After you have burned a candle all the way down, recycle the glass container into a decorative storage jar. First, place the glass container in the freezer to shrink the wax, and it'll pop right out. Scrub the container clean with warm, sudsy water. Then buy vibrantly colored glass paint from the craft store to decorate the inside of the container; try stripes, dots or a solid color. Let it dry completely and use it to store pencils and other office essentials, or put it in the medicine cabinet to keep your toiletries organized.

2/8/09

Stop wasting heat. If your home runs on a central heating system, close the vents in little-used rooms like spare bedrooms or the dining room. By restricting the flow of warm air into unused rooms, it'll be diverted into rooms that need to be heated. The warmer those rooms get, the more you can lower the thermostat.

2/7/09

Buy energy-saving products in bulk to save money. Ask your co-workers or neighbors if they want to buy pricier green products together -- compact fluorescent lightbulbs, surge protectors, outdoor solar lighting -- and then buy them through an online wholesaler to save money. The more you order, the lower the per-unit-cost will be. Be sure to get everything ground-shipped; it uses less fuel than air shipping.

2/6/09