As most of you know I’m not “going green” I am pretty much “gone green” in my home at least within reason lol I still use plastic bags and paper towels from time to time and I don’t always remember to take my fabric grocery bags into the store with me etc. (To be fair though every plastic bag I bring home I reuse.) As for cleaning products in my home there I went green years upon years ago and I make all of my own hand soap, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, lotions, all household cleaners etc. In that case it was more because of my sensitive skin but you know one incredibly awesome perk I’ve found with going green? It’s save me a TON of money!

(This is a contributed post, for more information about my compensation please read my disclosure policy)

If you haven’t noticed, more and more people are adopting new ways of living. People are making healthier food choices and people are even incorporating more physical activity into their daily lives.

Those changes are not only improving the lives of the people making those changes but it’s also positively impacting the lives of others. How is that so? Because everybody longs to be inspired by something or someone… it’s human nature.

How many times have you seen someone who had weight issues transform into a new person by eating the right foods and exercising? You see it all the time. Success stories like that inspire and motivate others to do better and be better. It’s one of those “if they can do it, so can I!”

Diet and exercise is one of the biggest areas where people strive to change their bad habits and adopt new ways of achieving excellent overall health but do you know another area where people strive to do better and be better in?

People strive every day to live a more eco-friendly life. Yes, you can definitely do your part by recycling but the more people are aware of the things that hurt our environment, the more people want to take bigger steps to be more eco-friendly in all areas of their life.

Now, the journey to being more eco-friendly isn’t an easy one and if you take on too much at once, you could, in turn, get exhausted of it and not want to do it… that could be said with any lifestyle change. That’s why it’s important to start out taking baby steps.

The easiest way to begin your journey to living a more eco-friendly lifestyle is to start off at home; make your home more eco-friendly first and then you can branch out and incorporate other green aspects to your life.

When cleaning your home, use natural cleaning products

People tend to think that in order to get your home clean you have to use cleaning products full of chemicals. Those cleaning products might get your home clean but the chemicals in it are doing great harm to your environment. Just think about it.

When you use these products to clean the toilet and bathtub, you can’t just leave them in the toilet or tub sitting there… you have to either flush or rinse those chemicals out with water.

So what does that mean for the environment?

That means that those harmful chemicals you used to clean your kitchen and bathroom are being flushed into the water supply and there will have to be more of a purification process before the water is safe to be used again. That reason alone is why it’s so important to embrace natural cleaning products and go green.

Did you know that typical items found in your kitchen pantry can be used to clean your entire home? Lots of people don’t even know all the uses of white vinegar as a cleaning agent… it works wonders on hardwood floors.

Not only that but things like mustard powder, oranges, and lemons all are wonderful natural cleaning agents for your home and they aren’t harmful to the environment either.

(I absolutely LOVE my new pellet stove. I switched to it from wood for a thousand very good reasons but one amazing perk is that it is a FAR greener and eco-friendly choice too!)

If you have a fireplace, learn how to utilize it in an eco-friendly way

There are plenty of people who have fireplaces in their homes but are afraid to use it because they feel like it is going to harm the environment.

Well, the thing about fireplaces is that using them can be quite harmful but that’s only if you use the fireplace in a non-eco-friendly way. In order to use a fireplace in your home in a green way, make sure you’re following these tips:

• Make sure you’re only burning seasoned firewood (dry firewood). Seasoned firewood is the best burning practice you can do and the particulate matter that’s released into the air is drastically reduced.
• Make sure the firewood is not only seasoned but that it’s also hardwood, if possible. Wood from Hardwood trees burn a lot cleaner plus the fires last a lot longer. If you’re not too sure which trees are Hardwood trees, you can never go wrong with wood from these trees:
  • Oak
  • Maple
  • Walnut
  • Cherry
  • Birch
• You want to always keep your chimney clean and in good working condition after each use. This is definitely something you shouldn’t try to do on your own. For periodic and annual chimney cleaning, look for chimney cleaning specialists that will get the job done for you.

When showering, be more conscious about your water usage

After a long day at work or in the gym, the only thing that’s on our mind is coming home and taking a nice hot shower.

People will typically spend around 15 minutes in the shower but according to wellandgood.com, the average American only needs 8.2 minutes of shower time to get their entire body clean. If you do the math of it all, the average American will spend an hour in the shower and nearly 120 gallons of water in just one week!

That statistic is pretty alarming but that’s not even the alarming part… the scary part is that the statistic for how long a person can get their body clean, which is 8.2 minutes. That statistic doesn’t reflect how long people really stay in the shower, which can actually be 30 minutes to an hour, on average.

Just imagine how long a shower could be when you incorporate washing your hair and shaving your legs… If you want to be more serious about your water usage in your home, you should consider low-flow showerheads and dual-flush conversion kits.

All in All

Incorporating eco-friendly habits into your daily life is not something to be taken so lightly. It genuinely is a lifestyle change that you will need to make sure you’re ready for, which is why it’s best to start making little changes at home.

Starting at home will at least allow you to slowly adjust and make changes little by little without being judged.

(This is a contributed post, for more information about my compensation please read my disclosure policy)