As I share ways for us to be green, I decided to highlight 10 things I personally do at home to be green. Share with us some of the green things you do at home.
1. I wash my hair with a baking soda formula. 1 tbsp of baking soda mixed with about one cup of water. Here is a post on how I started. For conditioner, I use 1 tbsp of Apple Cider Vinegar mixed with one cup of water for my dark hair and for light hair, use lemon juice and water instead. I do not use this conditioner every shampoo, I only use it about once a week.
2. After I shower, I squeegee the shower and wipe it up with a Norwex microfiber cloth (super absorbent and has antibacterial properties) to get rid of the water droplets and soap residue. By doing this, I clean the bathroom less often as soap scum does not build up in the shower. When it is time to clean, I do not have to use chemicals to scrub off the scum.
3. When I clean the bathroom, I use baking soda, a sponge or microfiber cloth and some elbow grease. For a little tougher cleaning, I add vinegar to the baking soda (it fizzes it up) and clean as usual. I also use baking soda and vinegar to clean the toilets.
4. In the laundry, we always use cold water to wash the clothes. Cleaning a load with hot water uses up to 10 times as much energy as cleaning with cold water. We stopped using the commercial brands of detergent and used soapnuts. It works well and the kids have less skin irritation. As we were traveling, to make it easier, we changed to the Norwex laundry detergent which is biodegradable and void of any fillers. You only have to use a tablespoon when using a front loader washer or 2 tablespoons for a top loader. One bag lasts a long time.
5. We have stopped using the dryer and hang up all the clothes to dry. We do an average of 5-6 loads of laundry a week so that is a pretty big energy savings. With the dryer winter air, the clothes on the line dry within a few hours.
6. For any items that have to be dried in the dryer, we use dryer balls instead of the chemical laddened dryer sheets. These balls also cut down the drying time by about 10%.
7. We have currently set the temperature in the house to 19C/66F, It is cold! I usually wear an undershirt, a long sleeve shirt and a sweater. Funny, my second son who is 6 just wears a short-sleeve shirt during the day! At nights, we turn the thermostat down to 16C/60C. Another energy saving measure.
8. Even though it is winter, we still compost. We put the food in the outdoor composter and when it warms up and things thaw, we will mix it up and it will compost nicely.
9. When preparing food, I save the water that I use to clean my rice or vegetables, to water the household plants. My mum says that the starch from the rice water is good for her plants!
10. We have curbside recycling so we recycle everything that we can. Paper, cardboard, cans, plastic containers, you name it, anything recyclable goes into the bins. This week our household of 5 only produced 2 little grocery bags of garbage and we filled 2 large recycling bins.
What are you doing to go green. Share your thoughts with us…
If you would like to learn more about natural ways to go green and improve your lifestyle. Download a FREE report, “27 ways to go green and see green“. Learn how easy it is for you be gentle to the environment and yourselves and save money along the way.
February 27th, 2010 at 6:41 am
Best way of going green I have found is to switch from high energy ways of doing things to low energy ways. Like you could switch from using a gas mower to a manual reel mower (and get some good exercise) or stop using the electric clothes dryer and use good old fashioned clothes drying racks (and also not adding unwanted heat to your home in summer = less AC)