Easy Green Tips to Making Positive Changes

Ready to start living a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle?

There are so many things you can do to make improvements and help you live a more green, healthy and positive life—then it may be time to start making some changes. There are so many benefits that come with living a green life. You will not only feel better and healthier, but you can actually do your part to help the planet as well. By doing your best to ditch harmful chemicals, eliminate unhealthy foods and start adopting more earth-friendly practices, you can start living the healthy, balanced life you deserve. Take a look at these easy green tips and start making the positive changes you need to improve your lifestyle and our planet today.

Save Energy

The little things that you do every day to save energy may seem like it is a great way to save a few dollars and cents throughout the year. However, your efforts to save energy can go a lot farther than that and do more than just help your budget—it can help the entire planet. The great thing about making an effort to save energy, is there are so many different things that you can do in order save a little energy here and there. And these things don’t take a great deal of time or money to complete.

Here are some easy, everyday tips on how you can easily start saving energy:

Turn everything off when you aren’t using it, including appliances. This may seem like a relatively obvious point, but it is one that is worth mentioning. This means your computers, speakers and televisions.
Unplug your chargers. A lot of us have a bad habit of leaving our chargers plugged in all of the time, even when we aren’t using them. Doing this can actually suck out “vampire energy” even if you don’t realize it.
Lower your thermostat. By simply reducing the temperature on your heating system by a couple of degrees—you can end up saving a lot of energy and a lot of money. Chances are, you will barely notice the difference in comfort in your home—but you will start to notice the difference on your wallet. Plus, if you are feeling too cold, just grab a sweater—it is a much more eco-friendly option.
Wash your clothes on “cold.” Most of the energy we use when washing clothes actually has to do with the energy needed to heat the water. Instead, wash your clothes on cold. It is not only good for your energy bill, but it is actually good for your clothes as well.

Once you set up an energy-saving plan like this, you will be surprised by how much of an impact it can have on your monthly energy bills.

Replace Your Lightbulbs

Replacing your lightbulbs is an easy and cost-efficient way to save money. Buy new LED, energy efficient lightbulbs for your home and go through to replace all of your existing bulbs with these energy-efficient options. Your new LED light bulbs may be more money upfront than old lightbulbs, but they will more than pay for themselves once you have them in your home. Make sure to go through and replace the lights in your ceilings, in your chandeliers and ceiling fixtures and all of your lamps.

Energy-efficient lightbulbs use much less energy than their incandescent counterparts, because they give off less heat, and ultimately use between 25-80% less energy. Plus, these light bulbs can last up to 25 times longer than traditional lightbulbs. You can save around $4 per lightbulb per year in your house while swapping out a 60W traditional incandescent bulb with a 12W LED bulb. If you multiply that by all of the lightbulbs in your home—that can lead to a lot of savings.

Save Water

EcoVessel The Boulder Trimax Insulated Water Bottle 20 oz.

If you want to do your part to help save the planet, then attempting to save water is a great way to do this. If you want to save water, then there are so many little things you can do on a daily basis that will help make sure that you aren’t wasting or using water when you don’t need to.

Here are a few easy things to help you get started:

Fix leaks in your plumbing system.
Take shorter showers. Just set a timer so you know when it’s time to get out.
Turn off the water when you are brushing your teeth.
Use short cycles when washing your clothes. Just turn it to the “Eco Wash” setting.
Replace your shower head with a low-flor option.
Install aerator taps to reduce water flow and improving tap stream pressure.

These little tips will help lower your monthly water bill and help you feel good about wasting less of our planet’s water.

Share Car Rides

While you may not think about it in the moment, every time you get in your car, you are actually using a lot of gas and putting out a lot of exhaust and chemicals in to the environment. While most people can’t just afford to get an electric car or stop driving all together—there are things that you can do in order to eliminate how much exhaust you are putting out into the world.

You can carpool and share car rides when you go to work or are planning on taking a long car ride. Whenever you can, consider carpooling, it will save everyone gas and help save the planet. If you can’t organically find others to carpool with, then consider looking social media, through neighborhood groups like NextDoor or through programs in your office building. There are many car-share and carpool groups out there that are dedicated to helping people find ways to share rides.

There are even things that you can do when you are using popular services like Uber or Lyft. These companies now have split-fare features, where you can share a car with individuals going in a similar direction that you are. These fares are not only typically much cheaper than normal fees, but they allow you to carpool as well—even if you don’t know who you are carpooling with yet!

Avoid Bottled Water

Tree Tribe Green Trees Stainless Steel Bottle 20 oz.

It can be really easy to just reach for a grab a single-use, plastic water bottle whenever you need hydration on-the-go. However, using plastic water bottles is bad for the planet. Instead of reusing plastic water bottles, there are a few ways that you can get around this. It can be as simple as getting yourself a reusable water bottle that you can take with you on-the-go. To make sure you always have a water bottle handle, consider putting one in your home, one at the office and one in your car.

Just make sure that you are looking for a healthy, BPA-free water bottle that won’t inadvertently cause you to inhale unwanted chemicals. If you are worried about being able to find filtered water while you are out and on-the-go, you can also consider getting a water bottle with a built-in filter in it. This allows you to get safe drinking water anywhere you are, as long as you can access a sink!

In order to transition from plastic water bottles to a reusable water bottle, you are going to have to start developing new habits. This can take a lot of time, effort and consistency. It takes around a month to really form a habit, so be patient and don’t give up—over time, you will be used to carrying around your water bottle instead of buying individual ones while you are out and about.

Use Reusable Bags

Reusable bags are a great way to do your part to save the environment and reduce waste while you’re at it. Reusable bags are often made of recycled materials and allow you to go to the grocery store, drugstore or mall without wasting single use bags. The best part about reusable bags is that they are often bigger, more durable and easier to carry than the single-use bags that you will find at many retailers. There are even bags that have built-in insulation as well so that you can store all of your cold or frozen items from the store in them, without worrying about them “losing their cool.”

As if you needed some extra incentive, another great things about switching over to reusable bags, there are now certain grocery stores that are offering special incentives for those who decide to use reusable bags. Some grocery stores will actually give you a discount of a few cents for using reusable bags. There are also certain counties across the country that will actually charge you a few cents to use their bags if you don’t bring your own bags. Little incentives like this are going a long way in helping to reduce the number of bags we use and the amount of waste we are putting back in to our planet.

Freecycle

Patagonia R1 Lite Yulex Long-Sleeved Spring Jane Suit

If you haven’t already tried freecycling, there is no better time to give it a try. Freecycle is a popular, internet-based service with an active community of members. This site is dedicated to helping people find and share reusable items.

It is a great way to give new life to unwanted goods (and to find some great freebies as well). This site is also a great way to help others and to upcycled your unwanted goods to someone who needs them. Plus, everything on freecycle is free!

Green Gifting

Next time you are planning on giving a gift to someone special, consider “green gifting” instead of a traditional gift. Green gifts are simply gifts that encourage others to live a more green lifestyle.

Here are a few different green gift options:

Stainless steel water bottles
Reusable straws
Thrifted gifts
Experience gifts or classes
Homemade items
Reusable shopping bags
Gifts that help conservation such as donations to the WWF
Recycled gifts
Gifts to cut down on energy use like the Nest system

You can also consider getting an eco-friendly, green gift such as a tree, a plant or considering a green gift that comes without any packaging.

Garden/ Food Resource

Chelsea Green Publishing: The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables

If you are looking for ways to live a more green life with your good choices. Starting, growing and maintaining your own garden is a great way to eat healthier and reduce the amount of waste that comes with buying food locally. Growing your own food is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint—and save you money.

Other things you can do as part of this effort is to start a compost heap. By putting all of your food scraps into your compost pile instead of having them rot in a dump and giving off greenhouse grass, you can turn this unwanted food into fertilizers that will maintain soil health and can be used in gardens instead of fertilizer.

About 40 percent of food in the United States gets thrown away—this is a great way to make sure that your food is actually being reused in a positive way.

Buy From Local Farmers

Botanical Interests Heirloom Organic Seed Bank Collection

If you are looking to live a more green lifestyle and do your community a favor while you’re at it, then consider buying from local farmers. This is a great way to support members of your community and to help farmers in your neighborhood support their small business. Plus, when you buy local you can enjoy eating safe, green, healthy food that is good for you—instead of worrying about buying food that is processed or filled with chemicals or GMOs. There are many ways that you can do this. You can visit local farmer’s markets to buy the vegetables, fruits, produce, jams and jellies that local farmers are selling.

There are also many local markets that focus on selling food and creations from local farmers right in the supermarket. Another option is to buy a CSA share. This Community Supported Agriculture share will help make sure that you are getting fresh picks from local farmers every week. Depending on your individual community, you can either get your goods delivered right to your door, or pick them up at a convenient location every week.

Choose Plant-Based Cleaning Products

Eat Cleaner Kitchen Bundle Natural Cleaning Kit

The cleaning products that you use in your home every day can have a major impact on how safe and healthy your space is. While you may not think that your cleaning products are particularly toxic (especially if you end up with a clean looking home), they can actually do more harm than many people realize. Many times, the most powerful cleaning products are filled with the most chemicals, and these chemicals can be harmful to you, your kids or your pets. Instead of using these chemical-ridden products, consider swapping out your items for natural, plant-based cleaning products.

Plant-based cleaning supplies that use safe and natural elements like vinegar or baking soda are not only healthy and less damaging to the environment, but they can help you save money in the long-run. There are also many great recipes online that will help you make your own budget-friendly, natural cleaning products that you can use in your home.

Go Paperless

In today’s digital age, it is easier than ever to go paperless! There are many ways you can do this:

Sign up for e-banking statements
Have all of your bills sent to you electronically or sign up for auto-pay
Read your books and magazines on an e-reader instead of buying paper copies
Scan and store your personal documents.
Opt out of junk mail lists to reduce the amount of paper mail you receive
Start purging and recycling
Use a tablet or cell phone for notes and grocery lists

These changes are so easy to make and they can go a long way in helping reduce your individual paper consumption. Of course, when you do use paper, make sure that you recycle this paper when you are done.

Staycation/Vacation

If you are looking for a great way to relax, unwind and take care of yourself, then planning a staycation vacation in your local neighborhood is a great place to start! Plan a green staycation to give yourself a healthy reprieve from the daily stressors of your life without having a serious impact on the environment.

What many people don’t realize about vacations is that these holidays they take can often have damaging impacts on the place that people vacation to. Vacations mean more fuel consumption, pollution and even damage to natural habitats. You can lessen that impact with your own green staycation right at home!

Live Better Healthier With These Green Tips

If you are looking for some more green tips that will help you live a better, healthier lifestyle, then keep these tips in mind. All of these lifestyle tips are simple and easy to incorporate into your every routine. Start making these changes and trying these new experiences and you can start living a life that is more green, more healthy and better for you and the entire planet.

Karen A Mulvey is a personal social blogger and mom with 14 years of experience in the every day world of motherhood and sustainable product research. Karen is on a mission to help everyday families select sustainable, non-toxic organic products, stop stressing about uncertainties on sustainable home goods and apparel, and start living the life they’ve always wanted.

Follow Karen at @karenAmulveycs | Karen A Mulvey