Save money or throw away money..What do you do?  

Hi Hon! these are very useful suggestions!
At the moment im living with other people so the house is not mine even though i always try to do many of those things...I am alone so i hardly wash my clothes especially since i am at home a lot so i try to wear the same things as much as possible (easier to do in winter than in summer of course) and the only time of the week when i wash them i do it with cold water...i never watch tv...im guilty of having pc on all the time but at least i switch it off when i go to sleep...i work a lot during the night, but since i do that on computer and i do that from bed i keep teh lights off most of the times (except when im sleepy tho, otherwise i fall asleep eheh) even if its not good for the eyesight..i dont like to waste energy tho...other things are default in the house i live in so i cant change them (i dont have good relationship with my inmate) but when i have a house for me i will surely do, im very concerned about the global warming and the way men are ruining our planet...

I have been replacing my bulbs in my big old house for a long time. I think they pretty much are all the new ones, now. I buy energy star appliances if I need new ones. I watch very little TV and have an energy saving sleep mode on computer. I wash cold, it saves the fabric as well. If I get the chance, things hang outside to dry. I have a mattress pad warmer and instead of heating all the upstairs bedrooms, we turn on our bedwarmer about an hour before bed. It is toasty, we are toasty, and that saves a full half of our upstairs heating bill. If we need a night light, we run a string of Christmas tree lights and it is safe, pretty, not disturbing to our sleep, as well as inexpensive. No swimming pool, no halogen, no space heaters. I will use a small space heater rather than heating an entire floor, for instance, if I am doing crafts in one room. Let's not forget to wear layered clothing, do full loads in dishwasher and washing machine.

These sound like great idea's. I dont know though how much good they would do me. I live in a High Rise building in Baltimore, and all of the utility costs for the entire building are allocated amoung all of the people living in the building. Basically if my neighbor runs the heater at 90* all day and night all of us in the building are paying for it. Though this is my first month living here I hear that the costs for all utilities are usually pretty low. Ill let you all know.

My commitment is simple: Whenever I see an electrical appliance or a light that's not being used I switch it off.

I am unable to reduce my computer time because it has become so essential nowadays not just for recreation but as a source of income as well.

1. Most of my lightbulbs are replaced, those that aren't will be when they burn out.

2. of the 3 tvs, mine is off most of the time, maybe 12 hours a week...

3. the roommate can't sleep on a regular mattress, but the thing isn't set really high, was actually unplugged for a while

4. My monitor goes to sleep, the roommate turns her monitor off and they do go dormant when not in use.

5. My washer tends to run at whatever temp it thinks optimal for the cycle selected.... fancy smancy thing - my water heater is gas

6. My all night bulb is one of the coil florescent
- I need more than a little nightlight to see the floor clearly so I don't step on anything/one

7. I only have 1 freezer, but it is frost free, I do have 2 fridges & 2 mini fridges and we use them all!

8 & 9 N/A

10. Well, I have a hot tub, I need to do some work on the chemicals so I can use it again.

Hi raydene! Those are good tips for energy and money saving. I have replaced all my bulbs a long time ago and have been using 20 and 10 watt bulbs. I have been using fluorescent lamp but it is very rare that we get to turn it on. TV is not really a problem because we only watched for 3 -4 hours a day. And we have been washing clothes with tap water and not electrically heated water. And all lights are off when we sleep. We don't have a pool so there is no problem with that. hehe.. The computer is off when we are not using it. We really have to save money because life is really getting difficult here and tips like this are very helpful. Thanks. Take care and have a nice day! :)

this is very good topic. align with global warning to people around the globe for the effect of global warming.
what i have done in my family is. limit our use of electricity. use napkin instead of tissue papers. reducing plastic bag by using stronger & more permanent bag instead of plasctic bag from store. open curtains during the day. so i don't need to switch on the lamp.

Thanks for the great ideas! Everyone could always use ideas on how to save money. Even if the figures are only "ball park"s, the amounts are still very substantial. We all need to do a little to reduce our energy consumption anyways!

Its better to save money because in the near future u might need money and when that time comes you have something to spend. Throwing money is very sinful i think. Your wasting Gods blessing if you will do that.

I do or have done most of these things. I replaced about half of the lightbulbs in my home with flourescent bulbs. My husband doesn't like them as well, so I delayed replacing the rest until he gets used to these. I'm hoping in time he will not mind them so much. I wash all of my laundry in cold water. I rarely use a space heater.

Other things I do are turn down the thermostat when we leave the house, open blinds and turn off lights during the day, unplug appliances that are not being used, keep a jug of water in the refrigerator instead of letting water run until it gets cold.