If you do just one thing this spring, spend $100 and plant a shade tree in your front yard. This one thing can help your curb appeal and landscaping look better over time, but it also cuts down on cooling costs during the hot summer months. Spending a little more on a mature tree to plant will mean you’ll recoup your costs more quickly. A mature shade tree can cut your air conditioning costs by as much as 40 percent. And every home looks better with a large, beautiful tree in the front yard!

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

Sure, it’s great to upgrade your heating and cooling systems at home to be kind to the environment and reduce your utility bills. But did you know those investments can actually improve the resale value of your home, too? According to the trade magazine Remodeling, every $1 in annual energy savings your improvements provide equals up to $20 in home value at the time of sale. For a typical-sized home of around 2,000 square feet, that can be more than $30,000 in added value. The lower the costs to operate a home, the more valuable the home becomes to potential buyers.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

While it’s greenest to stay hydrated with a reusable bottle, sometimes you either forget or you just don’t have a refill option handy. Instead of choosing a plastic bottled water, look for a greener alternative: boxed water. The same paperboard boxes used for milk and juice are now being used to hold water. These boxes are greener because they are 100 percent recyclable, plastic-free and are shipped flat to the facilities that fill them with filtered water, which means less fuel is used to ship more boxes. And many brands that sell boxed water also plant trees to replace the ones used to make the paperboard boxes.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION