Whether you are looking for ways to reduce your bills, save the environment, or change your lifestyle, adopting eco-friendly living techniques can help. There are lots of little things we can implement at home that make a big difference to our impact on the environment. Adopting some eco-friendly practices in your house and garden does not have to be a chore, it can be easy to simplify your life in a sustainable way. Simply cutting down on food waste and being more mindful of how you use electricity in your home are some simple changes that can help people take a step towards living a greener lifestyle. If you’re looking for some inspiration and useful ways to live more eco-friendly this year, then check out some of these tips below.
Start utilising smart technology in the home
There are many ways that modern homes are utilising technology to help improve their lives and their home living. It’s easy to be concerned that investing in smart home technology can even add to our energy bills. However, smart thermostats enable us to track our energy use closely and make adjustments to reduce it. Designing energy-efficient principles into everyday household processes, such as modern heating systems, use a lot less gas and electricity than ageing boilers. The difference can be significant from simply monitoring your energy use and making small changes such as switching to energy-efficient light bulbs and other devices.
Start saving money on water in your garden
A great part of being more environmentally friendly in day-to-day life is thinking of ways in which to use the natural elements all around us to help reduce what we buy and consume. Many countries, such as the UK, are renowned for their rainfall. Therefore one eco-friendly method to adopt in a home in these areas can be harvesting rainwater. Northerntankstore.co.uk have specially designed, large-capacity water tanks and also rainwater harvesting systems that can help people collect or store rainwater at home. Saving money on water use in the garden is just another way for homeowners to reduce how much water they use and help to also lower their bills.
Consider upcycling old furniture pieces rather than throwing them out
Until a very recent and much needed u-turn in our thinking, human evolution had reached an inexplicable point in which a throwaway culture had embedded itself. We used items until we simply felt like a new one and threw the old things out. We packaged everything in plastic and put the waste in the bin without much thought that we were filling up landfill sites rapidly, not to mention polluting green spaces and the ocean. Nowadays, upcycling furniture is a huge trend and is also a simple way to initiate an eco-friendly lifestyle. Breathing new life into old furniture is cost-effective, rewarding, and doesn’t need to be taxing either. Simply repainting an old cupboard or reusing old items for a different purpose can mean their lifespan is significantly extended.
Be more mindful of the electricity you might be wasting
As well as saving water in the home, another important way to reduce bills and energy is by saving on electricity. Goodenergy.co.uk is just one website that has useful blog articles all about eco-friendly living and highlights the many ways that people can create more sustainable living areas through energy saving. Energy conservation is an important habit to get into, so switching off devices when they’re not in use can save quite a lot. Using LED lights in the home can also help save on electricity bills as they are much more energy efficient and also last longer than traditional light bulbs. Gradually swapping out old bulbs for LEDs will mean that people are using less power in their homes.
Start cutting down on your food wastage each week
According to statistics from Cheaper Waste, the UK alone wastes 6.7m tonnes of food every year, equating to roughly £250-£400 per household per year. Food wastage can happen throughout the food supply chain, from farmers losing crops due to unpredictable conditions to the uncertainty of food expiration dates for consumers. To help prevent some of the food waste, consumers can become smarter with what they buy and eat. Planning ahead and only buying what is needed makes environmental and budgeting sense. Any food scraps and peelings could also be used in the garden for compost too rather than sending it to the landfill.