Small steps to sustainable living are the best place for families to start with a more green lifestyle. Often people will dive in with big changes and when they are imperfect at keeping up with those changes they can feel discouraged and often stop working towards their goals of being more sustainable because of how hard making green changes can be. When we take baby steps to a more green lifestyle and work our way up we open ourselves up to great opportunities to grow in our green lifestyle while making the changes easier to stick with. Big changes may have a larger initial impact, but small changes add up over time and can have a bigger impact when they start to combine.
Reusable bags are an easy baby step. More and more communities and stores are making the announcement that they are moving away from one-time-use plastic bags. This is a blessing to the environment but can be a bit scary to consumers. If the idea of carrying bags with you into the store is not appealing you can do something that makes your life even easier.
Have your cashier load your groceries right back into your cart without a bag. When you get out to your car sort everything into the baskets. One for cold foods that need put away quickly and another for pantry foods you can worry about later. This makes putting food away easy and the laundry baskets can make carrying the groceries into the house a breeze.
One bag people do not realize they can skip is the plastic produce bags in the store. These are not needed to check out and are a big drain on the environment. Skip the bags and opt to simply place the foods in your cart. If you are worried about germs remember that many people have already touched your produce and you should always wash it when you get home from the store. If you are worried about the organization of your product you can order mesh produce bags online or sew your own.
Cleaning supplies are a major cause of air and water pollution. By opting to use environmentally safe cleaning products you help to keep the air and water healthier and protect your families lungs while you are cleaning by improving the air quality in your home. And no complicated concoctions necessary! Between vinegar, baking soda, and water you can fully clean your home.
One hidden place chemicals and toxins can be found is in our air fresheners. These chemicals are bad for the environment and they are bad for our health. To make it even worse we use these inside our homes on a daily basis where we close off our homes trapping the toxins in with our families. Instead, opt for safe and natural home fragrance options like bath salts and essential oils for making your home smell fresh without using harmful chemicals. However - if you have pets or children in your home, please do your research on what essential oils are safe to use around kids and pets.
Another place we put a lot of chemicals out into the world is through our laundry products including dryer sheets and fabric softeners. A great alternative is to get dryer balls. Wool dryer balls can even have a few drops of essential oils added to help add a fresh fragrance to your laundry if you miss the added fragrance of dryer sheets.
Sign up for digital billing wherever you can. This reduces the use of paper along with the fossil fuel and carbon emotions involved in sending mail across the country. Most companies are more than happy to offer paperless billing. Use junk mail and other used bits of paper for scrap paper when needed, and allow children to use the backs of papers you no longer need for art.
Many people chose to buy water bottles because they do not like the flavor of the tap water or they are concerned with chemicals and contamination in their tap water. Getting a great water filter can help you stop buying bottled water creating plastic waste. And there are so many options for every budget! A countertop Berkey water filter is definitely on my wishlist, but a bit out of budget right now. But I love our large capacity Brita that fits in the fridge. Don't have space in your fridge? Consider a faucet attachment so no one gets blamed for forgetting to refill the one in the fridge!
From opening the curtains to let the light in instead of turning on the light to see. Check with your power company to see if they have any energy-saving programs. Many offer a home energy audit or kit to help lower your power usage. You can do several small things in your own audit like adding insulation to your hot water pipes, changing light bulbs to LEDs, and set timers to turn things off when not in use.