6 SIMPLE Ways to Help Save The Environment!

This post was sponsored by NEW! Tide purclean as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central.

I'll admit it, I'm a bit of a "hippie". While I'm not claiming to be the most eco-friendly, tree-hugging person on the planet, I do like the idea of doing my part to help save the earth and I love the notion of keeping this planet "green" for future generations. While we haven't gone as far as growing our own produce or composting yet... I am trying to make sure my family and I make little changes in our lives that will help our planet in the long run.

From choosing to cloth diaper while we are at home, to buying used clothing, and even choosing environmentally conscious cleaning products, we're doing our best to help this planet stay a little greener. Today I want to share a few different ways that we can all do our best to help this planet stay a little greener, especially if your a mama-to-be or a new parent:

As I mentioned one way we plan to do our part is cloth diapering while we are at home, once our babe arrives, of course. I'm sure it is going to be an adventure, I've been told to steer clear by a few people but I know in my heart of hearts that this is the best choice for our family. I think there will definitely be a learning curve but I'm looking forward to saving the earth one little clean booty at a time! If you're interested in learning more about the cloth diapering world, I highly suggest you check out some of the awesome CD groups on facebook!

The next way we do our best to keep the world green is buying used clothes. While this may not have a HUGE impact on the way the world works, it is one less item bought that warrants a company to manufacture more items. I love the idea of buying used when there is plenty of good merchandise on thrift store and consignment store shelves. I'll be honest and share the fact that we have bought our little princess plenty of new clothes... but most of my maternity clothing and a majority of her wardrobe have come from resale stores and I'm proud to say that! It's easy to find great deals on adorable items when you look for them and I think finding balance between buying new and used is a great way to help save the planet, even if it's just a small way of helping.

Another awesome way that we try and keep things green is buying our fruit and veggies locally - again, this may not have a huge impact but every little bit helps. While we stock up on our favorite produce, we're helping our local farmers and farmers markets flourish and in turn giving back to our area instead of large farming corporations that sell the same items in stores. It's not going to change the world overnight but if everyone shopped at farmers markets, it might change the world just a little bit.

We're also big advocates for recycling in our house! I receive LOTS of packages as a blogger so all of the cardboard we get goes straight into our recycling bin, with the occasional box being reused and sent off to a friend or family member! We also recycle boxes that our food comes in, bottles, papers, and anything else labeled as recycling friendly. This may be our biggest contribution to the environment and luckily, the neighborhood we live in provides us with a recycling container so it's easy as pie to set it out on the curb once a week and do our part!

As I mentioned above, we always do our best to keep our house clean and green and while I've learned a few tricks of the trade to keep our house clean with homemade green cleaning products, I've also turned to a few of the best green products on the market to help me save time and still save the planet.

With that said, I've finally found a way to keep my clothes clean without having to mix up a batch of detergent myself. Tide Purclean is the first bio-based detergent (made with 65% bio-based ingredients) with the ultimate cleaning power of Tide! This detergent is new to the market and is the best, most earth-friendly store-bought option for getting your clothes clean!

I love that Purclean is certified by the USDA BioPreferred Program and is made with 100% renewable electricity, while also being made at a zero manufacturing waste to landfill site! While the actual detergent isn't green in color, it is a green product made with ZERO dyes and in a 100% recyclable bottle and this mama is thankful for the new option to keep our clothes smelling nice & clean while also keeping our world in the same condition.

Want to hear another awesome reason to buy Tide Purclean? This special formula of detergent is available at Target and shoppers can take $1.00 off with the awesome coupon attached to the bottle and can score 5% savings if they use the Cartwheel app, which hello... why wouldn't you? Cartwheel is like Target's best friend that slips you deals on all your favorite items and I've scored so many savings it's starting to become my addiction!

The last way I've tried to keep things green in our home and another way I suggest you go green is receiving online communications and paying your bills online. It's a simple way to help decrease the amount of paper in landfills and creates less work for recycling plants to keep up with as well.

So there you have it, six different ways you can help save our environment and most of them are so simple you won't even notice a difference in your life... but as parents, you'll be rewarding your children and future generations with a greener, more eco-conscious planet!