using plastic bags. Not only that, but people end up with a cupboard full of them, and they take between 10 to 1,000 years to decompose. So one of the smallest and easiest changes that you can make is using a tote bag to do your shopping. If you have trouble remembering to bring your bags with you to the store, get one that folds down and that you can keep it in your handbag. Or hang one by where you usually have your car keys.
Planting
While there is a charm in having a range of more tropical species of plants in your garden, planting lots of native ones is a really great thing to do. If you add plenty of native plants, then you will be encouraging the wildlife in the area to make use of it. If you are really into making the most of your garden, there are a few places that you can plant hedges or trees that will help to regulate your home’s temperature. As well as acting as a natural pest deterrent.
Lightbulbs
This is a simple change but can use between 70-90% less energy on average than a conventional bulb. Not only that, but an LED bulb lasts longer too. The best thing to do is to buy them on sale or replace them over time, so you don’t spend too much upfront.
Never Half
If you are tempted to do a half load of washing or dishes, then resist the temptation. By waiting until it is full, you can make full use of the water and the energy it takes to run it.
Power Strips
Plug all of your big electronics into a powerstrip. When your TV, cable boxes, routers, computers, and other big electronics will eat electricity all day. If you put them on a power strip, you can use one button to turn them all off. There are plenty of other electricals that are known as vampire power drains.
And there you have it a few small changes that will help the environment, and your bank balance too.
