Sustainable Family Solutions: 4 Tips for A Sustainable Home Life

Do you want to live a more sustainable life, but don’t know where to start? Living a greener life, especially as a family, may seem hard. However, thankfully, living sustainably doesn’t mean you need to change your entire existence. A few small changes can actually have a big impact on the overall carbon footprint of your family! What’s better is that if you have young children, you can teach these sustainable habits to them at an early age, so they can internalize the lessons and develop habits that will benefit them (and the planet) throughout their life. Here you can find some tips to live more sustainably as a family.

1. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The rule of 3 R’s is such a cliché, but it is a cliché because it works! 

🗑️ Reduce:
Start by reducing your household waste and the energy you use. The household waste includes food waste, plastics, paper, etc. You can dramatically reduce this waste by making a few changes in your lifestyle. Avoiding single-use items like plastic bags or bottles, for example, and switching them with reusable items would reduce your waste a great amount! Teaching your little ones to turn off the electricity and the water when they are not using them will help you reduce the energy you waste as a whole family. Favoring energy-saving appliances all around your home and using LED lights also reduces the energy you use. 

🌱 Reuse:
Especially when you have a new baby, you will have a ton of stuff that you will use for a really short time. Baby clothes, baby equipment like strollers or car seats, toys, and children’s books are good to reuse and recycle. You can get used toys or books, you can donate the clothes that don’t fit your not-so-little-one anymore, or you can rent baby equipment instead of buying it, specifically in your travels! 

Renting baby equipment reduces your plastic use, and carbon footprint, and what’s best is that you won’t have the stress, energy, and cost of carrying all that heavy stuff with you on a trip. Babonbo is Europe’s first baby equipment rental app, you can rent your baby gear and help traveling families at the same time!
Learn more about being a Babonbo provider and contributing to sustainability! 

♻️ Recycle:
Make recycling a family activity and get your kids excited about it! You can teach your kids the recycle symbols and create a color-coordinated recycling station, even if they’re really young. You can make a game out of it, and have some time set aside at weekends for recycling. 

2. Grow your own food

Gardening can be both a fun family activity and a sustainable and delicious hobby! You can start by growing easy vegetables, plants, and herbs like lettuce, peas, cucumbers, peppermint, basil, or rosemary. Especially if you are home with your kids a lot, getting their hands dirty with a little soil in your garden will make an amazing activity. You can also have house plants and herbs if you don’t have a garden; indoor planting has been very popular lately. 

3. Foster a love of nature

Go outside! Spending time outdoors is proven to help a child’s health, overall development, and love and connection to the outer world. The seasons don’t have to decide if you’re going to spend time inside or outside; a good game of snowball or a short walk in the brisk weather in winter will make your toddler smile for sure! 

✈️ When it's time to travel, you can choose nature-centered and zero-waste travel options. Here you can find the best sustainable family travel options -> Zero-Waste Family Travel!

4. Support local businesses

It is no surprise that big chain supermarkets have huge carbon footprints because of transportation and imported goods. Instead of shopping at these places all the time, you can support local businesses or go to the farmers’ market every once in a while. These local businesses have a much smaller carbon footprint on the environment, and the owners are part of your local community.