Green Living
Divallyn
member
Dear Community,
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
What can I do to make my home GREEN?
in Green Living
Looking for tips and ideas.
I already do:
- hanging most clothes to dry
- using green cleaning products
- keeping the thermostat low in cold weather
- growing some of my own veggies and herbs
- only doing laundry when I can stuff the washer full
- recycle
I am looking into:
- getting a rain barrel
- switching lights over to "green" bulbs
- composting
What am I missing?
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Re: What can I do to make my home GREEN?
- replacing paper napkins and towels with cloth napkins
- lowering the temp on your hot water heater
- switching to glass rather than plastic storage containers/baggies
Unplugging appliances and turning off lights when not using.
Switching to cloth napkins and cloth cleaning rags.
Investing in reusable snack bags, sandwich wraps, etc. in order to stop using plastic baggies.
Wash your clothes in cold instead of hot as much as possible.
Don't buy bottled water. Invest in a faucet-mounted filter or a Brita pitcher/cooler. A nice reusable non-plastic water bottle will be good for taking out of the house.
Utilize natural light - open the curtains or shades during the day! Close at night to suck the heat in.
Go paperless for bills.
Use homemade cleaners instead of ones filled with harsh chemicals. I love Dr. Bronner's liquid castille soup (can find at Target) mixed with water as a cleaning spray, and it's also great mixed with baking soda for a scrubbing paste.
Lower the temp on your water heater and insulate it.
Keep glass jars, wash and use for storing dried foods like coffee, lentils, beans, nuts, etc.
Switch to shade grown fair trade organic coffee.
Regularly clean and replace the air filter in your furnace.
Replace beauty products with ones that are not filled with chemicals, fragrances, etc. as you run out.
Turn the water off when you are brushing your teeth.
If you wait for water to warm when you turn on the shower, put a bucket in there and collect the water that would otherwise be wasted. Use it for watering plants or for pets.
Switch to a low-flow shower head. Don't toss the old one - try to give it away on FreeCycle or Craig's List.
Give anything you were thinking of tossing (within reason, of course) away on FreeCycle or Craig's List.
Clean the coils of your fridge off regularly.
Eat one meatless meal a week, more if you can.
Recycle electronics responsibly. Google will produce a local drop-off area for you.
Shut your computer/laptop down completely at night.
When shopping, eyeball the packaging of food. If it has a lot of packaging, skip it and find an alternative. Skip processed foods and try to buy organic/local. If it's not in your budget, try to switch to organic/local for at least one item that you purchase frequently. Labels to look for: USDA organic, rainforest alliance certified (companies practice water and soil conservation and reduce use of pesticides), fair trade certified (farmers receive a fair price for product), certified humane (animals treated humanely, no growth hormones or antibiotics).
Adjust your fridge/freezer. I've always heard that the freezer should be at 0'F and the fridge at 37'F.
Switch to an 'eco-friendly' detergent that is free of nasty chemicals (powdered is best - less packaging and no added water) and stop using bleach. Seventh Generation makes a non-chlorine bleach, or you can use something like OxyBoost or Ecover. Putting stained clothes in the sun is also magical.
Use the washing machine and dish washer during off-peak hours.
In cold weather, we shrink wrap our windows. We'll have a duct cleaning and AC/furnace inspection soon to make sure it's running efficiently. We're exploring rain barrels too but my husband is worried it'll be a mosquito haven.
Air out the house when possible to reduce nasty indoor toxins.
Buy plants that will detox the air http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-st-petersburg/houseplants-clean-toxins-from-the-indoor-air
Take shoes off as you enter to avoid tracking in pesticides and other toxins from outside.
Buy food from local farmers' market (check localharvest.org) and can/freeze/preserve.
Grow your own food, even if it's just a few herbs in pots
Don't buy single-use items (canned soda, H2O, tissues, paper towels, etc).
Shop thrft stores for used items instead of buying new.
Ditto pp cloth napkins - this has been a singular victory in my home.
Unplug items not in use or attach to power cord to shut off all at once.
Use the library for books, DVD's, etc.
Charge your phone in the car or at least not overnight.
Buy plants that will detox the air http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-st-petersburg/houseplants-clean-toxins-from-the-indoor-air
Plan trips when driving to run errands to do as much in one trip as possible.
hth
Laundry detergent is on my list for this week. I always wait till we're low and then don't have time to do it. This time i will!
Re: rain barrels, if you screen the openings of the barrel(s) you can prevent mosquitoes from making their home there.
Best sound ever: baby's heartbeat! (Heard @ 10w1d)
Check all of the seals on your windows and doors. Replace as needed.
Put plastic on your windows in the winter. It's a pain to put up but can make a huge difference on your heating bill.
Add insulation to your attic. Insulation has the quickest return on investment of any home energy efficient remodeling project you can do.
Living in Canada insulating and sealing your home will make a big difference on your heating bills and you'll burn less fossil fuels/electricity to heat your house. It's a win/win.
I've gotten some really great tips!
I guess I should of mentioned I already don't eat very much meat. Maybe once or twice a week as I understand the effects mass animals farms have on our environment.