How to Make Sustainable Changes to Your Home

How to Make Sustainable Changes to Your Home

If you’re looking to make some positive changes to your home, it makes sense to think about how sustainable the space is. When you create a sustainable home that meets your needs, you’ll reduce your overall impact on the planet and save money over the long-term in a lot of cases as well.

It might not be clear where you should start if you want to make positive changes to your home, but the guide below will give you a better idea of what to do. Each of the changes we’re about to discuss will make a difference to how sustainable your home is overall, so read on and find out more.

• Install a Low Flow Shower

One of the first things you might want to consider changing in your home is in the bathroom. Most of us are guilty of wasting water in one way or another, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way. More and more people are choosing to have low flow showers installed in the bathroom, and that’s because they conserve water. You can often get the same benefits from your shower without having to waste as much water as you otherwise might, and that can only be positive.

• Buy Recycled Furniture or Upcycle Your Own

When it comes to the furniture in your home, you should try to avoid buying new furniture all the time. There’s a much greater environmental impact associated with buying new furniture and throwing out the old compared to upcycling your own furniture and giving it a new lease of life. Alternatively, consider buying used items. As the trend for vintage furniture expands, this is something that more and more people are looking to do anyway. Relying on a constant stream of new items for the home is certainly not sustainable though.

• Choose Greener Products When Cleaning

The cleaning products you use in the home might have a bigger, more negative impact on the environment than you currently realise. That’s why you should try to switch out the products that are high in damaging chemicals and instead try to use greener and more environmentally friendly alternatives. The good news is that there are lots of them out there today, so you won’t have to try too hard to find an alternative to the products you’re used to using.

• Banish Single Use Plastics

One of the easiest changes we can all make at home and in our day to day lives in general is banishing single use plastics. When you do that and instead start relying only on reusable items, you’ll be doing your bit to prevent as much junk ending up in landfill and in the ocean every year. The amount of plastic being used and thrown out every day is declining thanks to the changes many people and governments are making, but there’s still a lot more than needs to be done in that area.

• Choose Sustainable Materials for Your Doors and Window Frames

You want to make sure that the materials you’re using for the most important components of your home are made from sustainable materials. The doors and window frames in the home are great examples of aspects of the home where you can use sustainable materials. For example, by using durable wood for external wooden doors, as well as wood that’s sustainably sourced, you can make that part of your home a lot more sustainable. Whenever looking for materials, find the most sustainable solution available to you.

• Start Composting

If you’re not doing so already, you might want to think about doing some more composting in your garden. When you have a compost heap, you can make use of the food waste that you have and create something positive from it. If you’re an avid gardener and you want the best for the plants and flowers in your garden, composting is definitely something that you should be doing. And it couldn’t be easier to get started, so it might be something that you want to add to you outdoor space.

• Invest in Energy Efficient Appliances

If your appliances are not currently up to scratch when it comes to their general energy efficiency, that’s something that you might want to think about changing. When the time comes to upgrade an old appliance or one that’s broken down, you should probably think about comparing efficiency ratings of the alternatives you’re considering buying. That way, you can make sure that you’re only buying the appliances that are fully efficient and able to offer what you need.

• Switch to LEDs

If you haven’t yet switched your old LED light bulbs to newer and greener alternatives, that’s certainly something that you should think about doing. LED light bulbs are so much more efficient with the energy they use and they last a lot longer as well. That means they don’t have to be replaced very often at all and can actually last many years at a time, even if you’re using them a lot. It’s definitely a change you need to implement in your home if you haven’t done so already.

• Consult with an Energy Efficiency Expert

There is help out there for anyone who doesn’t really know where they’re going wrong when it comes to energy efficiency at home. You can actually save yourself a lot of money by having an energy audit carried out and finding the source of your problems. Speaking to an expert on these matters will help to shine a light on how and where energy is being wasted in your home and what you can start to do to change it.

As you can see, there are plenty of ways in which you can make your home a more sustainable place to live. Be sure to make the most of each of the ideas discussed above if you’re looking to make some positive and eco-friendly changes in your life; they’ll save you money and reduce your carbon footprint.

Collaboration – Contributed Article.