Being healthy doesn’t only apply to your body – it applies to one’s mind and home too. Spring is here and the ideal time to refresh all aspects of your life. Here, we focus on “green” ways to do just that.
- Air dry your laundry. Drying your clothes in a tumbler drier isn’t just hard on your clothes, but it’s hard on the environment too. Weather permitting, dry your clothes on the line outside to reduce pollution and save on your electricity bill.
- Add pot plants and greenery to your home. Some of the most efficient air-cleaning house plants include spider plants, English ivy, rubber plants and peace lilies.
- Ditch the paper towels. Save trees, cash and landfill waste when you buy specially-made, washable cleaning and dusting cloths. Better yet, use what you already have and give an old piece of cloth (stained towels, ratty sheets and pillowcases, too-small T-shirts, etc) a new lease on life. Simply cut or tear your old item into smaller squares (if you want to get fancy, finish the edges with a sewing machine) and voila! Pop them in the washing machine with your laundry to clean, and use them again and again.
- De-clutter your wardrobe. Donate gently worn items to charity, and add torn and stained items (if they’re made of an absorbent fabric) to your rag collection.
- Make natural moth balls. When you’re packing away your winter woollens, replace stinky mothballs with a natural and better-smelling version: stuff a sock with cinnamon sticks, bay-leaves and whole cloves, and tie the end tightly. Simple and effective.
- Choose natural cleaning products. Thrive stocks Earth Sap cleaning products, a safe choice for your family – free from toxins and any harmful ingredients.
- Start recycling food waste. If you start one step in the recycling process this spring, prioritise food waste. When wet waste is separated from other waste, dry recyclable volumes increase by over 30%. Through this simple action, not only are you turning food waste into a resource (compost), you are also reducing the volume of other material going to landfill. Thrive stocks Bokashi, which breaks down food waste through a safe, natural fermentation process.
These changes may seem small, but if we all start “green spring cleaning” together, we can make a big difference to our bodies, our homes and the planet.
Thrive is the new name for National Road Pharmacy, 1 Natalia Terrace, Charles Way, Kloof
031 764 0311
