From Guest Blogger Lana Hawkings: How to Go Green at Home and Lead a Sustainable, Non-Toxic Lifestyle

Going green is probably the most pressing initiative right now. In order to move to a sustainable lifestyle, many households are encouraged to make necessary changes to secure a better, cleaner future for their children. However, the road to this mode of living is not easy.

In order to do it successfully, we have to give up on habits we learned from our parents. These habits are mostly related to using household chemicals and electricity in a way that is not particularly prudent considering the ecological crisis the world is facing right now. In order to make this transition easier, here’s how to go green at home and lead a sustainable, non-toxic lifestyle.

Say goodbye to toxic cleaners

Those regular chemicals you can buy in an average store in your neighborhood have to go first. The most important step in converting to non-toxic living is to start buying all-natural alternative cleaners for your household.

Thankfully, finding alternatives these days is not particularly hard since the market for them is becoming increasingly popular. You can even go a step further and start making your own cleaners by mixing natural ingredients you can find in every household ‒ most notably, baking soda, lemon juice, vinegar and hot water.

Say hello to organic pesticides

Every household comes with a relentless army of pests. Dangerous pesticides are maybe efficient for getting rid of these unwelcome guests, but they are also detrimental to human health and disastrous for the environment.

They may be marketed as safe and have pleasant scents added to them, but it’s nearly impossible to find, for example, a regular bug spray that doesn’t contain cancer-causing compounds in it. By using organic pesticides, almost all of the issues mentioned above can be avoided. You can even mix up some of these pesticides yourself. A lot of them contain harmless ingredients, like salt spray, mineral oil, cayenne pepper, eucalyptus oil, etc.

Don’t underestimate the light factor

You should switch to fluorescent light bulbs completely. They use a quarter of the electricity of your regular incandescent light bulbs and they won’t heat up the room during the summer months. Additionally, they last up to ten times longer than regular light bulbs. If this doesn’t spell energy efficiency for you, nothing does.

However, even if you replace all your incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent ones, it still doesn’t mean you should throw caution to the wind. If you and other members of your household tend to be forgetful about flicking the light switches, you can go an extra mile and install movement sensors so the lights will only activate when someone enters the room. Automatic timers are also a viable alternative ‒ after the light is left on in an empty room, the sensor will turn the light off after a short period of time.

Place your bet on air purification

There are several types of houseplants that have a scientifically proven positive influence on household air quality. Most of them are already known as “office plants” and you’ll need one ten-inch-tall plant for the area of one hundred square feet.

You can also buy the best air purifiers as a backup. These are designed as a healthy replacement for regular AC filters, which is very beneficial for asthma sufferers and people with chronic allergies. Moreover, it’s a good investment that can purify polluted air in a heavily urbanized area.

The recycling game

It’s your duty as a citizen of Earth to find creative ways to recycle various household items. You can donate used toys and clothes to charity groups and organizations. Tossing these to the trash is a waste and it only adds to the already overwhelming trash problem. Of course, you should not stop there, this can also be applied to books, appliances, cardboard boxes etc.

You can also contribute by opting to buy recycled products. All you’ve got to do is to pay attention to labels and look for the highest percentage of recycled content.

Going green is our obligation, especially since it is not that hard to do it these days. The sacrifices we have to make are neither overwhelming nor particularly significant for our lifestyles. This is due to the fact that we mostly need to make some small changes that do not directly influence our everyday lives. However, they are necessary for our planet and its future.