5 Easy Ways to Make Your Home Earth Friendly

Yeah, it's Earth Day, which is wonderful! I love that we spend a day (or week or even month) recognizing that we have to take care of our planet, to keep it healthy for all time. In my opinion, every day should be Earth day; we should make the effort every day if we can. Here are some quick/easy/cost efficient ways to make your home eco-friendly with minimal effort. Every little bit counts, am I right?

Recycle/Reuse/Repurpose/Refurbish: This seems like a given but it's a simple way to limit the amount of waste that your home contributes to landfills. Set up bins in a convenient area of your home for recyclables (paper, cardboard, aluminum cans, glass bottles and some plastics) and make sure they get where they need to go. Have things that can be reused? Well find a way to reuse them. Image isn't everything. If I need to use that plastic container my rice pudding came in, for leftovers... well, you can bet I am using it.  Find ways to repurpose furniture and other household items instead of throwing them away. Try to fix things before you toss them. The more you contribute in the home, the less that ends up in landfills.

Conserve in Your Home: Another one that seems like common sense but it's also easy to be wasteful if you're not mindful of the space that you live in. There are so many SUPER easy ways you can make changes.

• Turn off lights when leaving the room. 
• Replace your incandescent with Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) bulbs.
• Unplug your TV. TVs use energy when they are on stand by, which can be up to 17 hours a day.
• Turn down your thermostat and cuddle up with loved ones.
• Use Low Energy appliances, they use 10-50% less energy!
• Compost Kitchen scraps and organic matter. It's less garbage in the landfills and also eases the costs/efforts of trash removal.
• Clean with vinegar, it's nature's way of killing bacteria, germs and mold.
• Use the microwave, it uses 50% less energy than a conventional oven. If you're going to use the over, why not multi-task by using all the oven racks to warm multiple dishes at once.
• Always run a full load in the dishwasher.
• Don't let water run unnecessarily in your home. Washing dishes, brushing your teeth, watering your plants. Only let water run for what is needed.

Use Earth Friendly Products in Your Home: From great brands like Seventh Generation and Green Works, there are ways to stay Green and Earth Friendly with the products that you purchase. We use Seventh Generation toilet paper and paper towels in our home, which are made with recyclable paper. We need to use toilet paper so make an educated purchase when choosing the brand. This goes for cleaning products and what we clean our skin with as well. Good for the Earth = Good for You.

Grow Houseplants: Be green in your home and improve the air quality in your home by growing (and keeping alive) house plants. Plants remove toxins from the air and make your home a fresher and more healthy living environment.

DIY instead of BUY: Have that touch? Make cleaning and beauty products at home with all natural ingredients. Not only will you save money but you will save the packaging of buying in stores, which is often not easily recycled.

What do you do in your home to make it more Earth friendly?