We are a small family living in a typical suburban home built in the 1970s. In our quest to live more simply and sustainably, here are the “green” steps we’ve taken:
Made the following energy-saving changes:
- Had a home energy audit performed, and we’re working on sealing the many leaks
- Changed computer settings to ‘hibernate’ or ‘sleep’ to save energy when not in use
- Replaced incandescent lightbulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs wherever possible
- Replaced six light switches with dimmers
- Covered the ceiling AC vents with magnetic covers during the winter
- Replaced an old incandescent kitchen light with an energy efficient halogen light/ceiling fan
- Replaced some of our old appliances with energy-efficient models
Made the following heating/cooling improvements:
- Added additional insulation in attic, in garage ceiling, and in exterior overhangs
- Replaced the old aluminum windows with energy-efficient, Low E glass windows
- Replaced the old storm door with an energy-efficient insulated storm door
- Replaced all the thermostats with programmable models
- Installed an energy-efficient evaporative cooler
Made the following changes in the kitchen:
- Switched to phosphate-free cleaners and dishwashing detergent in recycled/recyclable packaging
- Try to cook from scratch and use organic and local, sustainable foods whenever possible
- Compost kitchen scraps
Made the following efforts in the garden:
- Built a raised garden from some new and some recycled materials, and grow an assortment of herbs and vegetables
- Planted a fruit-bearing currant bush in the front yard instead of a purely ornamental plant – and made homemade cassis with the harvest
- Installed a bat house on the south side of our house to naturally reduce mosquitos
- Regularly compost leaves, produce scraps and other organic matter
- Are working to improve and reclaim the gardens by amending the soil with organic matter
Miscellaneous:
- Bought a hybrid automobile
- Took steps to reduce our junk mail and eliminate unwanted telephone books
- Replaced the old carpeted floor in the office with sustainable bamboo flooring
- Got a multi-use recycling bin from our trash company and reduced our trash by an average of 50% per week
- Dispose of toxic chemicals and waste responsibly
- Put marble-filled pop bottles in each of three toilet tanks to reduce water usage
- Take reusable grocery bags to our grocery store
I’d love to hear about the steps you’re taking to live simply and sustainably.
1. “Replaced the old carpeted floor in the office with sustainable bamboo flooring”
– You can “reuse” the old carpeting in your garden. Cut to appropriate size…turn upside down (pile side down)…and you’ve created a walkway that weeds,grass etc can’t grow through.
2. “Take reusable grocery bags to our grocery store”
– Instead, give a helping hand at local shops. i.e. give these bags to local thrift shops, salvation army, or food banks. They can really use them.
Just a couple of suggestions for you
Keep up the good work
Laurie
I want to hear more about the marbles in the bottle idea for the toilets. do you talk about this on your blog somewhere?
kirsten recently posted..Texas Sky 365- Day 74
As a matter of fact, it’s right here:
http://www.happysimpleliving.com/2009/04/18/spend-20-minutes-adapting-your-toilet-save-3000-gallons-of-water-a-year/
We’ve started making our own laundry detergent and dishsoap. It’s eco-friendly and a lot cheaper. We use distilled vinegar as fabric softner and a rinse agent. We also use vinegar for all of our household cleaning. Also, after recently buying a home we replaced the shower head with a low flow head and put aerators on all of our faucets.
I have downshifted partly because I just wanted to, partly because of economic need (redundancy and a desire not to go back to the corporate world), and partly because I had become aware that the world is going to change whether we like it or not. Because of the economic crisis, climate change, peak oil etc.
My list of how to live a greener and simpler life is …
Spend less – only buy what you need
Pay off the mortgage AND save more
Cook from scratch
Buy quality rather than quantity
Stay at home more – it’s place for living rather than just somewhere to sleep and store stuff
Travel less by car, walk and cycle more. Stay local.
Learn to be mindful and appreciate what I’ve got
Decide on long term goals, and then work backwards to work out medium term and short term goals
Ensure good physical and mental health
Make space in my schedule to do things I love to do
Get involved in my community
I like your tips of how to live a greener and simpler life. They encourage me to rebuild my life, a very simple life. So that i can have much of free time to enjoy the books i like, to walk freely under the green trees in the park, to look at the flowers, etc…
Thanks for your sharing.
Tram
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
I have looked at eco-friendly alternatives, so far I have installed solar panels on my home but while looking for a electric car I find the cost doesnt justify it for me. While I am passionate about making green choices whenever possible it is up to people like you and I to spread awareness and let the companies know there is a demand. Your website looks popular and I think you can help influence society with your insight and eco tips. by the way I found your site by searching Our Green Path | The Eco-Friendly Steps We Took in Going Green | Happy Simple Living and you were the first result. So I think your website is a good platform to discuss ideas that are thought provoking and influence your readers to go green. – Good luck with your site, you deserve it! Please continue to talk about more eco-tips, every idea helps us get closer day by day!
Thank you! I just bought a house (a fixer upper) and need all the ideas I can get. The first thing I’m busy working on is my veggie garden made from my own home-made compost pile, which I’m very proud of. And no chemicals will be used on my lawn, garden or in the house. I’ve been using the most close to natural paint I can find from Sherwin Williams, called Harmony Paint (I’m pregnant with my 2nd so chemicals bother me). As we gut each room (awful wood paneling), I’m trying to convince my hubby to go with more bamboo and recycled products. And my last (and the thing I make the biggest deal over) is turning off the heat and ac except when it’s just too humid or too cold and open the windows. Fresh air is best!!
SO glad I found you! I’m walking a similar path, preaching ‘eco friendly tighwaddery and the fine art of substitution’ (using what you have instead of buying more ‘stuff’).
Keep spreading the word, you’re doing a great job!
Marianne Meyer recently posted..Homemade Orange Oil Cleaner and Cleaning Paint Brushes!
I have gotten rid of petrochemical laden consumer products, especially those with “fragrance”. It pollutes the neighborhoods badly when people are using the toxic laundry stuff, like “dryer sheets”, fragranced laundry detergent, and “fabric softener.” Sadly, these products are now formulated to not break down, so they go into the waste treatment facilities and are ending up back into our water. Have returned to old fashioned and very effective laundry cleaners: small amount of unscented soap (many natural out there), NO fabric softener, NO dryer sheets, white vinegar added to wash sometimes to get rid of odors, and sometimes nothing but water and the washing machine get clothes clean.
i am a single mum now and renting now, so am starting a vege garden using organic open pollinated seeds from koanga gardens. I am using cleaning products I make myself from wendylsgreengoddess which is a great feeling. I have changed all the bulbs to energy efficient ones. I am making my own compost. And I am waiting to get permission for 3 chickens, which I will hopefully make a pen for from recycled items. I use much less of everything now and extend my dishwashing liquid so it lasts 3 times as long. And I find partly necessity and partly becauase I want to, I dont have a dryer and I spend less on groceries making most things from scratch. Hopefully the vege garden will be more productive and have fruit trees and blueberries etc in pots as well.
Its a great feeling to at least start somewhere.
Thank you for sharing your green steps. We took some big green steps in our household too.
* About a year ago, we started using freecycle.org. Freecycle is a simple way to give away stuff you no longer want, while keeping it out of the landfills and reusing the Earth’s resources——all for free. We’ve been able give away a ton of stuff to good homes (and get stuff too). It has been and continues to be a very worthwhile experience. Visit freecycle.org to find a freecycle community near you.
* I took a no-hard-plastics pledge about 3 years ago after a nightmare I had about swimming in the ocean (for more about that, go to thecatwho.wordpress.com and search for “I had a dream” and “Plastic, plastic everywhere” posts). We create much less trash and save money at the same time. I used to buy all kinds of prepared foods in hard plastic, such as hummus, cottage cheese, yogurt, salsa, pesto, etc., so now we make them from scratch; find sources in sustainable packaging, like glass; or do without. I get personal care and household products in the bulk section at my health-food store, refilling existing plastic bottles; or find and support companies that sell their products in glass or cardboard. The pledge has made me think more about what I buy and has been quite an adventure. (Removing soft plastic from my life in whatever ways I can is next——but much harder to do.)
Great list. Very simple steps that anyone and everyone can do. But, you dont seem to be doing anything about water conservation. Again, just a few simple steps can save a lot of water and a lot of money.
Andy Banks recently posted..Simple Water Conservation Tips for your Home
Some really good ideas here. I will echo some of the comments – homemade laundry soap, especially. But, I would highly discourage anyone from using old carpet in the garden!!! Many years ago we moved into a house that had layers of carpet put down outside, and it was the most awful mess you can image trying to pull up disintegrating carpet. It is nasty!
Because of aesthetics and sometimes pride, something we don’t see mentioned often is not replacing your car every couple of years, especially if you’re not replacing it with a hybrid. Much pollution and waste could be prevented if we didn’t need so much new stuff all the time. The same goes with clothing.
I grew up on a hobby farm, growing most everything in a garden you can think of. So glad to see others starting to do the same.
Some of the things our family does: shop at Goodwill, Salvation Army and yard sales. We also have gotten rid of many paper products in our home and use cloth diapers and cloth mamapads– http://clothmamapads.com/ . We cut each other’s hair. A good investment is a sewing machine to make and repair items. Darning sox is a lost art, but can save money too. I recently found a mans 5X denim shirt at Salvation Army and made 3 little girl dresses from them for the cost of $2.
My husband and I are building a coffee house without going into debt. We shop at estate sales to get the things we need. The couches in our coffee house are awesome and we didn’t pay money them. Instead, we worked for them. I also got all my clothes, purses, dishes and other household items by either exchanging work for them, or buying at estate sales.
We started out living in our car, with nothing. And with very little money involved, now have a coffee house and have simplified our lives so much that I don’t miss my old life of shopping for every thing new. I lost everything, and I mean everything! It sounds strange to say this, but it was the best thing that could happen to me. I learned we can live on next to nothing and still have praise in our hearts for the Lord.
Colleen recently posted..Remodeling The Coffee House
Colleen, I love your story. Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing it, and best wishes for much success at the coffee house!
xo,
Eliza
We’ve just gone down the whole heating/insulation route:
New thermal efficient windows, cavity wall insulation, extra insulation in the loft and blocked up any gaps. Decided to stop using the underfloor heating in the kitchen as it was costing a fortune and just seemed a waste.
There’s so much you can do but it also has to fit in with your current lifestyle, so i don’t see a hybrid car in works just yet but next on the agenda is a big drive towards reducing the amount of household waste we produce to around 50% of what it is now
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I am happy just to have found three worms in the parking lot to start out my homestead. I put them in a very large flower pot and I’ve been feeding them my kitchen scraps. I felt sorry for them because of winter and brought the pot inside but now I’m regretting it. There are fruit flies! Anyone know how to have an indoor worm composting system?
Next step is to get started on making a square foot garden for salad greens. I eat so much junk food because its cheap. I’m going to take a week’s worth of junk food money and put it towards a 4×4 garden.
As much as I want to say I’m a homesteader, I’m not. I have to work into this. It’s a whole lot of work and going to a fast food restaurant all the time seems cheaper but I am overweight now because of the bad foods I eat.
So, my goal this year is to plan my homestead, starting with composting and making a salad garden. (Baby steps!)
Colleen recently posted..Remodeling The Coffee House
I adore your tips, they inspire me to live better life. Thanx!
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As aforementioned, I have to reiterate, PLEASE do not put carpet outside-ever. It is such a disgusting mess to clean up. When we moved into our house we spent an entire summer trying to rid our backyard of orange tufts of shag carpet. There are still tufts of it under the flower beds and sod. It smells awful and I can only imagine the chemicals that leach into the ground.
Wow! Your idea is great. I’m an avid supporter of Go Green!
I have a suggestion for the garden:
install vertical garden into interior spaces and bring the touch of green into indoor spaces.
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Great information on this website. Here are a few of my tips: No home phone bill anymore-we have ooma.com box which runs off DSL. We get movies from the library for free. Costco for toilet paper, dog food, shred cheese, milk etc. Freecycle.org is great to give and get stuff for free. Love resale shops-check for 1/2 off days. We have a Reverse Osmosis system to filter our drinking water and use stainless steel or chemical free rewashable bottles. Love vitacost.com for healthy food, vitamins etc. The best disinfectant is hydrogen peroxide and apple cider vinegar in two seperate spray bottles-great for counter tops etc. I check every few years different companies to save money for Insurance/TV/Internet/Cell phone services. To help you save alot of money in the winter=for laundry=colors and darks=I dry for 5-10 minutes and take out immediatley and lay over something to stop wrinkles-then I hang on hangers on a rack-very low gas bill when the winter gas price is high. I don’t do this in the summer since gas price is low. Carpet has formaldhyde-don’t ever use in a garden.
Sandi,
Thank you so much for sharing these great ideas. I am going to try your idea for disinfectant spray!
xo,
Eliza