Tips on Going Green at Home

Saving money at home doesn’t just mean turning down your AC or heater San Antonio, but there are many more things that you can do to save money while being a bit more environmentally conscious. There are many people around the world that do little to protect the planet, and apathy towards the damage that we are doing to the planet is one of the things that are causing further damage. If you want to do your part to go green at home, here are some great tips for you:

* Mix up household cleaners rather than buying them from the store, as store bought cleaners usually contain strong toxins that damage the atmosphere. You can use ingredients like white vinegar, lemon, baking soda, salt, and borax, but be sure to find the right formulas before mixing them up.

* Try and avoid using heating and air conditioning as much as possible, but take advantage of natural heat and wind. Arrange the furniture so that you allow as much sunlight into your home as possible, and make sure to leave the windows open around your house to send a cross breeze through it. This will help you to seriously cut down HVAC costs, and will save you a fortune in electric bills.

* Don’t throw away glass jars, plastic containers, and cardboard boxes when you can use them around the house. Reduce the amount of items that you throw away as much as possible, as the items that you throw away (non recyclables) usually end up sitting on a garbage heap leaking chemicals into the air.

* Make sure to turn off your oven before the food is completely cooked. The heat inside the oven will keep the food cooking for at least 10 minutes after you turn it off, and you can reduce the amount of natural gas that you use to power your oven or cut down your electricity bill by turning it off a few minutes early.

* Cloth napkins can be a great solution to help you save on your paper waste, and you can simply wash the cloth napkins once a week. Make sure that you have enough napkins for your entire family for all the meals of the day, and add the soiled napkins to the dirty pile until you have enough to wash a full load.

* Make sure to only set the washing machine to running when you have a full load of laundry. Avoid washing a few items of clothes at a time, but make sure that you are washing large loads to avoid wasting water. The amount of water used for a small load is only slightly less than what is used for a full load, so always put in full loads as much as possible.

* Don’t let the water run as you wash the dishes, but fill a few dish basins with water and wash your dishes in the basins. Not only will this save a lot of water, but will actually help you to get your dishes a lot cleaner. Put vegetables and fruits to wash in a basin or bowl as well, as that will help you to prevent wasting water.

* Keep your showers as short as possible, or run a bath. The amount of water that runs down the drain in a 10 minute shower will blow your mind, and you can fill up a bathtub with the same amount of water as you would use during a 5 minute shower. Keep your showers short as much as possible to save on water waste, and take baths if you can.

* Paint your home a dark color in order to help it absorb heat during the winter months. The dark colors will reflect far less light than bright colors, and you can reduce your HVAC costs by using this trick to help the materials of your home absorb warmth.

* Make sure to let latex paint sit for a while to dry before disposing of it. Wet latex paint will leak chemicals into the air and ground, but allowing it to dry by letting it sit without its lid for a few hours will ensure that there is no chemical runoff.

These are a few tips that can help you to save money and be more eco-conscious at home. By putting these tips into action, you can do your part to protect the planet in your own small way. It may not seem like a lot, but everyone doing a little bit is more than enough to solve the problem with damagint the planet.

About The Author: Patrica H. Hugley has written this article.