We celebrate Earth Day every year in April, but what can we do to celebrate it every day? What are some things that we can teach ourselves, and our children, to start doing that helps to take care of our planet all year long?  I have realized that we have a lot of laziness, and honestly, some fear, in moving forward with some options. We’ve been groomed so well into using certain products and doing things a certain way that we don’t even realize there are different options. These options don’t have to be scary or hard either, we just need to get used to them. So, I’ve compiled a shortlist of ideas on how my family, and maybe yours, could walk down this road together and start taking better care of our Earth.

Earth Conscious Around the House

-Water Conservation: Fix any leaks in your house, install low flow showerheads, and don’t run the tap while brushing your teeth. These little changes can save up to 160,000 liters of water for a family of four.

-Composting Food Waste: I’ll be honest, this intimidates me, but I’ve learned it doesn’t have to be hard. Studies have shown that food waste in landfills is one of the leading causes of methane. By putting your food waste in a compost bin you can reduce the number of methane emissions.

-Stop using Plastic Bottles: I’ll be honest, this was an easier one for my family. I hate the sound of crunching plastic bottles, and I was tired of our kids carrying cups around the house and spilling everywhere, so we switched over to using re-usable water bottles all the time in our household. We have an entire cabinet full of re-usable water bottles.

Other ways to contribute:

-Line dry your laundry

-Don’t pre-rinse your dishes

-Buy pre-loved items

-Unplug unused electronics

-Turn off the lights when you leave a room

-Pass on paper towels and use instead use cloth towels

-Wash your clothes in cold water

-Re-use shopping bags

-Consider cloth diapering: not only does this reduce a TON of waste, but it saves a TON of money!

There are so many ways to be, just a little more conservative, when it comes to our daily lives and how we do things. I bet, there is something we can all do in our lives to start contributing to this cause that benefits all of us. How are you going to make some little changes?