In a perfect world, we’d all have homes filled with the eco-friendly options. As much as we all love this alternate reality– lets face it, it’s a leap of faith! Not a small one at that… Making the switch is a huge deal, even if it doesn’t appear so. It requires a certain amount of guts to just do it. The blow to your wallet may be a little painful at first, but it’ll all pay off! Doing your homework and planning ahead is the way to go, here are our simple tips to making the switch.

Appliances are a huge part of your energy bill. The simple way to save money with them is by upgrading them! Of course it may get a little pricey at first, but if you get Energy-Star models with high efficiency, you can save around $75 each year on energy! It’ll all pay itself off eventually, and help the environment while you’re at it!

Think about how much energy is used in the laundry room, and how you can reduce that amount. Washing laundry in cold water is a simple way to do this, just find the right detergents and fabric softeners that work with the cool water! If you live somewhere warm where this is an option, try drying your clothes on a clothesline instead of the dyer. Watch the bill as this saves around $75 a year! The dryer beats up your clothes anyway and wears them down, so you’ll save money replacing them.

Simply being unaware of electronics not in use is an easy way to waste energy. Leaving all your chargers and gadgets plugged in while not in use can really add up (almost 10% of a home’s energy use). Buying a few power strips to plug everything into are easy to switch on and off, it may save you some money in the long run.

We’ve always been told, “Turn off the lights when you leave a room.” And how many times have you forgotten this rule? We’ve all done it, and it’s especially difficult with kids in the house, so make it simple! You can find light switches that monitor movement, and eventually turn themselves off. Dimmer switches with this function are perfect for the job because you can reduce the lighting at any point, and they’ll easily replace the average switch.

Replacing the average light bulb to a more energy efficient model is a quick and easy way to go green. For more details on this, check out our other article here. As for furniture, we also have a great argument on the best way to spend! Check that article out here. Of course there are a million other ways to update your home, and live green, so share your eco-friendly transformations with us in the comments below or on our Facebook page!