Energy
Utility savings now
These ideas for taking immediate steps to lower energy use come from the . For more, visit energysavers.gov.
• Air-dry dishes instead of using your dishwasher’s drying cycle.
• Turn things off when you leave the room including lights, TVs, entertainment systems, and your computer and monitor.
• Plug home electronics — including TVs and DVD players — into power strips. Then turn off those power strips when the equipment is not in use, because TVs and DVD players in standby mode still use several watts of power.
• Take short showers instead of baths and use low-flow shower heads for additional energy savings.
• Wash only full loads of dishes and clothes.
• Air-dry clothes.
• Check to see that windows and doors are closed when heating or cooling your home.
• Drive sensibly; aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration and braking) wastes fuel.
Money
Medical expenses help
This tip comes from Grandparents.com, an “on-line destination for America’s 70 million active, involved grandparents.” Content on that site includes activities, recipes and expert advice, along with articles from its finance-minded sister site, . And according to Daily Worth, about 3 million American households are spending nearly 20 percent of their income on out-of-pocket medical expenses. One way friends and loved ones can help someone facing such a medical crisis is .com, a fund-raising web site. Loved ones set up fundraising campaigns there, then GiveForward subtracts 7 percent from contributions to cover administrative and technical expenses. Considering such a campaign? Make the most of it by:
• Adding photos or videos to your fundraising page.
• Specifying your fund- raising goal, be it $500 or $50,000.
• Publicizing the effort via Twitter, Facebook and e-mail. The bigger the social network, the better.
Space
Three ideas under $50
, an Austin, Texas-based site that highlights rental property ratings, offers these budget-minded space-saving ideas.
• In a bedroom, inexpensive bed risers elevate the mattress to create more floor storage space.
• In closets, make use of bins, vertical-stacking hangers, and over-door storage.
• In the kitchen, a rolling, wood storage cart can do double-duty as a cutting board and food-prep space.
Elana Ashanti Jefferson, The Denver Post
