Going Green -- One Baby Step At A Time

By Author: Joshua Vadney
Total Articles: 7
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Most people have thought of living a more environmentally friendly lifestyle at some point in their lives, especially with environmental concerns on the rise. Trying to live a more environmentally friendly life can take time, patience, and learning from your errors. What works for one person doesn't always work for another. You need to choose which path of living a greener lifestyle will work best for you and your family.

The key to making this lifestyle change is to take it one step at a time. Making too many changes at once can overwhelm you and you might not give living green a chance, thinking it's too much of a hassle. A good way to start is to try a few ideas a month and once you have acclimated them into your lifestyle, try a few more. Studies have shown that it takes an average of 6 weeks to make a repetitive motion a habit.

The best things to do to start living a greener lifestyle are the simple, free actions in your family and household. Here are five simple ways to living a green life:

1. Start drying your clothes outdoors using a clothes rack. If you are worried that your ...
... clothes will be stiff, use a good grade eco-friendly fabric softener. A natural solution is to use white vinager as a fabric softener - it does not smell after the rinse cycle and does a good job.

2. Start composting your kitchen scraps and yard debris in a spot in your yard. It doesn't take much room. You can easily make a nutrient dense additive for your flower beds and vegetable garden.

3. Recycle everything you can. If your municipality recycles - go for it. Many times, the money recovered by recycling is used to maintain parks and community activities. If your local area doesn't have a recycling program you can still find many non-profit places (churches, mission groups, domestic shelters, etc) that fund their activities through recycling. All it takes is three containers/clean garbage cans (one for aluminum cans, newspaper, and plastic) and a willingness to drop them off whenever they are full. You might be surprised at how much less trash you throw out when you start recycling.

4. Carpool whenever possible. For work and for errands, with gas hovering at $2.69 a gallon, it pays to network with friends to make as few trips as possible.

5. The last and most simple is: TURN OFF what you are not using! Turn off the lights when you leave a room. It sounds simple but every little bit can help. Use surge protectors turn off your electronics. You'd be surprised how many household electronics ( televisions, dvd players, computers, etc) use electricity even when they aren't being used! As a bonus, your electric bill be reduced as well.
Are you interested in learning more ideas for going green and reducing your impact on the environment while saving money? Visit green tips for you to learn more!