Becoming more eco-friendly can often be much more challenging than it appears. It’s a complete lifestyle change that requires you to be more conscious about everything you do – how you shop, how you cook, how you do your laundry, how you vacation.
Going all in and trying to make your household 100% sustainable can feel much like you’re on a yo-yo diet – it’s difficult, you commit for a little while, see some results, then you go back to your old habits.
If you want to get out of this vicious cycle, it’s critical that you start slow and gradually work your way up. Instead of investing all your efforts into creating a sustainable home overnight, commit to taking one small step at a time. You’ll see the benefits soon enough.
So, let’s take a look at a few small, affordable steps you can take to make your home more sustainable.
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Start Using Water Filters
Water bottles are some of the biggest contributors to plastic pollution. In the US alone, over 50 billion water bottles are bought each year, 80% of which end up in landfills despite the various recycling initiatives. Inordinate amounts of oil, water, and energy are used just to produce all these bottles, so if you want a more sustainable home, you need to stop using them.
Fortunately, that’s simple enough. Tap water is generally considered to be safe in the US, and if you want to ensure its utmost quality, all you need is a water filter.
Water filter jugs are an inexpensive solution that’s suitable for your entire household. And to have filtered water on the go, all you need is a reusable water bottle that you can easily fill up.
It’s a minor change, but one that can have a massive impact on your home’s sustainability.
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Use Cold Water for Washing Clothes
Running a load of laundry doesn’t actually require all that much energy, regardless of how many cycles your washing machine goes through. What does require energy is heating up the water for laundry washing. 90% of the energy used by your washing machine is spent solely on heating the water.
So, next time you’re doing your laundry, run it on cold water. As long as you have a high-efficiency detergent and you’re not trying to remove stubborn stains (like from oil), your clothes will come out good as new. And if possible, once you’re done with your laundry, line-dry it outside.
These two small changes provide several benefits – you’ll use less energy, your clothes will last longer, and your laundry will smell better.
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Update Your Insulation
Insulation plays a critical part in the sustainability of your home. With poor insulation, you’ll need to run your HVAC system on higher settings during the colder and warmer months since the hot/cold air will seep out. Of course, this means you’ll be wasting more energy and more money on your utility bills.
While updating your insulation can be a hefty investment, it’s one that pays off quickly. At the very least, you should consider properly insulating your doors and windows and getting an eco-friendly window treatment. It will help keep your house warmer in winter and cooler in summer.
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Use a Smart Thermostat
If you live in a harsher climate, updating your insulation won’t be enough to keep your home at a comfortable temperature throughout the year. You’ll still need to rely on your HVAC system. But to do so sustainably, you should install a smart thermostat.
It will allow you to monitor your HVAC system and keep the temperature at a comfortable level without making your home feel like a freezer during the hottest months or like a sauna during the coldest months.
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Recycle Old Tech
Recycling is crucial if you want to live in a sustainable household. But it’s not just about composting your waste or separating your trash into organic, plastic, glass, and metal. You’ll also need to dispose of your old tech responsibly.
Computer recycling services can help you reduce your environmental footprint and improve the sustainability of your home. Old tech can be quite complex for recycling as it consists of many different parts that require different treatments. So, instead of adding to the clutter by keeping old computers in a drawer or simply throwing them in the trash, you need to send them to a responsible recycling company.
Reliable computer recycling services will also ensure secure data destruction so you can keep your privacy and our environment safe and sound.
The Bottom Line
Making your household more sustainable doesn’t have to be complicated. A few small changes can make quite an impact and help you easily transition to an eco-friendly lifestyle. So, start small and do your part to make our world a better place.
