Has the new year fired up your desire to live a healthier lifestyle? Maybe you’ve ditched the takeaways and binge-watching for fresher ingredients and a new workout routine. Living healthy doesn’t need to stop at your diet and exercise regime, it can span to your home too.

As we’re all spending a lot more time at home, it’s important that our surroundings feel more positive and help improve our mental health. With our helpful tips for making your home healthier, you’ll hopefully begin to enjoy your home more but also help the environment and save a little money too.

Ditch the toxins

Giving our homes a good clean is a great first step to helping us feel fresh, but many of the chemicals found in cleaning products can be doing more harm than good. From releasing toxins into the air, causing damage to surfaces or just not being as efficient as advertised, it’s important to check over the products you are currently using and switching to a more eco-friendly brand such as Method and Bio-D. You’ll find plenty of choices at your local supermarket, with many own brands becoming more responsibly sourced, swapping out chemicals for natural ingredients and using recyclable packaging. Switching to another product doesn’t always mean spending more money, you can swap out many of your products for common household items. Lemons, baking soda, white vinegar, natural salt, and various essential oils can all be used to clean everything from curtains to cupboards.

Reuse and recycle

In addition to swapping out your products for more eco-friendly produced options, you can also find brands that package their products so that they can be recycled or reused. Refills are becoming more popular, so instead of repurchasing a spray bottle each time, for example, you can buy the liquid in a plastic bag which refills the bottle. The refill bag can be recycled and there’s no need to purchase another bottle, simply reuse the old one.

This isn’t just for cleaning or household products, you’ll also find refillable toiletries, beauty products and even food. Refill shops are becoming more popular where you can take your own containers and fill them up with pasta, rice, spices, flour and much more!

For beauty products, try swapping out cotton pads and face wipes for ones that can be washed alongside your clothes. You can pick up reusable cotton pads from most drugstores and online that are made from natural ingredients such as bamboo, and you can swap out face wipes for linen cloths or towels. Not only does this reduce the amount of waste caused by throwing out wipes and cotton pads, but a reusable option will also last longer, and you may find you’re spending less on these items too as a result of not having to repurchase them all the time. These seemingly small steps can make a huge difference to the environment.

Spring clean all year round

Keeping our homes clean is a hot topic right now. Not just to minimise the risk of spreading infections but also to keep any unwanted visitors away like pests and dust mites that can cause allergies to flare up. If you have kids then make sure you clean their toys with disinfectant regularly, you can purchase safe options that aren’t harmful to children or pets. Simple things like dusting blinds, hoovering mattresses and clearing out filters in your hoover and washing machine can help reduce dust and also help your appliances function a little better. Add a drop of essential oil into your washing load of bed sheets to give them an extra fresh smell too.

Clean down your kitchen work surfaces regularly, especially after preparing food and keep any food in airtight containers. Keep an eye on expiry dates too and give your cupboards and fridge a clear out every now and then. Make sure you’re not buying too much food too. Food waste is a big problem at the moment so only buy what you need. If you feel that you’re going to have food left over and it is still in date, donate to your local foodbank.

Let the air in

We know it’s not ideal to leave windows open when it’s so cold outside but letting air in to circulate around your home helps release any unwanted particles outdoors. We would also suggest investing in an air purifier too or dehumidifier if your home has any issues with damp. Areas can flare up and become more prominent at this time of year when it’s cold outside and warmer in your home with the heating on constantly.

Make your home smarter

The joy of living in a digital age means that there are so many devices for our homes that can make our lives run much smoother and help us save money. Smart devices such as thermostats, lightbulbs, switches, and appliances can all be managed by our phones at the touch of a button. Schedule your heating and lights reducing the time they are active and reducing your bills. You can also easily track your usage to see how much energy you are using and where you can cut down. Small steps such as adding timers to your plugs and swapping out your bulbs to energy saving ones will help too if you don’t have access to any smart devices.

Small, simple steps like these can lead to a healthier lifestyle for you and the environment.