Simple Green Things At Home

Recycle

Recycle everything you can.
Paper, Tin, Cans, Plastic......
If you get a news paper everyday, you probably have a ton of paper to recycle every week. Don't forget to recycle these old news papers.
If your community does not have a recycle bin, insist on having one. Or else find out the nearest community that has one. Recycle these items on your way to work/grocery store.

Turn down the faucet

We all have the tendency to turn the water faucet at full force whenever we wash our hands or rinse the dishes. In doing so, we use 40-50% more water than needed. By turning the faucet down, we can save quite a bit.
Saving the water not only saves you few bucks on the water bill, but it also saves
- Energy needed to pump water up to your apartment and/or office water storages.
- Energy & resources consumed to purify the water.

Use Cloth Bags when you can

Avoid using plastic bags.
Plastic bags do not decompose that easy. Encourage using cloth bags or bags made of bio-degradeable material.
Discount!
Several stores offer discount when you bring your own bag, or when you re-use an old bag from the same store. (Eg: Whole Foods Market offers you 10 cents discount when you use an old WFM bag). Why lose out on the discount?
Some shops pack the items in disposable paper bags, instead of plastic. Paper bags are decomposable unlike plastic bags, but they are not necessarily green alternative. A paper bag consumes six times more energy to manufacture than its plastic counterpart. A cloth bag is your best bet.

Take the stairs!

So your live on the 4th floor? Save that elevator a trip up & down. Take the stairs. You can easily make it!
A Good Exercise!
Not only saves the energy used by the elevator, walking up & down the stairs is proven to be a very good exercise! Needless to say, its good for your heart too.
So unless you are in a hurry to catch your train/bus next time, just take the stairs.
(Me & my wife, we both take stairs to our apartment on the 10th floor many times a day! Burns some extra calories & keeps you fit.)
If going up the stairs is difficult, take the stairs on your way down. Its easier than climbing up.

Go the e-Way

Stop paper bills / statements
Who needs another pile of paper, with your personal information on it, lying around in your house, when you can view & pay your bills online?
Go ahead. Stop those paper bills/statements & subscribe to e-bills. You can print those, anyway, whenever you need the printed copy.
Not only saves a lot of expensive paper from getting used, it also
- Saves few bucks on the postage stamps
- More importantly, reduces the likelihood of identity theft.

Walk!

If your grocery store is nearby & you do not plan to buy a trunk-load of stuff, dont bother to rev up those car engines! Take a walk. Save that gas.
A brisk walk to the grocery store can be a part of your warm up routine before you jump the tread mill or start your work-out.

Use Green Products

Use green products that are of the same quality & give the same result as any other products.
These products are made of natural & bio-degradeable ingredients, that are safe for the environment.

Be Penny-wise!

Based on recent studies, at an average, every household in the US has about $60 in change.
Circulate those coins back into the market. Saves the energy needed to produce new coins due to the shortage.

Wash full loads

Starting a dishwasher to wash a handful of utensils is a waste. Wash full loads to make the best use of the water & electricity.
Same goes for washing machines.

Turn off modems, when not in use

An editor of one of the websites mentioned about a statistic collected in the year 2007 "....we thought it would be interesting to run a poll about how many people turn off their Internet access (cable/DSL box and router), and when. As of this writing, 67% never turn these devices off, and 22% only turn them off when going on vacation. People who turn them off every night, like me, are only 5.5%, though 2.5% turn them off whenever they leave the house."
Why does anybody need the modem ON when nobody's home?
Modem continues to consumes elecricity even though it is not being used. Turn it on only when needed, just like you would do with the electric stove. That will also extend life of the modem.
And unlike a computer, a modem just takes few seconds to turn itself on, anyway.
You can turn it OFF
    - Everyday when you leave the house.
    - During bedtime.
    - When you go on vacation, outings, etc.

Don't forget the lights!

If you are watching TV in the living room, you really don't need those bedroom lights turned on. Turn them off & turn them on when you need them.
Use natural light during day time. Why raise your bills by using tube-lights & lamps during the day? Use the free light. Raise those blinds.
Is "switching-off" enough?"
Several electric devices at home continue consuming energy even when they are supposedly "switched-off". Better still, lets take it to the next level - just unplug them when not in use. Go that extra mile!
Unplug Chargers
Unplug all kinds of chargers when not in use - Cell Phone chargers, iPod Chargers, BlackBerry charges, Laptop chargers, etc.

Adjust your refrigerator settings

Fridge & Freezer cooling can be adjusted based on how much stuff is in there.
Turn down the cooling when the fridge is empty or has very little food items in it. You probably will never need to turn the knob to the max. Use these settings wisely & save energy!
You probably wont like to leave stuff behind in the fridge when you go on a vacation. Turn down the cooling to somewhere close to minimum when you empty your fridge for a long holiday.

Optimize your trip

Plan your trips smartly, so you can accomplish multiple chores in the same trip.
Eg: Dropping your kid to school, grocery, buying stamps from postal office, etc.
Saves you fuel as well as time.

Reduce Usage

Often we buy new things because we like them when we see them at shop. We already have those things at home and they are in working condition. After we buy the new stuff, we dispose of the old ones. If we can't fight the urge to shop, we can make sure that the useable things that we have, do not go waste, apply them elsewhere where they are needed and can be useful.
Reuse
Reduce the usage of disposable items. Buy things that are reusable. You'll find that in the long run, they are more cost efficient. Use your imagination to reuse as many things as you can.

More importantly, pass it on!

By the time your kids grow up, the environmental problems might be under control. Or they might grow into something that needs the world's immediate attention.
Nevertheless, pass on the knowledge & awareness to your kith & kin.
Teach them the Green Conduct. Make them aware of the environmental issues & help them act responsibly.
This way, every generation becomes more & more responsible towards keeping the environment safe & clean.

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