Sustainable Home: Practical projects, tips for maintaining a more eco-friendly household
by Christine Liu
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Christine Liu is the creator behind the very zen Simply by Christine site. This website features her very airy, minimalist lifestyle which is front and center in this beautiful sustainable home book.
Even more than simply beautiful, this book is well organized, helpful, and so very informative.
See a comprehensive list of the best books on sustainable living here!
Room by Room
Each chapter represents a different room, which highlights Liu’s wealth of knowledge in every corner of her home.
The author explains a minimalist lifestyle in the opening chapter: the living room. She makes it look great and seem attainable, inspiring all of us to rethink our own consumerism. She explains that when things are designed with a limited lifespan – planned obsolescence – we’re just priming ourselves for future purchases by making present ones.
Conveniently, this book offers great de-cluttering tips and information on how to re-home a lot of the stuff that you’ve just taken off your shoulders.
In this first chapter, we’re also reminded (or informed for the first time – no judgement here!) about a more invisible, albeit huge, component of a more eco-friendly lifestyle: energy usage! Because of all those soon-to-be-obsolete gadgets laying around, energy consumption is at an all-time high. Liu shares that we stand to save 10% from our energy bill by unplugging electronics when they’re not in use.
In the kitchen, the chapter’s focus is promoting sustainable foods, a more plant-based diet, and reducing food waste. There are instructions for growing an herb garden from food scraps, and even a great recipe for a badass lentil number (above) that uses a ton of things you may already have on hand. Make some soup and compost your scraps. Feels good and tastes good.
So. Many. Tips!
As the book proceeds to the bedroom, there are fabulous tips on sustainable fashion. And unlike those quick and dirty tip books, Sustainable Home will not only explain the importance of these changes, but also give you how-tos for implementing these things into your own life. Even more, there are great instructions on building a minimalist wardrobe.
I’ll be honest: there are tips that seem a tad woo-woo at first glance that I was quick to skim over with a suspicious eye. I can’t do these things! I’m busy! With…things! But upon a second look, I realized how achievable these small tasks are.
For example, Liu includes a tip for making your own black clothes dye from the soaked black beans from a recipe from the previous chapter. Wait! That’s so easy! I can be this person, and so can you! Go us!
I can’t be the only one who has plenty of old black t-shirts and jeans purchased on sale that immediately started fading. Like driving a new car off the lot, my black clothing loses 15% of their hue as soon as I leave the store. I will definitely be giving them the bean bath.
There is honestly not one corner of your home left out of this book. From the materials that go into making mattresses to toothbrush bristles, everything gets its moment.
And sustainability doesn’t stop when you step through the front door. The final chapter of the book will help you be a better steward of the planet at work and dining out. The book wraps up with a page on taking action, and you can trust those steps. Liu is walking the walk.
A Beautiful Sustainable Home Book
Perhaps the most notable way Simply Home delivers value is the vast number of easy, economical, and eco-friendly tips and recipes. In addition to the black bean geniusness, there are great tips for creating your own room fragrance spray; making your own cleaning supplies and bath products; plant-based recipes; and even plans for an adorable planter that’s next on my list.
This book encompasses what we’re about here at Judgement-Free Green. Liu herself assures readers that sustainability doesn’t happen in an instant. But rather with small steps over a long period of time. This sustainable home book has plenty of small steps.
This book would make a lovely gift or coffee table accessory – and in the spirit of minimalism, it won’t just be for decoration. You’ll look at the airy photos time and again, and earmark the accompanying text for the helpful hints and knowledge bombs.
