These simple steps will help make your home more green, and will also save you some green in the long run!

1. Go Paperless

Many businesses offer their customers the option to receive their bills and statements via email. This small update can help reduce the number of trees cut down and use to print the mail.

2. Switch to LED lights

According to Redfin.com, about 12% of a home’s energy bill goes to lighting – for a quick solution to make your home more green (and put some more green back in your pocket!),switch out all of your light bulbs for LEDs.

3. Make your home a shoeless zone

By leaving your shoes at the door, you and your family can reduce the number of toxins that could potentially get racked through your home – plus, you can potentially vacuum less and have less stains on your rugs and/or carpet!

4. Insulation

When you have your air conditioner running on those hot summer days, make sure you are keeping all that cool air inside by checking your house’s insulation. Check resources such as energystar.gov to find out how much insulation you need.

5. Seal gaps around doors and windows

In addition to properly insulating your attic, you can save on air conditioning by also sealing up gaps around your doors and windows – you can DIY this simple project by simply putting up weather stripping, which can be found at nearly any hardware store.

6. Fix leaks and update plumbing

One quick update for your plumbing is to add a recirculating water pump, which will produce hot water instantly – no more waiting for the tap to warm up and, according to Jason Pelletier from lowimpactliving.com, you can save “three to five gallons of water” per use.

Even if you simply fix a leaky faucet, that alone can save thousands of gallons of water every year.