15 Beautiful Ideas for Making Your Home More Eco-Friendly
Heyo! Look at us! Doing a sustainability post WAY before Earth Day! That's because we put in non-stop effort to source and use as many eco-friendly and sustainably made products as we possibly can.
Though the most impactful changes can and should be made by those who create the most pollution—ahem, big corporations—we should all still do our part to take care of Mother Earth. After all, she’s the only home we have and her future is also our children's!
Though it may seem small, if we all make more sustainable swaps it can add up to bigger changes. Plus, it's good for our kids to see us care for our planet. So! We've curated awesome, eco-conscious products and ideas for you that will elevate your home’s aesthetic and help you lessen your impact on the environment.
Discover the magic of the Swedish dishcloth
We're big fans of these ultra-absorbent beauties! These reusable dishcloths soak up many times their weight in water, are super easy to clean, they dry fast, and they last a LONG time. All of this makes them perfect, money-saving replacements for plastic sponges and rolls of paper towel—and they work better, too! Plus, you can choose from lots of pretty designs that will look fabulous on your sink and counter.
Featured: Bloom Reusable Dishcloth Set, Sprinkles Reusable Dishcloth Set
Refresh your walls with eco-friendly, budget-friendly art prints
Wouldn't it be awesome if you could switch out your art on a whim, without spending an arm and a leg or generating extra waste? That's the brilliant idea behind our Art Print Studio! When you need a change, you can simply pick a new fine art print to swap into your existing frames or poster hangers. Simply store your extra prints in a folio—no disposing of old art or old frames, no storing bulky art in the basement or closet.
Plus, each art piece is Giclée printed on demand and shipped to you in post-consumer recycled tubes to reduce waste. Choose from many different art styles and print sizes to perfectly suit your aesthetic and your home.
Featured: Good Vibrations, Self Reflection
Stop tossing out glass containers!
Yup. We're guilty of this too. But no more! We were super excited to find these pretty lids that come in two sizes to fit just about any jar you buy food in—think pasta sauce, jams, nut butters and more. They're made of fast-growing, sustainable bamboo with a silicone seal to keep things fresh. Perfect for use in the fridge, freezer or pantry!
Shop Bamboo Jar Lid - Regular Mouth>
Shop Bamboo Jar Lid - Wide Mouth >
Ditch paper napkins for fabric napkins
Look, we sometimes dread laundry day too. BUT! The beautiful patterns, unmatched absorbency, and landfill-free nature of cloth napkins makes this a fun and easy swap. Plus, they bring a more refined, elevated feel to daily meals and prevent you from using three flimsy paper napkins on taco night!
Featured: Linen Napkins Set - Camel, Kuba Cloth Napkin Set
Use pretty refillable containers for cleaning products
When you're in a rush, the temptation to grab a plastic bottle of cleaner on your way through the grocery store is STRONG. But there's something so satisfying about using refillable glass containers instead. You get to choose the look, you don't have to deal with ugly colors and branding, and you're not contributing to the massive amount of single-use plastics that basically stay in our landfills forever.
We have pretty glass spray bottles, soap pumps, minimalist labels and more to help you keep everything beautifully organized! Plus, we curated a selection of all-natural, eco-friendly cleaning products that we love. But if you're feeling industrious, you can do a bit of research on mixing your own natural cleansers, too!
Shop refillable cleaning containers >
Shop minimalist home and laundry labels >
Ditch plastic dish and scrub brushes
These are readily available and super cheap. But that ease comes with a price! Too often they break after a couple of uses and end up right in the trash. If you spend a bit more, you can use a beautiful wooden dish or scrub brush that just might make cleaning pots and grout a bit more fun. And when it's scrubbed its last, it'll biodegrade instead of sticking around in a landfill.
Shop sustainable dish and scrub brushes >
Featured: Beechwood Dish Brush with Leather Tie, Essential Beechwood Dish Brush
Up your re-usable grocery and food storage bag game
There are so many great re-usable grocery bags out there these days—and they truly work better than the flimsy plastic and paper bags at the store. You can load them full and save yourself trips back and forth to the car or use them to stash snacks and supplies for a day trip to the park or beach!
We've made a point of using food storage bags more too, especially for root veggies and leafy greens. They help keep your produce fresher and cut back on the use of those little plastic produce baggies at the store.
Shop re-usable grocery and food storage bags >
Featured: Tote-Ally Market Bag Set, Cotton Mesh Drawstring Food Bags
Don't toss those foods scraps in the trash!
The amount of food that gets thrown away is astronomical. And while you shouldn't put meat or oils in the compost, all of those veggie scraps can be diverted into your at-home or municipal compost! Composting is really quite easy, and if you garden, you'll create your own ultra-rich soil to add to your beds.
Shop compost collector bins and bags>
Replace synthetic linens with all-natural ones
There's just something wonderful about the way natural fabrics feel, AND they don't contribute to the massive microplastics problem. With every wash or wear of synthetic fabrics, microscopic bits of the material wash down the drain or float into the air. Eventually they end up in our waterways, harming aquatic and human life alike. While we don't offer bath towels and sheets (yet!) we have many beautiful dish towels and throw blankets, all made of renewable natural materials like cotton or lambswool.
Tip: Don't just chuck out your old towels—replace them as they wear out, and use the old ones them as rags or for wiping down your doggo!
Shop cotton and wool blankets >
Featured: Embroidered Cross Tea Towel Set, Lina Tea Towels Set, Lambswool Blanket in Neutral Block Check
Use pretty canisters and buy bulk foods
Instead of purchasing individual packages flour, raisins, nuts, and beans, consider buying buying bulk and using beautiful containers to store your ingredients instead. Buying in bulk typically saves money, and using fun reusable containers really elevates your pantry and counter, helps you reduce clutter, and keeps everything looking nice and tidy.
Shop food canisters and crocks>
Featured: Brown Reactive Great Smokey Stoneware Canister, Hand-Stamped Lidded Stoneware Canisters Set
Stop buying new spice jars
Again, the temptation to just grab a new glass or plastic jar of spices from the store is huge! But, once you get your setup right—a fun afternoon project, we think!—you'll love the clean, organized feel of a uniform spice rack or drawer. You can buy a set of matching glass jars and start fresh, or, use the jars you have on hand, soak off the labels, and stick on these gorgeous minimalist ones to create a unified look.
Featured: Large Black Bamboo Spice Jars, Minimalist Spice Labels in Black or White
Enjoy small-batch soaps
Ditch those giant plastic containers of body wash or mass-produced soap bars for beautiful, carefully crafted small-batch soaps. Not only will you likely be supporting smaller business, but chances are the ingredients they use will be gentler on your skin and on the environment. Plus, the packaging is typically more eco-conscious too. We have a curated selection of lovely soaps in our apothecary shop, but we also encourage you to seek out your local soap makers! The farmer's market is a great place to start.
Grow your own herbs
Enjoy fresher, tastier, pesticide-free herbs on demand when you nurture your own herb garden. Those benefits alone are enough, but you'll also be cutting back on plastic usage since you'll no longer be tossing away those plastic clamshells or plastic produce bags. If you don't have room for an outdoor garden, it's easy to grow a few of your favorite herbs indoors! All you need are seeds or nursery plants and some beautiful pots that drain well.
Read our blog about indoor herb gardens >
Featured: Natural Clay Funnel Pots on Wire Console, Red Sand Desert Pots in medium and large
Retire old, synthetic rugs for all-natural ones
This can make an especially big impact with entryway doormats, which often see the most use and damage! Look for rugs made of 100% coir—a coconut husk-based material—which will biodegrade. We also have lots of indoor rugs and bath mats that are made from natural, renewable materials like cotton and jute.
As with linens, don't just toss your old rugs if you can help it. Use them in the basement, workshop or mudroom until they are totally worn out.
Featured: Rainbow Natural Coir Doormat, Remy Jute and Wool Soumak Rug
Invest in high-quality furniture you love
It can be hard to pony up for beautiful, pricey pieces. However, finely crafted furniture really elevates the look of your home. And, it'll last for a lifetime—no more trashing cheaply made chairs and tables that break or wear out within a few years. We like to remind ourselves (and you!) that there's no need to swap everything out at once. Just go a piece at a time, investing in furniture that speaks to you and your style!
Featured: Round Cage Coffee Table, Pretty Palm Woven Seagrass Accent Chair
So, what do you think? Do you already use these sustainable swaps? What eco-friendly ideas did we miss? We can't wait to hear from you on Insta! @holistichabitatclt
Clare Martin
November 04, 2023
I just moved to my new apartment in LA, and before I plan to start using my kitchen to cook my meals from now on, I was thinking of buying dishcloths and rugs first to use at home. It’s good that you mentioned that a Swedish dishcloth makes the perfect alternative for plastic sponges and paper towel rolls since they are super easy to clean, dry fast, and last for a long time. I’ll be sure to keep this in mind while I look for where I can buy Swedish dishcloths to use at home from now on. https://wettexusa.com/swedish-dischloth-the-utlimate-2021-guide/