Small steps: a few small eco friendly things to do around the house

 

I just want to make it clear that I am no eco warrier I just do the best I can minimising the carbon footprint I leave on this planet.

 

Here are a few small changes I have made in my house.

 

1. A few years back I stopped using all purpose household cleaners & sprays. Instead I find a splash of eucalyptus oil onto a microfiber cloth cleans every surface just fine. Instead of floor cleaner, I put a couple capfuls of eucalyptus oil into a bucket of hot water for mopping. Takes the grime off tiles. I still need to find a chemically free way of cleaning grout thou...

2. For covering odours, Lavender oil works a charm when I burn it in my trusty old oil burner (I wouldn't do this in the bathroom or toilet) or if I dilute a couple drops in a water spray bottle & spritz it around the room.

3. Led lighting, when I went to a lighting shop to replace a blown bulb a staff member mentioned led lighting (all I was thinking was lead...) it seemed quite harsh that I recoiled from buying them & went home to research them. When I found out here that they used 85% less energy than halogen or incandescent lighting I went back & purchased some. Im happy to say that they are brighter than the old globes I previously purchased & money well spent.

4. My house will all its windows & tile floors gets mighty cold in Winter. In the colder months we have tried to limit using our heater to a few hours daily & I have been going to bed with a hot water bottle. Peter Alexander has the cutest mini hot water bottle covers (plus they are on sale online), infact the one pictured above I bought for Kobe before he was born & its still going strong. In the next few months, Im looking into getting more rugs & heat retaining curtains to reduce heat loss.

5. If you have little ones getting them involved in recycling is a fun way to start. Its happened naturally in this house & now I have a rubbish bin loving OCD child. Its his job to take out the recycling daily (which he loves!!!) & he makes a game out of building stuff out of it before it goes into the bin. (My lil weirdo even likes to sniff every smelly bin we come into contact with, so embarrassing...).

6. I have just discovered selected Coles stores have partnered with plastic recycling superstar company Red Group in offering a special bin instore which you can recycle soft plastics which aren't suitable in your standard recycle bin like bread bags, frozen food plastic bags, plastic bags, cookie packets & confectionery packaging. You can enter your postcode here to find a store near you. Its a scary thought to think that 429 000 plastic bags go into landfill every hour in Australia. I welcome you to join in to lower that figure!

 

Happy Thursday friends!

Grace