- Use reusable bags made from recycled materials. Most stores (Safeway, Wal-Mart, Costco, and Target) sell the bags, some for as little as 99 cents. Most grocery stores will even take 3 to 5 cents off your grocery bill for each bag you use. Before you know it those bags will have paid for themselves!
2. Take your favorite travel mug with you to your favorite coffee shop!
- Most coffee shops will gladly fill any travel mug with your non-fat, no-whip, 2 pump, raspberry mocha instead of using one of their disposable cups. Some coffee shops (like Starbucks) will even subtract 10 cents off your coffee price. You can’t beat that!
3. Make school lunches more durable and less disposable:
- Use a reusable lunch bag or box instead of a paper bag.
- Put that yummy PB&J sandwich into a reusable sandwich holder rather than into a disposable sandwich bag.
- Instead of putting juice boxes in their lunches fill a reusable drink container with 100% juice.
- Use small reusable containers for things like grapes, crackers, and animal cookies instead of individual serving size bags that get thrown away after lunch.
- Replace plastic utensils with the real thing.
- You can even go so far as putting a cute and colorful cloth napkin in their lunch box rather than a disposable napkin.
These ideas will not only make your children's school lunch Greener, they will also help to keep lunches from getting smushed as they are oh so gently shoved into backpacks.
4. When buying fruits and vegetables buy local, buy organic.
- It takes a lot of resources to produce and ship fruits and vegetables across the world and across the USA. By buying locally you will not only cut down on those resources you will also get fresher produce.
- Buying certified organic produce helps to eliminate the potential for residual pesticides.
- When you reach for a bag to put your local, organic produce into reach for a paper bag instead of a plastic one and leave the twist tie at the store.
5. Ensure your tires are properly inflated and your car’s maintenance is up-to-date.
- With today’s gas prices every little bit you can do to save $ will help.
6. When you enter rooms don’t immediately reach for the light switch.
- People turn lights on when they enter into a room more out of habit then out of necessity. Before you turn the light on, open the blinds/curtains. Natural light just might do the trick.
7. Fill your home with plants. 
- Plants not only look pretty they also help to clean the air in our homes.
8. Don’t pull the plug after bath time!
- When you have finished scrubbing those kiddos squeaky clean leave the bath water in the tub and use it to water all those house plants.
9. Open your windows and doors.
- Not only will this help bring fresh air into your home it might just cool it down enough that you won’t have to reach for the air conditioner.
- Turning on a ceiling fan or floor fan might help with the heat too.
10. Clean out the lint catcher on your dryer before each use!
- This helps your dryer not have to work as hard to dry the clothes.
- I would love to hear your simple ideas for how to live a little greener. Just leave your suggestion in the comments section.When Lena is not writing for Blissfully Domestic you can find her saving the planet one plastic bag at a time at
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