Living Smart 101: Green = $$Green$$

Green equals green as in bucks! Sure, we are all conscience of the environment but one of the benefits of trying to be kinder to the planet is it saves you money!!

I had planned to talk about being green and ways to save money for the New Year but with this cold front- I waited for a reason because I've gotten more creative in the process. Here are some tricks I always do and some new ones I've learned this week dealing with the cold and trying to save on my overall household expenses.

Unplug, unplug, unplug.
If you don't use it all the time or everyday- unplug it! Do you know that anything plugged in still draws an electric current and cost money over the long run?
Lamps, mixers, anything just sitting and rarely used will cost you money in the long run don't have to be plugged in! I posted about this last year and we do budget billing on our electric bill. We do an average and pay the same amount year round and settle up or down in May each year. This time last year we were at about +$360 overage for our billing year and would normally come out right about even as we approached May. We are currently only about +$130 so this obviously works!

The other idea I added this year was a quick check when we were leaving the house or going upstairs/downstairs and asking the girls to turn off TVs and turn off ceiling fans. Again- I noticed fans running 24/7 in rooms never used and TVs that just ran constant with no audience. I made this a habit for the girls and they now take care of it without being asked.

I've also put humidifiers in all of the bedrooms and that has made a huge difference also.

Pay Attention to Cold Areas in your home.
My office sits right across from the garage and the cold air/draft is unreal! Well it was until I came up with the clever idea to put a thermal curtain panel on a tension rod in front of the entry way to the garage. What a HUGE difference! So much that I bought more panels and covered the sliding door to the patio/backyard. I closed all of the curtains around the house and with these little "green" changes- we have kept the setting on the thermostats at 66 degrees through this cold spell and snow all week! We are seeing unusually low temps this past week with little change this weekend. And the panels don't look that bad- obviously self explanation to company with the weather we are having but they definitely work, worth the cost because of the money they will save on our heating and cooling bills (if we decide to keep them up and see what they can do) in the long run.

Using Re-usable Plastics versus Disposable Plastics.
I still get great deals on sandwich bags, freezer bags etc. and keep myself stocked but I'm working more at using my plastic containers as much as possible to save money and the environment.

So these are just a few simple ideas- the thermal curtain panels have been the huge idea this week but my point is you can be friendly to the environment by thinking outside of the box and your bonus is that you will save money! Or if you are like me- You can save money by thinking outside of the box and the bonus is helping the environment!!