Live Greener at Home and Save Some Green while You’re at It!

Living greener at home doesn’t necessarily mean you have to do away with creature comforts or totally change your lifestyle. 

You can be passionate about saving the environment, conserve energy, live healthier and allow your ‘inner green’ to shine by making a few smart choices at home.

Seven Easy Ways to Green up Your Florida Home 

1.  Reduce, reuse and recycle – Reduce your personal consumption by reusing what you already have and recycling what you can’t use. 

Start by separating recyclables from your regular trash.  Instead of throwing away items in the trash like clothing, toys, appliances and equipment that are still perfectly reusable goods, why not donate them to your favorite charity. 

Or, have a garage sale and make a few bucks because as the old saying goes, “One man’s trash is another mans treasure.”

2.  Just Say No to Junk Mail – On average, Americans receive more than 40 lbs. of junk mail per year, most of which ends up in the trash bin.  That’s a lot of trees and gas-emissions from the deforestation of those trees.

You can do your part by choosing to opt out from receiving advertising, solicitations, catalogs etc. via regular mail. The Consumerist has an excellent post on how to opt out of junk mail lists successfully.

3.  Choose Eco-friendly Furnishings – Look for new furniture that is durable or that has already stood the test of time.  You’ll save money on having to replace it in the long run as well reduce wasted materials ending up as landfill. 

Choose furniture made from eco-friendly, renewable resources that leave a small environmental footprint, such as reclaimed wood, recycled particle board, bamboo and natural fabrics, fillers and stuffing.    

4.  Leave the Cleaning to Mother Nature – Choose natural, non-toxic, environmentally friendly cleaning products over man-made, noxious products full of industrial compounds, chemicals and pollutants.  How to Buy Green Cleaning Supplies and Environmentally Friendly Cleaning 101  are informative posts on how to go ‘au naturale.’

5.  Unplug and Conserve Energy – Even in sleep mode, items like televisions, VCRs, stereos, coffee makers, toasters, printers, hairdryers, cell phone chargers, etc., continue to suck energy (on average, 1000 kilowatt hours a year per household) if plugged directly into a wall outlet. 

With the use of power strips, you can turn everything off you are not using with one flip of a switch.

6.  Harness Renewable Energy Sources – Utilizing energy sources like wind, solar and hydroelectric power frees you from  having to use energy from coal-burning, greenhouse-gas causing power plants.  Energy sources like the wind and sun are also free which saves money on utility bills.

7.  Water Your Lawn Efficiently -  Avoid watering your lawn during the heat of the day when the sun is most likely to evaporate it. 

Also, choose a drip irrigation system that emits larger drops and distributes water closer to the ground so that your lawn is the only thing getting watered. 

Living greener at home is all about making smarter choices in the way you live!

‘Green’ Florida New Construction Homes

Sheila Stephenson is a Florida Realtor® with many years of experience in the Florida new home market.  Sheila cares about the environment and specializes Florida new construction homes designed with ‘green’ living in mind.

If you’re in the market to buy a new home in Florida, you might want to consider one of the many energy-efficient, high performance new construction homes that are available.  North Tampa Bay has a variety of Florida new homes for sale designed to reduce monthly utility costs while saving the environment and that offer eco-value-features as standard, such as:

• Increased insulation values in walls and attics
• Better air ventilation and humidity level controls
• Water saving fixtures for consumption, plumbing and irrigation
• Energy Star® rated appliances
• Energy-efficient CFL lighting Fixtures
• Insulated windows and fiberglass insulated exterior doors
• Programmable thermostats and more efficient HVAC systems
• And much more!

Florida New Homes Expert