Back

Blog

Three Easy, Money-saving Tips for Your Household

By Marisa Belger for Green Goes Simple

Simple changes in your daily life at home can not only protect the planet, but also decrease your monthly household budget. Get the whole family involved; it’s easy!

Choose Cold
Save money -- and resources -- by choosing cold water over hot whenever you can. This is especially effective when you’re doing laundry. Keeping your machine on the cold setting won’t compromise cleanliness when you wash with a detergent that’s designed for cold water.

Tame the Thermostat
Keeping your thermostat down is one of the easiest ways to trim your monthly expenditures. Encourage family members to put on a sweater or get cozy under a blanket. Studies have shown that sleeping in a cooler room -- about 65 F -- actually results in a better night’s rest. Keep things even easier by installing a programmable thermostat. Set it to lower the temperature at night and whenever the house is typically empty. You can save 10 to 20 percent on your energy bill by keeping the thermostat in check.

Hit the Lights
Turning off lights whenever you leave a room is a surefire way to keep your electric bill down. Lighting can make up about 11 percent of your monthly energy bill -- clear motivation for encouraging everyone to flip the switch when they leave a room. You can also keep costs down when the lights are shining by trading your regular bulbs for the compact fluorescent variety.

Marisa Belger’s work has appeared in Travel + Leisure Family, Natural Health, Prevention and TODAYShow.com, where she wrote a column about eco-friendly living. She was an editor at Lime.com and collaborated with author Josh Dorfman on his bestselling books, The Lazy Environmentalist and The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget. She is the managing editor of and frequent contributor to Green Goes Simple.

To feature this article:

please select all code below (Ctrl. + A)
copy to your clipboard (Ctrl. + C) and
paste (Ctrl. + V) into your website

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.greengoessimple.com/partner/content/ecochicmommyftp/programsend/programunit.js?Page=partner/unbranded/ecochicmommyftp/archive/2011-11-21/blog/easy_money_saving_tips/index.html"></script>
	
	<h2>Blog</h2>
<h1>Three Easy, Money-saving Tips for Your Household </h1>
	<p>By Marisa Belger  for <em><a href="http://www.greengoessimple.com">Green Goes Simple</a></em></p>
		<p>Simple changes in your daily life at home can not only protect the planet, but also decrease your monthly household budget. Get the whole family involved; it’s easy!</p>

<p><strong>Choose Cold</strong><br />Save money -- and resources -- by choosing cold water over hot whenever you can. This is especially effective when you’re doing laundry. Keeping your machine on the cold setting won’t compromise cleanliness when you wash with a detergent that’s designed for cold water.</p>

<p><strong>Tame the Thermostat</strong><br />Keeping your thermostat down is one of the easiest ways to trim your monthly expenditures. Encourage family members to put on a sweater or get cozy under a blanket. Studies have shown that sleeping in a cooler room -- about 65 F -- actually results in a better night’s rest. Keep things even easier by installing a programmable thermostat. Set it to lower the temperature at night and whenever the house is typically empty. You can save 10 to 20 percent on your energy bill by keeping the thermostat in check.</p>

<p><strong>Hit the Lights</strong><br />Turning off lights whenever you leave a room is a surefire way to keep your electric bill down. Lighting can make up about 11 percent of your monthly energy bill -- clear motivation for encouraging everyone to flip the switch when they leave a room. You can also keep costs down when the lights are shining by trading your regular bulbs for the compact fluorescent variety.</p>
				<p><em><strong>Marisa Belger</strong><em>’s work has appeared in</em> Travel + Leisure Family, Natural Health, Prevention <em>and TODAYShow.com, where she wrote a column about eco-friendly living. She was an editor at Lime.com and collaborated with author Josh Dorfman on his bestselling books,</em> The Lazy Environmentalist <em>and</em> The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget. She is the managing editor of and frequent contributor to <a href="http://www.greengoessimple.com">Green Goes Simple</a>.</em></em></p>
<script src="http://js.revsci.net/gateway/gw.js?csid=F09828&auto=t"></script>