5 Tips for a Greener, Cleaner Home Environment
When cleaning your home, you may initially think of harsh chemicals and lots of dirty paper towels being constantly thrown away. However, there are actually plenty of easy, eco-friendly ways to clean your home. You don’t even have to sacrifice quality or ease of use!
With environmentally conscious packaging, natural products, and reusable supplies, you can easily make your home a greener, cleaner environment. Here are some of my top tips for green home cleaning swaps.
Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products
Switching to an all-natural cleaning product can help protect the environment as it releases fewer chemicals into the atmosphere. Regular cleaning products tend to have phosphorus and nitrates that can be detrimental to the environment as they cannot be removed from wastewater.
Not only is using natural cleaning products better for the environment, but it can also be better for your health. All-natural cleaning products are not as harmful to your skin or lungs, which can be important if you have young children in the house. Switching from conventional cleaning products to eco-friendly cleaning products is a quick and easy way to make a conscious change and create a natural home environment.
Use Washable Cleaning Cloths
Although using a few paper towels actually has little effect on the environment, the impact builds up over time. Using lots of paper towels can contribute to deforestation and contribute to rising carbon dioxide levels, especially since paper towels can not be recycled once they are used.
An easy alternative for reducing the use of paper towels is to invest in washable cleaning cloths. Instead of throwing away a paper towel after wiping down the counter or drying your hands, keep a few washable cloths handy and grab one when you need it. Then, you can wash them regularly to keep them clean and rotate the use of a few cleaning cloths.
Grow a Houseplant
Growing a houseplant may seem like an unconventional solution for having a green home, but they can help you filter the air indoors. Sometimes your house can have poor indoor air quality due to dust, allergens, and other pollutants, but a houseplant can help you filter out these pollutants without needing an air purifier. With a houseplant absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, it can improve the air you breathe, providing you with a clean and natural home.
Use a Drying Rack
After doing laundry, an easy way to lessen your carbon footprint is to dry your clothes on a rack instead of in a dryer. Using a laundry machine takes a significant amount of energy; it is considered the 3rd most energy-consuming household appliance. Not only is using the dryer harmful to the environment, but it can also raise the electricity bill.
Using a drying rack to dryer your clothes is an excellent way to be more environmentally friendly while saving money. UV rays are also good for drying your clothes and can kill many bacteria. Drying your clothes naturally can also help them last longer, preventing you from buying lots of new clothes and contributing to climate change.
Use a Dish Washing Bar
Zero-waste dishwashing bars are a great alternative to liquid dish soap since they are made with all-natural ingredients that are better for us and the environment. When using liquid dish soap, it is easy to pour much more soap than you need, causing you to run out of dish soap faster. You can get many more washes out of a dish soap bar than liquid since the soap is released more slowly. Dish soap bars are also packaged in sustainable materials which can be recycled after use.