Little Change, Big Difference!

(ARA) – One bold splash of color can warm up an entire room. One perfectly placed piece of art can brighten up an entire foyer. It’s amazing the difference little changes can make. It’s even more amazing when little changes pay you back — big time! With a nip here and a tuck there, you can enjoy the comforts of your home with some extra cha-ching in your wallet.

Replace incandescent bulbs with fluorescent.
One small step for the homeowner, one big step for the environment. These spiral-shaped eco-friendly wonders not only cut down on carbon dioxide emissions, but they are also great little time and money savers. Although the bulb itself is more expensive, it uses about one-fourth of the energy to put out the same amount of light and lasts a lot longer. In turn, you don’t have to replace bulbs every time you turn around and you’re actually happy to open the power bill when it shows up in your mailbox.

Put some mats outside your doors.
Okay, okay, so it may not net you that big of a bottom line, but if you consider that time is money, then it’s a no-fail scheme to get-rich-quick. You can easily cut your cleaning time in half if you take simple measures to keep dirt out in the first place. Choose some big mats that will do their duty to scrape the dirt off of shoes before those shoes go traipsing throughout your home. The ones made out of plastic grass are perfect (fake daisy, optional).

Clean your air.
Installing a whole house air filtration system, such as American Standard AccuClean, in your home may not be a bad investment. When you consider that you don’t have to buy those ineffective disposable air filters anymore, the savings can sure add up. It’s also a big time saver because you don’t have to dust and clean nearly as often. After all, if it’s not in the air, it’s not going to be on your furniture. But the greatest benefit of all is not breathing in air full of contaminants, such as pollen, dust, dander and other unmentionables.

Install some weather stripping.
Seal that crack; get money back! Many doors and windows have little cracks that your regular Joe, or Joanne, overlooks. Unfortunately, dollars and cents are leaking out every time you heat or cool your home. Installing weather stripping, which is a flexible sealer around the moving parts of doors and windows, is an easy weekend task and it saves a bundle in energy costs.

Use timers.
In just a few minutes you can install some timers around your house and save money on energy costs. There’s really no need to keep the lights on or the stereo playing when you are away (unless Fluffy thinks otherwise), so plug them into timers and set them to turn on and off when you will be using them. Putting the lights and television on a timer is also a good reminder of when it’s time to turn in at the end of the day.

Set your thermostat.
It’s got to be the easiest and most effective way to cut energy costs, but sometimes, the most neglected. You can save about three percent of your heating costs for every degree you lower your thermostat during the winter and about six percent for every degree you raise your thermostat during the summer. It’s especially helpful if you get a thermostat that you can program and then put it out of your mind. Several thermostats by American Standard offer energy-savings modes that can automatically adjust your thermostat to save you money.

Courtesy of ARAcontent