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Becoming an environmentalist doesn't mean you need to buy an electric car, grow your own vegetables and start making your own clothes! Although, each of those changes in your lifestyle would save a tremendous amount of energy and save you a tremendous amount of money!

One of the easiest environmental resolutions anyone can make is to simply turn off lights, television sets, stereos, etc. when no one is in the room. This practice not only saves energy, it could also save you some money on your electric bill. If you have phone chargers, computers and other electronic equipment, actually unplugging them from the outlet saves even more energy. Many electronic devices still use almost 40% of their power when turned off but still plugged in. Now we're really talking saving money and fulfilling your environmental resolution to cut back on electricity use.

Another no-stress environmental resolution to make is to replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lights (CFL). While the compact fluorescent lights are initially more expensive, they will burn for about 10,000 hours-the equivalent lifetime of about 13 incandescent bulbs. Since lighting accounts for 20% of the average residential electric bill, this environmental resolution would yield a substantial savings over the life of the light bulb. The website, energystar.gov informs consumers "If every home in America replaced just one incandescent light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified CFL, in one year it would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of more than 800,000 cars."

Turning off the water when it's not needed is an easy way to save money help the environment. Did you realize a running water faucet puts 3-5 gallons of water down the drain every minute it's on? If you leave the water running while brushing your teeth you can easily use more than 5 gallons of water. Leaving the water on while shaving used between 10 and 20 gallons each time you shave. If you just wet your brush, cut the water off, then rinse your brush, you'll use only about gallon of water. That's a savings of 4 gallons of water every time you brush your teeth! Rather than leaving the water running to rinse your razor while you shave, filling the sink with water instead will save 9-19 gallons of water.

A cost-effective, energy saving environmental resolution is to properly insulate your home. Nearly half of all energy in our homes is wasted through the attic, via cracks or other leaks around windows. Depending on the climate in your area, new (or adequate existing) insulation can save 5% or more on heating and 15% on air conditioning costs. Repairing or replacing caulking around windows and weather stripping around doors will ensure more of your heated or cooled air stays inside. One study suggests that if every gas-heated home was properly weather stripped and caulked, the natural gas saved each year would be enough to heat about 4 million homes.

Stopping junk mail is not only a good environmental resolution it will make your life so much less cluttered. According to Larry West, Environmental Issues guide at About.com, "5.6 million tons of catalogs and other direct mail advertisements end up in U.S. landfills annually. The average American household receives unsolicited junk mail equal to 1.5 trees every year-more than 100 million trees for all U.S. households combined."
None of the environmental resolutions will cost a great deal of money to fulfill. In fact, most of them result in a tremendous personal savings. Just as important, though, each action individuals and families take help to conserve our resources, save energy and make our planet a better place to live.

Learn more about this author, Mary Moss.
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