Areyou struggling with your budget every month? Do you have to buy cheaperthings in order to stay in the budget? Saving money doesn’t necessarilymean purchasing cheaper alternatives. There are so many ways to savemoney and lower your budget by doing little things on a daily basis.Let’s get started from our house and find out what we can make it moreenergy efficient and save some money at the same time. Here are somesimple tips to get you started -
1. Wash clothes in cold or warm water – To save energy and money,using cold water to wash your clothes with cold-water detergent isactually better for your clothes. If you really need to use hot waterto remove some stains, switching from hot to warm water or presoakingthem overnight can help you lower the energy costs as well. Best ofall, check your washer settings to see what you can do in order to bemore energy efficient.
2. Dual Flush Toilet – Dual Flush Toilet can help a family of 4to save about 10 to 13 gallons a day. Dual Flush Toilet used to bequite expensive back few years ago. Fortunately, there are fewalternatives that are available on the market with a lot lower price.You don’t need to replace your whole toilet system. Instead, you canfind a kit that turns any regular toilet into Dual Flush Toilet forabout $30. To install it, simply place it into the tank and hook it upwith the water system. Water amount can be adjusted by pushing thelevel to different sides.
3. Insulate Water Heater – The typical water heater has 20 to 60gallons of hot water ready whether you are at home or away for a week.You can feel the tank and check to see whether it is warm outside. Ifit is, that means the tank is losing heat and you are losing money. Inorder to save, you may insulate your water heater by wrapping aninsulation blanket around it. However, depending on the manufactures,make sure you consult them before installing for safety issues.Normally, adding insulation to your water heater tank can prevent heatlosses 25% - 45%. Furthermore, lowering water temperature can help yousave as well.
4. Plant Trees in The Backyard – Planting trees in your backyardis one of the cheapest ways to cool down your house during summer. Ifyou couldn’t find bigger trees, you can plant some small ones aroundthe house. Trees trap CO2, make carbohydrates and release oxygen inreturn.
5. Turn off the water during brushing your teeth – Based on theadvice from dentists, you should brush your teeth at least 2 minutes.Normally, a regular faucet flows at about 2 gallons per minutes. Youcan save at least 4 gallons each time you brush. So if you brush 3times a day, turning off water will save 12 gallons a day and 360gallons a month. If you can’t remember to turn off the water, you mayinstall a sensor faucet.
6. Reuse the same paper towel until the job is done – How manyrolls of paper towels do you use per month? Most families choose to usepaper towels, because they are more convenient and cleaner than mobs.In order to save paper towels, make sure the towels you purchased arestrong enough for at least few times of use. For instance, if youspilled the milk on the kitchen counter, one piece of paper towelsproperly isn’t enough to clean it up. You may wash and dry the samepiece of paper towel until the job is done.
7. Energy Star Electronics – Energy Star-label was created by theDepartment of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency forenergy-efficient products. In an effort to lower your energy bill andreduce pollution and emissions, Energy Star-labeled products can saveup to nearly 40% on your annual energy bill.
8. Showerhead - As you all know, shower takes lots more waterthan bath. Using low-flow showerhead can help you conserve the waterwhile showering. Normally, a showerhead without low-flow feature usesup to 6 gallons of water per minute. Here are some preferences in termsof flow rate(s) and price(s) –
a. 1 gallon/minute at $40
b. 1.2 gallon/minute at $12
Even though these tips seem pretty simple and small, but they becomea big thing once you add them up. Going green doesn’t have to beexpensive. Doing what you can do to help our environment and lower yourbudget.
The ultimate goal for Exchange For Greenis to help families and individuals archive their “Green” goals byreducing living expenses and waste, sharing green experience andkeeping things out of landfills.
