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Zero Waste Home - Tips Series 2

This week we present tips on how to reduce waste in laundry and cleaning where a hell lot of chemicals are used. Hope this will help you to reduce chemical waste and stick on to natural cleaning solutions that does less harm to our body and homes. 

Less we use chemicals, more we earn a better life. The homes in Chennai demands use of more natural cleaning agents since the climate is humid most of the months and the migrant population is increasing rapidly. The luxury homes in Chennai are now trying to adapt eco-friendly. 

LAUNDRY AND CLEANING

1. Welcome natural cleaning alternatives: A mix of lemon and vinegar on floors and sinks, homemade all purpose cleaner, baking soda for scrubbing jobs, and vinegar for mildew.
2. Welcome alternative house cleaning tools: a metal scourer on stainless, a wooden brush for light scrubbing, an old toothbrush for hard to reach places and microfiber cloths for everything else (counters, floor, fridge, etc… for mirrors and windows, just add water… no window cleaner needed).
3. Sweep your floors with a boar bristle or silk broom, wash with a wet microfiber mop and a few drops of lemon juice.
4. Use worn-out clothing items made into rags on your non-washable messes (wax/auto grease/glue/caulk).
5. Buy dishwasher detergent in bulk and use white vinegar as a rinsing aid.
6. Let houseplants absorb toxins and clean your air. Open a window instead of plugging in an air freshener.
7. Laundry washing once a week saves time and dryer energy costs, use a laundry detergent sold in bulk, full loads, and cold water cycles as much as possible. Dishwasher detergent, chalk, lemon or vinegar work great on stains.
8. Dry on a line when possible.
9. Iron fewer things and use a homemade starch in a stainless spray bottle.

Zero Waste Home: Tips Series 1

In an era where waste management is critical and seeks attention from all corners, here are few tips to make your home a free waste zone.
Before you start:

• Ensure yourself with a reusable water bottle, a couple grocery totes, a few cloth bags and reusable jars and bottles.
• Get your 5Rs right: 

1. Refuse what you do not need
2. Reduce what you do need
3. Reuse what you consume
4. Recycle what you cannot Refuse, Reduce or Reuse
5. Rot (Compost) the rest. 

Most of the waste at home is mainly comes from kitchen. To begin with the zero-waste home tips, here are few tips for a clean kitchen.

KITCHEN

1. Welcome alternatives to disposables.
2. Swap paper towels for reusable rags, swap sandwich baggies for kitchen towels or stainless containers, drop garbage liners all together.
3. Buy in bulk or at the counter, bring reusable bags, jars (wet items such as meat, deli, fish, cheese, oil, butter) and bottles (liquids: oil, soy sauce, shampoo, conditioner).
4. Shop the farmer's market: they'll take the egg carton and the berries baskets back for reuse. Your veggies will also most likely be free of plastic and stickers.
5. Use bulk liquid Castile soap as a dish/hand cleaner, baking soda as a scrubber with a compostable cleaning brush. Purchase dishwasher detergent in bulk.
6. Reinvent your leftovers before they go bad. Go thru your recipe binder/box and only keep the recipes that can be achieved with zero waste in mind.
7. Reuse single-side printed paper for grocery shopping and errands list, use your lettuce cleaning water to water plants. 

Tips courtesy: http://zerowastehome.blogspot.in/p/tips.html

Space Saving Tips

Nothing makes you feel more cramped in your homes than clutter and confusion. Follow these tips to help you minimize the mess and tidy up your space.

1. Add shelves above doorways.

2. Banish room-darkening shadows with additional light fixtures.

3. Put glass shelves across deep-set windows.

4. Use a chest or an ottoman with storage inside as a coffee table.

5. Put low bookcases along a sofa back: they'll double as a sofa table.

6. Keep the flooring throughout a small space the same for visual continuity.

7. Line a room with a shelf high up on the wall.

8. Keep window treatments simple.

9. Run a low bookcase underneath windows.

10. Stretch your space to the outdoors by making a patio or deck comfortable and welcoming.

11. Place a large bucket for magazines next to your favourite chair.

12. Line a hallway with bookshelves.

13. Use a wicker hamper as both an end table and storage space for blankets.

14. Buy a coffee table with a drawer for remotes.

15. Carve out shallow display space between wall studs.

16. Use fewer, larger pieces of furniture and accessories to reduce visual clutter.

17. Choose sofas and chairs with plain or textured upholstery rather than vibrant prints.

18. Install shelves around a window.

19. Add window seats with lids.

20. Run shelves up to the ceiling.

21. Buy a magazine rack or stack magazines in flat-bottom baskets underneath a console or coffee table.

22. Take advantage of wasted space with corner bookcases.

23. Think monochromatic.

24. Eliminate obstructions: the further you can see into and through a space, the larger it'll seem.

25. Arrange furnishings to avoid blocking views of windows and doors.

Space Saving Furniture Ideas for your home.

Today many people in big cities like Chennai have more opportunities to have a small room rather than a big space. This limitation makes them have to be smart to choose the right furniture.

When it comes to buying furniture for home the main thing that comes to the mind is it should be of right material, color, shape and size. The search for perfect furniture is not an easy one especially when you are living in relatively small homes.

Space-saving furniture

Multifunctional furniture is what got the biggest interest nowadays because in addition to unique furniture designs, many functions are present only in one furniture. Furniture like this saves enough space to live comfortably. The main idea of all this furniture is the efficiency of space so you still have plenty of room to move freely. This practical furniture is not only highly functional but also looks very modern and stylish.

With an ever rising population, the demand for space is only going to increase with time and if there is one thing that many modern homes lack is space. In such situation space saving furniture comes to our help. Following are some of the tips to using money and space saving furniture which will be ideal for small space living. Always try to use furniture pieces that make your room look bigger. For example; instead of a bookcase if you use bookshelves it will make the room look bigger.

• Use dark floor against light colored walls and furniture. It can really make the place feel more spacious.
• Using a large mirror gives an illusion of more space.
• Use expandable dining table.
• On blue walls you can always use big arts and wall hangings to make the space look bigger.
• You can use a storage bed so that you don’t need to have a dresser.
• Always try to use striped floor this gives the room a bigger look.
• Storage furniture like an entryway bench will help to store your shoes as well as reusable bags in one place.
• Using light-colors on the countertops will also give a bigger look to the room.
• Furniture raised on legs will help to make the room look bigger as it gives a sense of light and space in the room. For example sofas and arm-chairs.
• Using furniture on wheel will also help to make the room look bigger as this furniture can be easily pushed out from the way when not in use.
• A shelves and storage that are tall but have a small footprint provide lots of space and help to look the room bigger.

Source: http://www.commonfloor.com/guide/space-saving-furniture-ideas-for-your-home-27906.html