In recent years, green living and sustainable practices have broken into the mainstream. More and more people are seriously incorporating these techniques into their daily lives, and are saving thousands of dollars in doing so. If you want to learn how to be more green and save money while helping the environment, keep reading.
If you still have incandescent light bulbs in your home, switch them out with compact fluorescent bulbs or LEDs. These varieties use much less electricity to produce just as much light as an incandescent does. They also last much longer than traditional bulbs, so you will only have to replace them every few years. CFLs are as cheap as incandescent bulbs, and the price of LEDs is dropping rapidly.
Stop throwing all of your kitchen scraps into the garbage. Instead, start a compost heap in your backyard. Instead of having your food waste shipped to a landfill, you can turn it into high-quality fertilizer for your garden. You do not need a lot of equipment, just somewhere to put your compost.
Installing solar panels on your home may seem like a lot of effort, but if you are able to make the investment, doing so can really pay off in the long run. Being able to produce your own energy is the best way to free yourself from high energy bills. You may even be able to sell the excess power that your panels produce back to the energy company. The federal government also offers grants to offset some of the cost of installation.
Instead of just putting your laundry into the dryer after it has been washed, go with the traditional approach of hanging it out to dry. Take advantage of the free energy produced by the wind and the sun to dry your clothes. On a sunny day, your clothes will dry just as quickly as they would in the dryer, and you won't have to pay a dime.
Planting a vegetable garden in your back yard lets you grow a lot of your own food without having to make a trip to the grocery store or farmer's market. You can plant as large or as small a garden as you wish. Gardening is also a great way to enjoy the outdoors and get some exercise while still doing something useful.
Saving water is also an important part of green living. Take a look around your home to see if you have any leaky faucets that need to be repaired. If your toilet uses a lot of water per flush, replace it with a low-flow one that uses less water. A new shower head can also reduce the amount of water that you use, especially if you have people in your home who like to take long showers.
After reading this article, you should understand just how easy and fun it can be to start living green. Without needing to invest a whole lot of time and effort, you can live a more sustainable lifestyle right away. Try out a few of these tips and see just how easy it is to go green!