Cheap & Green: 6 Money- & Planet-Saving Solutions

As much as Shoestring likes sales and bargains, sometimes it's well worth it to pay a little extra for quality. Not so with energy. Spending more on your energy bills is basically throwing money in the street, especially when there are cheap, quick, and easy ways to bring your energy bills down — like these 6 money- and planet-saving solutions.

DO YOU ACTUALLY READ YOUR BILLS?
Before you know how much to cut, you should have some sense of how much you're using. Not just spending: USING. Alex Wilson, founder of BuildingGreen, executive editor of Environmental Building News, and co-author of The Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings, says, "By being more conscious of their consumption, people are more likely to look at options to save more energy."

REPLACE YOUR LIGHTBULBS
They may be the icon of the good idea but hanging onto your old incandescent bulbs is anything but. According to Energy Star, compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) use "75 percent less energy and last about 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs." Start by identifying the lamps in your home that are lit four or more hours a day and replace them with CFLs immediately.

Pack rats rejoice: you can hang onto those old bulbs for your basement, attic, or other infrequently traveled rooms. Just don't leave them on all night. A motion switch or timer costs less than $20 and keeps those lights turned off when no one's around.

As for the rest of your electrical devices, don't settle for just turning them off. According to Energy Star, consumer electronics account for 15 percent of household electricity use, and many consumer electronics use energy even when they're switched off.  Plug all of your entertainment devices into power strips that can be switched off when you leave the house for the day or at the end of the night.

DON'T JUST SHUT THE WINDOWS, SEAL THEM
"Windows are a huge area of heat loss in the winter," Wilson, of BuildingGreen, says. If you're not ready to invest in new high-performance, low-E windows (and possibly recoup the benefits of government subsidies and rebates), at least make sure your windows aren't responsible for uncomfortable and costly drafts. Fill the gaps in your windows with rope caulk, or seal an entire window with a heat shrink plastic kits for around $2.

At night, turn the thermostat down or get a programmable digital thermostat. "A lot of people are intimidated by them," Wilson says of digital themostats, "but they're really pretty simple." You can load day, evening, and weekend settings. "They typically have a manual override in case you come into a room and find it slightly colder than you'd like," he says, "but for a diligent homeowner, you don't even need that if you just turn down the thermostat at night."

In the summer, close the blinds on the east side of your house during the morning and the west side during the afternoon. Instead of an overhead light, install a combination light and ceiling fan. The west side of the house is also where you want to plant tall annual plants or install trellises with climbing plants to cut down on your home's exposure to sunlight.

SAVE WATER

While you're turning things down, turn down your water heater. The old standard of 140 degrees is probably too much and leaves you mixing in cold water with hot. Instead, bring the temperature down to 120 degrees and prevent heat loss from the walls of your tank.

In his book, Grounds for Improvement: 40 Great Landscaping and Gardening Projects, Dean Hill also lays out a number of ways to make your lawn more energy efficient and healthy. Replace traditional Kentucky Blue grass with tougher turf, or maybe wood chips or stone. Xeriscaping is a landscaping practice that favors stone, which is easier to maintain without calling for water for irrigation. Hill also recommends planting a vegetable garden, which not only uses less water than green grass, it's more satisfying to the soul to maintain and can produce some healthy benefits — like lowering grocery bills.

If your lawn is more sizeable, Loren McIrvin, owner of Allied Landscape Service, recommends a self-adjusting controller, either a sprinkler system that is controlled by a computer that receives input from a weather system or a soil sensor that measures how much moisture is present. "It will shave water usage on a daily basis," McIrvin says.

USE THE ELEMENTS
According to Fiber Optic Association President and self-described skinflint homeowner Jim Hayes, "It should be a crime not to have solar hot water in Southern California. You end up with more hot water than you know what to do with." Hayes has a 50-gallon tank mounted on his rooftop that uses a thermosiphon method to circulate the water and maintain and even temperature. An electrical heat pump can kick on when it's cold or cloudy but "that doesn't happen much around here," Hayes says.

He contrasts his climate to Washington State and Oregon, where rainfall is heavier and sunlight in scarcer supply. Rather than rely on solar power to save money, Northwest residents can install rooftop tanks to collect rainwater to irrigate during later dry spells. If you're not confident about having a 50-gallon tank on your roof, you can install a freshwater basin in your yard with a shovel and some sweat equity. McIrvin says that permeable pavers or a pond system also work well. "It's important to keep that water on-site," he says, "even if you're not using it for irrigation, it's better for the environment than just letting it run down the drain."

USE GAS
Installing a tankless water heater can lower your energy bill by not keeping standing water warm 24/7. You may not be Hank Hill, but a propane heater is a cheaper and cleaner source of heat for your hot water. Once you're in the shower, keep your shower to ten minutes or less. Add a low-flow shower-head or a shower head with an attachment that can kill off the water so that there's no flow while you're lathering, only while you're rinsing. A showerhead is one place to splurge, Wilson says, recommending a top-of-the-line low-flow showerhead that might put you back $30, but will show long-term payback and keep you happy and clean.

According to the book Change the World for Ten Bucks, another way to save water in the bathroom is to, "Take a bath with someone you love." While Shoestring approved, those results are not yet scientifically proven.