In an era where an ecological conscience is a virtual prerequisite for big businesses, many entrepreneurs have embraced the notion of turning waste into profit. By no means should this thinking be limited to businesses, however. The “Zero Waste” phenomenon has become a hot topic in recent years with high profile bloggers like Kathryn Kellogg of Going Zero Waste, Lauren Singer of Trash is for Tossers and Celia Ristow of Litterless have all contributed immeasurably to helping ordinary household limit the environmental damage they do at home by reducing their household waste by recycling, reusing / upcycling and making prudent shopping choices. This concerted effort to reduce landfill waste is not only beneficial to the environment but aids immeasurably in managing household finances.
Browsing Tag
save energy
If your energy bills continue to skyrocket each month, consider implementing a few of these ideas to help you keep costs down.
Adjust Your Clothing
Check the weather each evening and make sure you dress appropriately for the temperature. For example, if it is forecasted to be chilly, layer two shirts on top of each other and put on a pair of warm socks. If you can keep yourself warm with your clothing, you can adjust your thermostat to keep it cooler inside.
When there’s snow on the ground and the temperature outside is well below freezing, the last thing that you want to do is walk into your house and have to wait your HVAC unit, furnace or fireplace to warm up. Yet when you’re trying to prevent your heating bills from breaking your budget, sometimes you feel like you have to turn these things off while you’re gone in order to conserve energy.
The reality is that there are several things that you can do to keep your home at a comfortable temperature and still save money on heating costs. If you’re interested in knowing what some of those things are, we have enclosed five of them below:
Chances are, there are a couple of times each year when you find yourself looking around certain areas of your home and you think to yourself “This space could definitely use a bit of an upgrade.” While it’s nice to do aesthetic changes such as coloring the walls another color or purchasing some new furniture, did you know that there are some home improvements that can actually help to reduce the amount of energy you use; ones that help to lower the amount of money that you spend each month? If you’re curious to know about what some of those things are, keep reading:
Conduct your own energy audit. Before you do anything, we advise that you conduct your own energy audit in your house. When it comes to monitoring the use of energy in your house, it’s a surefire way to determine what areas of your home are working at optimal levels and which are not. (For more information, go to Energy.gov and put “Do It Yourself Energy Audits” in the search field.)
Put in a couple of more ceiling fans. During extreme hot and cold weather, that is when we tend to rely the most on our central air units. This also means that more times than not, that’s when our electricity bills double or triple the average amount. One way to help to keep them down is to turn on the ceiling fans that you already have and/or to buy a couple of more. In the summer, they help to circulate cool air and in the winter, if you set them to rotate counterclockwise, they pull the warm air down closer to where you and your family are sitting.
With the economy the way it is and the environment the way it is, now has never been a better time to be more eco-friendly and frugal. Luckily, both go hand in hand. In most cases, making more earth conscious decisions will save you much more money. Almost every facet of our daily life has an impact on the environment, from the cars we drive to the showers we take. It’s a wonder why everyone is not making greener life choices in an attempt to cut back on costs and their carbon footprint. Every day the reports about our negative impact on the environment are getting worse. And the economy is barely chugging along.
Here are 5 ways you can save money and help the environment at the same time:
1. For one, you can save money on your electric bills and cut down energy use by up to 75% just by switching to CFLs and LED light bulbs. Replacing your energy sucking incandescent light bulbs with CFL or LED light bulbs could potentially save you up to $500 a year on utilities. These energy efficient light bulbs will also save you from having to go out to buy replacements, because some of the CFLs and LED bulbs last up to 35 times longer. Also, they are just as easy to install as regular light bulbs.