15 Easy Sustainable Swaps to Save Money in Your Home!
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Have you ever wondered how you can make small, simple changes in your home that not only help the environment but will also save you some serious cash? Well, buckle up because I've got 15 GREAT swaps to get you started on your sustainable living journey that you can make in your home right away!
Sustainable Alternatives Don’t Have to Be Fancy
I feel like it’s really easy to get caught up in the mindset that going green means shelling out big bucks for fancy, aesthetic zero-waste products, but that's usually not the case at all.
In fact, there are plenty of simple swaps we can make that are not only budget-friendly but also super easy to incorporate into our everyday routines. You may even be able to make some of these swaps right away using things you’ve already got lying around!
These sustainable swaps are all things I’ve implemented personally, and I stand behind their effectiveness and money-saving abilities!
So, let's dive right in and explore some of my favourite eco-friendly alternatives that I’ve implemented my our home and had GREAT success with! Every single one of these ideas I have tested out myself and I promise you that I’ve only included the swaps that have worked BEAUTIFULLY for me (often even better than the conventional alternative) and have actually saved my family money (yay)!
When I like to change up my products:
I typically don’t swap out a product I’ve been using for it’s more sustainable option until I have used every last bit of whatever it is I’m thinking of switching up. For example, I have only recently switched from liquid dish soap to a solid dish bar, even though this is a swap I’ve wanted to do for quite some time now! BUT, we tend to buy our cleaning supplies in bulk to a) save money and b) cut down on the number of plastic containers we’re consuming, and therefore it took us a LONG time to work through our monster sized bulk bottle of liquid dish soap.
The next thing I’m working on is our never ending roll of saran wrap. Once that’s gone, I plan on making myself a nice set of beeswax fabric food wraps out of thrifted cotton I have already stashed away and beeswax which I’ll purchase from our local honey farm/beekeepers!
The most sustainable product is always the one that already exists, so that’s why I like to promote using what you already have until it’s gone, before swapping it out for a better option the next time.
How do more sustainable options save you money? Aren’t they often more expensive to buy?
This used to be exactly my mind set. I have always loved choosing the most frugal option, and thought by picking the cheapest cleaning product, or detergent, that I was making the most financially sound decision. But I was so wrong! The cheapest products are often the most diluted, or come in smaller packages, which means you have to buy way more of them to get the job done.
As soon as I purchased my first “splurge” household product which was a laundry detergent (and felt way more expensive initially), I realized how much less of the product I had to use, and how much longer my investment would last me. Almost a year later, I’m only half way through that container of laundry detergent and have already saved so much money on what I would have spent on the cheaper alternative! I probably would have had to re-buy the cheaper product 4 times since buying the more expensive brand of detergent!
Now, without further ado, here’s 15 easy ways to start living more sustainably, and saving yourself some money, too!
Reusable Water Bottles and Coffee Mugs:
Okay, let's kick things off with a classic. Say goodbye to single-use water bottles and takeaway coffee cups and hello to reusable ones! Not only will you save money by avoiding pricey bottled water and drive-thru coffee, but you'll also reduce your plastic footprint in the process. Win-win!
My favourite place to buy reusable water bottles and thermos’? The thrift store, believe it or not! Just make sure you inspect it for any mould or hard to get rid of smells before buying, and then pop it into the dishwasher when you get home to sanitize it. Good as new!
Solid Dish Soap:
A solid brick of dishsoap is one of the more recent swaps I’ve made, and I love it so much! I find it very satisfying to scrub up some bubbles, and the solid dish bar I bought from my local refill shop, Bare Refillery, cleans really well - it cuts grease and also smells amazing. I’ve heard that a single dish bar can last 6-12 months with regular use. Unreal! And they come with very minimal packaging - just a simple paper info sheet showing the scent and ingredients that can be composted. Amazing.
Powdered Laundry Detergent:
Nellie’s Laundry Soda, in particular. This stuff is a GAME CHANGER. We used Tide powder laundry detergent for years and thought it was the holy grail of clean laundry for it’s price, effectiveness, and cleaning power. We originally switched from liquid laundry detergent to Tide powder when we used cloth diapers with our first baby, and found that many conventional liquid detergents don’t actually have the cleaning power to penetrate textiles and rinse clean (and not leave a film that would impact the absorbtion of the cloth diapers). But after running out of it at one point I decided to research more eco-friendly options. Enter Nellie’s Laundry Soda. I brought my old Tide box to my fav refill store, Bare Refillery, and filled it about 3/4 of the way up with Nellie’s. I think it cost us $45, and that was LAST JULY. And I’ve only used about 1/2 of that original purchase of Nellie’s! I didn’t realize that eco-friendly laundry powder is often highly concentrated, so you use waaaay less of it than traditional laundry powder like tide. Just 1 tablespoon cleans a large load of laundry! And it’s honestly even better at cleaning our dirtiest clothes, than Tide was. We are no longer cloth diapering in our house, but apparently Nellie’s is also an amazing detergent for cloth diaper washing!
4. Wool Dryer Balls:
This is another cloth diaper influenced purchase I made, now 5.5 years ago. I learned a lot about laundry when I started my cloth diaper journey…and the biggest thing I learned was how unnecessary dryer sheets are! I bought a 6 pack of pure wool dryer balls from amazon back then when they were harder to find, but now I see wool dryer balls pretty much everywhere: grocery stores, homesense, any eco-friendly cleaning supply shop…it’s awesome! Ours still look brand new and I can’t even fathom how much money we’ve saved by not buying dryer sheets for almost 6 years! And my clothes never come out with static. And if you really miss your clean clothing having some sort of scent, you can add a couple drops of your favourite essential oil into one of your dryer balls before drying - easy peasy!
5. Cloth Napkins:
Who needs paper napkins when you can have cloth ones? They're not only eco-friendly but also add a touch of class to your dining table. Plus, they're washable and reusable, so you'll never run out when guests come over! Guess where I love to find my cloth napkins? That’s right - the thrift store! There are always a TON of cloth napkins in the linen aisle, and I have found some gorrrrgeous, brand new vintage cloth napkins that are way cooler than anything new I could ever buy. The linen aisle of my favourite thrift store is always super stocked, and a package of 6 cloth napkins usually goes for $0.99. No brainer!
6. LED Light Bulbs:
So I have a thing with lighting. All my lightbulbs have to have that warm, yellow, incandescent glow to them, AND, all the colour tones of my lightbulbs HAVE to match. It’s a whole thing. So, because of this, I wasn’t the biggest fan of LED bulbs for a while because they just hadn’t yet perfected that nice, warm glow that I loved with incandescent. BUT finally in 2024 the glow has been mastered! So now, switching to energy-efficient LED bulbs is a no-brainer. They last way longer than traditional bulbs and use way less electricity, saving you money in the long run. And you can now buy LED lightbulbs really affordably to begin with. I love to buy mine at IKEA, or even Dollar Tree has really affordable, nice warm LED lightbulbs now!
7. Seed Starting Trays:
This is another one that is a no-brainer to me. Do you know how many plastic seed starting trays are sold every year, used once, and then thrown away, because they are not usually particularly well made? I don’t know either…but I’m guessing it’s a lot. And most of the plastic used to create cheap gardening pot isn’t recyclable, so those little guys are heading straight to the landfill. The easiest way to save some money for your garden fund is to simply re-use your recyclables as seed starting trays! My favourite ones to save and reuse are fruit clamshells (like what Strawberries and Blueberries are found in) and spring salad containers. You can keep the lids on and close them to create a mini greenhouse, so perfect for seed starting!
8. Cloth Diapers:
Now this one is not a simple swap - that I fully understand. And I know first hand that sometimes you’re in a place to take on cloth diapering, and sometimes you’re not. We cloth diapered with our first and have gone with disposable diapers with our second.
I knew I couldn’t handle the extra laundry with the second baby, on top of all the other laundry I already had to do, and being self employed, etc etc. And that’s okay.
But I can’t say I don’t think about how much money we saved with cloth diapering every time I have to buy a new box of diapers for my son! Disposables are PRICEY and I am counting down the days until we’re potty trained over here. The cost of diapers is about $47/bulk box these days.
I think I spent about $150 on my cloth diapers and cleaning supplies for my daughter - the one time - so, you save money on diapers after going through the equivalent of just 3 boxes of diapers. It helps out with the budget, quick!
I loved using “pocket style” cloth diapers, and I bought mine on amazon, and they were fantastic. I bought two sets of diapers, one set was BabyGoal brand and one was Alva Baby brand. They were both really great quality and I don’t have a recommendation to go with one brand over the other. I also used reusable bamboo wipes which I tossed in the laundry alongside the dirty diapers.
Pocket cloth diapers are really easy to use, simple to clean and come in a huge variety of super, duper cute patterns! They also fit all the way through the newborn stage right through toddlerhood thanks to their adjustable snaps. I ended up donating my well taken care of cloth diaper stash once I realized I wouldn’t be using them again, so I’m hopeful that someone out there is using them right now!
9. Menstrual Cups/Disks and Period Underwear:
I’m going to be dramatic and say that all of these are the best inventions of all time. I will never forget hearing about the Divacup from a friend for the first time 12 years (shout out to Megan) ago. I was in shock - this exists? It works BETTER than tampons and pads?! I don’t have to spend money on frickin’ menstrual products every month anymore???
Yes, to all of the above and more. I can’t even begin to calculate how much money I’ve saved over the years on menstrual products since switching to the divacup and menstrual disk (this is my go-to these days)!
I’m new to the period underwear game, but they are also an amazing product. These are the ones I grabbed. So easy to wash, so comfy, and way better than wearing a big bulky pad at night.
10. Bar Soap:
This is another recent realization for me. And once again, it all comes down to my eyes being opened to the fact that I had been duped by marketing and fancy packaging, once again. An article taken from McGill University plainly states: “As far as cleaning action goes, it doesn’t make a difference. But from an environmental point of view, bar soap wins. The liquid version requires a plastic bottle and that takes more energy to produce than the wrapping of a bar of soap. The container is also usually made of recyclable (yet often doesn't get recycled) high-density polyethylene (HDPE), which requires petroleum or natural gas for production. Furthermore, water makes up most of liquid soap, making it heavier and requiring more energy to transport. Calculations show that the carbon footprint of liquid soap is about 25% greater than that of bar soap" (source).
And to top this all off, it costs about ten times as much to wash your hands with liquid soap than bar soap.
This all makes sense to me!
11. Concentrated Cleaning Solutions:
For products that we can’t make ourselves (or haven’t tried to yet, at least), such as window cleaner and floor cleaner, we buy concentrated cleaning solutions in bulk. We mix up our solutions with water in old cleaning spray bottles, and in all honesty, we’ll probably not have to buy window cleaner or floor cleaner for about 10 years…
12. Reusable Coffee Filters:
This one’s for all the drip coffee lovers! Say goodbye to disposable paper filters and hello to reusable ones. They're a breeze to clean and can be used over and over again, saving you money and reducing waste with every brew. We also like our espresso machine which doesn’t require any additional filters, either! And the coffee grinds are an amazing addition to our vermicompost bin, or can be used directly in the garden as mulch!
13. Bamboo Toothbrushes:
Let's talk about toothbrushes. Those plastic ones may be cheap, but they're also terrible for the environment. Enter bamboo toothbrushes! They're biodegradable, sustainable, and gentle on your teeth and gums. Plus, they look prettier, in my humble opinion!
14. Homemade Beauty Products:
Time to get crafty! With just a few simple ingredients, you can whip up your own beauty products that are not only better for the environment but also full of really incredible, natural, ingredients, and way easier on your wallet. From homemade body scrubs to DIY face masks, the possibilities are endless!
I recently bought an amazing stash of mostly unused homemade beauty product supplies from a kind woman on facebook marketplace who had stocked up on supplies only to discover she didn’t have the energy to make her own beauty products.
I only spent $25 and got a ton of amazing materials, like: shea butter, calendula infused oil (my favourite skincare ingredient of all time), beeswax pellets, cocoa butter, sweet almond oil and mango butter. Such a score!
I have been having so much fun making my own lip balms, healing salves, hair masks, and deeply hydrating night creams to wear over my retinol serum (which is amazing, but really dries my skin out if I don’t lay a ton of moisturizer on top)!
15. Compost:
Last but not least, let's talk about favourite sustainable topic of all: composting. It may sound intimidating, but trust me, it's easier than you think! By composting your food scraps in your own backyard or on your patio, you'll not only reduce waste but also create nutrient-rich soil for your garden. It's a win-win for you and Mother Earth! Buying compost at the garden centre can add up every year, and it also comes in plastic packaging which can be easily avoided by using your own homemade compost at home! This one just makes sense.
Recap:
So there you have it, my friend! Ten easy-peasy sustainable swaps that will save you money and make your home a little greener in the process. Remember, going green doesn't have to be expensive or complicated. Sometimes, it's the simplest changes that make the biggest difference. So let's roll up our sleeves and start making those eco-friendly upgrades today! 🌱💚
One quick thing, before you go!
I truly want to build community with this blog of mine, so if you’ve made it this far, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below! Have you tried any of these swaps yourself? And if not, which idea feels most inspiring to you? Also, if there’s anything you love that is sustainable and saves you money that I have forgotten to add to the list, let me know! And as always, thanks so much for being here with me!
