You can save money and conserve energy by simply turning down your hot water heater to 120 degrees. This temperature is hot enough for most household tasks. That drop in temperature can save money and conserve energy, because the tank won’t be on as often or need to reach as high a temperature.

A hot water tank insulation blanket is also advisable. If your hot water tank is warm to the touch, or if your tank resides in an unheated garage, an insulation blanket can save both energy and money.

Washing your clothes with cold water has great savings potential. It doesn’t require heating hot water, and this conserves energy and saves money. With the detergents designed for washing clothing in cold water, you can still get your clothing clean and smelling fresh. In addition, washing and drying full loads, rather than partial loads, adds to the savings.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vn2DvZO0Vk

A simple landscape tip that can save money and energy inside the home is to plant trees around your home that can shade your home from the heat of the sun and create a wind block. Summer or winter, evergreen trees can offer savings to the home owner, and deciduous trees can offer summer shade.

If you can set timers on your lights, lights won’t be on at times when they’re not necessary. Motion detectors that shut off and compact florescent bulbs are also big energy savers. Another way to save on lighting in the home is to open the curtains and lift the shades. Natural light is free.

Just as you can open curtains for light, you can close them to cut out heat. In hot months, keeping the heat of the sun’s rays out of your home saves power with your air conditioner or with fans. This saves energy and saves money.

Consider the use of weather stripping around doors and windows to get rid of drafts. Also consider insulating attics, walls, basements, and floors. The energy savings will be big and in the end, it saves money.

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In your bathroom, consider a low-flow shower head to reduce the amount of water it takes for showers. In addition, if you switch to taking more showers and fewer baths, you can also save water and save money.

Remember when folks used to put a brick in the toilet tank to conserve water with each flush? Well here’s a different take on that. Instead, fill a water bottle full of water and place it in the toilet tank. This simple trick can save gallons of water over the course of a year, saving you money and conserving a natural resource.

Here’s a practical suggestion. Fix those drippy faucets. Those little water drips may not seem like much water, but added up over a week, a month, or a year, those little drips can amount to major gallons of water wasted. Fixing drippy faucets saves money and energy.

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Even if you don’t have an infant in the house anymore, keep a small package of cheap disposable diapers handy. If you have a spill on your upholstered furniture or the carpet, take a disposable diaper and place over the liquid. Apply firm pressure and you will be amazed how the diaper will suck up nearly all of the liquid and trap it in short order. Also, the filling from a disposable diaper can be taken out and mixed with potting soil when growing plants. The absorbent cotton and granules of the diaper will retain water and release it as the plant requires.

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Do you have oily skin and like using the little oil absorbing papers you can buy at the drugstore? If so, you know the price of those little packages can be pretty expensive. The next time you are in a public restroom, stick a couple of the paper toilet covers in your purse. When you get home, cut them up in small squares and you will have free oil absorbing papers. They work just as effectively as the high priced ones at the cosmetics counter and can be made in whatever sizes you need.

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Use hydrogen peroxide instead of bleach in your laundry. It is safe for colored items and works like magic. It is not damaging to septic systems like bleach, either.

The first one is short so here’s another:

Want to lower the fat content of your ground beef? After browning it in the skillet, wad up about four paper towels and place them in the skillet. Use your spatula to dab up all of the grease from the ground beef and then discard the greasy paper towels. You won’t loose any ground beef
this way while attempting to strain it and won’t be left with grease to dispose of.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Greatest_Cartoons

Every household needs to keep Band-Aid Brand Liquid Band-Aid in their medicine cabinet. Have you ever heard of Dermabond that they use at the ER when you cut yourself? You know, the glue that they use to mend cuts instead of stitching them? Guess what? Liquid Band-Aid is the same thing as Dermabond! It’s even made by the same company. So save yourself a trip to the hospital, drama, and money and do it at home. Simply clean the cut with an antiseptic and after the bleeding has slowed down, glue it together. It’s easy and leaves little scarring.

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