The Best Way to Green Your Home

My mother and father both come from 5 children homes. My father's house growing up had 7 people living in it, 2 bedrooms, and one bathroom. My mother's house growing up was similar. It had 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms. Essentially, houses were built smaller than they are today, even if there were a ton of people crammed into them. This was the 50s and a different time.

When I was growing up as an only child, we lived in a house with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. I now live in a house with 2 adults and one dog. It's 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. The point is that we seem to be getting bigger houses with less people living in them. Is there really a need for all this "extra" space that just costs us more money to heat and cool it? Not only does it dwindle down our cash, but it also hacks away at our energy sources.

In fact, the average home size in 1950 was 1,000 square feet. By 2005, this figure increased by 150% to 2,500 square feet. We're having smaller families today, but need more space. Does that make sense?

3 Ways to Green Your Furniture

It sits in every room of our house. We sit on it. We eat on it and we sleep on it. It's our furniture. Seventeen billions pounds of furniture ends up in landfills every year. This is waste that can and should be avoided Stop wasting and green your furniture now.

3 ways to green your furniture

Buy used: Never underestimate the charm of used furniture. Antique shops, ebay, and used furniture stores offer a treasure of furniture just waiting to be repurposed. You'll save moeny, save energy, and save materials by buying vintage or shabby chic.

Buy furniture made of sustainable materials: If used, vintage, or shabby chic isn't for you then buy furniture that is made of sustainable materials. Furniture made from harvested wood like plantation-grown lumber or woods that are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Refurbish what you have: Take a look at the furniture that you already own and think of ways you can turn it into what you want. Maybe stripping the paint off of an old dresser and returning it to its natural wood or reupholstering a chair with a new material will turn an old piece of furniture into a brand new piece.

You don't have to completely change the way that you furnish your home. But you owe it to yourself and to the environment to do what you can to save it. Maybe it's as simple as buying one new piece of furniture that you can't live without, while refurbishing and buying used for the rest of your house renovations.