1. Natural Cleaning Solutions

Store-bought cleaning supplies such as furniture polish, air freshener, etc., are often very harmful. Many contain chemicals which pollute the environment and are bad for your health. Fortunately, everyday household products can be turned into effective, environmentally-friendly cleaning solutions.

• Instead of purchasing furniture polish try this: a cheaper, cleaner version can be made at home with just a few drops of lemon oil and 1/2 cup of warm water.
  
• A natural all-purpose cleaner can be made by combining 1/2 cup of vinegar, 1/4 cup of baking soda, and 2 liters of water.
  

These are just a couple of A longer list of homemade cleaning products can be found at EarthEasy.com.

2. Compost

Instead of throwing out eggshells, coffee grounds, banana peels, and leftover vegetables, why not compost instead? Composted material breaks down to create nutrient-rich soil and serves as a natural fertilizer for plants? You can use this fertilizer to feed a thriving garden for your family. This reduces the need to use chemicals in the garden and prevents material from being sent to the landfill, where it would instead have produced methane. Make sure you are aware of what can and cannot be composted.

3. Use Recycled Building Materials

Water bottles aren't the only thing you can recycle. When a house is demolished, it creates an enormous amount of waste - unless, of course, the materials are recycled. If you are planning any major home renovations, consider using recycled building materials. Concrete, steel, wood flooring, shingles; recycling offers just as many good-quality options as does buying new materials.

4. Don't Replace: Repair!

When you work on home renovations, instead of completely replacing a cabinet, radiator, or anything else you might be updating, try fixing anything salvageable. Everything you throw out creates waste more waste. Painting an old door or repairing a leaky faucet can make them good as new without creating unnecessary waste.

5. Wash Laundry in Cold Water

90% of the energy used for laundry goes toward heating the water, when cold water will do the trick just fine. A year of washing clothes in hot water can put out over 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide. Switching to cold water can reduce this to 162 pounds.

6. Insulation

While recycled building materials go a long way for your home renovation, new energy efficient technologies can be a much better investment financially and economically than outdated materials. Keeping your walls and ceiling well-insulated means keeping in heat and energy. Over the average lifetime of a building, every square foot of wall insulation saves roughly one ton of carbon dioxide. According to Retro Teck Window, you can retain 25-50% more of your homes energy with the properly insulated windows.

Make green choices in the management of your home. You will be supporting a healthier local and global environment.