How To Live An Eco-Friendly Lifestyle
It is becoming increasingly important to make intentional choices that reduce environmental impact and create a healthier home for your family. From using non-toxic cleaning products to conserving energy and water, there are many small changes that can make a big difference. Follow this guide for practical, room-by-room tips on living more sustainably.
What does eco-friendly mean in 2026?
The meaning of 'eco-friendly' is 'earth-friendly' or not harmful to the environment. Eco-friendly is often used as a descriptive term for goods and services that cause little to no environmental harm as a byproduct of their use.
A brief history of the green movement
It is a common misconception that eco-friendliness is a modern trend that has emerged over the last decade. However, the concept of “being eco-friendly” came first to light in the 1960s. It has only become part of our lives in recent years. As we step into 2026, we can develop a greater understanding of our environment and the simple steps we can take to prevent permanent environmental damage.
Why are eco-friendly products important?
The importance of eco-friendly products is vocalized by an international cry to conserve energy, minimize our carbon footprint, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is no surprise that global sea levels have risen 7 centimetres in the last 25 years!
So, should you use eco-friendly products? Yes, using more eco-friendly products is a perfect way to start preventing the worsening of the dramatic effects of global warming.
To minimize production costs, some companies intentionally use cheap, toxic chemicals that could have adverse long-term health effects on consumers. Eco-friendly products, on the other hand, prevent the use of toxic chemicals, benefiting consumers who use them and the long-term health of our planet.
Key features of an eco-friendly home
Let's start by answering some of the most common questions in 2026 about an eco-friendly lifestyle at home:
What makes a home eco-friendly?
Also known as an environmentally friendly home, this type of house is sustainable and built to use energy, water, and building materials as strategically as possible.
Why are sustainable houses so important?
Eco-friendly houses are built with natural materials free from toxic chemicals that can be damaging to your family and the surrounding environment. Water consumption and electricity use are lower than in traditional housing. Eco-friendly houses can be adapted to collect kinetic or solar energy through wind turbines and solar panels, making them self-sufficient.
How to make your home more eco-friendly
- Install energy-efficient light bulbs.
- Install solar panels
- Use natural cleaning products (check out our AspenClean collections)
- Improve insulation, for example, double-glazed windows
- Recycle used cardboard, plastic, glass, and food waste (you can refresh your knowledge on “ how to recycle here”)
Other eco-friendly building materials include bamboo, recycled plastic, and wood.
How to make your bedroom more eco-friendly
What is an eco-friendly piece of furniture for your bedroom? Believe it or not, we spend nearly one-third of our entire lives lying down on mattresses. They contain a collection of chemicals that don't help us sleep at night. It is one of the reasons we are much better off using safer materials like organic cotton or wool to fill our king mattress. The main room in your home deserves modern, eco-friendly furniture that benefits both you and the earth. Simple changes like using eco-friendly wallpaper, paper made from managed forests, or natural materials can help you move in the right direction toward a greener life.
Another simple eco-friendly addition you can make to your bedroom is to fit a carpet made from recycled plastic or natural, renewable fibres.
How to make your bathroom eco-friendly
After washing machines and toilets, showers use the third-highest amount of water in our homes. Listen up, long shower users! If you're trying to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle at home but still take 20-minute showers, consider shortening your shower time.
So, how long should an eco-friendly shower last? The average shower is estimated to take 8 minutes. If you can cut that shower time in half and use a low-flow, eco-friendly shower head instead, you can reduce your C02 emissions by over 70% and save thousands of gallons of water per year.
Don't forget shower curtains! Plastic shower curtains are made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is full of harmful chemicals that you smell as soon as you take the curtain from its plastic packaging. If you're building a bathroom, consider a glass partition or a wet room instead of something that requires a shower curtain.
Green bathroom products
Keeping with the eco-friendly shower trend, let's see which eco-friendly shampoos and conditioners you could use. Whether you're aware of it or not, shampoos and conditioners contain chemicals like parabens that effectively prevent bacterial growth in your hair during washing. Still, they are also strongly linked to the development of breast cancer cells. Eco-friendly shampoos and conditioners avoid these chemicals by using natural oils, minerals, and plant and herb extracts that stimulate hair follicles to promote new hair growth and maintain moisture.
Is there such a thing as an eco-friendly toothbrush?
Yes, there is. Dental experts say we should change our toothbrushes every two to four months. It means that over an 80-year lifespan, the average person will go through approximately 320 toothbrushes! Biodegradable bamboo toothbrush handles are a popular, eco-friendly option. Some companies will even go to the lengths of using castor bean oil to fashion the bristles and further reduce the plastic content.
What is an eco-friendly toilet?
Generally, an eco-friendly toilet is a water-efficient toilet. The dual-flush feature makes the toilet highly efficient, reducing water use by 20% or more per flush!
Finally, don’t forget to use eco-friendly products to clean your bathroom!
How to make your kitchen eco-friendly
Where do we begin? Kitchens are the heart of the home, so why not treat the room like the eco-friendly fortress it should be?
How to sustainably wash dishes
There is debate over whether dishwashers are more economical than handwashing dishes. It actually depends entirely on load size and the dishwasher model. Don't forget to use non-toxic, eco-friendly dishwasher pods. The next question we have to answer is the electricity used by dishwashers.
When it comes to cost, hand washing requires no electricity and is by far the cheaper option. So, if you use as little water as possible, good old-fashioned scrubbing is always the first option for washing your dishes.
By the way, is there an eco-friendly washing-up liquid one should use?
The active ingredient in washing-up liquid is a surfactant, which assists in grease removal. Surfactants can be derived from petrochemical sources or from vegetable oils, such as natural coconut oil. Petrochemical surfactants have been found to biodegrade much more slowly than natural oils and are more environmentally damaging, with greater aquatic/air toxicity and greater global warming. So, the best eco-friendly dishwashing products use vegetable oils to make surfactants.
Ways to get rid of trash that are more eco-friendly
The best eco-friendly way to get rid of trash is to separate the recyclables, like glass, organic waste, plastic, and cardboard, from non-recyclable waste. You should also have several small recycling bins rather than one large trash can.
What can I use instead of regular garbage bags?
Unless you're willing to go waste-free, eco-friendly, biodegradable trash bags are a fantastic solution. It means that from the moment they hit the junkyard, the bags begin to decompose due to a natural additive in the plastic.
Eco-friendly mop options
We all have an image in our heads of a traditional mop (the one that resembles a shoddy wig). They always seem to get dirty so quickly, which seems counterproductive, not to mention how long they take to dry.
Like traditional mops, the best eco-friendly mops are reusable but made from biodegradable, recycled fibres.
On the side of most mop detergent containers, you may notice that they inform you to “keep them out of reach of children”. If you have a toddler, this will make you wonder why you would even consider using this product on a floor your child crawls on daily.
An eco-friendly mop solution comes in handy here. Create your mop solution by mixing white vinegar, water, and lemon-pure essential oils. You can also use our AspenClean natural floor cleaner.
How to be eco-friendly when cooking
Start with the types of pots and pans you use on a day-to-day basis. Avoid Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) pans. PFOA and PTFE are used to create a non-stick effect, but also have been known to be absorbed by food when being used, and linked to causing health conditions like kidney and liver disease.
Eco-friendly pots and pans, such as stainless steel or cast iron, are much better alternatives and won't leach harmful chemicals into your food.
Finally, after cooking comes cleaning. After heavy use, ovens are hard to clean. Furthermore, oven-cleaning products usually contain toxic chemicals. Ideally, to avoid the side effects of traditional oven cleaners, one could use an oven-cleaning product with non-toxic, biodegradable ingredients, free of all suspected carcinogens.
Eco-friendly laundry detergent and washing machine
What is the best eco-friendly laundry detergent? Is your washing machine eco-friendly? It is said that some older washers can use 150 to 170 litres of water per load, while newer high-efficiency washers can use 53 to 95 litres per load. The most eco-friendly type of washing machine is a portable hand-powered washer. Completely electricity-free and using up to 90% less water than older washers, it's an obvious choice for anyone looking to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle at home.
Invest in an HE washing machine - the second most eco-friendly option. Make sure you have the right amount of HE laundry detergent in it.
Another significant change that you should make to live a more eco-friendly life is to avoid using the dryer… at ALL costs.
Dryers use an extortionate amount of electricity, which isn't just bad for the environment; it's also incredibly damaging to your bank account. Dryers are also notorious for shrinking some of your favourite clothes! Consider using wool dryer balls to shorten your drying cycle and save electricity!
So, still wondering how to wash clothes the most eco-friendly way possible?
- Use a hand-powered washer
- Use a washing line to dry your clothes
How to stay eco-friendly beyond your home
Now we’ve covered some ways to make your home more eco-friendly, don’t forget the changes you could make while travelling or on holiday. Consider bringing travel-size laundry detergent or travel-size dishwasher pods to keep your environmental impact low and help the environment wherever you go.
Why are eco-friendly products more expensive?
Eco-friendly cleaning products aren’t always more expensive. As outlined in this article, homemade cleaning products can be used, so non-eco-friendly products can be more costly in some cases. The main reason eco-friendly cleaning products at the retail level are slightly more expensive is that they avoid toxic chemicals used in non-eco-friendly products to lower their cost.
Generally, all major retailers will supply eco-friendly items, from fabrics to sunscreen to disposable plates. Learn more about sustainable, eco-friendly lifestyles by reading our other articles.