As mentioned here and here, one of the common debates at our house is how we could decrease our carbon footprint. Of course I don’t present it in those terms, but what could we do to reduce trash and consumption in our home?
This new stage of life really has me noticing how much more trash we produce. So I was thinking with Earth Day right around the corner, what would it look like to do a little “reduce-reuse-recycle” survey and see what could be cut out or cut down.
Try this in your home too:
- Do you run water while you are brushing your teeth?
- Do you run water continuously while you are washing dishes?
- Do you use a cup once and put it in the sink?
- Do you use paper products instead of washable and reusable dishes?
- Do you put your clothes in the laundry after one wear when they are not dirty?
- Do you have low water usage toilets?
- What kind of light bulbs do you use?
- Are there electronic devices you could unplug or turn off when they are not in use?
- Do you recycle? If so, could you recycle more? What effort would it take to make that happen?
- Are there items you throw away that could be donated or given away instead?
- Do you leave lights, fans, or electronics on when you leave a room or the house?
- What home improvements do you have coming up that you could consider an energy efficient option to include?
- What if you opened blinds and windows during the day as a light source?
- Do you have traditional thermostats? What if you replaced them with a timer thermostat?
- What do you have laying around that you could reuse instead of buying new?
- Do you just automatically throw things away instead of pausing first to see if there is another option?
I remember in elementary school doing a home assessment similar to these and it made me think a lot about what we do and changed the way we formed some habits in our home. I know today many of those decisions still haunt me as I go about daily activities and think about my actions.
And, a personal upside to all this is the money you can save as well. Some changes will cost you on the front end, but save big time in the long run.
Check out this article for more ideas or this one on managing household trash. There really is more we can all do…now to figure out how I can tackle this in my home. How exactly do you start a dreaded conversation?
