by Heidi Labron

Created on: February 24, 2009

We're bombarded with environmental news these days and we must all make a few changes in our lives to help our planet survive. So how can we make our homes greener without spending a lot of time and money converting everything to solar or wind power? Well, there are a few easy ways that you can make a difference by making your home a little greener. You'll also save some greenbacks in the long run, which is wonderful in this expensive day and age.

CHANGE YOUR LIGHT BULBS. Simple and not that expensive, we know that replacing all of our incandescent light bulbs with new CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lights) light bulbs will cost a little right now (although they are getting cheaper and there are more size and style options now), but the CFL's are meant to last five years or more so the savings add up over time. Plus, they use less energy and your electric bill will be greatly reduced. If you can't replace all your bulbs at once, do a room every paycheck or replace the ones in rooms where you switch on the lights most often.

PLANT SOME TREES. Planting trees around your home will not only make it look nicer, the trees will help the environment by absorbing carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. But along with that, as the trees grow, they will provide shade to your home which will keep your home cooler in the summer so that you can use the A/C less.

TURN UP THE THERMOSTAT. We know that turning up the thermostat by one degree or so in the summer will allow us to save energy, but you should also try turning it down a bit in the winter. Your hot water heater can also benefit by being turned down a notch. You'll save money and your home will use less energy.

GET RID OF THE DINOSAURS. We all have appliances that we've had since the beginning of time, but they take up a lot of energy. Purchasing new energy efficient appliances will reduce your electric bill and save you lots of money in the long run while keeping our environment safe.

REDUCE. REUSE. RECYCLE. Use recycled products whenever you can, such as toilet paper, tissue and even paper for your printer. Try the new green cleaning products out there which use fewer chemicals that harm our environment and many come in recycled plastic. Try to purchase more goods in bulk to save on excess packaging and bring your own canvas or recycled bags to the grocery store when you go. Be crafty and reuse the packaging that many of your goods come in. Those plastic margarine tubs are great for storing food in the freezer and egg cartons make great little starter pots for seeds.

UNPLUG YOUR TV. We live in homes that have many electronic devices, many of which aren't even used on a regular basis. Think about that TV that sits in the guest bedroom. If it is plugged in, it is still using energy, even though it isn't on. Unplug anything that you don't use regularly and just plug back in when you need them. Put everything else like your main TV, DVD player, computer and printer, etc on a power bar so that you can just turn off the power bar when you leave the house. You'll use a lot less energy and save yourself some money.

Making your house greener is quite easy with just a few little chanages. All you need are some ideas and a bit of creativity and you can help to make this world a much better place and save yourself some money along the way.

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