10 Easy Eco-Friendly Swaps To Make This Year

If you’re looking for ways that you can help our environment and become more eco-friendly check out these 10 easy eco-friendly swaps you can make to be more sustainable in 2020.

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For our family, 2020 has been the year of becoming more sustainable. If you read this post, you may already know that we’ve officially ditched single-use water bottles and we haven’t stopped there! Over the past month, I’ve made a handful of small adjustments that have changed our lives in a big way!

During our move, I took inventory of the things that we bought repeatedly and the things that we didn’t get much use out of and looked for alternatives. I realized that we bought and used so many things that weren’t good for the environment – and most times weren’t good for us either.

Although I’m still doing my research, I’ve made 10 solid eco-friendly swaps so far, and it’s safe to say – I’m never going back! These simple swaps have made our lives so much easier AND have saved us money in the long run!

So if you’re looking for ways that you can help our environment and become more eco-friendly check out these 10 easy eco-friendly swaps you can make to be more sustainable in 2020.

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This was of the first, and easiest switches we made was ditching our single-use cups and straws and replacing them with reusable ones. As you guys know, I LOVE cups! Coffee cups, tumblers, fancy-schmancy wine glasses – I love them all! So that part was easy. It was the reusable straws that were more of a challenge.

I tried metal straws and honestly, I’m not a fan of the slightly metallic taste that they give my beverages. But I know a lot of people love them so they’re definitely worth looking into if you’re wanting to make the switch. I ended up trying Bamboo reusable straws and I LOVE them! They’re sturdy and they didn’t have my drinks any weird taste. These are the ones that I use and I’m STILL obsessed! Highly recommend!

Earlier this year I shared with you guys my love for my brand new Primo Water Dispenser. This was a change we made early on and has been one of the best ways that we’ve been able to reduce our plastic waste. Did I mention that it only costs $1.75 to fill up a 5-gallon Primo water bottle? That’s less than 4 bucks for 10 gallons of water!

I never really thought about how plastic produce bags are literally the definition of single-use until recently. So we switched over to mesh reusable produce bags and they have been a game-changer for us.

If I’m being honest, originally I wanted to invest in Glass Tupperware for the aesthetic. Besides, I love my Rubbermaid containers that I used for my Christmas cookie exchange. However, in an effort to cut down on the number of plastic products we use, we started investing in glass Tupperware and haven’t looked back. We love these meal prep style ones!

I had heard all about the benefits of silicone mats for baking but I just wasn’t convinced that I needed them since I had my good old aluminum foil! Needless to say, since having my silicone mats, I haven’t purchased any aluminum foil and my food actually cooks 10x better. Not to mention, I can use the silicone mats over and over again. These are the ones that I use!

Dryer Balls were an easy eco-friendly swap that my family and I made back in 2019. I shared all about the wool dryer balls that we use (as well as why we stopped using dryer sheets) and four other easy ways to create a non-toxic home here.

Okay, so I know this one may sound a little weird but hear me out. From shampoo and conditioner to hand soap and body wash, we acquire a ton of plastic bottles for our personal and hygiene use.

So while I don’t have a quick solution for shampoo and conditioner, We did start using bar soap again and honestly, it’s been a seamless change. We use soap from Herb N’ Eden and they’re soap is AMAZING – and made with all-natural ingredients.

Now this one is pretty self-explanatory. Almost any store you go to today has a reusable shopping bag with the store logo. Or you can opt for a cuter bag like this one.

I’ve never really been a huge fan of plastic snack bags but once you have children, you do what you have to do. That said, making the switch to reusable snack bags has been great for our family.

For one, the reusable snack bags are a lot easier for little toddler hands to open and can be washed for multiple uses. The best thing about these reusable bags though is that they also double as freezer bags. These are the ones that we have and they come in multiple sizes.

Mason jars have so many different uses, but one of the most recent ways that I’ve been utilizing mason jars was when I finally took the time to organize my pantry.

The first thing I did was move all of my loose grains and baking ingredients like flour and sugar into mason jars. Not only does my pantry look 20 times fancier, but it’s a lot more organized and now contains a lot less plastic.

There you have it!

10 Easy Eco-Friendly Swaps that you can make this year to live more sustainably.

I have to admit, I never thought that my family would adopt so many eco-friendly practices but I’m almost positive that this is just the beginning of our journey.

Know of any other easy eco-friendly swaps? If so let me know in the comments, I’m always excited to learn new eco-friendly tips and practices.

Kermilia