9 Easy Eco-Friendly Home Swaps 2020

Y’all know I’m a firm believer that small steps can lead to big change. You don’t have to completely overhaul your life to live more sustainably. A great place to begin making incremental changes is with eco-friendly swaps for everyday products in your home.

This blog post is sponsored by Spring & Vine — a clean, eco-friendly, cruelty-free shampoo bar. Their bar shampoos use 95% less plastic and 90% less water than traditional shampoo bottles.

We made the switch to bar soap years ago, and I’m very excited to finally make the swap to bar shampoo! Bar shampoo is super simple to use — just add water and lather like you would hand soap, and run the bar through your hair. Rinse and voila! I’ve been using it for a week and am totally converted. There’s no residue, build up, or oiliness at all. It cleans my hair as well [dare I say better than?] my previous bottle shampoo.

Scroll down for 8 more super easy eco-friendly everyday product swaps.

1. Switch to a bar shampoo and bar soap. This simple swap saves a ton of plastic. Think about how many bottles of shampoo and body wash you go through each year! Spring & Vine shampoo bars come in 4 scents and are all vegan, cruelty free, paraben/sulfate free, with no added fragrance. You can find them in-store or online at Target. Even if you use a specialized shampoo, consider buying some bar shampoo for your partner or kiddos.
2. Ditch plastic baggies for Stasher silicone bags. These convenient reusable bags are perfect for anything you’d use a Ziploc for. They’re also freezable and water tight, dishwasher safe and microwave safe.
3. Bees Wraps are a great alternative to plastic wrap or baggies. Use the warmth of your hands to wrap fruit, bread, cookies, cheese, or to cover bowls and baking pans. The wraps will hold its shape when it cools, creating a seal. They’re washable and biodegradable.
4. Use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins. We use the same cloth napkins all week — just fold them back up after dinner, and leave them on the table. At the end of the week, we toss them in the wash, and swap out for a new set.
5. Metal or glass straws. You can still sip your coffee or cocktails in style without adding more plastic to landfills. Metal straws are better for stashing in your purse (as preparation for an impromptu coffee on the go), while we prefer using our glass straws at home where they’re less likely to break.
6. Blueland Household Cleaners. You buy their “forever bottle” once, then fill with water and their dissolving refill tablet. Instead of buying a new plastic bottle of household cleanser, just buy the $2 refill tablets.
7. Glass canning jars instead of plastic wrap, baggies or tupperware. These are perfect for refrigerator storage of homemade salsas, hummus or other dips. Also great in your pantry for nuts, pastas and other dry goods.
8. Gold coffee filters instead of paper filters. They are easy to clean, and never have to be replaced. Another alternative is compostable filters, if you have a compost bin.
9. A menstrual cup or period undies. I’ve recently been trying the Aisle period cup (there’s a slight learning curve, but it’s NOT that hard). And I’m a big fan of Thinx period undies. There’s no better time to try eco-friendly period products than a quarantine, amiright?

Let me know in the comments if you’ve made any of these eco-friendly swaps, or if you have any other swap suggestions. Thank you Spring & Vine for partnering on this post!