Green is the new black.

Since starting this blog almost a full year ago, I have been working on integrating healthier lifestyle habits, including incorporating more eco-friendly habits and methods.

One of my earlier posts, Why I threw away all my tupperware, talked about how the bpa in our plastic containers leaks into our food and causes health concerns. As a result, I have switched over to all glass storage instead of those old leftover chinese food containers. I also replaced our sandwhich baggies with stasher bags, a more ecofriendly alternative. But more on that in a bit.

Since March is the month of GREEN (Did I make that up? St. Patty’s day green?), I wanted to share with you all 10 ways to go green in your home. I am not perfect myself, however, every little shift, in my opinion, makes a difference.

Throw Out Your Tupperware. Right Now. No more plastics chinese food containers heating up in your microwave. Use glass tupperware such as these ones by UKonserve. It is both a healthier, safer option and eco-friendly.

No more PLASTIC baggies. I know we all love packing snacks for the work week or for your little ones. But they filling up our landfills. Did you know Americans discard more than 30 million tons of plastic a year, and only 8 percent gets recycled???? That means the remaining 92% piles up in landfills, is incinerated or becomes litter. I use stasher bags instead, ecofriendly and multipurposed. (And all you BYOK box members got one in last months box, WINNING!)

Reusable water bottles. Are you seriously still using plastic water bottles? Using just one reusable water bottle on the regular saves on the average 167 plastic water bottles.

Use Power Strips. You might of lost me on this one but hear me out. Using a power strip allows you to unplug appliances and things that aren’t in use when you leave the house. Because what a pain would it be to walk around the house unplugging all the lamps, appliances, etc every time you left the house? It wouldn’t happen right? But by using power strips, you can atleast turn them off at night when its not in use. By doing so, USA Today estimates that most people are able to save $100 or more from their yearly bills.  Either way, you are saving the environment so that’s #winning to me!

Use Cloth Napkins instead of Paper Napkins at Dinner.  I read that the average american uses 2,200 napkins A YEAR!!! That’s 693 billion napkins. (Find those statistics here). Convinced yet? These are some great eco-friendly cloth napkins that provide an easy swap!

Minimize your paper trail.  Write your grocery list on your phone. Take advantage of clipping coupons via grocery store apps. Purchase your movie tickets via fantango and pull them up on your phone at the movies. EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS!

Use a bamboo toothbrush. Did you know a bamboo toothbrush is equivalent to 4 plastic toothbrushes?! Bamboo is biodegradable and won’t clog up our landfills.

Opt for reusable bags. Brace yourself. 1 reusable bag has the average lifespan of 700 plastic bags. Such an easy swap to make yet so many are still lugging home 20 plastic bags each grocery trip.

Cloth towels to clean. Use cloth towels to clean your mess up, especially in the kitchen. They are inexpensive to purchase and they replace around 7,300 paper towels. SWITCH RIGHT NOW.

Metal Straws. Okay, we all like to drink out of a fancy straw with our fancy cocktails or our little ones may use them for their chocolate milk. However replacing a metal straw for paper straws saves 540 plastic straws that won’t ever make it to the landfill.

I want to hear from you, what are you eco-friendly tips for healthy housekeeping and going green? Share them in the comments below!

xx Erica

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