Diet Mind Spirit

Educate yourself on environmental subjects. You can do so by starting or joining an environmental group. This will keep you informed and sociable at the same time. You will surely meet like-minded, caring people and make new friends. Also watch DVDs and read up on books related to the environment and eco-living.

Compost your kitchen scraps and other waste. Even if you live in an apartment you can compost material and use the end product as soil for flower pots or herb planters. Take a look at these awesome composters that you can keep inside your home.

Reduce your water consumption. Instead of taking a bath, take a shower and limit yourself. Don’t linger in the shower or you’ll end up using more water than if you’d taken a bath! If you absolutely MUST take a bath, take them only once in a while, and don’t fill the tub as much.

Use energy-efficient appliances. Don’t go out and replace all of your appliances at the same time. Let them run their course and then properly dispose of them. Then, purchase energy efficient ones (graded A, B). If you feel you have to replace your appliances and they are still functioning properly, donate them to an organization that helps needy families. (i.e., Salvation Army, St. Vincent’s, Goodwill, or better yet, a very local group helping out others.)

Use environmentally friendly cleaning products. Using poison-free products at home is not only good for the environment, but it’s also good for you and your family’s health. Chemical cleaning products may clean your counters, floors, windows, tables, etc, like crazy, but they can harm you and damage the planet. Eco-friendly cleaning products can equally clean yet not harm anyone or anything.

Use phosphate-free laundry detergent. This is easy to do. Just replace your big-name-brand detergents that you’ve been loyal to forever, but cost a fortune, and replace them with environmentally sound detergents. Many people are now opting to use soap nuts.

Reduce energy consumption. These are so obvious but you do forget them more often than you should or like. Turn off lights in rooms no one is using. If you have a large home, only provide heat or cool to rooms that are actually being utilized. Use energy-efficient lightbulbs and solar power when possible.

Donate old items instead of trashing them. Some people go through items like they’re going out of style. Oh. Maybe they ARE going out of style but put those things to good use and donate old clothes, furniture and other items to people who need them. Another note: if you’d rather sell these items, go ahead and make a little cash on the side from e-bay or whereever. This is a great way to earn some money while getting rid of stuff.

Harvest your own rainwater if possible. Use the power of Mother Nature to water your yard, lawn, plants and vegetable garden if you have one. They are so easy to set up and the water will have no chemicals. Put up gutters on your house and/or garage with a large receptacle to harvest the water. This will lower your water bill, help you use less city water and have pure rainwater for the garden. These wooden rain barrels are pretty cool.

Properly dispose of toxic materials. These products should not be in your house. Period. Go through your house, garage, attic, basement and discard of leftover paints, paint removers, floor finishes, cleaners that are toxic to you, your house, your family AND people who come to your house.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 6:18 am and is filed under eco living, education, environment, general, healing, health, healthy recipes, kids, lifestyle, online self help, organic, parenting, setting goals, you should know. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.