Start with the home you have
A more sustainable home starts with what you use every day: power, water, food and the things you buy and throw away. Choose one change you can keep doing, then check whether it helped. You do not need to replace working belongings or complete a renovation to begin.
This guide brings household actions together so you can choose a sensible starting point. If money is tight, begin with avoidable waste and repairs, then check assistance before committing to a purchase. If you rent, separate changes you control from work that needs the owner's permission.
Looking for My Green Life? This is a new Simply Maid resource for readers arriving from the former sustainability website. The old organisation's services, accounts, footprint tools and projects are not operated here.
Make your household action plan
Use these prompts as a worksheet. Copy them into a note or print this page.
- My priority this month: a lower electricity bill, less water waste, less food in the bin, or a garden that supports wildlife.
- My starting measure: daily kWh from the bill, litres from the meter, a count of discarded meals, or a photo of one garden bed.
- One action I control: what I will change, who will do it, and when.
- Any permission, repair or purchase needed: who to contact and the maximum budget.
- Review date: compare a similar week or billing period and record what changed.
For example, a renter might log shower times for a week, shorten them where practical and report a dripping tap. An owner planning a replacement appliance might compare running costs and check rebates before placing an order. This worksheet tracks your choices; it is not a carbon-footprint calculator or a claim that your household is carbon neutral.
Use energy where it makes a difference
Read the usage figure on your electricity bill before focusing on its dollar total: a price change can hide a reduction in consumption. Compare daily use and consider weather, visitors and time spent at home.
Start with heating, cooling and hot water, then look at appliances used for long periods. Keep rooms comfortable for the people who use them; do not disconnect equipment needed for health or safety. Our home-office energy guide covers standby power, printers, lighting and room heating. Use the appliance energy worksheet to estimate a device's running cost with your own electricity tariff.
For a renovation or major upgrade, Your Home explains how climate, building design, materials and services work together. An appliance purchase cannot fix every building problem.
Find water waste before buying equipment
Look for a toilet that keeps running, a dripping tap or an irrigation system watering after rain. Ask your water provider how to read your meter and investigate unexplained changes. Then choose a routine you can repeat: a shorter shower, a suitable full laundry load or turning the tap off between tasks.
The room-by-room water guide covers the kitchen, bathroom, laundry and garden. Before replacing fittings, compare the actual consumption shown on the Water Rating label. Check compatibility and obtain any required landlord, strata or plumbing approval.
Buy for a real need and use what you have
Before shopping, look in the fridge and pantry and plan a meal around what needs using first. Keep a visible use-first space, label leftovers and follow safe storage instructions. If you visit a farmers' market, take a list and suitable reusable containers; buying more fresh food than you can use creates waste regardless of where it came from. Your Home's food and organic waste guidance explains household options, including composting.
Keep reusable cleaning cloths in a place where they can dry, measure products according to their labels and choose the method for the surface. Natural ingredients are not automatically suitable for every material. Our natural cleaning products guide explains uses and limitations. For bills, school notices and a home business, reduce paper waste by preventing unnecessary copies before recycling.
Make space for wildlife and check assistance
A small, well-chosen planting area can be more manageable than remaking the whole garden. Our native garden guide starts with locally indigenous plant advice and the needs of your site. Biodiversity Month at home gives you a simple observation and action plan for September or any month.
If a change needs spending, use our household energy and water rebates guide before buying. It shows how to find official assistance and check eligibility, approval timing and installation requirements. Keep your action plan small enough to use: one useful change, a review date and a clear next step.
About this guide
Prepared with AI assistance using the sources linked in this guide. Sources checked on 14 October 2026. This is original Simply Maid guidance, not a republication of the former My Green Life website.
Change log
Who wrote and edited this article, when its sources were checked, and what changed.
