We all have those habits we wish we could break. If you’re trying to be more eco friendly in your daily life, there are probably a number of things you would like to change, but just haven’t managed to yet. Here are some bad habits you may want to work on changing so you can be more eco friendly.
Bad Habit #1 – Forgetting Reusable Shopping Bags
For many of us, it’s easy to forget to put the reusable shopping bags in the car or where we’ll grab them before heading out to shop. If single use plastic shopping bags haven’t been banned in your area, that means you get more of those thin shopping bags that pile up so fast.
To get past this bad habit, come up with a way to remember to bring your reusable bags along for shopping. Get into the habit of putting them someplace easy to see when you’re going shopping.
Consider giving yourself a penalty when you forget your bags, such as having to drop a quarter into a jar for every non reusable bag you bring into the house, kind of like a swear jar.
Bad Habit #2 – Paper Towels
Paper towels are really convenient for cleaning up some messes, and they can be advertised as being more sanitary than cloth towels or sponges being used over and over again. Frankly, that depends on how often you change or clean your cloth towels and sponges, as there are ways to handle the germ issues in those. Paper towels, being single use items, are rarely the right choice.
Bad Habit #3 – Bottled Water
Don’t buy bottles of water when you’re on the go – bring your own in a reusable water bottle. Mine is stainless steel. It’s a few years old and still going strong. It’s easy to carry when I go somewhere – I chose an insulated bottle so that my drink stays cold even if I leave it in the car for a while.
Bad Habit #4 – Lights On During The Day
When you can, don’t turn the lights on in your home during the day. Open the blinds or curtains and get a little natural light in. Of course, if it’s too hot out, you may be better off with closed curtains so you don’t let the heat in and need to run the air conditioner.
Bad Habit #5 – Over Reliance On The Heater Or Air Conditioner
There’s no need to keep your home a steady temperature all year. Learn to enjoy a wider range of temperatures indoors and you can use your heater and air conditioner much less throughout the year. Wear warmer clothes indoors during the winter rather than heat the entire house, and use fans to keep cooler for less in summer.
Don’t forget to take advantage of your programmable thermostat if you have one. You don’t need to heat or cool your house so much when you aren’t home, and you may want cooler temperatures when you’re sleeping than when you’re awake – not to mention that, weather permitting, you may be able to open windows at night to cool things down after a hot day.