How To Babystep Your Way To a Greener Lifestyle

The following is a guest post from Anne of ModernMrsDarcy.

Anne is a natural living junkie, hobby nutritionist, and homeschooling mom to 4 crazy kids. She loves Jane Austen, strong coffee, the summer reading, and social media. You can find her blogging at Modern Mrs Darcy.

Anne was gracious enough to write this for me so I could spend more time nuzzling my newborn baby’s head. (Of course, baby was supposed to have arrived by now… too bad babies don’t have a publishing scheduler like WordPress!)

Anne is sharing tips on how to babystep your way to a greener lifestyle. If you don’t think you could add one more thing to your life, or don’t know where to start, read on!

How To Babystep Your Way To a Greener Lifestyle

photo credit: woodleywonderworks

I hear it all the time. Friends tell me, “I wish my lifestyle was a little greener, but it’s just not important to me. I’d like to care more, but it’s just not me.”

The good news is, you can care more about natural living! All it takes from you is a little bit of action.

I’m sharing some tips below on how you can get more excited about natural living. Think of this as a menu, and not as a checklist. Just pick one thing that interests you and dive in!

Change what you read.

You probably read blogs and books that cover topics you’re interested in. Doesn’t everyone? It’s natural to focus our minds on the things we care about.

But we sometimes forget that this works both ways. If you want to care more about natural living, find ways to keep the topic on your mind. My favorite way to do this is by filling my Google Reader with green blogs.

By subscribing to natural living blogs in a reader or by email, you’ll get new content delivered to you regularly–which ensures that the topic will stay on your mind. It’s an easy (and free!) way to stay focused on the hows and whys of living green.

How to get started:

• You’re already here, and that’s a great place to start!
• Add a few other “green” blogs to your RSS feed, or subscribe for email updates.
• Choose a great book from Carrie’s list.
• Listen to a podcast.

Change how you spend your money.

Our money reflects our priorities. We spend our money (in theory) on stuff we care about.

But guess what? This pattern works the other way, too. Even the Bible says, “where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.” And it’s true: if we spend money on something, our feelings will tag along.

To amp up your commitment to natural living, spend some money in environmentally friendly ways. It doesn’t have to be more expensive than the alternative.

How to get started:

• Buy recycled toilet paper or printer paper.
• Spend $20 at the farmers’ market instead of the chain store.
• Try some green (and cheap) cleaning products and see what you think.

Change how you spend your time.

Just like money, time is a valuable resource. Have you invested any time in environmentally friendly pursuits?

How to get started:

• Walk or bike your errands instead of driving.
• Cook a meal using whole foods.
• Pick up some trash in your neighborhood.
• Plant some herbs.
• Volunteer in a community garden.

Change your physical space.

We can make our households a lot more environmentally friendly with a few simple tweaks. If we take a few minutes to put the systems in place, we’re likely to follow through and actually use them.

How to get started:

• Put some recycling bins in your kitchen, or stick a paper grocery bag under the sink to collect the recyclables.
• Consider keeping a compost bucket in the kitchen.
• Keep reusable grocery bags in your car.
• Get rid of your plastic.

Do you currently use any of these strategies to babystep your way to a greener lifestyle? Which ones work best for you?