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$ Cars: I admit, switching to a little car just
didn't blow up my skirt. After I went through
that phase, I thought about what I want versus
what I need. Up here in snow country, I think
I need a 4-wheel drive, and that usually
means an SUV. But I certainly don't need
a vehicle that gets less than 15 miles per
gallon. When your wheels guzzle that much
gas, any improvement makes a significant
difference. Just by moving up to an SUV with
19 MPG, I dropped my gas costs by 25%. Mountain
Dad finally got a hybrid SUV and he improved
his expenses by almost 75%! I did save a
lot of gas with my little Civic, but it was
too small for all the junk and kids I haul
around. Until you can consider a new vehicle,
see Driving. Mom's Rating:  If you can't...
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$ Ceiling Fans: This a classy way to keep cool. Box and
oscillating fans are annoying and ceiling
fans are better than cranking down the air
conditioning. But a ceiling fan is usually
quieter and spreads cooling breezes over
a much larger area. In the summer here in
the mountains, we crack open the window,
turn on the ceiling fan, and we eventually
need to crawl under the comforter, which
is...more comfortable. Here's what you need
to remember: if you're going to spend time
under the ceiling fan, you need to turn the
air conditioner to a warmer temperature,
or off. Otherwise, you're not saving as much.
In winter they claim a ceiling fan helps
distribute the heat better, but I certainly
don't feel it. Mom's Rating: 
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$ Coffee Filters: This is a 2-fer. Stop using paper coffee
filters and switch to a permanent filter,
available for about $4 at most grocery stores.
Then dump yesterday's coffee grounds in a
bag before you rinse the filter. Coffee grounds
make a good Compost, see below, and are easy to store until
you dump them in the garden or the lawn.
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$ Compact Florescent Lights (CFL): Some energy advocates make these sound
like the end-all of energy savings. They help, but only if you replace several. Some of the CFL's I buy are slow to light
up. In some places that's not a big deal,
but in the bathroom, I actually need to stop
while the light warms up so i don't trip
over a miss-placed toy. Fortunately, the
bathroom light fixture has multiple bulb
sockets, so in one of them I have a 40-watt
bulb that lets me see what I'm about to stumble
over right away as I race to the john. We
also have a bunch of "60 watts or less"
fixtures, or some that can't take the heat
of a hotter incandescent bulb. I replaced
those with 25-watt CFL's that give out more
than 100 watts of light. They run cooler,
longer and we get lots more light! Buy 'em
when the electric company supports them for
less than $1 each. However, not all CFL's are created equal.
I found some that turn on right away. Mom's
Rating:
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Composting: This requires a lot of work, so it's easier
for those of us who appreciate a good supply
of topsoil, but it removes a lot from the
landfill. A compost pile doesn't need to
be that complicated, but if you enjoy gardening
at all, this is a worthwhile pursuit. We
consume more fresh food than packaged, so
there's a good supply of leaves and stalks,
and don't overlook some really plentiful
organic goodies like yesterday's coffee grounds
and even weeds. Done right, you can't buy
better compost than home-made. We have too
much snow here to keep up with it all year,
but anything you can keep from going into
the trash helps. Mom's Rating:
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$ Dish Towel: When my hands got wet in the kitchen, I
mindlessly reached for the paper towels.
I hung a dish towel on the oven handle and
cut my use of paper towels in half.
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$ Driving: You already know driving lightly on the
gas pedal saves you a good percentage of
gas, but also consider your speed. Sure,
you can get away with driving "just
a little" over the speed limit, but
for every mile per hour over 45, especially
in an SUV, you're not escaping the gas police
They catch up to you at the gas station.
Consumer Reports tested a Toyota Camry at 55, 65 and 75 mph.
Increasing the speed from 55 to 65 caused
the car's mileage to drop from 40 to 35 mpg,
and an increase to 75 mph caused the mileage
to drop another 5 mpg! That's a 25% decrease
in gas mileage from 55 to 75. Nothing else
can make this much difference. On my last
trip to Santa Fe, I went about 5 mph slower
and NEVER went over the speed limit. In some
areas where traffic was too heavy to let
me go at the top speed, I throttled back
to go with the flow. My car usually gets
about 33 or 34 mpg on that trip, but this
time I got 40! And it's not a little car!
Oh, and driving slower saves lives...like
maybe yours. Also, by now you're already
combining trips, so let's go in another direction:
consider buying a few things online. The
UPS truck is already coming down your street
every day, why not have them pick up a few
things so you can save that trip, and time.
Also see Walking. Mom's Rating:
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$ Dumpster Diving: There's no shame in peeking in the dumpster
or other people's trash cans for usable items.
You're doing your part by keeping something
out of the landfill. I actually acquired
several sets of nice skis in Vail this way.
Some people toss away perfectly good items
because it's the easiest way to dispose of
them. In our old neighborhood we called it
"The Launch Pad." In some cases
putting a "free" sticker on an
item out at the curb will get it a new home,
or, sometimes it disappeared even faster
if we put a price tag on it.
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$ Electricity: Use less and you'll save, right? I found
a couple of surprises. Those new HD and flat-screen
TV's use a lot more electricity than the
older standard TV's…some as much as 6 times
more. We used to leave the TV on in the kitchen
almost all weekend, but now that we replaced
it with a LCD screen TV, I turn it off when
no one's watching. Also, there are a lot
of things in our house that are using a little
electricity even when off. I unplugged all
of them when not in use for a month and it
made no difference in our electric bill.
Go for the TV switch instead. Mom's Rating:
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Grocery Bags: I didn't know what a big deal this was until
I started saving those plastic grocery store
bags hoping to recycle them. I could not
believe how much volume these bags take up...far
more than our newspapers. They're not heavy,
but boy do they add up. I didn't think I
bought that much, but grocery store baggers
aren't efficient and really don't care how
many bags they use. You can. The best idea
is to bring your own reusable bags. Next
best is to take back the plastic bags for
your next load of groceries, some stores
give you a few pennies discount. Unfortunately,
I always forget to do either, so once or
twice a month I take back all of the plastic
bags to the store where I can re-use a few
and they have a bin to recycle the rest.
That works until they stop giving you bags
at all. Costco has no bags and people still
get their groceries home, somehow. The bags
are going away, we'll need to adapt. Mom's
Rating:
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$ Hot Water: Nope. I'm not gonna tell you to take fewer
showers, although some teenagers should.
By now, you should have replaced all shower
heads with low-flow devices which often result
in a better shower. In my case, I got out
of the habit of always using my left hand
to turn on the water to wash my hands. Use
your right hand and turn the cold water on instead of
hot. We wash our hands a lot and the water
never gets hot then, anyway. But just turning
on the hot water causes the hot water heater
to click on that much sooner because it thinks
you need it. Well, you're done washing before
it gets hot, so you don't. When gardening
I wash my hands a lot. I use the sink closest
to the hot water heater and it gets hot in
a couple seconds. Also, if you're replacing
the hot water tank, you might consider adding
a timer that only allows it to heat up in
the morning or a couple times a day. You
might be able to take advantage of your utility's
time-of-day pricing, but you'll be heating
less hot water overall. It's not worth it
unless you're having other plumbing work
done at the same time. Oh, and taking a shower
with a friend? No, in my case, it always
leads to longer showers. One thing that does
help is to take a shower right after somebody
else in your house does, and the water will
still be hot in the bathroom, eliminating
the need to run the water until hot...saving
time, water, and energy. Then there's my pet peeve:
people who wash their dishes before they
put them in the dish washer! Don't do it!
Yes, some of the dishes won't come completely
clean, but deal with that after they're washed...don't assume they'll all
be missed and wash them twice, "just
in case." Mom's Rating: If you can't...
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Indoor Plants: Be really green and add a plant that "eats"
indoor pollutants, especially now that
we
are sealing our homes up tighter. Any
ol'
plant will help, but some are better
than
others. Visit a nursery for recommendations,
or just add english ivy. It's easy
to grow
and absorbs lots of bad air. Place
plants
near a sink and give them water you
were
about to toss down the drain. Mom's
Rating:
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$ Inflate Your Tires: I included this one because it's so easy.
Last winter we were coming back from Texas
and our gas mileage was awful, even with
a tail wind. We stopped in Amarillo and found
the tires more than 5 pounds low. Inflating
the tires got us more than 10% better mileage!
I can't believe air now costs 50 cents. Oh
well, it was money well spent. Mom's Rating:
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Junk Mail: Reduce your outgoing trash and save the
time wading through your mail. First, sign
up for your bills to be delivered by email
or "eBill." Some billers even give
you an incentive, like I got 2 years of free
premium movies for auto-paying the satellite
bill by credit card (don't let them withdraw
from your checking account...that's dangerous!).
The best deal would come from the billers
themselves, but you can also do it all through
your online bill-paying service...you do
use one, right? Second, contact the Direct Marketing Association to get off both junk mail and email lists.
Third, call the "Opt-Out" service
to stop getting those credit card and similar
"pre-screened" offers, at 1-888-5OPTOUT
(1-888-567-8688). Mom's Rating:
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$ Printing: Most thoughtful people I know are already
using their computer printer paper twice.
I have a 2nd paper tray in my printer to
drop in recycled paper, and of course that
tray only uses the "draft" of "fast"
mode to use less ink (now that stuff is expensive!).
But it took me a long time to accept the
fact that I don't need to print every chart
and every email. I found I was saving paper
spreadsheets in a folder that I never looked
at twice. Now, before I hit the Print button,
I ask if it really needs to be on paper.
Mom's Rating:
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$ Solar Heat: This area is still a step away from being
convenient for most of us, but nothing warms
the house better than opening the curtains
on all the south windows of the house on
a sunny day. We're lucky up here, we get
lots of sun. But if you don't, leave the
curtains closed until you do. The sun warms
one room very nicely, but since it's a hassle
to turn off the heat while you're in that
room, and turn it back up when you leave,
this is a perfect place to try the lower-temperature
idea under Thermostat. Other simple stuff includes making sure
the sun doesn't shine on your refrigerator
(close the shades) or your air conditioner
condenser (plant a bush next to it). If you
want to try something more complicated, use
the least number of moving parts. A trombe
wall and a thermostatically-controlled fan
often provides tons of heat. Mom's Rating:
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$ Thermostat: You better have a programmable thermostat
by now. Up here in the mountains it's a big
help. But you probably had to program it
to keep the air or heat on longer than you
hoped due to family complaints. That's OK,
but instead of giving in completely, I traded
for a 1 or 2 degrees lower setting. Then,
if they really need it 1 or 2 degrees warmer
or cooler, go ahead and use the thermostat's
temporary function that changes the temperature
either for just a couple hours or until the
next cycle begins. Overall you'll save and
you'll still be fiddling with the thermostat
less than you did with the old manual one.
Mom's Rating: If you can't...
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$ Trees (and bushes): Trees make several contributions: They eat
carbon dioxide, cool the ground around the
house with shade and block the heat or cool-air
robbing winds. Here in the mountains, we
mostly have evergreen trees so we need to
be careful. These trees are best planted
on the northwest, north and northeast sides
of the house to block the winter winds. For
half the year we don't want the trees to
block any sunlight from in the south windows,
so that's where we have low bushes or the
deciduous trees that shade our bay windows
during the summer. Mom's Rating: If you can't...
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$ Walking: Don't sell this one short. When you walk
a short distance for errands, you keep from
using your car when it wastes the most gas
and makes the most pollution: that first
mile is the worst. Those new "Lifestyle
Centers" now encourage you to drive
from store to store when you were perfectly
capable of covering that same distance in
the mall. Park next to the store that gets
you your heaviest bags, and walk to the rest.
I'm not talking about trying to walk everywhere
from home, just allow yourself a few more
steps away from your car! I won't mention the exercise factor. Mom's
Rating:
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$ Water. Of all the ways to conserve water, nothing
needs to be discussed until you get your
lawn watering under control. I went out one
day and counted that my yard has 98 sprinkler
heads! I decided there has to be a better
way than watering every inch of dirt, so
I redirected all the impulse sprinklers to
water both the grass and the surrounding
flowers and shrubs, then switching off 2
of the flower circuits. There were a couple
places the big sprinklers didn't hit among
the flowers, so I moved the flowers. Don't
be foolish about not watering some areas
of grass. I found out a certain amount of
grass around the house is good for fire protection,
and up here, fires can be a problem. Is there
an area of your yard that could be planted
with a ground cover this year, and not watered beginning next year? In the mountains, many of my neighbors
let their yard go 'natural'...some are nothing
more than letting the weeds take over. But
they're saving water! Oh, and the less water
you use, the less electricity we need. Mom's
Rating: If you can't...
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$ Saves you money, Too! |
