1/28/11

The Natural Resources Defense Council says a typical refrigerator uses around 10 to 15 percent of a household's energy bill each month. Since you can't plug and unplug a refrigerator, the next best thing is to increase the temperature of the fridge to between 38 and 42 degrees, which is enough to preserve food and help you save energy at the same time.

1/27/11

Many of us will take on easy home repair projects, like re-grouting tile in the bathroom or using spray foam to insulate a crack in the wall. Often, we'll have leftover material that will dry out if stored, so it ends up in the trash. Offer the leftover home repair supplies to friends or neighbors, or post it on your local FreeCycle page to see if someone can use the rest of it.

1/26/11

Phone books to many people are obsolete and out of date. If you want to avoid the vicious cycle of receiving phone books, simply call the phone book company and ask them to be "opted out" in receiving them. Old phone books, by the way, can be recycled with regular office paper or in one of the many free Paper Retriever collection boxes seen at many public schools.