Living a sustainable life is an important thing for more people to do to improve the collective effort to improve the state of the environment. This makes teaching your children about sustainability an important part of parenting. Read on to see how you can go green together with your family and get the best outcome, teaching your children important life skills in the process.

1. Go Plastic-Free

One way to live a sustainable lifestyle is to go plastic-free as a family. This entails avoiding buying things that come in single-use plastic packaging. You should also do your best to let your children know the devastating effects that plastics have on the environment. This will be a great hack as far as parenting goes. Let them know that there are different plastics that they should be wary of, including straws and cups.

Share with them the alternatives that are available to choose from so that they can make a green decision fast and by themselves if the need ever arises. Note that, according to Yeti, the organization has helped save approximately 287,000 single-use water bottles from being used and wasted. Learn more about organizations like these so that you can know if there’s a way to improve your practices as far as plastic goes.

2. Conserve Energy

You should also find a way to conserve energy around your home as a family. This involves taking steps such as turning off any unused lights and ensuring that electrical devices have been turned off and unplugged when not in use. You can also change your light bulbs to LED bulbs, which will help you save on energy use around your house as they’re a more sustainable option for your home. They’ll not only use up less energy to burn, but they will also last for a longer time before they need to be changed. This means less material in the landfill from your house and less expenditure on light bulbs.

3. Recycle and Reuse

It’s important to recycle whenever you can as doing so will help you save money and also conserve the environment. Make sure that when you shop, you buy materials that can be recycled and that have been made from recyclable material. Note that over 1.5 billion pounds of used PET containers and bottles are collected every single year in the United States for recycling. PET is the world’s most recycled plastic, so when you have to buy plastic, check to see if it’s PET.

4. Shop Consciously

When shopping for groceries and other household supplies, shop with a list and try to aim for fewer shopping trips. This calls for you to get all the items that you need in your home in as few trips as possible. Doing this alongside other errands that call for you to drive should make it easier for you to minimize the emissions that you leave in the environment from your car. If you can get groceries online, this may be a more effective way to save and also get all that you need without having a major impact on the environment.

5. Dress In Green Fashion

It’s important to remain fashionable and dress comfortably, and this is why you should look for green fashion. Buy clothes made in a sustainable way and using green materials so that you and your family dress sustainably. Note that, according to Modern Fellows, 54% of Americans surveyed think that ‘fast-fashion’ is becoming outdated. This may be a result of more people trying to go green as far as fashion is concerned, and you and your family can join them.

Use these five methods to go green along with your entire family and you’ll have made a great impression on your kids while parenting them. The lessons they learn in this way are bound to last them throughout their lives and so it’s worth taking time to impart them to your children.