So, you have finally made the decision to live a life that is a lot more environmentally friendly. That’s a great choice! Your decision will have a long term impact on the world around you. There is still a challenge that exists however. You need to transition your household from one that is environmentally unfriendly to a green home. The key is to take the necessary steps to get your family to buy into your green living plan. Use these four steps to make your transition to green living as smooth as possible.

Explain your reasons for going green to your family

Your transition into a green friendly consumer will be a lot easier if everyone understands why you are doing it. Explain to your spouse and kids about how many of the items that you use are harming the environment and destroying the earth. As you express your newfound passion to your family, you just may be surprised at their willingness to join you in your endeavor. Getting the whole family to go green will exponentially increase the environmental impact. It’s a whole lot easier to live green if your entire family is contributing to your efforts.

Slowly get rid of the environmentally unfriendly items

While you want to get rid of all of the bad items in your home, you should take your time and slowly eliminate items over time. Switching too quickly may cause a lot more issues in the house. Throwing out your kid’s favorite toy or your husband’s favorite power tool can lead to a lot of undue grief. Instead look for environmentally friendly replacements first and then switch these items. For example, if your kid has a favorite brand of cookies that are manufactured in an environmentally unsound bag, you can find a similar bag of cookies created in eco-friendly packaging.

Set up recyclable bins

Make the transition to green living a whole lot easier on yourself by clearly labeling bins for recycling. Tell the family to dump old magazines, books, papers, and plastics in the recycling bin. You can offer a reward for every week that your family recycles. As a reward, you could order an on demand movie or take the kids out for a fun activity. All of these ideas will get the kids thinking of green living as a fun thing to do.

Make the easy changes quickly

While some changes are a whole lot harder to integrate into your family’s lifestyle, some are a whole lot easier. You can start by switching all of the batteries to rechargeable batteries. Change the light bulbs to energy efficient bulbs. Use real metal silverware instead of disposable ones. Stop mailing bills and start paying them online. Refill the printer ink and print on both sides of the pages. Many of these changes can be made without your family even noticing any differences.

Transitioning your family to green living is a whole lot easier if you use the preceding steps. Your home’s switch will be so smooth that you will wonder why you didn’t do it a lot sooner.

So, are you and your family going to go green? I hope so.