- Be conscious of energy usage throughout the day and night. There are a ton of ideas here (see some below!)
- When working from home, use a space heater to heat just the room you’re working from instead of the whole house – turn the heat on when everyone else comes home. This works especially well for us because we have solar panels, so the electricity used by the space heater isn’t very costly.
- Program your thermostat to heat/cool less during days and times you are typically away from the house.
- Turn laptops off when not using them.
- Make sure laundry loads are full.
- Switch over to LEDs, even if it’s not throughout the whole house.
- Reduce your usage of single-use items.
- Wash and reuse plastic zip bags.
- Get reusable napkins. Because kids are messy, use dark prints/fabrics, or your first spaghetti meal will stain them!
- Save paper that’s been printed on a single side for notes, grocery lists, etc.
- Use reusable shopping bags everywhere you shop.
- Eat a plant-based diet – this is actually one of the most impactful things you can do!
- Buy gently used items instead of new (#thrifty #DoYouHalfPint).
- Plant a vegetable garden. Our kids get such a thrill out of harvesting (and eating!) homegrown food, but especially the popcorn and potatoes. We let them pick something each year to plant, and they have fun eating “Tyler’s tomatoes” and “Jonah’s kohlrabi”.
- Do you know where your local recycling center is? They take way more than the weekly truck pickups. Many require permits, so check out the websites linked to this map to see what you need before you go.
- Buy local! #DoYouHalfPint!
Do you have any carbon footprint reduction hacks that others might find useful? Send us your thoughts at halfpintresale@gmail.com! #lowercarbonfootprint