By Elizabeth Barker for Green Goes Simple
Making just one eco-improvement in each room of your home can put you on a greener path that will have you feeling good all year long. Keep it simple with this room-by-room guide, created with the help of Sophie Uliano, eco-living expert and author of Gorgeously Green: 8 Simple Steps to an Earth-friendly Life.
In the living room, limit indoor air pollution with lots of plants. Livening up the room with chrysanthemums, spider plants or philodendrons can purify your indoor air and help you and your loved ones breathe easier.
In the kitchen, zero in on zapping waste. In addition to switching to reusable plates and napkins, try getting a wooden plastic-bag dryer. These let you wash your Baggies and air-dry them easily, helping you get at least four or five uses out of every one.
In the bedroom, replace burnt-out incandescent lightbulbs with the compact fluorescent variety. They last 10 times longer and use 75 percent less energy, and each bulb can save you at least $40 in electricity costs before it needs to be replaced.
In the bathroom, curb your water consumption by installing a low-flow showerhead. (They’re available at most hardware stores for as little as $5.) According to the American Water Works Association, if each American household used water-saving features, the country would save about 5.4 billion gallons of H2O per day. To conserve even more water, switch off the faucet while you lather up, brush up and shave.
In the laundry room, boost your energy savings by using cold-water detergents and line-drying your laundry in the fresh air when you’re able to.
Elizabeth Barker is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and executive
editor of fashion blog NoGoodForMe.com. Her work has appeared in Body
+ Soul, Natural Health, Vegetarian Times, Variety and Kiwi.
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