I didn’t watch the Superbowl, but I do like some of the creative commercials that companies come up with to use during the Superbowl. This one had a special place place in my heart, and kept me laughing the whole way through. I don’t necessarily want the new vehicle, along with the price, but I did enjoy all of the green references.

While there are literally hundreds of ways to go green, not all of them will save you money. If you’re interested in only making changes that will save you money up front without spending anything out of pocket, make a few simple changes that are low cost or no cost up front like:

• Use your own bag at Target for a 5 Cent credit for every bag you use
• Use your own bag at CVS and get $1 in Extra Care Bucks on every 4th visit (must purchase a bag tag for $.99)
• Compost and recycle to reduce the amount of garbage bags you need
• Adjusting your thermostat in the winter(68°) and summer (78º)

When you’re ready to spend some money to save some money, you can still start with baby steps by:

• Replacing your incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs
• Get routine maintenance on your heat and air unit so that it runs efficiently

When you’re ready to spend some more money to save money over the course of a few years, here are a couple of pricier options:

• Replace old appliances that aren’t Energy Star rated
• Replace windows with energy efficient windows

Nearly every light bulb in our house has been replaced with a compact fluorescent bulb (CFL) to cut down on energy costs, and help the environment. We do have a few light bulbs left to replace in outside fixtures which require a different CFL bulb due to the extreme weather temperatures that they will be exposed to, so this is on my list of things to update for the new year. CFL’s were a change for us when we switched because they are noticeably dimmer when they are initially turned on. Once the bulb is completely warmed up, they provide what seems like a brighter light than my previous incandescent bulbs.

The major difference with incandescents and CFL’s is that the CFL is actually designed to save you money for extended periods of  use (15 minutes or longer), rather than running through the house and turning off lights. CFL’s work better at saving you money when they are placed in fixtures that are left on for longer than 15 minutes. Frequently turning the CFL on and off actually shortens the life of the bulb. For us, we actually have incandescent bulbs in our closet fixtures because these are on for very short periods of time. Determine your lighting needs and replace bulbs where it makes sense. Every fixture doesn’t need a CFL to save you money.

For a short period of time, Philips is offering up a mail in rebate for purchasing energy saving light bulbs. Once you click the link, look for the Download Rebate Now button to find your rebate form.

• Get $10 back when you purchase $30.00 worth of Philips advanced LED products
• Get $5.00 back when you purchase $15.00 worth of Philips EnergySaver CFL or Halogena Energy Saver products

From the wording of the rebate it appears that you will receive a $10 rebate or $5 rebate based on the qualifying products purchased, so it is either one or the other. Limit one (1) rebate request per household, family, group, or organization.

Offer good only on purchases of Philips LED, Energy Saver CFL or Halogena Energy Saver light bulbs made between December 1, 2009 and January 31, 2010. Rebate request must be received by March 1, 2010. Allow 6-8 weeks for delivery of rebate check.

The average U.S. home uses 69.3 gallons of water per day. Of that water, 18.5 gallons, or more than 25% of water use is used in your bathroom for flushing toilets. This is also assuming that their are no toilet leaks, which would increase your water use. I have heard about toilet displacement in order to save water in the bathroom, but it’s something that’s really on the back of my mind, because clearly there are more important things to be thinking about than toilet water consumption at our house.

I thought more on the matter though, and decided that saving water in our bathroom would lower our water bill which seems on the high side to me. One way to do this is by either purchasing a low flow tank, which uses much less water per flush, or by installing a displacement device in your current toilet to reduce the amount of water used per flush.

Installing a displacement device allows the tank to fill up with less water because the bottle or displacement device placed in the tank makes the tank seem that it has more water in it. Think of it like this. If you have a tub of water ready to bathe a toddler, and the toddler steps into the tub, the tub seems fuller. This is the displacement effect on the water.

There are literally dozens of tiny things that can be done around the house to save money, whether it be through energy conservation or home repairs to make your house more efficient, all of these small changes make a difference in what you will end up paying in the long run.

I now hold the proud title of knowing more about a toilet than I wanted to know. Since we’ve moved into our house, our toilets run for a few seconds several times a day. I don’t know how often it happens, but I do know that the leaky toilets are costing us money on our water bill; how much, I am uncertain of. The thing I am sure of though is that the cost to fix the leaky toilet is less than what it’s costing me on my water bill.

I wanted to know more about my running toilet. First and foremost I wanted to know what I needed to do to fix it, to stop the leak. Second, how much is my running toilet costing me? I found some useful information that surprised me. According to EBMUD, a running toilet can waste two gallons of water a minute, and a silent leak could waste up to 7000 gallons of water a month. The site contains great information on finding out if your home is silently wasting water, and some great tips on conserving water.

Fixing a leaky or running toilet is a simple fix. A replacement kit for the guts of your toilet can be found at any hardware store. Surprisingly, The Home Depot has a great page with a lot of good information on energy conservation, as well as recommendations of course on how to replace your old appliances and fixtures to conserve energy. We are able to be proactive with some of the fixes in our house, but sometimes we have to be reactive if a problem occurs and fix it in a timely manner to avoid wasting money.

I am so excited that we are nearing the end of replacing all of the light bulbs in our house from incandescents to CFL’s (Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs). This is not only helping us go green to to be environmentally friendly, but it helps us save on our electricity throughout the entire year. During the summer, we are doubly blessed by the CFL since it produces less heat than an incandescent which keeps our air conditioner from working overtime.

Things to know about CFL’s:

• Lighting accounts for nearly 20% of the average home’s electric bill
• Energy Star CFL’s use up to 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs
• CFL’s last up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs
• CFL’s provide a quick Return on Investment

There is an initial up-front cost involved with replacing your light bulbs, but it doesn’t have to be done all at once. I purchase Sylvania CFL’s at Aldi in a 3-pack for $4.99. That’s less than $2 for a bulb that lasts seven years (8000 hours) and uses 13 watts of energy instead of 60 watts. We purchased a pack of bulbs once or twice a month over the last several months, allowing us to gradually reach our goal of replacing all of our lights.

As with everything, there are some cons to using CFL’s. Because of the mercury contained in CFL’s, they should be properly disposed of through a recycling center. Some CFL’s should not be placed in recessed lighting fixtures (can lights, pot lights), or pendant lamps (where the bulb is base up). CFL’s not designed for outdoor use will not start in cold weather. The good news is that there are CFL’s available for recessed lighting situations, and outdoor use.

Well, it was time again for us to change our air filters. We purchase filters that cost close to twenty dollars, and while this makes me cringe on the upfront cost, my air conditioner is silently thanking me. I must admit that I often forget about this small detail. It is such a minor thing to do, but could save you hundreds of dollars in the long run.

My husband has the task of changing the filters since both are on the ceiling (one requires a ladder), and I am responsible for remembering when they need to be changed. My current system of remembering isn’t working so well. The next air filter change will be stored on my phones calendar, along with the dimensions of the filter.

It is recommended that air conditioner/heater filters be changed every three to six months, but this varies based on several factors:

• Air filters have different qualities of filtering, which aren’t always based on price. Find one that is both high quality and efficient.
• Having pets can increase the need for the filter to be changed more often. We have a long haired cat, so I completely live by this rule.

Not changing your filter could have a negative affect on your heating and cooling system, causing it to work poorly, and require more maintenance in the long run. Investing a few dollars every few months is certainly worth it to me, rather than spending hundreds of dollars on unnecessary maintenance. Just think of it as a date with your air filter; certainly not exciting, but well worth it!

It has taken awhile for the warm weather to really hit here in Oklahoma. The weather has been pretty mild which is unusual, but that is just fine with me. The unseasonably mild weather has  helped our electric bill stay low.

We do a few things around our house to make certain that we’re being as energy efficient as possible. Making these changes not only keeps our energy costs down, but helps the environment as well. Most of the changes we’ve implemented are common sense tips and hints, but honestly I forget to do them sometimes until I’m reminded.

Change air filters – The air filters used for your heater and air conditioner make a difference in the quality of air that circulates in your house. Air filters should be changed every one to three months depending on the number of people and pets living in your house. Changing the air filter not only allows for a better quality of air, but allows your Heater and Air Conditioner to run more efficiently. Tip: If it’s difficult to remember when to change the air filter, change it on a monthly basis when you pay the electric or gas bill. We started using a filter by 3M that only needs to be changed every 3 months. Our home was built in 1998 and has multiple air filters in the duct returns. 

Adjust ceiling fans –  Ceiling fans are a great tool to use year round to save money. In the summer ceiling fans will need to go in a counter-clockwise direction in order to pull the air down from the ceiling which forces the cool air down. In the winter it will need to run in a clockwise direction on a low speed which forces the warm air down that circulates near the ceiling. My ceiling fan has a switch that allows me to change the direction of the blades. I’m not sure if older fans have this option or not.

Close the blinds – During the summer months close the blinds to windows where direct sunlight enters your home as this heats the room. I love my blinds to be open during the day because I like to look out, but if it saves me more money I’ll keep them closed and just go outside to get my view. 

Use CFLs – Not only do Compact Fluorescent Light-bulbs (CFLs) conserve energy which costs you less money in the long run, they also produce less heat than an incandescent bulb which will help reduce your cooling costs.

For those in southern or western “hot” states, install solar screens.  We installed solar screens last winter in somewhat of a copycat move. We noticed last fall when we moved into our new house that it was exceptionally warm – in October. I noticed when I was walking down the street with our son that many of our neighbors had dark screens on their westward windows. We spent $550.00 to have solar screens installed on a large bank of windows on the west side of our home. These have already made a huge difference as the days have gotten warmer. Solar screens block 70%-80% of of ultraviolet rays to keep your home cool.

Here are a few links to sites about energy savings:

GE CFL breakdown in savings 

5 Simple Ways to Save Energy At Home (USA TODAY)