Home is where the heart is, they say and sometimes it’s important to know and remember that your home is a reflection of yourself and your actions. Although it is indeed fun to go with the flow, a little change would do alright, don’t you think? If you’re looking towards going green at home, it’s not as hard as it seems to be. Here are some simple ways that you could embrace. Now now, baby steps – one little change makes a difference for yourself and the environment.
Switch off the lights
Switch off the lights when you leave a room. If you have children, you can assign them to take roles as “switch operator” and have them check regularly that the lights have been switched off. For an added incentive, allow your child to fine those at home who waste energy. The funds accumulated can be put forward to eco-friendly purchases.
Save water
Turn off the water faucet while you’re brushing your teeth, shaving or when you’re lathering yourself with soap during showers. Try to take shorter showers too (if that’s okay with you) If it’s laundry day, remember to only run your laundry at a full load so the usage of water is conserved.
Commit to re-usable items
Try to commit yourself to using re-usable items at home. Don’t purchase bottled water, have your own water container at home instead. If you’re heading out to buy food, have the staff at the restaurants pack the food for you in your own food containers instead of plastic bags or plastic tupperwares.
Clean with what you have in your pantry
You’d be amazed to discover what lemon/tamarind juice, baking soda and vinegar can do when it comes to cleaning your stainless steel utensils or iron based hardware.
Laundry day
Wash your clothes with cold or warm water during laundry day. Do not use hot water because as much as 85% of the energy used to machine-wash clothing goes to heating the water.
Unplug
Disconnect appliances from the sockets when they are not in use to conserve energy.
Take your own shopping bags
Keep canvas, net or other re-usable bags in your car or at home at all times. Bring them with you when you head out to shop for groceries and miscellaneous items. Doing so, you wouldn’t need plastic bags.
Recycle
Collect old newspapers, plastic bottles and boxes and aluminium cans. Place them into recycling bins after collection instead of disposing them into the trash.
Go paperless
If your bank, credit card issuer or internet and mobile service provider provides you the option to go paperless, go for it and switch to online statements.
Automate your air-conditioners
Set your air-conditioners at AUTO. Running your air-conditioners 24/7 will incur additional costs to your electricity bill.
Donate or sell pre-loved items
Try and donate any clothes or items that still have value instead of throwing them away.[da4] You can opt to sell pre-loved clothes or items that are still in good condition too and earn some profit from those.
Eco-friendly products
Utilise eco-friendly cleaning products. You can even make your own with baking soda and essential oils.
Food Waste
Compost food waste such as egg-shells, banana peels or orange peels instead of throwing them away. The composted food waste can be used as an alternative as fertiliser for your plants (if you have any).
Clothes hangers
Are you one of those with large amounts of clothes hangers? Don’t throw them away. Give them away to the kedai dobi instead.
Don’t throw your electronics away
Keep them for as long as you can and recycle them after. Electronic items contain mercury and other harmful toxins that harm the environment.
Food deliveries
Ordering food via Grab Food or Food Panda? Include a note to the restaurant to not include plastic utensils, straws and napkins.
Charging overnight
Please don’t charge your mobile phones, tablets or laptops overnight. These devices just need a few hours to reach full battery. Charging them overnight damages the battery life.
Invest in long-term products
Now this may be rather costly but look at the brighter side of it. Investing in a long-term product rather than short-term saves you the hassle of replacing it often. At the end of the day, choose quality over quantity.
One small step goes a long way. Your choice to go green today, although baby steps at first can contribute greatly to a cause geared towards making the world a better place to live in for generations to come. Although the steps above may seem like a great change from what you’re used to, just remember you’re doing the right thing for yourself and the environment. Go green!