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Ideas for saving money AND electricity/water/fuel/stuff/etc.

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GlennMagusHarvey Since: Jan, 2001
#1: Jan 23rd 2011 at 4:16:34 PM

  • Turn off your computer at night, rather than leaving it on all night long.
  • Turn it off, hibernate it, or at least suspend it if you are going away for an extended period of time (e.g. going to class).
  • Turn off your power strip when everything else is off.
  • Turn off your speakers or extra monitor when you're not using them.
  • If you don't need your screen that bright, dim it a bit; backlighting takes massive amounts of power.

  • Save the water that runs while your shower heats up, and use it for:
    • flushing toilets
    • doing dishes
    • pretty much anything else that involves water—if you're not confident of the quality of the water, you can always filter and/or boil it.
  • Take a shorter shower.
  • Take a cooler shower.
  • Shut off the water when applying soap/shampoo/whatever.
  • Shut off the water when brushing your teeth, only turning it back on to rinse stuff out. See how far you can go with only one cup of water.
  • Get the last little bit of shampoo, liquid soap, or any other bottled cleaning or body care agent out by adding some water, shaking, and letting it stand overnight.
  • Put a brick in your toilet's tank to reduce the amount of water it takes to refill.

  • Some supermarkets and stores, especially discount supermarkets and wholesale clubs (e.g. Sam's, Costco, BJ's), don't supply plastic bags. Bring your own bags, or use the cardboard boxes that are commonly found at wholesale clubs.
  • The cardboard boxes can be used to hold stuff in place in your trunk, compartmentalizing it. Just know how to pick the right box designs for your needs.
  • They can also be used along with plastic bags for lining the garage floor if you change the oil of your cars, as well as for those cars whose engines drip.
  • And also as paper trays for home and office, and dirt trays for houseplants.
  • Bringing your own bags can also give your arms some exercise.

  • When driving out to do errands, do a bunch of them in one trip.
  • Don't drive your vehicle to another section of the same parking lot.
  • Want more exercise? Park closer to the outside street and farther away from the store. This might save you time too since those spaces are usually easier to find.

Any more ideas? Please post them here!

Pykrete NOT THE BEES from Viridian Forest Since: Sep, 2009
NOT THE BEES
#2: Jan 23rd 2011 at 4:20:04 PM

Put on more clothes in lieu of heating. Use a university building's internet connection instead of paying $60/mo for your own. Walk places (pretty much anything under about two miles) because it's cheap, relaxing, doesn't use gas, and you could frankly use the exercise.

edited 23rd Jan '11 4:24:43 PM by Pykrete

Funnyguts Since: Sep, 2010
#3: Jan 23rd 2011 at 4:38:10 PM

Write your Congressperson/Senator to keep funding Energy Star. (It's in danger of losing funding right now.)

MajorTom Since: Dec, 2009
#4: Jan 23rd 2011 at 4:39:51 PM

Wood-burning fireplaces for cold climates. Fuel oil is unreliable and expensive.

This option goes double if you live in a more rural environment near mountains.

GlennMagusHarvey Since: Jan, 2001
#5: Jan 23rd 2011 at 5:12:19 PM

^^ Uh, I guess...? Not quite the sort of idea I was thinking of.


Cold? Before you turn on the heat...
  • Do some housework. Anything involving physical activity should warm you up. Rings around the bathtub? Windows need some washing-down?
  • Exercise.
  • Get Stepmania. Get some songs. Dance to them as if you were playing DDR. Enjoy great music, get exercise, AND warm up simultaneously.
  • Play an instrument? Play something exciting.
  • Rearrange stuff in your house so you can concentrate heat in one small part of the house. For example, move your computer out of a common room and into a bedroom.

  • In the winter, open window curtains/shades/blinds during the day to let in sunlight to warm the house, and close them in the evening to reduce the heat lost to the outside.
  • In the summer, keep the sunniest windows' curtains/shades/blinds down during mid-day to keep indoors from getting too hot.

edited 23rd Jan '11 5:12:36 PM by GlennMagusHarvey

Deboss I see the Awesomeness. from Awesomeville Texas Since: Aug, 2009
I see the Awesomeness.
#6: Jan 23rd 2011 at 6:40:19 PM

Set your computer to auto hybernate or auto sleep so that you don't have to remember to turn it off.

Write your congress subhuman to push for a migration to the Diesel cycle instead of the Otto cycle through deregulation of the Diesel cycle and tax cuts on the fuel. Push for algae research on it.

Separate your laundry based on type rather than color, "whites", "denim", and "other" will take you a long way.

Only use a dish washer on regular dishes, things that are going to see extensive heat usage, like pans and the like, can be hand-washed for cleaning rather than needing sterilization.

Don't use anti-bacterial soap unless you're sick, and buy the bargain sized jugs and refill the smaller ones instead of buying a lot of smaller ones.

Consider purchasing solar heating units rather than solar panels.

Keep a list of what's in the fridge written down on a white board or some such instead of having to open it. Keep the expiration dates written next to them.

Consider wrapping your refrigeration units in insulation to slow down the thermal bleed from the surrounding environment.

If you have a mobile AC in a window and it is movable, you can pull it inside to function as a heater.

If you have dogs, use them as disposals instead of the sink.

Double check any "high efficiency" light bulbs or the like. The wattage only tells you the power consumed not, the efficiency, and if you have to use two light bulbs at 2 watts compared to one light bulb at 3 watts for the same lighting, you're wasting energy. The unit for brightness is Candelas, so Candelas/Watts will tell you how efficient it is. Also check the estimated yearly cost of lifespan by dividing the number of hours of use over cost to get hours/dollar.

Keep a list or map of what stores are next to each other and a list of things you need at each store so that you can better group your shopping trips. Or shop online.

edited 23rd Jan '11 6:48:28 PM by Deboss

Fight smart, not fair.
storyyeller More like giant cherries from Appleloosa Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: RelationshipOutOfBoundsException: 1
More like giant cherries
#7: Jan 23rd 2011 at 8:19:31 PM

If you get a sheet of paper which is blank on the back, reuse it. I got through years of high school without ever needing to get my own paper, and I still have huge stacks of unused scrap paper at home.

If the sheet is printed on both sides, or it's printed on one side and you wrote on the back, then throw it in the recycling bin.

edited 23rd Jan '11 8:20:17 PM by storyyeller

Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's Play
GlennMagusHarvey Since: Jan, 2001
#8: Jan 23rd 2011 at 8:26:24 PM

^ You beat me to that one! I do too! I save basically every sheet of paper that's only printed on one side, and add it to the scratch pile. Said scratch pile grows almost constantly.

kurushio Happy Human from Berlin, Germany Since: Sep, 2009 Relationship Status: I've got a total eclipse of the heart
Happy Human
#9: Jan 24th 2011 at 5:22:46 AM

  • Don't leave your phone/mp3/notebook charger in the socket when you're not using it.
  • If you have the option, buy fresh produce from local marketplaces instead of supermarkets. It's cheaper, tastier & doesn't travel all across the continent to get to your place.

(By the way, it sounds counterintuitive, but in Central Europe water-saving measures have made it way more expensive because maintenance costs skyrocketed. Most German cities flood the pipes with unused freshwater nowadays to keep them from clogging up and smelling like, well, shit in the summer. We actually use only about half of our annually available freshwater supply over here.)

UnabashedFornicator Since: Oct, 2010
#10: Jan 24th 2011 at 5:36:19 AM

Cut down on water consumption by sharing a shower with someone else...as long as you don't double+ the duration of the shower.

Karalora Since: Jan, 2001
#11: Jan 24th 2011 at 8:42:34 AM

Save plastic grocery bags and re-use them as trash bags, especially as liners in small wastebaskets. You won't have to take the whole bucket out to the trash can, and you can tie the handles together to keep the garbage from spilling en route.

Pykrete NOT THE BEES from Viridian Forest Since: Sep, 2009
NOT THE BEES
#12: Jan 24th 2011 at 11:28:39 AM

Consider purchasing solar heating units rather than solar panels.

Thank you. Solar panels put out a vile amount of chemical waste to make.

GlennMagusHarvey Since: Jan, 2001
#13: Jan 24th 2011 at 8:54:45 PM

^^ The only problem with that is that some of those bags easily get holes, and you probably don't want your kitchen waste in them. However, the solution is to use the smaller meat/veggie bags for this, as those are less likely to have random holes in them from obnoxious packaging. And you can always double-up if you're concerned. Then use the others for compiling trash from the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and office together into one bag for easy disposal.

Cut down on water consumption by sharing a shower with someone else...as long as you don't double+ the duration of the shower.

If only I lived with my girlfriend.

BlueNinja0 The Mod with the Migraine from Taking a left at Albuquerque Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
The Mod with the Migraine
#14: Jan 25th 2011 at 7:25:21 AM

Cut down on water consumption by sharing a shower with someone else...
Which also has it's own added benefits.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
drunkscriblerian Street Writing Man from Castle Geekhaven Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: In season
Street Writing Man
#15: Jan 25th 2011 at 10:20:46 PM

This applies to people who live in their own houses and can actually work on them:

  • Weatherproofing! someone once calculated that the US would expend roughly 35% less resources on power generation if everyone's house was properly weatherproofed. Big target areas are doors and windows. A good low-tech way to tell if your house has leaks; get a stick of incense, light it and slowly move it around the edge of a door or window. if the smoke flutters, you have a leak there. Consult the internet for ways to fix this (believe it or not, 90% of weatherproofing problems are within the ability of the average homeowner to fix, and doing it yourself is a lot cheaper).
  • Fireplaces. Believe it or not, in terms of total damage they are actually much better for the environment and your bills than electric heat, provided of course you have a good source for wood. That and the heat is dry, which drives away damp and helps prevent allergy-causing mold.
  • replace outlets. Old outlets are inefficient, as well as being unreliable and dangerous to modern electronics.
  • replace light fixtures. same reasons as above, only more-so on the "inefficient" scale.
  • Electric Heat: Turn it off, not down. With some older thermostats, they will still kick on periodically even if turned all the way down. During the summertime, shut your heat off at the circuit breaker.

There are more, I'll put them in when I think of them.

If I were to write some of the strange things that come under my eyes they would not be believed. ~Cora M. Strayer~
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