10 Simple Ways to Green Your Home For Under $10

by Jennie

Going green starts with small steps – it’s those little choices that can equal a huge impact in the long run. Many small steps are easy, affordable and start with the choices that you make when doing your marketing. Here are my 10 favorite ways to green your home – these are very affordable, in fact they all cost less than $10.

1. Ditch It Paper towels and napkins are used only once and then tossed in the trash. Ditch the paper and choose reusable organic cotton dishcloths and napkins instead. This simple step alone will save countless resources and eliminate the gas emissions created during the manufacturing and transportation of these paper products.

2. Bottle It Instead of buying beverages that come in plastic or even glass containers, pick up a BPA free reusable bottle for each member of your family. Keep the bottles with you at all times, attach your child’s to their backpacks when sending them off to school and throw one in your handbag or car for drinks on the go.

3. Bag It If you, your spouse or children take their lunch to school or work everyday, invest in a great reusable lunchbox or bag. Paper and plastic lunch bags are wasteful, since they are tossed after being used only once!

4. Recharge It The next time you need to pick up batteries for the TV or Wii remote, choose an eco-friendly, rechargeable version. Not only do rechargeable batteries save hundreds of single-use batteries from being tossed, they save you money too. Win, win.

5. Trash It Most trash bags on the market are not biodegradable, which means that it will take thousands of years for the trash bag to break down (not to mention the contents inside). Instead, pick up trash bags that are biodegradable and will break down in only a few months.

6. Compost It Instead of throwing those leftovers or salad scraps into the trash, compost them instead. Regardless of the type of home you live in, you can compost. There are many different composter options available, including ones that you can build out of recycled or leftover materials, rolling composters and even small electronic composters for inside a small home or apartment. (However, the later option is more expensive.)

7. Clean It One of the most dangerous, toxic and harmful items in your home, may be your cleaning products. Not only are these conventional products dangerous to the environment, they are dangerous to the health of your family. There are many all-natural household cleaning products available that are eco-friendly and non-toxic,  you can even make your own.

8. Go Low-Flow A low-flow shower-head will use less than 2 gallons of water per minute, that is still a lot of water going down the drain. However, it is much better than the 5 gallons per minute that an older shower-head will use. The best option is to turn off the shower while you soap up or shampoo your hair.

9. Bulk Up When you can buy products from the bulk section, not only is it more affordable, but you can bring your own reusable containers, eliminating the need for product packaging.

10. Hang It Instead of drying all of your clothes in the dryer, hang them up to dry. You can utilize a clothesline outside or hang them up in your laundry room. Not only does this save a lot of energy, your clothing will last longer and smell fresher too.