11 Steps Towards a Greener Life

I like Mondays and I like mornings. Complaints about Mondays and mornings are so ubiquitous and clichéd that I assume this sentiment isn’t the norm, but my reason is simple: they’re new beginnings. Fresh starts. Blank slates. As my childhood mentor Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery) said, “Tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet.”

They’re a great time to begin something new!  

At the moment, I’m thinking about new beginnings because I was asking myself the simple question, “How does one begin the journey to green?”  

This is an important question for me to ask because though I’ve been at this for a while, I fervently hope that there are beginners out there, who have just made that first all-important resolution to try to be greener. That initial resolution is very important. While there’s another cliché with a rather gloomy sentiment about good intentions, I believe that the road to a beautiful green heaven is also paved with good intentions. Good intentions are the beginning of any worthwhile endeavor.  

Of course, this topic begins with examining the premise, what does it even mean to “go green.” I’ll proffer that “going green” is about adopting simpler, safer ingredients and methods in your personal care and house cleaning for the purpose of living freer, healthier, less burdened lives. It encompasses tenets of sustainability and low-tox lifestyles, but the fuller picture is also caring for your inner wellbeing and life as a whole. At least that’s what I mean when I use the term. So, if you have the excellent intention to begin your green journey, or to take it a little further, I hope my list here will help you find a place to start, or a next step to take, in a greener lifestyle. 

Eleven steps to get you started in going green

1. Acknowledge the importance of “Green.” In order for your green intentions to endure, learn about why this is a good idea. If your only motivation is a vague sense of oughtness or a bit of guilt, your resolution will not last. However, if you understand the real value of greener living, you are much more likely to stick with it. Take a few minutes to learn some info about the good impact that greener ingredients and habits can make on your life. 
2. Educate yourself continuously with trustworthy resources such as the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Database and Guide to Healthy Cleaning. There is constantly new information coming out, so it’s good to keep up with the latest. 
3. Read ingredient lists. This is the key to purchasing good products. Ignore the verbiage but look at ingredient lists. Turn that bottle over. Learn what to look for (see step #2) and read them. At first, it’ll look like gobbledygook but eventually you’ll start to recognize the good ones. Beware of red-flag ingredients such as “-eths” and “fragrance”.
4. Start with one step. You can’t do everything all at once. You can’t replace every product and change every habit. Start with one thing – maybe changing out one product such as your cleaning spray or your sunscreen – and get familiar and comfortable with that. Then move on to another change. Identify the easiest task for you to turn green, and start there.
5. Care for your air. I put this one near the top because it’s an easy win that makes a huge difference. Open windows daily. Use vents when cooking. Change your house filters. Keep particles out of your air by not using air fresheners, candles, or cleaners that emit harmful lingering fumes. Bring in houseplants. Use real foods to scent the air instead of candles, sprays, or plug in air fresheners. 
6. Use products you understand. For both personal care and housecleaning, complicated is not better. There seems to be this idea that us ordinary lay-folk can’t possibly understand ingredients and the more we can’t understand them, the better they must be. This is not the case. Regular soap and water is extremely effective, as are vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, and olive oil. 
7. GIY: Green-It-Yourself. Save yourself time, money, and effort when you make your own cleaners and personal care products. This way you understand what’s in them, you can customize them to your preference, and you’ll have what you need. The Foaming Pump Soap and the All-Purpose Spray are the place to start, but then take it up a notch with my favorite scrubs: Castile Soap Scrub and Coconut Sugar Scrub for bodycare and then the GIY Soft Scrub for around the house. 
8. Multi-task your products. It is a marketing gimmick to claim that you need a different product for different parts of the body and different surfaces in the house. Use a simple soap for the whole body and a versatile All-Purpose Cleaning Spray for the different surfaces in your house. Find these recipes and more in my Castile Soap Cheat Sheet and Sal Suds Cheat Sheet. 
9. Reduce your refuse. Yes, I wrote it that way because I thought it looked nifty, but I mean cut down on your trash. Reduce throw-away packaging by making your own cleaners, refilling containers that you have, using washable rags instead of paper towels, opt for cotton dishcloths or scrubbies of natural fiber rather than petroleum or synthetic sponges. This also includes being mindful when you purchase something to think about its end-of-use. Is this something you can use for a long time, or is it single use? How can it be disposed of when the time comes?  Recycle, reuse, re-gift, and re-purpose what you can. 
10. Avoid common faux-green traps. Unfortunately, there are a few sticky wickets to navigate around. The first is learning to recognize and avoid “greenwashing” of products. These are products that look good and green but contain gunk. This takes us back to education and label reading. Second is avoid well-intentioned but bad advice, especially when it comes to mixing green ingredients. Don’t mix Castile Soap and vinegar. Don’t mix Castile Soap and Epsom salts. Pause before mixing ingredients because chemistry happens. These two guides will help you GIY with Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds and Castile Soap.
11. Give yourself grace. This is such a key point that I’ve written about it twice over the years. While it may seem not an entirely “green” topic, I think anytime we are trying to do something good but get tripped up, we need to pause and give ourselves grace in that moment. Even if you stumble occasionally, keep going.  

In addition to the links throughout the list above, here are some of my previous posts to help you on your way:

• Dr. Bronner’s Usage Cheat Sheets – takes you to all 5 of my Cheat Sheets! 
• How Soap Works 
• My Cleaning Cabinet 
• My Bathroom Cabinet 
• The Low Cost of Green Cleaning 

Getting anything accomplished is always a matter of one step at a time. The most important step, and often the most difficult, is the first one. One summer we drove across the country from San Diego to Raleigh, NC—2,552 miles—and back. Considering our starting point, it looked a bit daunting. But how did we do it? Step by step – turned left out of our driveway, left at the corner, left at the stop sign… 

As you begin or continue your green journey, don’t be daunted that your goal seems a long way off. You’ve started. And once you’ve begun, the priority is taking the next step. You’re doing great. You can ask me any questions along the way here in the comments or join my Facebook page to chat with others who are on a similar path.