Ten Ways to Green Your Home for Under Ten Bucks (and if you don't have ten bucks, five that are free)

Lloyd AlterBy Lloyd AlterToronto, Canada Thu Jan 22 17:00:00 EST 2009 vermeer photoWikipedia CommonsREAD MORE ABOUT:Energy Efficiency Get Recession-Ready Green Home Green Home Renovation Green On A Budget Home Energy Use Saving EnergyWhen Josh did his post on 5 ways to green your home for under $ 100 I thought that's no challenge, how about for under ten bucks? How about, like, free? So here are a few ideas.Free. Nothing. Nada.Things you can do that will make a real difference for no money at all.1. Lower water heater temperature to 120°F2. Decrease Thermostat temperature by 3°F3. Wash clothes in cold water4. Air dry clothes during summer5. Turn off unneeded lightsUnder Ten BucksSave Heat1. Seal your windows with strippable caulkThis is the clear stuff that is designed to peel off when it is time to open the windows again, and seals the gaps that occur at any moving part of a window. This is particularly important if you have old windows where the seals have loosened up a bit.More on Caulk:How to Rid Your House of an Unwanted Chill!2. Shrink-wrap your windows Get the plastic films that tape around your windows and then shrink tight under the heat from a hair dryer. They cut heat loss and are almost invisible. Not suitable for houses with cats, as we found out the hard way.More on windows:Green Your Home For Winter: Weatherize Your Windows3. Weatherstrip your doorsA surprising amount of air leaks around them. Just be sure that the door will still close properly; I have added weatherstrip and then had to remove it again as the door just wouldn't close properly with the added foam.More on weatherstripping:Poorly insulated doors and weatherstripping around the door openings4. Get a snakeOr make your own—a door snake stops draughts from under a door where it is hard to weatherstrip.More on draft stoppers:Sew a Draft Stopper5. Get some cheap slippersOr a hoodie. The easiest way to feel warmer and save energy is to wear more clothing. It also keeps your house cleaner and warmer.Read more:Lose Those Shoes Before Entering6. Change your furnace filterThe furnace has to work harder to push through all the schmutz that gets caught in your filter if it is doing its job.More on furnace filters:Install a Permanent Furnace FilterSave Water7. Lose the dripsA dripping faucet can waste 20 gallons of water a day. A leaking toilet can use 90,000 gallons of water in a month. Get out the wrench and change the washers on your sinks and showers, or get new washerless faucets. Keeping your existing equipment well maintained is probably the easiest and cheapest way to start saving water.Read more about water:How to Go Green: Water8. Add a faucet aeratorMixing in the air reduces the water consumed. Some aerators have an on/off lever so that you can stop most of the water flow without affecting the temperature, saving even more water.More about aerators:Install Faucet AeratorsSave Electricity9. Get a switched power barPlug all your wall-warts into the power strip so that it is easy to turn things off when you are not using them.You can't get them for ten bucks, but there are some very slick power bars out there now.10. Change a light bulbStill have any incandescent bulbs lighting your home? Time to change them; they have better color, faster starts and less mercury than ever.Just be sure to recycle them properly!