Here are some of the things I do around the house routinely.
1. Lights out! Last one out turns off the lights! Who were we leaving them on for, the cat? He can see well enough in the dark!
2.USE RE-USABLE GROCERY BAGS, what a difference that makes lugging in groceries , don't have bags ripping out and groceries falling all over the ground.
3.Use cloth rags instead of paper towels to save trees. Who doesn't have t shirts to rip up? Some of hubby's? Save money!
4.Clean my windows with plain vinegar, commercial window cleaner used before the switch to vinegar left a very fine wax residue. The vinegar alone wasn’t enough to remove it, and the result was streaky windows. So added a dab of liquid
dish soap to the vinegar and water, the wax is easily removed and the windows have been cleaned perfectly!
My favorite recipe is to combine 2 cups of water, 1/4 cup of
white distilled vinegar, and up to 1/2 teaspoon of liquid soap or
detergent in a spray bottle.
5.Buy local – flying and trucking food all over the world creates a lot of pollution so I try to find a local farmers market, support my local farmers and buy as much food as I can grown in Ontario. It is healthier for me and the environment.Try to stick to this as much as possible but I have slipped occasionally.
6.Try to use cold water most of the time and match the water level in my front load washer to the size of the load. Follow manufacturers’ directions for other energy saving hints.
Clean clothes dryer filters after each use.
7.Compost;Pour my morning coffee grounds around a plant. The grounds increase soil acidity which most plants like. The grounds are also a natural fertilizer which repels snails and slugs.
8.Use lemon for cleaning, for example ,freshen up my dishwasher - use half a reamed lemon and jam it in my utensil basket in my dishwasher then run cycle only when dishwasher is full.Smells fresh, helps cut grease and is more Eco-friendly that those plastic lemon shaped things you can buy to do the same job.Remove limescale from draining boards and taps - use half a lemon to rub over stainless steel draining boards and taps. Leave a minute, rinse and shine with a dry cloth.
9. Plant a tree or shrub.Easy for me, gardener that I like to think I am.
10.Changed my thermostat by going up or down 2 -3 degrees, Each 2 degrees either way can save up to 8 percent on a utility bill.
I am more Eco - friendly than I thought.
Things I want to improve on.
1.Hopefully hang clothes on a line once I have a backyard, at least when the weather is nice , somehow I don't see me slugging clothes thru 2 feet of snow.
2.Products I plan to avoid; Styrofoam cups and buying bottled water in plastic bottles. Many feel the petrochemicals cause cancer. If everyone in the US and Canada stopped using plastic water bottles, we would reduce the production of 144 billion plastic bottles per year filling the landfill and littering the countryside. Replace my plastic water bottle with a glass bottle. Search my cabinets for a glass bottle with a lid.
Concerned about breaking it, I am going to put it in a foam holder.
3. Stop throwing away so many disposable batteries. The mercury in old batteries will eventually leak out and poison the water it runs into.
Going to buy rechargeable alkaline batteries, I am told they have improved.
What do you do to save your part of the earth?
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