Most people never think twice about sustainable living, but becoming more self sufficient and achieving a more sustainable lifestyle go hand in hand, we are usually to busy with working and family life, but living a more sustainable lifestyle any where in the world really is not that difficult, with so many people living in the cities we all need to be more friendly on our environment for future generations.
To achieve a more sustainable lifestyle and be more environmentally friendly we need to look at every aspect of day to day living, this can from energy use in our homes to buying our products from the super market to what type of vehicle we use to move around, considering these issues can save you money and be more environmentally friendly at the same time.
An excellent and easy place to start is energy use in our homes, when you leave a room turn off the lights on the way out, replace all the light bulbs in your home with energy efficient light bulbs, these energy efficient bulbs are more expensive to buy in the first place than slandered light bulbs but they will save you alot of money over the course of a year.
An important consideration for energy use in our homes is insulation particularly in cold areas, an uninsulated home will cost a considerable amount of money to heat in the cold winter months, also consider double glazing on windows, thermal curtains also help prevent heat loss through the glass and install draft stops to all external doors, all these practices will help reduce your power bill and make your home more environmentally friendly.
Consider adding solar panels to your home with the popularity of solar power these days the price of installing solar power is getting more affordable, you can go off the grid completely and never pay a power bill again or go to a grid tied system that feeds unused solar power back into the national grid giving you a rebate on your power bill.
Take a look at the vehicle you drive and the way you drive your vehicle, when you use your vehicle for short trips to the shop or visiting your neighbour just down the road, consider walking this will save fuel and give you exercise at the same time, for people living and working in the city a hybrid car would be a consideration saving you money and more friendly on our environment.
Do you recycle your news papers and cardboard once you have used them or do you throw them in the rubbish bin, recycling in a great idea the product can be used again and helps the environment in the long term, the same goes for plastic products put all your recyclable plastic in the recycle bin and remember not all plastics can be recycled.
One of the greatest concerns these days are plastic bags they are one of the biggest problems facing the environment today, when you go shopping use the reusable shopping bags and stop using plastic bags, while this will not save you money it will save the environment around you.
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