10 Easy Ways To Save The Environment At Home

Eco-friendly living is a big topic now, which is great. However, many of the methods either take loads of effort or cost a lot of money. But, believe it or not, there are easy ways to save the environment at home – and the majority of them are free!

Here are ten suggestions to help the planet that you may not have heard of.

Clear out your inbox subscriptions

Believe it or not, there’s another reason to clear your inboxes out besides being organised. Every email that is sent out has a carbon footprint and it racks up quickly.

Think about all those subscriptions you’ve signed up to in the past, and how many of those still send you emails. It’s probably not doing the environment any good! The best thing to do is to regularly clear out your inbox – if it’s too big a task, use a free tool like Cleanfox which does most of the work for you.

Write up a weekly meal plan

Meal planning is one of my favourite easy ways to save the environment at home as it’s made such a difference. It seems like a lot of effort but it’s not, and once you get into it it’s so easy.

By planning exactly what you’re going to eat before you shop, you’ll notice so much less food waste. You only get what you need, and it leads to a much more organised kitchen.

If you want a tried and tested method of meal planning then check out my Meal Plan Mini-Bundle! This is exactly what I use to reduce waste and make my weekly shop far less stressful.

Since implementing this method I’ve saved so much in both cost and uneaten food!

Use an eco-friendly search engine

Did you know that even search engines can impact the environment in a positive way? I’m not talking about Google here, but rather alternatives such as Ecosia or GoodTree. Both of these contribute towards planting trees with every search and are CO2 negative.

Or there are options like Green Maven, which prioritise green search results. There are so many out there, so it’s worth trialling a few until you find one which works for you.

Use e-tickets for events and experiences

With technology nowadays there is no need for paper tickets, which most likely are created at the expense of the environment.

A good way to avoid these is to use e-tickets where possible, which removes the need for paper-usage, printing, and potential posting.

Reduce your fish consumption (or stop altogether)

Everyone knows that meat isn’t the best for the environment, but the focus is largely on beef and other land meat. However, fish is a good one to reduce as well.

Whilst fish don’t affect methane levels as cows do, their presence in the ocean is vital for our survival.

Sadly, overfishing is threatening this, which will lead to depleted eco-systems and loss of biodiversity. If the ocean dies then we die, so this is something that should be hot on our radar.

Turn off your unused plugs

Believe it or not, unused plugs still use energy when turned on! This is something I wish I’d known years ago.

Sure, they don’t use as much as when something is plugged into them, but it will still add up over time. Make sure you always switch off plugs when they’re not in use.

Do your online orders in bulk

How many times have you ordered something for it to arrive in completely unnecessary packaging?

Sadly it happens a lot. I’ve had CDs come in giant boxes before, which is such a waste of resources. Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do here, however, we can buy in bulk.

This reduces the amount of packaging overall, plus it puts stop to all those delivery drivers turning up at your door. That’s a lot of pollution!

Download music rather than stream

How do you listen to your music? I used to stream a lot of mine using services like Spotify and YouTube, but then I discovered how much they negatively impact the environment.

Unfortunately, streaming accounts for a lot of carbon emissions, which of course are not good. The best way to solve this is to try and ingest downloaded content where possible – yes, downloading also creates carbon emissions, but nowhere near as many as streaming.

Ditch the coffee pod machine dream

Coffee pod machines are really big at the moment. Lots of people love them – they make good coffee, they’re convenient, and they’re affordable (for a luxury).

However, they’re the worst option for the environment. The problem is the pods, which are largely non-recyclable plastic. You’re looking at a pod per coffee, so that’s between one and five (or more) per day per person.

Multiply that by everyone that drinks them, and suddenly you’ve got a lot of waste.

My advice? Stick with literally any other coffee drinking method. Opt for instant with eco-refills, or buy fresh coffee instead.

Research and use your local recycling services

And finally – you probably know all about your government-provided recycling services, but have you seen what else is on offer?

Believe it or not, you can recycle so much more than the government allows. If you live in the UK, the US, or some other countries then you can access TerraCycle.

TerraCycle is a social enterprise that allows loads of different items to be recycled, from beauty products to crisp packets. Plus, it’s free!

Do you do any of these already? Or do you have your own suggestions for easy ways to save the environment at home? Share your ideas below, and don’t forget to like and pin! If you enjoyed this article then you’ll also love this article on how to be more sustainable in the kitchen.