Following on from last week's post about going green at work, I thought I’d look into easy ways to make your home more eco-friendly too. Some of them don't take a lot of effort but can make huge differences like saving you money (just think of the shoes!). Now that recycling and conserving energy are becoming much more commonplace, you might not even realise you are helping the environment.
Here are my top six eco-friendly tips for the home
1) Switch off anything you aren't using and save electricity. That goes for lights, TV's, games consoles etc - For not much money at all, I bought a handy little gadget that plugs in at the wall to eliminate the power used by your TV when it is on standby. I'm pretty sure I saw a similar, if not the same product being pitched on Dragon's Den quite a while back. Even better it comes with a remote control so cutting down your electric bill requires no effort whatsoever!
2)Switch to low energy light bulbs if you haven't already done so. Yes, they do take a minute to get very bright but on the plus side,they last up to 10 times longer and is guaranteed to save you money on your bill.
3) Only use your washer, dryer and dishwasher if you have a full load. You can reduce both water and electricity consumption by doing this.
4) Install a low flow shower head- the newest models keep the same pressure but use much less water.
5) Recycle stuff! This probably goes without saying now but use your blue and brown bins to sort out tins, bottles and garden waste. Recycling massively reduces the amount of waste that gets dumped in landfills.
6) Have a crack at making your own compost - mine was used to grow our own veggies this year. Its easy too, just add things like eggshells, newspaper, teabags, potato peel and garden waste into your composting bin, turn it over every month and you'll have lots of lovely compost in no time.
