11 simple eco-friendly practices you can adopt at home

You have a home and you want to think more about the environment. You want to improve your home habits to conserve energy and to develop green initiatives within your home. Here are ten simple eco-friendly practices that you can adopt at home.

1. Make use of natural light as much as possible

Rather than relying on artificial light and conserving energy, seek to make the most of external lighting. Natural light provides a bright, warm ambiance and also provides natural heat into the home. Look into development options within the home that will allow for good natural light solutions, such as Velux windows, skylights and shutters.

2. If you are working from home, create a green friendly home office

If you do have a home office, seek to keep it as green as possible. Aim to keep digital copies of your files as opposed to printing hard copies, unless absolutely required. Invest in recycled or refillable printer cartridges that can assist in reducing waste.

3. Make use of solar power

Save on your energy bill by investing in environmentally friendly solar panels. Use it as a solution for additional energy supplies whereby it can be stored in batteries or generators.

4. Reduce waste by practicing greener habits within the kitchen

Unfortunately, there is a lot of waste that occurs within the kitchen. By educating family members on this issue and asking them to reduce their reliance on disposables, you will be effectively reducing household waste. Some simple tips include:

– Switching from buying bottled water to investing in a water filter for your tap, or serving water with a slice of lemon.

– Replacing disposable napkins with cloths.

– Replacing disposable knives, forks, spoons, plates and cups with metal, ceramic or glass equivalents.

– Recycle bags (such as shopping bags) for other uses within the home.

– Recycling cardboard boxes for future storage.

5. Install rain tanks to use the water.

Rainwater tanks are a great solution for the home’s water supply. The natural rainwater can be used for watering plants, for the toilet cistern, as tap water or even as drinking water.

6. Switch off electricity to avoid waste.

This should go without saying. The more energy that you can conserve within the home, the more you will be doing to help the planet. If an electrical device isn’t being used, switch it off completely. (This includes turning the device off from ‘standby mode’) Seek to unplug any electrical devices when they aren’t in use, as they may still use energy when they are plugged in.

7. Put in place recycling initiatives when it comes to waste.

Encourage recycling within your home by educating and advising everyone within your home about green options for recycling paper, plastics, glass and compost options.

8. Take action in the toilet.

Find ways where you can use recycled water to use as toilet water. Additionally, you can purchase toilet rolls made from recycled paper.

9. Invest in a pressure cooker.

If you want to cook up a feast in half the time, consider investing in a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers will still serve up your delicious dishes, but conserve energy by reducing the length in cooking times..

10. Minimise your laundry duties.

When it comes to cleaning clothes, aim to do your laundry washing once a week to save on energy costs, rather than doing the laundry several times per week.

11. Conserve water when you are bathing.

There is a lot of water that is wasted when washing. Ideally, you should use a washbasin with a few litres of water. However, if this cannot be done, aim to reduce the amount of showers that you have during the week and minimize the amount of time that you spend in the shower.

These are a few ideas that can be used to create a more green-friendly home. Start taking actions with green initiatives within your home to help the environment today.