Make Simple, Sustainable, Eco Friendly Switches: Easy Swaps

When it comes to the environment, many of us are more aware of the impact our lifestyles have had on the planet in the past and that there are changes that we can make in our homes that will make a difference. 

But, if you are new to this, or just want to start out with some small changes, then what can you do? I wanted to share with you some of the eco-friendly hacks that are easy to implement and can help you have a positive impact. 

Use houseplants in your home

One of the first things that you can do is add houseplants to your home. It may sound simple, but not only does it give you that feeling of making greener choices, but houseplants can actually help to improve the air quality within your home. A small little hack to help change your thinking. If you're looking to go even further, consider putting the plug in the bath during your shorter showers and using the leftover water to feed your houseplants, this will save litres of water and is something you can do in your everyday life. 

Credit: Unsplash. 

Make your own cleaning products

Cleaning products are one of the big issues that many households face when it comes to impacting the environment. So you might want to think about some of the changes you can make. You can buy eco-friendly products but one of the best ways to be more environmentally friendly is to make your own. You can create DIY cleaning products that are very effective and use more natural ingredients. Single use cleaning sprays can be damaging to adding to plastic pollution so it's a good idea to reuse these bottles as much as possible in our daily lives. Consider buying soap nuts for your clothing instead of laundry detergent. You can buy huge bags of these and add a little essential oils to scent them as you wish without contributing to water pollution and damaging marine life. 

Change the way you cook

Using less energy is key to being more eco-minded in your home, and changing the way that you cook can have an impact. Using some appliances like a slow cooker or a pressure cooker can use less energy than a stove or an oven. You also might want to consider growing your own vegetables, fruits, and herbs. 

Credit: Unsplash. 

Start composting 

Composting is a great way to be more eco-friendly in your home. It gives you a place recycle elements like food scraps properly and it also comes in handy if you do decide to grow your own food in your garden. Whilst it's not for everyone to live totally zero waste, by composting, we can use our waste for better purposes. 

Collect rainwater

Collecting rainwater can be a great way to be more eco-friendly. You use less water for things like watering your plants in the garden, and it is a great way to reuse something that would usually be wasted and one of the easiest switches from using the tap that you can make.

Reusable food storage 

Food storage is one of those things that can be easily swapped. You can use containers for leftovers or other reusable options instead of things like plastic wrap or plastic bags. 

Reusable carrier bags when shopping 

When shopping a great little hack is to have reusable shopping bags with you. These are something you can reuse time and time again, but often the plastic bags you can buy if you forget to bring them, end up in a landfill and are not recyclable. 

Cold water washes 

Many of us have started to switch the temperature down in our washing machines, but what about taking it one step further? Eco options on your machines or switching to a 20-degree cold water wash will still clean your clothes perfectly but uses less energy. 

LED lights in your home 

Finally, changing the light bulbs in your home to LED ones will help to reduce your household energy costs. 

Hopefully, these tips will help you to be more eco-friendly. We all have to do our bit to contribute to reducing our carbon footprint and carbon emissions. It's true that even the smallest simple switches can have a huge difference. So next time you are thinking of buying a plastic water bottle, maybe switch it up to reusable bottles and go from there. One of the best things about these switches is you don't have to be perfect. Every small change you make has an environmental impact and you can make your own world a great place by changing up your daily life. If you're looking for more tips, then a quick search on social media will show loads of positive changes you can make if you are looking for sustainable alternatives to a lot of things in your life.