How To Make Your Bathroom More Eco Friendly

 

When you think about making your home more eco friendly, most people start in the kitchen with reducing food waste, buying more organic or fair trade products and choosing energy efficient appliances wisely.

In living areas you might consider low VOC paint, upcycle furniture and choose natural flooring.

But have you ever thought about your bathroom? It might be the smallest room in the house, but there is a surprising amount of things you can do to reduce your impact on the environment. Here are some ideas:

Take fewer baths

Are you a bath person? Baths are the perfect way to relax and forget about your everyday stresses but by using the bath a lot you can use up plenty of water. It is said the average bath takes up 30 gallons of water, this adds up when you use it every day for a week. To be more environmentally friendly try to reduce the number of baths that you take each day. This will make a big difference and help the environment hugely. One other tip is to not overfill the bath and when you are in it, try not to keep topping it up with hot water.

Look Into Upgrading Your Boiler

Lashings of hot water is usually produced by an immersion tank or boiler. And the older a boiler is, the less efficient and eco friendly it’s likely to be. If you have the budget to do a major revamp, look into upgrading your boiler to a new and updated model. Not only will this mean it’s more reliable but you’ll have more up-to-date parts that will last and work better, like the vacuum pressure gauge.

Invest in a dual flush toilet

Technology is evolving year in year out with new devices being installed to help improve the usage of devices. One thing that has recently been improved is the way your toilet flushes. By purchasing a dual flush toilet you will be helping the environment greatly. Dual flush toilets use around half the water of a normal toilet. If you are interested in adding a dual flush to your toilet then there are parts that you can buy to change up your current one. You may need to get a professional in to install it for you but this could be cheaper than purchasing a completely new toilet.

Turn The Bathroom Light Off

We are all guilty of this! Forgetting to turn off the bathroom light as you leave the room often happens, but this is a waste of electricity. Try to actively remember to turn the light off every time you leave as this will help the environment and save money on your electricity. If you love your smart technology, you can even purchase smart bulbs and check to see if they are turned off when out of the room! You can also use an app on your phone to control them; so there’s no excuse for your children not to get involved! If you don’t want to install new bulbs, consider moving your light switch to a more convenient position or installing LED bulbs, which use a fraction of the power to run.

Dry Your Towels Naturally

When you dry your towels do you put them in the tumble dryer to dry them? This uses a lot of electricity and isn’t good for the environment. Instead of putting them in the tumble dryer, why not let them dry naturally. If you like them to be fluffy, you could always dry them naturally and then put them in the dry for 10 minutes to fluff them up.

Turn The Tap Off When Brushing Your Teeth

This is a big one that many people fall into the trap of doing. It’s one of those things that once you are aware of it, it’s easy to stop doing. Next time you are in the bathroom brushing your teeth, actively try and think about turning the tap off when brushing. Not only is this a waste of water but it will save you money on your water bill as well. You are supposed to brush your teeth for 2-3 minutes twice a day. If you leave the tap on every day that’s around 30 minutes of water running for no reason.

Reduce The Amount Of Time You Wash Your Hair

How many times do you wash your hair? Many people will say daily but that’s unnecessary for most people. Not only can washing your hair daily damage your hair, but it also wastes water. Instead of washing daily, try and get into a routine where you wash it every other day or every 2 to 3 days. If you do the maths, you’ll see by making this change you are making a big difference to the environment.

When you starting looking into it more closely, there are many ways in which you can be more efficient within your bathroom. Some of the things are habits which you can easily adapt once you have thought about them. Instead of putting pressure on yourself to make all the changes at once, try changing a couple of things and then make another change later down the line.

What changes have you made to your routine to make it more eco-friendly? Have you tried to apply anything from the above? Have a missed something that you think should be included? Let me know in the comment box below, I would love to hear from you.