Going Green can Save you More than Cha-Ching!

The housing marketing crisis, gas and grocery prices skyrocketing and financial institutions collapsing--no one is untouched. If you're a family of four, with an average household income of $50,000 or less, more than likely you're feeling the pinch, the strangling.


Inspired by my Blog Sisters' Christine recent posting on "Fishing at Lake Valdez", here are some ideas that can save your family hundreds of dollars a year in your electric bill. Going Green does not always mean spending first. In this case, we recommend changing a few settings or habits in your home. It's easy. Nothing scientific or complicated.



Change a light bulb. Changing all the old-fashioned "incandescent" light bulbs in your home to "compact fluorescent" bulbs (CFLs), can save you a couple of hundred dollars a year. How? CFLs convert the energy into light rather than heat. Changing one incandescent bulb can save you $83 over the life of the CFL.

Unplug things that glow. Did you know appliances and electronics continue to draw power when left plugged in? Anything that has an LED (light emitting diode) that glows even after you turn it off is sucking up power. Unplug them from the wall sockets and plug them into power strips instead. This alone could save $200 a year.


Change temperature settings. Increase your Air Condition thermostat by several degrees when no one is home. Or reduce the heater settings. Installing a programmable thermostat can help information over-loaded human memory banks. They cost about $40.



Wash full loads. Whenever you wash just a few clothes or dishes at a time, your using up water, power, and money. The average American family washes about 540 loads of laundry a year, and 150 loads of dishes. Most of the energy consumed goes toward heating the water. Washing full loads of laundry and using cold or warm rather than hot water in the clothes washer racks up savings.

Do you have a story to share of tough times turned rosey by making these simple changes? POST A COMMENT!!!