Every year, I am on a journey to find more ways to reduce plastic, reduce waste, become more environmentally conscious and to live a simpler life. I am nowhere near perfect, but here are several changes I have already made that have helped impact the environment in a positive way.
Dryer Sheets – Instead I Use: Wool Dryer Balls
It’s no secret that laundry costs can quickly add up. It’s estimated that the average family spends $600 on laundry per year. So any way that I can cut down my laundry costs, I will.
In my homemade laundry detergent, I can wash 900 loads of laundry for $30. With these wool dryer balls, you will spend $16.95, but be able to use them for years to come!
These 6 wool dryer balls will last you for over 1,000 loads of laundry! They help reduce drying time by 25% and even work as a natural fabric softener.
You can also add a few drops of essential oils to your dryer balls for natural fragrance.
Paper Towels – Instead I Use: Reusable Paper Towels
3,000 tons of paper towel waste is produced EVERY DAY.
The average family will use 5-7 rolls of paper towels a month. With some families using 8+ or more a month. If you purchase an 8 pack of paper towels for $15, you could easily spend $180 just on paper towels per year.
I use these reusable bamboo paper towels for everything, then store them in a container under the sink and wash them whenever I do a load of laundry. They can be reused 100 times and for each roll purchased, this company will plant a tree.
This one purchase can last you over 5 years!
MONEY SPENT: $9.99
MONEY SAVED IN 5 YEARS: $900
Plastic straws – Instead I use: Reusable Metal Straws
500 million plastic straws are used every day.
Plastic straws are pretty cheap in and of themselves but switching to reusable metal straws will produce less waste, is better for the environment, and will last you a lifetime.
Also, when you go out to eat, try skipping the straw!
Plastic Water Bottles – Instead I Use: Reusable Cup
Collectively, we use on average 50 billion water bottles each year, with only 23% being recycled. That means 38 billion water bottles go to waste!
A reusable cup can be used for your water, iced coffee, hot coffee, tea, or whatever you want to put in it!
Buying an RTIC cup is virtually the same quality as a Yeti, but not as expensive. It will keep your drinks just as cold or hot!
K-Cups – Instead I Use: Reusable K-Cup Filter
The amount of k-cups that have been thrown away could go around the planet 10 times.
I buy generic brand ground coffee from my grocery store for $2.68 a can.
It takes 0.4 oz out of my 11 oz can to fill my k-cup filter. That will make me 27 cups of coffee. If I have one cup a day, I will only spend $2.68 on coffee for one month. In one year, I will spend $32.16 on coffee.
The average Sam’s Club or Costco 100 pack averages $33-47. We’ll take $40 as the average here. That’s about $140 yearly on k-cups if bought in bulk.
If you buy your coffee in a 12-pack of k-cups from the store, most brands average $7.30. That could equate to $175 a year for k-cups.
MONEY SPENT IN 5 YEARS: $160.80
MONEY SAVED IN 5 YEARS: $700 (Based on the $140 average)
These averages just based on one person drinking coffee. Most families have several coffee drinkers, so these prices could easily double or triple!
Aluminum Foil – Instead I Use: Silicone Baking Mats
Why use aluminum foil or parchment paper to toss away when finished, when you can reuse a silicone mat?
They are easy to clean and create a better cooking surface for your food.
Household cleaners – Instead, make your own.
A recent study found that the typical home spends $40-50 a month on household cleaners. That equates to $480-600 a year!
I did a post where I showed you how to make your own natural cleaner with just two ingredients. In that post, I figured out you could make my homemade cleaner 65 times for $15. Other store-bought cleaners if you spent $3 a bottle, would cost you $192 for the same amount.
If you made all of these switches, you’d spend about $93.83. The amount of money you would save would be over $2,000 in 5 years with just THESE 7 SWAPS.
Think about all the other changes you could make towards a more sustainable, zero-waste lifestyle to save you even more!