Saving money and helping the environment at the same time is a pretty great combination, it’s actually really easy to make small swaps that make a big difference. So, get ready to feel inspired with our tips to help make your dream home more eco-friendly!
Remove Single Use Items
Firstly, you should remove single-use items wherever you can in your home. Think about the items in your home that you use once and then throw away and think about whether there are ways you can make more eco-friendly swaps to reduce your waste.
Here are some easy swaps you can make, and although they require some investment up front, you’ll save money in the long run for sure:
- Swap plastic or paper straws for metal or bamboo versions
- Take a reusable cup with you to coffee shops
- Get rid of single-use storage containers and baking trays
- Swap bottled water for a water filter jug in the fridge
- Use glass tubs for food instead of plastic bags
- Use reusable silicone trays instead of foil
- Swap cling film for beeswax wrap
- Take tote bags shopping with you instead of buying plastic bags
- Buy soap, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash dispensers and choose lower-plastic refill options with eco-friendly packaging
- Buy spray bottles and make your homemade cleaning solutions
Improve Your Insulation
Something else you should focus on is improving the insulation in your home. One of the biggest wastes of energy is when warm air from your heating escapes from your home, or cold air is let in, especially during the winter months.
Without sufficient insulation, it's so much easier for this warm air to escape, costing you a lot of money and energy to keep your home warm. So, you should look at getting insulation installed, including loft insulation, exterior wall insulation, and conservatory insulation if you have one.
Conservatory insulation is a particularly good one, as conservatories are renowned for having poor insulating properties, especially if you have a glass or polycarbonate roof and windows and doors that aren’t double-glazed or sealed properly.
Trying to keep them warm in the winter can be a challenge without insulation, so this is definitely worth looking into to turn the space into something that is usable all year round.
Revise Your Washing Routines
One of the easiest ways to save energy and therefore money in your home is to revise your washing routines.
So much energy can be used when you’re doing your washing, and there are a few simple hacks you can use to make sure that you’re reducing your energy usage, saving money, and helping the environment:
- Make sure that your washing machine is at ¾ full before running a cycle because it will use the same amount of water and energy regardless of how full it is
- Doing your washes at 30 degrees, can have such a significant impact on the amount of energy that is used, plus modern washing detergents are equally effective whether you wash at 30 or 60 degrees, so it’s definitely worth doing. Cooler cycles are also much kinder on your clothes to help them last longer.
- Wash on shorter cycles where you can to reduce the running time
- Use eco-friendly washing detergents that contain fewer chemicals, so are more eco-friendly to manufacture and they’re kinder to skin
- Look for eco modes on your washing machine, as many more modern machines will have them
- Consider upgrading your washing machine if it’s close to its last legs, making sure that you're looking at machines with an EPC rating or A or B
- Only wash your clothes when you need to! Many clothes don’t need to be washed after every wear, especially not things like denim and knitwear which only really need to be washed if you spill anything on them - your clothes will last longer and you will save energy with fewer washes!
Swap To Energy Efficient Light Bulbs
Another affordable and really simple swap is to change your light bulbs to energy-efficient light bulbs.
Whilst they might be slightly more expensive to buy initially, they last up to 12 times longer than a standard bulb! Plus, they use around ⅔ less energy than traditional bulbs to produce the same light, as they’re designed to result in 70% less heat, so there is less wasted energy.
You can get them all over, however, it might be worth doing a larger order to get a bulk discount if you want to replace every bulb in your home.
Change Your Gardening Habits
We’ve covered the inside, now it’s time to head to the great outdoors! There are so many small habits we can change to really transform how we garden, to save money, and water, and to help the local environment. Here are a few of our favorites:
- Collect rainwater in a water butt in your garden that is attached to one of your gutters, so you don’t need to use your hose at all to water the plants or rinse off your car after you’ve washed it
- Get a compost bin that you can put food waste into, and within 6 months it will become compost to use in your garden. You can avoid needing to buy packaged compost and you can reduce food waste!
- Use electric power tools like chainsaws and lawnmowers as opposed to petrol versions
- Instead of using pesticides, plant companion plants in your garden to naturally prevent unwanted bugs and pests. For example, planting lavender next to roses will help to prevent pests from being attracted to the smell of the roses.
- Plant wild and native plants in your garden rather than any that are imported from other countries, as native plants naturally need less water and attention to survive in the conditions you live in, so you use less water and it requires less effort!
- Plant trees if you have the space to absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen at a faster rate than smaller plants
- Create a vegetable patch if you have the space!
Final Thoughts
We’ve covered plenty of ideas to help you make your home more eco-friendly, some of which are completely free and save you a lot of money, and others that require an upfront payment but you’ll reap the benefits for years to come.
Spend some time changing your habits and they’ll soon become the norm, and you can rest assured that you’re helping the environment.
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