Aurelia Butler

These pro tips will save money while keeping your home cozy all year long. More

Some clothes are easier to care for than others. Most everyday items can be cleaned with a quick wash and dry, however, “dry clean only” and delicate garments require more TLC. While it’s always best to leave the dry cleaning and pressing up to the professionals, you may be tempted to skip the extra trip and dry clean at home.

This, of course, begs the question: Can dry cleaning really be done at home? Even though there are a number of ways to remove stains, wrinkles and odors from “dry clean only” clothes (more on that below), there is no way to actually dry clean at home, according to Carolyn Forte, Director of the Cleaning Lab at the Good Housekeeping Institute. Professionals are able to remove stubborn body oils and stains that at-home dry cleaner kits and steaming are unable to. “Dry cleaning at home may delay bringing something to the dry cleaner and give you a few more wears, but it will not totally eliminate the need for it,” she explains. Maybe you have a whole season’s worth of clothes to dry clean and don’t want to stomach the high price tag. Or maybe you’re not a fan of how your clothes smell when you bring them home. Forte offers up a simple solution: Keep searching until you find a dry cleaner that meets your needs or find an alternative (but highly effective) solution like wet cleaning or liquid carbon dioxide cleaning. How to Refresh “Dry Clean Only” Items at Home If you want to extend a garment’s life between dry cleanings, you have two options: use a dry cleaning kit or take the DIY method. Dry cleaning kits like Dryel’s At-Home Dry Cleaner Starter Kit come with everything you need for a similar dry cleaning experience at home: a stain remover, bag, cleaning clothes and an odor and wrinkle releaser. Here’s how to get the most effective refresh: Treat stains with the stain removing pen and spray high-odor areas with the odor releaser spray.Stick up to five garments in the bag with the cleaning cloth and tumble in the dryer. The heat and tumbling of the dryer activates the cleaning cloth, releasing trapped odors and freshening the fabric. Remove the clothes promptly and get rid of any remaining wrinkles or odors with the spray.No kit, no problem: Follow these steps to spruce up your “dry clean only” items: Remove stains from garments. Just to be safe, test the stain remover on a hidden spot of the fabric and look for water spotting or color loss. Fibers like silk and rayon may be damaged by at-home stain removal products. Freshen fabrics, remove wrinkles and get rid of unwanted odors with a garment steamer like Seal star Conair Turbo ExtremeSteam Handheld Garment Steamer or a spray like Downy Wrinkle Releaser. Always test the products on a hidden spot of the fabric first. Some fabrics, like knits and other lightweight fabrics, can also be de-wrinkled in the dryer. Stick your items in a wash bag and add a wet washcloth, hand towel or ice cubes to dryer to speed up the process. Remember: This is only a placeholder until your next visit to the dry cleaner. There’s no other way to really make your garments look and smell like new.

The Products You Need to Dry Clean at Home

At-Home Dry Cleaner Starter Kit

Dryel
target.com

$9.99

GS38R Handheld Garment Steamer with Turbo

Conair
walmart.com

$47.99

Wrinkle Releaser Fabric Spray

Downy
amazon.com

$16.51

$13.94 (16% off)

Mesh Laundry Bags

BAGAIL
amazon.com

$7.99

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Houseplants aren’t just for decoration. For many plant parents, they are another member of the family — leafy and green, but just as lovable. Think about it: You spend hours making sure your houseplant gets just the right amount of water, plant food and sunlight to live its happiest, healthiest life. And sure, plants don’t necessarily need names to grow big and beautiful … but what’s the fun in that? To really make your cactus, succulent, indoor tree or other greenery an official part of your family, give it a name that captures its unique personality or plays off of its color or plant type. Here, you’ll find tons of cool names for plants — some straight-up cute, others funny (we’re a succa for puns) and several inspired by your favorite celebrities. You’ll notice that we’ve designated if a name works best for a specific plant species — Sunny for an aloe vera plant, for example — but feel free to get creative with it. When you find a name that you’re particularly frond of (get it), say it out loud for your plant baby to hear and see if it catches on.Cute Names for PlantsSweet and simple just like your houseplant. Pick a name inspired by its natural color (whether it’s green, red or yellow) or plant type, or opt for something more universal.BlossomBudChloe, means “green shoot” in GreekCutie EmeraldEsmeralda, means “emerald” in SpanishFernFlora GoldieJadeLily (peace lily)MinnieOlivePearl (string of pearls)PenelopePennyPrickles (cactus)RubySageSucca (succulent)Sunny (aloe vera or sun-loving plant) Sylvia/Sylvie, means “forest” in LatinVera (aloe vera plant)Verde, means “green” in SpanishFunny Names for Plants[image id=’8a69ab05-e4a9-4fb5-ae08-759bad02b8bb’ mediaId=’b51ddb50-007a-4e90-ac99-3f3094262689′ align=’center’ size=’medium’ share=’false’ caption=” expand=” crop=’1×1′][/image]Your plant has its quirks and its name should reflect that. There are a few punny monikers to choose from, as well as some that are just plain ironic (which makes them equally as funny).Bill (money plant)Christofern (fern plant)Fluffy (cactus)Lil PlantMr/Miss PlantMr. Prickles (cactus)Spike (cactus)Woody (indoor tree) Celebrity Names for PlantsTake inspiration from pop culture — musicians, actors, politicians and artists — with one of these punny takes on a celebrity name. Some group names even work for plant families. Burnie Sanders (aloe vera plant)Cactus Everdeen (cactus)Elvis Parsley (herb plant) Justin Timberlake MC Hammer (cactus)Morgan Treeman (indoor tree)Orlando BloomSir Pokes-a-Lot (cactus)Snake Gyllenhaal (snake plant)Tree Diddy (indoor tree) Simon and Garfunkel (a plant duo)Spice Girls (a group of herb plants)Vincent Van Grow[editoriallinks id=’4a10238a-af92-4248-a8b8-b609cab1335e’ align=’center’][/editoriallinks]

Amanda Garrity
Associate Lifestyle Editor
As the Associate Lifestyle Editor for GoodHousekeeping.com, Amanda oversees gift guides and covers home, holidays, food, and other lifestyle news.

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Glass cooktops are the style of choice for anyone who prefers electric ranges or induction cooking appliances and while nothing beats them for their seamless look and sleek style, they can be a real eyesore in your kitchen when covered with grease, film, burned-on deposits and food spills. How do we know? With all the test kitchens in our Good Housekeeping Institute and the constant flow of ranges in and out of our Kitchen Appliances Lab, we’ve seen, cooked on, and cleaned our share of glass stovetops. And we’ve tested lots of glass cooktop cleaners in our Good Housekeeping Institute Cleaning Lab. Read on to see how to make your glass stovetop shine in just a few easy steps whether you have light, heavy, or burned-on deposits.How to clean everyday messes from your glass cooktop The trick to keeping this surface clean and saving yourself more time, stress, and elbow grease is to stay ahead of the mess and not give it a chance to bake on in the first place. Even light splatters that you can barely see build up over time and become more difficult to remove. That’s why it’s essential to give it a wipe down after every use, even if you think it looks clean. Here’s what to do to ward of cloudiness and keep your cooktop sparkling:Promptly wipe up spills and splatters as they happen with a damp sponge or cloth. Even if the surface looks clean, when invisible layers of grease build up and burn on you wind up with an even bigger job on your hands. Use a grease-cutting spray or wipe specifically made for glass on a cool cooktop, like those from GH Seal-holder Weiman. They won’t leave hazy streaks behind like regular all-purpose and glass cleaners with ammonia can and the wipes are super convenient to use. If you don’t have cooktop cleaner handy, use a spritz of full strength white vinegar. It will cut grease and clean without streaking. Rinse and buff the glass dry with a soft cloth or paper towel. How to clean heavy deposits from your glass stovetop If it’s been a busy week and cooktop spills have gotten ahead of you, switch to a cooktop cream or paste. The gentle abrasives in these formulas will help loosen stubborn residue that needs a bit of a nudge but that isn’t totally welded onto your glass:Apply cooktop cream or paste to a cool surface with a non-abrasive scrubbing pad working in a circular motion. Rinse the surface thoroughly and buff dry. It’s super important to completely remove any cleaning product residue, otherwise it, too, can bake and burn on and even worse, interfere with the performance of your cooktop, especially induction. Sprinkle on a little baking soda or a non-abrasive cleanser in a pinch and rub with a damp cloth to remove stuck-on stuff, then rinse clean and dry. How to remove burned-on stains from your glass cooktopIf your glass cooktop has seen better days and is already covered with burned-on grime and needs some TLC to remove discoloration, it’s time to pull out the heavy duty tools:Lay a hot, moist towel on the glass to help soften the residue. Use a razor blade — or the scraper that comes in a cooktop cleaning kit — held at a 45° angle, carefully scrape off the burned bits. Don’t worry, the glass on these cooktops is durable and can handle this treatment. Depending on how baked-on the deposits are, you may have to repeat the hot towel/razor blade step several times. Clean the entire top with your cleanser; then rinse well and buff dry.
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Jessica Alba’s YouTube subscribers are in for a treat. The actress and founder of the Honest Company, known for its clean and natural consumer goods, just teamed up with Amazon Home to transform her Los Angeles studio workspace that’s used for filming YouTube videos. The chic four-room loft, known as Summit House Studios, is complete with a kitchen, nursery, office space and living room and is filled with furniture and decor exclusively from Amazon Handmade as well as Amazon’s Rivet and Stone & Beam brands. Since Alba often produces YouTube videos with her friend, Lizzy Mathis, who’s also a mother of three, the duo longed for a multifunctional workspace (Mathis is the co-founder and creative director of Summit House Studios). Not only do they spend time in the studio capturing a range of lifestyle video content, whether it’s a beauty tutorial or a casual cooking demonstration, but if necessary, their kids can visit while they’re hard at work.

The living room before and after.
Tom Gault

When it came to designing the space, Alba didn’t think twice about opting for a neutral color palette with pops of peach, navy and gray tones. “The space was previously a rental with a dark color palette and a Gramercy Park Hotel feel, but that’s not the vibe we wanted for filming,” Alba told Good Housekeeping. “We wanted the studio to be fun, light and airy.” From there, the star peppered in natural textures and handmade finds. “Handmade accessories ground the space and make it feel a little bit more personal,” she says.

Since Jessica Alba and her friend and colleague, Lizzy Mathis, each have three children, a nursery was a non-negotiable.
Tom Gault

Mathis also played a role in the studio’s decor, drawing inspiration from her time living in New York City. “Lizzy understands how important it is to get so much out of one little space,” Alba says. “We had to compartmentalize — use rugs to separate different areas in a room or install a shelf to make up for limited space. There’s even a kitchen island that we use for cooking, but when guests are over, we can add seating and make it a dining table.”

The studio’s light-filled office area.
Tom Gault

While Alba enjoys working in the studio, she acknowledges that it has a completely different aesthetic than her personal home, which features influences from the south of France and a modern Parisian apartment. From all-black doors and window frames to brass hardware and light wood floors, it’s the complete opposite of the studio’s blush tones. “My house is less feminine, because I have to consider Cash (Warren), my husband,” she says. Alba says the key to nailing the studio’s stylish look wasn’t just sticking to one color palette. Mixing design styles, thanks to furniture and accessories sourced from Amazon’s distinct home brands, also brought the space to life. “If you stick to all farmhouse or all modern minimalist, then your space will look like a theme,” Alba says. “It’s more fun to mix it up, and it looks more collected.” We couldn’t agree more!

Shop Amazon Home Finds in Jessica Alba’s Studio

Berkshire Natural Wood Large Coffee Table

Alaterre Furniture
amazon.com

$629.95

$470.30 (25% off)

Brass Finish Console Table

Henn&Hart
amazon.com

$219.99

$183.11 (17% off)

Ceramic Plant Pot with Wood Stand

LA JOLIE MUSE
amazon.com

$29.99

Geometric Lumbar Pillow

Main + Mesa
amazon.com

$39.99

$35.85 (10% off)

Aero Cotton Decorative Pillow

INK+IVY
amazon.com

$49.71

Belini Hand Tufted Wool Area Rug

nuLOOM
amazon.com

$299.00

$181.00 (39% off)

Wooden Baby Play Gym

B. toys by Battat
amazon.com

$39.99

KidKraft Austin Toy Box

KidKraft
amazon.com

$105.22

Farmhouse Beads

LSKY
amazon.com

$11.95

$10.58 (11% off)

Celeste Tripod Floor Lamp

Light Society
amazon.com

$80.59

Rivet Scandinavian Blond-Wood Table Lamp

Rivet
amazon.com

$76.99

Couture Home Alena Mid-Century Pale Mauve and Gold Chair

Safavieh
amazon.com

$1,057.66

$519.00 (51% off)

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Our homes should be our personal sanctuaries — and the last year made this abundantly clear. As a result, some of us turned closets into office hideouts (aptly named “cloffices”), transformed garages into home gyms and finally checked major renovations off of our bucket lists. At the heart of these transformations — from minor DIYs to big rebuilds — is the very idea that our homes should be a safe, cozy and inviting space that provides a respite from the outside world. There’s no finer example of this feeling — aesthetic, rather — than cottagecore, where the ease of rural life is brought to life with fresh florals, botanical accents and vintage-inspired decor. Social media gave this blossoming movement a major platform: To date, there have been 1.6 million posts tagged with #cottagecore on Instagram and videos with the same tag have racked up 5.8 billion views on TikTok. Together, these photos and videos provide a space to breathe — TikTok user Lillies Apothecary shares recipes for cinnamon coffee cake and lavender lemonade, TikTok user Jesca Her shows the life she sees “through rose-colored glasses” and thousands more reveal how they cozy up their bedrooms with green ivy and twinkle lights. What exactly is cottagecore? Aesthetically speaking, cottagecore embraces the charm of the English countryside (hence its name), creating an idealized representation of farm life — no matter where in the world you may live. The cottagecore style extends far beyond home decor; it’s inspired an overall state of being, oftentimes expressed through flowy clothing (we introduce you to The Nap Dress) and whimsical housewares.
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Really, it’s a way to to escape our modern lives and romanticize timeless simplicities: tending the garden, sipping on a hot cup of tea, perfecting a sourdough starter, foraging mushrooms in the forest and other seemingly mundane activities that force people to take a pause. Sometimes called farmcore or countrycore, this popular aesthetic also taps into the natural beauty of pastoral life, everything from freshly-laid eggs to sprawling vegetable gardens.Although cottagecore has taken off in the last year in part due to the pandemic and the popularity of video games like Minecraft and Animal Crossing, it’s not a new trend by any means. For Noemie Sérieux, founder of the Instagram account CottagecoreBlackFolks, it serves as reminder of her upbringing in St. Lucia. “Drying clothes in the breeze, chasing chickens and climbing coconut trees were all a part of my childhood. When the trend came to life, it felt more like nostalgia to me than a shiny new trend,” she told Good Housekeeping. The same can be said for other aesthetic movements that have popped up in recent years: Grandmacore and fairycore, also made popular on TikTok, have created nostalgia-induced worlds of their own, offering a place to escape technology and the constant need for connectivity. As a result, there’s now a massive online community made up of people who lean into this picture-perfect pastoral fantasy, one that Sérieux describes as “bright and vibrant.”How can I bring the cottagecore aesthetic into my house?Styles may range from person to person (or house to house), but the cottagecore aesthetic has several constants: Along with a neutral color palette (whites, creams and warm tones), key decor pieces include dried flower bouquets, houseplants, mushroom trinkets and string lights. Everything — both the fashion and home decor — has a vintage look and feel, ranging from ruffled peasant dresses to floral ceramic dishware sets.
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To really nail the homegrown aesthetic, you may have to put your crafting, gardening and baking skills to use, as pointed out in Emily Kent’s The Little Book of Cottagecore. So, if you’re looking to stop and smell the roses, break out your embroidery kits, knitting needles, pie weights and herb garden kits, stat.

The Ultimate Cottagecore House Starter Kit

Botanical Duvet Cover Set

Wake In Cloud
amazon.com

$89.99

$52.99 (41% off)

Beeswax Taper Candles

Hyoola
amazon.com

$25.99

Artificial Ivy Vine

JPSOR
amazon.com

$15.99

Dried Flowers in Vase

AimGoFloralDecor
etsy.com

$17.90

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If you’re interested in reducing your carbon footprint and living a more sustainable life, there are countless things you can do to have a positive impact on the planet. One strategy is simply to buy less. And while that’s realistic in some cases, the other side of it is making sure you’re purchasing sustainable products and supporting sustainable brands that are committed to doing the least amount of environmental damage. But beyond taking a close look at the stores you shop at and the products you buy, the good news is virtually everything you do in your daily life is an opportunity to practice sustainable living, including the way you get around, the charities you support, how you eat, what you eat, how much garbage you create and so much more. It’s easy to start leading a more sustainable lifestyle right now — and our environmental experts are here to help. At the Good Housekeeping Institute, sustainability is important to everything we do and we’ve built a unique expertise on the topic that shows up in how our experts test and recommend products. From launching the Green Good Housekeeping Seal in 2009 and GH’s Sustainable Innovation Awards in 2019, to hosting our annual Raise the Green Bar sustainability summit, now entering its fifth year, helping readers make more sustainable choices is a top priority for us. Below, we’ve compiled some simple choices and changes you can start today that will have a lasting benefit to our planet.First: What is sustainable living?Living a more sustainable life, also commonly referred to as “green living,” starts with understanding that sustainability is a broad term that can be defined in many ways. But generally speaking sustainable living refers to a lifestyle that avoids depleting the earth’s natural resources by reducing demand for water, energy, trees and fossil fuels. It means striving to create less waste, and prioritizes the use of renewable resources and minimal consumption. It can also be defined as “the practice of making sure we don’t deplete the earth’s natural resources while maintaining a strong economy for future generations,” says GH’s Sustainability Director, Birnur Aral, Ph.D. Put another way, sustainable living is all about making healthier choices for our planet and the people who live here. Examples of sustainable living include buying products made from recycled materials, avoiding fast fashion, and making sure your home isn’t overusing water and energy. There’s also a growing connection between social good and environmental sustainability and many organizations are increasingly tying together traditional sustainability efforts with mission-based work centered around a specific problem or issue. History of sustainabilityToday’s sustainable living advocates often cite the seminal 1962 book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, an American marine biologist, naturalist and environmentalist, for rousing modern-day interest in sustainability. The book explored the adverse effects of fertilizers and pesticides on wildlife and challenged the practice of unchecked marketing claims by large corporations. It is largely credited with inspiring a 20th-century environmental movement that contributed to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970. In the early 1980s, the United Nations formed the World Commission on Environment and Development with the goal of “uniting countries to work together to pursue sustainable development.” It released Our Common Future in 1987, a report which succeeded in popularizing the notion of sustainable living with the public, and local and state governments around the world started introducing sustainability policies focused on recycling and renewable energies. In 2015, the UN also spearheaded the Paris Agreement, a legally binding treaty between global leaders aimed at reducing climate change. The U.S. left the Paris Agreement during the Trump administration but has rejoined under President Biden. Today the United Nations continues to champion sustainability through its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainability is now a guiding principle for a wide range of governmental agencies, corporations and other institutions.Why is sustainable living important?Living a more sustainable life is better for the health of the planet and all the living things that inhabit it, including humans. A sustainable lifestyle can mean less pollution, fewer greenhouse gases, less waste, healthier oceans and forests and so much more. Plus, as more people make the switch to sustainable living, more companies work harder to following sustainable practices during manufacturing and more policy makers advocate for improved environmental practices. The bottom line: Sustainable living is about doing whatever you can to reduce your personal contribution to carbon emissions, natural resource depletion, water and chemical use and waste accumulation, while striving to make the earth a better place for all living things.Simple ways to start living a more sustainable lifestyle1. Start small — but start now.One of the most important things to remember as you are transitioning into more sustainable living is little changes add up. And they can add up fast. So don’t feel you have to overhaul everything all at once. Start with easy tweaks like switching to energy-saving light bulbs or drinking tap water instead of bottled (our environmental experts have assessed a wide range of water-testing kits to help boost your confidence), buying less overall, and being conscious about how you dispose of goods, from mattresses to clothing and beyond.Check out the stories below for more ways to make daily efforts to live a sustainable lifestyle:

Everyday Tricks to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

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How to Shop for ‘Eco-Friendly’ Products

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How to Dispose of Practically Anything

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How (and Where) to Donate and Upcycle Clothing

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2. Get savvy about spotting greenwashing.

A recent survey revealed how confusing “eco” or “green” claims can be.

Even today, as people are more interested in sustainable living tips, “eco” or “green” claims can be confusing. When we put the question to over 5,000 people in the Good Housekeeping Institute’s recent Sustainability Survey, 26% of people said they believed “green” meant “earth or environmentally friendly,” 19% answered “reusable, recyclable or recycled,” 13% said “eco-conscious” and 10% thought it meant “sustainable.” Other write-in answers included: natural, organic, compostable, plant-based and healthy. In reality, all of these things might contribute to making a product more “green” or “sustainable,” but according to the FTC Green Guides, brands must explain why a product is green before they can legitimately use eco-friendly claims on their labels. Once you can easily ID the terms and claims – and spot the imposters – you will be better equipped to make truly sustainable choices.

Learn the Real Meaning of ‘Eco-Friendly’

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Understand the Dangers of ‘Greenwashing’

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How to Decode Every Recycling Symbol

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Get the Truth on the ‘Clean’ Beauty Trend

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Learn What ‘Organic’ Actually Means

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3. Rethink your modes of transportation.Walking, taking the stairs and riding a commuter bicycle are some of the easiest ways to get around more sustainably. That’s because they require no energy (other than your own!) and emit absolutely zero greenhouse gases while helping to boost your own cardiovascular health. Driving a combustion-engine vehicle, on the other hand, is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. If distance puts walking or riding a bike out of the question, public transportation or car-sharing are good alternatives along with e-bikes and scooters. If you don’t have your own bike, consider the growing number of rent-a-bike services popping up in more neighborhoods all over the country. If that’s not an option for you, fortunately, most car manufacturers are making bold predictions about adding electric and hybrid vehicles to their rosters. Check out our scientists and consumer tester favorites below for the best electric vehicles, the best hybrid cars and the best e-bikes:

How to make more sustainable choices when shopping1. Ditch single-use bags and bottles.One of the biggest contributors to the global waste epidemic is plastic pollution. When you consider that Our World in Data estimates 381 million tons of plastic was produced in 2015, it’s no surprise that this amount — the equivalent to roughly two-thirds of the world population — is wreaking havoc on the health of global wildlife and our planet’s oceans and marine life.The good news news reusable is becoming a much more common personal choice and is also being mandated by municipalities around the globe through plastic bag bans and more. Below, discover our top-tested favorites, from reusable products from grocery bags to water bottles and more, as well as easy ways to reduce waste at home:

Swap Plastic Grocery Bags for Reusable Ones

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Bring Your Own Produce Bags to the Store

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Skip Single-Use Bottles and Take Your Own

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Get a Reusable Mug for the Coffee Shop

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2. Learn about ethical fashion.While the fashion industry has been the target of intense scrutiny by sustainability advocates, examples of sustainable living can be found. It’s important to remember truly sustainable fashion (also called “ethical” or “slow” fashion) takes into account an item’s full life cycle, including sourcing, shipping and end of life, as well as the people and resources it affects. That said, our pros suggest buying secondhand whenever possible (and selling your unwanted clothes online). Since the ultimate goal is to produce less and use things longer, the most sustainable fashion is anything pre-owned. 3. Buy from truly sustainable brands and companies.”Corporate sustainability is thought to have three pillars: people, planet and profit,” says Aral. “For any business, this means ensuring the health of employees (and people related to that business) and minimizing or even reversing its environmental impacts should be just as important as turning a profit, for it to be sustainable in the long run.” So do your research when seeking out products and brands that are committed to sustainable practice by looking for brands that promote specific sustainable practices including reducing water and hazardous chemicals used in production or use of recycled materials or sustainable fibers such as organic cotton. You can also look for sustainable and recycled materials, and trusted third-party emblems like EcoCert Cosmos for organic cosmetics, Fair Trade Certified ingredients or GreenGuard Certified products.Brands that impress GH Textiles Lab analysts include Patagonia, Levi’s, ThredUp and Eileen Fisher. For help with choosing sustainable brands, follow our experts’ advice below:

Sustainable Fashion Brands You Can Actually Trust

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The Best Sustainable Denim Brands to Try

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Why You Should Look for Tencel Fabric

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4. Shop organic when you can.Opting for organic clothing and bedding is a great step toward sustainability. Why? “GOTS certified organic fabrics follow strict environmental standards throughout the entire production process,” according to GH Institute Textiles Director Lexie Sachs. “For starters, organic cotton and other natural fibers are grown using less water and without pesticides and other potentially harmful treatments. Then the rest of the manufacturing steps – from the dyes and finishes to the ethical conditions at factories – must also comply with specific criteria.”Here are some of the best organic products you can buy, vetted by our experts:

5. Look for sustainable packaging.Packaging is generally defined as the products used to wrap or protect goods, including food and drink, and home and personal care items. It covers everything from culinary containers and detergent bottles to packaging for beauty products and all those delivery boxes. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency or EPA, over 80 million tons of packaging waste ends up in U.S. landfills every year. In Europe packaging waste is estimated at 77.8 million tons annually.

Choosing sustainable packaging is one way to offset the massive waste in landfills. But sustainable packaging can also help the planet in other, less expected ways. For example a moisturizer that uses less packaging is lighter to transport, which means fewer greenhouse gases are released on its journey from the manufacturing facility to its final destination in your bathroom. That’s also why the experts in the Good Housekeeping Institute introduced our Sustainable Packaging and Sustainable Innovation Awards, which recognize products that use minimal packaging materials and practices.

How to Spot and Use Eco-Friendly Packaging

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Learn About GH’s Sustainable Innovation Awards

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More on GH’s Sustainable Packaging Awards

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How to live more sustainably at home1. Make your own cleaners and home products.While you can purchase environmentally friendly cleaning products, making things from scratch at home is a perfect example of sustainable living. It allows you to use things you already have on-hand, thus reducing the need to buy more. And it means you can re-use or upcycle other items to give them new life — which all leads to less trash and waste, less packaging and less overall consumption. And you don’t have to stop at cleaners — our scientists and cleaning and beauty experts have great step-by-step instructions to help DIYers to make everything from homemade soap to hair masks and body scrubs:

How to Make Your Own Homemade Cleaners

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Learn to Make Your Own Beeswax Food Wraps

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2. Green your plate and your kitchen.Did you know animal agriculture is the second-largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions and is a leading cause of deforestation, biodiversity loss and water pollution? These statistics shared by Climate Nexus citing multiple trusted research sources, including the United Nations, help support the value of making more sustainable food practices.In their session “Greener Plates for a Better World” at Good Housekeeping’s 2020 Raise the Green Bar Sustainability Summit, celebrated author and actress Tracy Pollan, food columnist Mark Bittman and regional farming advocate Kathleen Finlay spoke with GH’s Registered Dietitian, Stefani Sassos, M.S., R.D., about the topic. Together they stressed that plant-based eating, cooking at home and prioritizing local and seasonal foods were smart ways to eat more sustainably.

Eating vegetarian just one day a week can save the annual greenhouse gas equivalent of driving 1,160 miles, says Sassos. She also recommends peanuts as a great plant-based protein source. A nutritious swap for meat, these legumes are filled with protein, heart-healthy fats, fiber and antioxidants. Lesser-known fact: They’re as good for the planet as for you, thanks to water-efficient growing practices that use a mere five gallons of H2O per ounce (some nuts need more than 15 times that and meat needs!).

3. Reduce food waste.In the United States alone, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration estimated that between 30 to 40% of the food supply ends up as food waste. In 2015, we Americans threw out 133 billion pounds of food. For context that’s like leaving a quarter of your groceries behind every time you go to the store.

Composting at home is one of the most effective ways to minimize the amount of garbage your family sends to the landfill. Not only does this reduce methane gas (a major factor in climate change), but it also controls trash can odor and gives you rich fertilizer. You can start by picking up one of the GH Institute Kitchen Appliances and Technology Lab’s picks for the best compost bins, but if at-home composting isn’t for you, look to see if your municipality has a composting program; if not, let your public works department know you’d like one. Some farmers’ markets even take food matter for composting.Below our GH Test Kitchen and GH Institute Kitchen Appliances and Technology Lab compiled some great ways to reduce food waste:

Clever Ways to Use Overripe Produce

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A Beginner’s Guide to Composting at Home

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There are few household chores more notoriously frustrating than folding a fitted sheet. The elastic band and billowy corners on these bad boys make them ridiculously difficult to corral and fold neatly, and often, we end up just crumpling them up into a ball and shoving them to the back of our linen closets. Sigh. Thankfully, organizational guru Marie Kondo (you know her as the author of The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and the star of Netflix’s hit show Tidying Up With Marie Kondo) stopped by to show us the best way to overcome this all-too-common laundry struggle: With her KonMari Method, folding a fitted sheet is as easy as following these five simple steps.Step 1: Set up your fitted-sheet folding workspace. Lay out the fitted sheet on a completely flat surface, elastic band facing up.Step 2: Make the first folds.

Fold the sheet in thirds lengthwise by bringing one long side in across the center, then the other. This step should leave you with a long, narrow rectangle. Step 3: Fold the fitted sheet again.

This time, fold the rectangle in half widthwise.Step 4: Roll the fitted sheet up.

Roll the fitted sheet from one short side to the other until it forms into a nice compact cylinder shape.Step 5: Store the fitted sheet the right way.Store your fitted sheet upright, in a storage container or linen closet, alongside your other bedding.

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