The environment matters, so it makes sense to keep mother nature onside when moving home. Here we look at useful and easy ways to do this.
Newsflash! Moving home is stressful. In case you hadn’t felt yourself forming several new wrinkles at the mere thought of moving home, we’re here to give you a friendly reminder that yes, this is going to be one of the most stressful times of your life. You have to pack up your entire home, whilst keeping the children and pets happy, maintaining a career, avoiding rows, all whilst being relatively sane and together. Gosh is it any wonder people put it off? Oh to be a hermit crab and slip on a new shell every few years.
It isn’t a surprise and nobody expects it to be ‘fun’. However, it can run smoothly and you can even do it, whilst helping the environment. “I couldn’t give two hoots about the planet right now” – yes we hear you. In between taping up boxes and trying to somehow coordinate the cattery, with the babysitter and the picking up of keys from the estate agency on the same day, you probably wouldn’t mind if World War Three started right now, because it probably couldn’t be any more stressful. So here is the good news – it won’t always be this stressful and for the sake of future generations, we always need to try and keep our carbon footprint down. And it won’t even take much of a change, just a few small changes and you not only get bragging rights to surviving moving home with no more than a few extra wrinkles, but also for doing it in harmony with planet earth. Here’s how:
When You Declutter – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
When you declutter your home during the move, try not to throw everything away – it will just go to landfill. Recycle anything that can be recycled, give away anything useful, sell items at car boots or online to get a bit more cash for the move and where possible stop anything you can going in the bin.
Pack Early And With Intelligence
Start packing early to avoid things getting broken, forgotten or damaged. Try to save yourself money by packing breakables in soft items you already have like towels, sheets and pillows. Avoid using plastic bags or bin bags where possible, unless you can use biodegradable types. Sturdy cardboard boxes are a great idea for extra protection.
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Try To Keep Everything Electronic
The paperwork is endless when you move out. To keep yourself from drowning in a pile of letters, and to keep your carbon footprint low, have everything sent to you electronically. You could also keep your to do lists on your phone, which will avoid you losing your lists as well.
Clean & Decorate With The Environment In Mind
Chemicals are pretty horrible to both the environment, and to your family’s health. Try to eco clean using eco-friendly products which are available at all supermarkets now and are extremely cheap. You should also decorate with the environment in mind, using chemical free paint and natural building materials where possible. This isn’t just reducing your carbon footprint or keeping your family away from chemicals, it is also adding value onto your new home as green appeal is now well and truly ‘a thing’.
Keep Your Emissions Down
Car emissions are bad for the environment, they let out tons of bad stuff to the air. Choose a ‘green removals company’ or reduce your back and forth by placing items into your self storage unit until you are ready to collect them. So if the self storage unit is on your way to work you could easily be dropping off packed items on your way every day. This will also save you money!
Snack On Vegan Food
What has vegan food got to do with moving house you say? Well, with moving house we can understand you might not be up to date with the media, but nearly every day stories about how the meat and dairy industry is more harmful to the environment than car emissions keep cropping up – and we can’t ignore the facts any more.
According to Cowspiracy.com “Transportation exhaust is responsible for 13% of all greenhouse gas emissions whereas livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, or 51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.”
No need to bin your burger just yet, but meat free Monday is a thing, and maybe ‘meat free moving day’ could be a thing for you. Tons of what you already eat is vegan, you just don’t think of it that way. Plus, the supermarkets are positively pushing each other out of the way to be the top of the ‘free from’ supermarkets vegans and other health conscious peeps go to. So you’ll find a whole heap of delicious snacks to stock up on there – no need to go out of your way. And you will need snacks, lots of them. And tea, lots and lots of tea (it makes everything better right?).
Happy Green Moving Day!
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