New year, new you! We’ve heard it all before and we all make promises to ourselves to cut down on the junk food, and to do a little more exercise, but we rarely stick to them. However, there are a few healthy habits for your home that can go a long way to not only reducing your carbon footprint, but improving your life. Let’s have a look at a few new year resolutions that you can make for your home.
1 – Cut down on your energy use
Sure, this is an obvious one, but something that we’re all guilty of neglecting. Too many lights are left on needlessly, and we often overuse the heating. Something as seemingly minor as turning the tap off whilst brushing our teeth can make the world of difference in a year.
By reinforcing better habits and more awareness into those living in your home, you can cut down on your energy use and even save some money in the process. Fortunately, if you are interested in moving into one of the luxury properties in our current projects, Lavender Close, you’ll be able to enjoy modern insulation with energy efficient lighting and heating.
2 – Strive for a healthy, family-friendly kitchen
It can be difficult to find time to sit down and have dinner as a family, especially as your children get older and start taking part in various extracurricular activities, or spending time with friends. Even more so if you’re working long hours–the thought of having to cook when you get home can be exhausting. In any case, there are steps that you can take to create a healthier and more family-friendly kitchen.
Clear out all of the clutter, and the food items that have passed their use-by date and out-stayed their welcome. Keep your kitchen clean and organised and fill it with fresh and nutritional ingredients. One of the benefits of country living is having ready access to so much fresh, local produce.
You should also look up some quick, easy and healthy recipes online. That way, you won’t have to spend too much time cooking or worrying about eating too much junk food.
Don’t be afraid to order a take away now and again! Your children might complain about having to eat healthy all of the time, but you can reward their efforts with a couple of Pizzas on the weekend! The key to a healthy diet is balance, so why not treat yourselves now and again?
Other time saving tips include: teaching your children to prepare ingredients. You can add ‘dicing veggies’ to their list of chores so that when you get home from work, you can simply throw the ingredients into a pan and whip up a delicious stir fry in minutes!
At Martins Developments, we are passionate about building homes that promote a healthy and social family life. Check out these open plan kitchens that offer plenty of space to sit down as a family, whether for breakfast, lunch or dinner!
3 – Ensure that your house is safe and sound
When was the last time that you checked your fire and carbon monoxide detectors? Now is a good time to give them a test and to refresh their batteries, or if needs be: replace them altogether.
4 – Get organised
There’s nothing worse than living in an unnecessarily cluttered house. It can have a negative impact on your mood and your productivity levels. The more of a mess your home becomes, the harder it gets to stay on top of things. So, do a ‘spring clean’ of sorts, only call it a ‘new year clear-out’. Sell anything that you never use, or donate to charity. You’ll feel all the better for it! A de-cluttered home means an uncluttered mind.
5 – Get around to those decorating tasks you’ve been meaning to do
Of course, if you’re looking at moving into one of our stunning properties, then there won’t be much in the way of decorating that you’ll need to do. However, if you’ve been meaning to paint the walls in your lounge a certain colour, or to put a personal touch on one of the bedrooms, then make time for it! Once you’ve achieved what you’ve been meaning to do for months–years even–you’ll feel infinitely better.
6 – Learn how to recycle properly
Be honest with yourself, how often to you remember to thoroughly rinse out all of your recyclable items after use? Milk cartons and baked-bean tins, do you run them under the tap before putting them into the recycling? You can tie this in with your new year clear-out with some handy recycling tips. Most people think that they recycle properly, but often make simple mistakes that can easily be avoided.
7 – Grow your own veggies
If you’ve recently moved into a new home with a beautiful, big garden, then why not look into growing your own vegetables? Many people look at gardening as being quite a ‘boring’ hobby–however, you’d be surprised at just how rewarding it can be. Imagine the feeling when having a dinner date with a few friends, and cooking them a delicious meal with tomatoes and courgettes that you grew yourself?
This sounds like madness! However, if you spend even just 30 seconds giving a room a quick once over before you leave it, you’ll be surprised at the results. Little things like fluffing the cushions on your sofa and folding the blankets; or cleaning coffee cups and empty bowls away, can help to keep your home as clean and clutter-free as possible.
Start encouraging your children to pick up better house-keeping habits as well. It can be difficult to motivate them at the best of times, but if you double down and stick to your guns, they’ll thank you for it later in life!
9 – Introduce a one-in one-out rule
And no we’re not talking about your children! You can keep them. However, if you add an additional pair of shoes to the 40 pairs that you already own, why not give a pair away to charity? Over the years, it’s easy to build up an unnecessary amount of items that we will invariably never use. Keep your “stuff” to a minimum and let certain unused items move onto another home where it could make a difference.
10 – Invest in a compost bin
There are a wide variety of awesome and affordable compost bins on the market that will allow you to get the most out of your food waste. So, rather than having food waste rot away in your bins and making the kitchen smell, you can throw the waste into a sealed compost bin and put it to good use instead. If the idea is alien to you, can can find out all you need to know about composting right here.
Conclusion
There is so much that you can do to improve life at home, tidy things up, and ultimately reduce your carbon footprint. Use this time to form new habits and to start getting more out of your home. By setting an example to your children, will you encourage them to grow into more active, environmentally conscious and productive people.
If your new years’ resolution was to look for a new home and to move to the countryside, then we may just be able to help you with that. Contact us for more information on our current projects.
In any case: we wish you a very happy new year! Here’s to an amazing 2020.
