by Christina Rivas

Created on: June 07, 2008   Last Updated: June 11, 2008

I was always taught that it is very important for us to respect our earth, and to take care of it properly. My grandfather taught me at a very early age, that money doesn't grow on trees. He wanted me to know that it is better to be frugal and save your money for something worth while, than it is to just purchase what we want, when we want it.

My parents also made sure that they taught me, to be careful with how much energy I was using. There are many things that we can all do to save energy and money, and most of those things can be done around the house every day.

One of the most important resources that we have, is water. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of people who know just how important it is for us to conserve water. Once our water supplies dry up, or get used up, that is it, it will be gone.

It is for that reason that I am always very careful about how much water I use, I never leave the water running if I'm not using it. I also try to make sure that when I am running my dishwasher, I rinse my dishes to make sure that they come clean during the first wash, I also make sure that I only let the dishwasher run on a short wash cycle, this uses less water and energy.

When I am washing clothes, there are also other ways that I try to conserve energy. I never wash my clothes in warm water, I always use the cold water cycle. Stores every where sell cold water detergents, this means that the soap crystals, dissolve in cold water.

This ensures that I am not wasting energy heating water to wash the clothes. I am also very careful to ensure that I use the short wash cycle here as well, unless it is absolutely neccessary to use a longer cycle.

Appliances use a lot of energy, it is for that reason that I never leave anything plugged in if I can help it. A lot of people leave their microwave plugged in, usually it is because of the clock feature on the microwave. I unplug mine, I have a battery operated clock, that runs on rechargable batteries, therefore I find it unneccessary to have it plugged in when I'm not using it.

Light bulbs are some other things that waste a lot of energy, if you are not in the room, there is really no reason to leave the lights on, is there? Turn things off when you are not using them, you will be pleasantly surprised about just how much money you really can save yourself.

If you can buy the new energy saving light bulbs, do so, they really do save you a lot of money in the long run and they definaltey do last longer than the regular ones. I hope that you have all enjoyed reading my article, and I really hope that it has given you a few ideas about how you to can help save energy. Thanks again.

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