Saving Water and Energy...and Money

Today I'm going to talk about some of the ways to help reduce your use of resources while helping to save money. The problem is that most people plan on doing these things but never follow through. They are easy and basically about using less. I will first say what they are and then how to do it.

Use less water - This one seems easy enough. Use less water, but how exactly are you able to accomplish this.
- First, take a shorter shower. One way to make sure the shower is shorter is to use colder water than you are used to. For most people, cold showers aren't fun and they hurry to clean themselves so they can get out quickly.
- Next, don't brush your teeth and leave the water on. I have an electric toothbrush that counts down two minutes once I turn it on. That would be a lot water wasted for no reason if I kept the faucet on. Just do what I do, turn it for a few seconds to water the bristles, turn it off, and then turn it back on again to rinse and spit.
- When you are cleaning your dishes, don't just leave the water on. If you don't have a dishwasher, just get the dish and sponge wet, turn off the faucet, soap the dish and sponge, and then turn the water back on to rinse the dish. It's a lot of turning off and turning on but ultimately you will be saving water and money.
- Check for leaks. Checking your pipes and appliances for leaks can save up to five gallons a day depending how much they leak. This will take a bit of dirty and sweaty work, but it will be worth it.
- This last one actually costs money but can eventually save you money on the long run, buy water efficient fixtures. If you take a look at the statistics of installing a more efficient toilet, you can save over 10 gallons a day. Just think about that number when you go to install more efficient faucets and think about the money you can save.

Use less electricity - This also seems easy but once again people do not follow through. Here are few easy things to save money by using less electricity.
- Turn off the lights. If you aren't in the room there is no need for the lights to be on. During the day just open the windows and wait until it's dark to start turning on lights.
- Turning off electronics can be tough. If you are like me, the computer usually stays on all day and it use to stay on all night. There is no reason for this. If you aren't using something turn it off. This includes TVs, radios, fans, and even coffee makers. There are some things that need to stay on and plugged in like clocks, but take a look around your house and I'm sure you can find a few things can be either turned off or unplugged.
- Now I put this one up with some hesitation. Changing your light bulbs to the small compact fluorescent bulbs can save you money as they use less energy and have the ability to last much longer. But there is a problem with them. They aren't easy to dispose of and can be a hazard if they break. These compact fluorescent bulbs contain a small but still dangerous amount of mercury. If they break in a room they can cause you to become sick and if you just throw them away in the trash they can cause harm to the workers working in he sanitation business. Check out this article on how to dispose of them and clean up after a broken one.

Most of these are ways you can save money by reducing your use of resources. They are easy and for the most part all you need to is pay attention to what you are doing.