Add a Blanket to Your Bed Giveaway

My furnace is just a touch under the Energy Star rating, is less than 5 years old, and works well so we’re keeping it. However, I am able to make it run more efficiently by cleaning the reusable filter on the first day of the month (so I remember to do it) and by installing a programmable thermostat which sets the furnace to 62 degrees (F) when we sleep. Since I can’t sleep when I’m cold, I like to pile blankets on the bed during the winter. Make that a lot of blankets on the bed during the winter. Because I hate being cold. Hate. It.

Sadly, I can’t cut down on bed blanket bulk with a warm and cuddly down comforter. Husband is allergic to down (drat!) I had to find an alterative. I was surprised to find it in a microfiber blanket. Oh excuse, me a Classic Plush Blanket by Select Comfort, you know the Sleep Number mattress people?
 
I have to say I was intrigued because while I tried (and subsequently loved) cleaning with microfiber cloths I wondered what the heck makes a microfiber blanket any more special than a regular cotton blanket? Of course I realized right off the bat that a microfiber blanket is made with synthetic materials, so it isn’t a green product; however this was in its favor for us because of Husband’s allergy. As always, your mileage may vary.

I took the cotton quilt off of our bed and replaced it the Classic Plush Blanket. Well I must say that this blanket is aptly named
because it is soft and plushy and very, very warm which is surprised both husband and me because Classic Plush Blanket is quite thin. And warm. Did I mention the warm part? Much warmer than the cotton quilt the Classic Plush Blanket replaced (sorry Grandma.) So while the microfiber blanket itself isn’t a green product, it does allow us to do green things – keep our thermostat low during bedtime, use less energy, and not freeze to death. Yay microfiber blankets!

Win a Classic Plush Blanket!

Select Comfort offered to sponsor a giveaway. One Condo Blues reader will win one Classic Plush Blanket in the size and color of your choice. Here’s how to enter.

Go to the Sleep Number by Select Comfort Web site  take a look around, and leave a comment on Condo Blues telling me which color and size of Classic Plush Blanket you’d like to win.

You can earn extra chances to win by doing any of the following after you’ve made your initial comment on my blog:

1. Blog about my contest with a link back to Condo Blues. Please leave the URL of your blog post so I can verify it.

2. Subscribe to Condo Blues by Email.

3. Subscribe to the Condo Blues RSS feed.

4. Follow Condo Blues on Twitter AND tweet about the contest. Please leave you username and the URL of your tweet in your comment so I can verify it.

5. Put my Condo Blues button on the sidebar of your blog.

You must leave a separate comment for each method you used to enter the contest. If you choose to use every method of entry, you have up to six chances to win! Remember folks the holidays are coming and a Classic Plush Blanket would make a great gift for yourself or for someone you love.

 will use a random generator to select the winner. The Classic Plush Blanket Giveaway will run from November 22, 2009 – December 6, 2009 12 midnight EST. Good Luck!



Legal mumbo jumbo: This contest is open to US residents only. Full disclosure: I received a free Classic Plush Blanket from Select Comfort as a sample because I can’t tell you what the blanket is like without trying it out now can I? Select Comfort didn’t pay me to say nice things about their blanket or to run this giveaway. All opinions are my own and long time readers know I can be very opinionated. I will not share your email address with any third parties, with the exception of Comfort Select because I hate email spam probably more than you do. Seriously. Even fuller disclosure: My dog Blitzkrieg sleeps in my bedroom and he snores – LOUDLY.

9 Outdoor Fix-Ups that Lower Heating Bills

Winterizing the outside of your home in order to lower your energy use, save money, and lower your heating bills is as easy as a walk around the house, a walk around the outside of the house that is. Let’s stroll outside of The Condo so I can show how I seal up outside air leaks to prep the house for winter and keep my natural gas and electricity use - and bill - low.

1. Check for gaps outside of my windows. I have efficient double paned windows but even the most efficient windows will leak air because you’re still cutting a hole in your wall to install the window – duh. You can’t see it very well here because I calked the gap where the window frame meets the house with clear silicone caulk. I used clear because I wanted it to blend in and I didn’t want to have worry about finding the right color caulk for each area of the condo I needed.

Please ignore the dirt around my windows. Thank you.

2. Fill the gap between the window screen and window frame with removable rope caulk. I used rope caulk over peel able removeable caulk because I could still easily pop out the window screen from the inside of the house in the case of an emergency. I also don’t have to buy pealable caulk each season. I can remove and save the rope caulk from season to season if need be. This is an excellent solution for renters too.

Please keep ignoring the dirt around my windows. Thank you.

3. Switch out the summer screens for winter storm windows. (If I had winter storm windows.) I could seal the outside (or inside) of my windows with plastic sheeting. Plastic sheeting isn’t as efficient as storm windows but it is cheaper and much better than leaving them bare if you have leaky windows. I’m not going to do it because I don’t think my HOA would go for plastic on the outside of the house and frankly I don’t like the look either. Since my windows are double paned and pretty efficient, I concentrate on sealing the little gaps around the windows. As always, your mileage may vary.

4. Put a cover on the air conditioner. Warm heated air is drawn to cold air and vice versa. An air conditioning cover encourages the warm air to stay inside the house during the winter. If I had a window unit, I’d remove it for the winter and close the window. Do as I say not as I do. In my previous rental I learned the hard way how much colder a room can be when you don’t remove the window air conditioner from the window during the winter. Don’t be me.

Blitzkrieg says "hi."

5. Check gaps around outlets, faucets etc. and caulk if needed.

This one still looks pretty good.

Looks like I forgot to caulk the gap around the outdoor let on the porch. Better get on that.

6. Disconnect and drain outdoor garden hoses and insulate the faucet so they don’t freeze and possibly burst. There might be a DIY solution to this, but I took the easy way out and bought a $4 insulating faucet cap at the home improvement store.

The interior hook fits around the faucet and it screws into place. Easy to do and remove in the spring and reuse the next year.

7. Check if the garage door leaks. This is one of the most overlooked areas of detecting and sealing air leaks in the home.

Raises hand and hangs head in shame

8. Take terra cotta and clay pots inside when it gets frosty outside or the pots might freeze, thaw, and crack.

Guess how I know?

9. Check your chimney. Since I have a gas fireplace the installer recommends that I check it for cobwebs and spiders and whatnot that like to call such small dark places home because they can interfere with how well (or not) your fireplace works.

All clear here. Whew!

That’s how I prep the outside of my house and keep my utility use and winter heating bills low. What do you do? Do you have any tips?

Green Moms Carnival: Saving Money through Green Means

This month, The Green Moms Carnival takes on the myth that going green means spending tons of money. I’m so excited to host this, my first Green Mom’s Carnival because the topic is close to my heart.

Unlike the message we constantly see in the popular green media, my fellow Green Moms demonstrate that you don’t have to spend exorbitant amounts of cash to green your life. Well, unless you want to, I suppose. Quite honestly, most of my favorite green living tips are the ones that save money as well as the world we live in. Yes, Virginia, you can have both.

Enough of my prattling, on with the Carnival!


Kid Stuff

Most articles mention how expensive children are with all of their required gear. Amber at strocel.com  talks about how going green with her children actually saves her money in My Kids, The Planet and My Wallet.

Travel

Bicycle commuting a popular green way to get around town. Jennifer of Puddle Jumping in DC offers some suggestions on how to commute by bike in sun, rain, and snow in her post Saving Money through Green Means: Enjoy the Ride.

Saving Energy

Before I significantly reduced my home’s energy use, I first had to find out how much energy my home was currently using. Find out how to do your own home energy audit in Condo Blues post How to Conduct Your Own Home Energy Audit. This process is excellent for renters too. Best of all my way is free. I like free. Free is good.

Linda of Citizen Green describes some the methods she uses to reduce her energy usage which also saves her money in Being Green Saves Money.

Lisa S of Retro Housewife Goes Green  gives some great tips on how to save energy in Lowering Your Bills by Going Green. I particularly like her suggestion of using power strips that you might already have to save on your electric bill.

General Tips

Lynn of Organic Mania shares 10 posts that cover over 20 tips for saving money in My Top 20 Tips Saving Money through Green Means. I love how she sums up her post for this month’s Carnival “There was a time when I thought going green meant expensive, frou-frou organic and eco-chic “stuff.” Sure, that can be part of the picture, but for most people, going green actually saves money.”

Diane of Big Green Purse  reminds us when we shift the way we spend our money in an nvironmentally friendly manner that it often saves us money too. She offers some suggestions on how to that in Shift Your Spending to Protect the Environment.

Alline of Ecovillage Musings asks “Why are you buying what you are buying? Do you really need to spend money to be green?” She demonstrates that living sustainable lifestyle is a great way to save money and time (who doesn’t want to save a little time now and again?) in Saving Money by Being Green.

Anna of Green Talk believes that green living makes cents. “Before you pooh-pooh me, realize being green does not mean you have to live in an extravagant green home as you might see on television, have the newest green tech toys, or follow Hollywood’s latest trend. I am talking real dollar to dollar savings based on good, honest thriftiness and back to nature living of our grandparents” in Green Makes Cents.

I can really relate to Michelle of The Green Phone Booth when she tries to explain to someone at her child's preschool, "We're not poor, we live this way on purpose!" in Saving Money though Green Means. I'm so going to use that line the next time one of husband's family looks down their nose at us and calls my cloth napkin use (or some such thing) "ahem, frugal."

Buying Food

Many people, including myself, lament that organic food is expensive. Katy of Non-Toxic Kids, reminds us “While it may be organic, it isn’t necessarily healthy. Just as with conventional foods, chips, candy, chocolate, fruit bars, fruit wraps, and cookies are OK on occasion, but can really rack up the grocery bill and your sugar or fat intake.” She has some great ideas about Eating Naturally While Spending Less. Thanks to her tips, my family might not have to give up pricey cereal anymore!

Green Cleaning

Beth of Fake Plastic Fish makes an excellent point when she says, “I hear people bemoaning the high cost of “going green.” And while organic food does cost more than its chemical-laden counterpart, I’m here to tell you that it’s easier to spend more for healthy food when you save money in other ways.” Beth teaches us that baking soda is a multipurpose money saver in Baking Soda so Many Uses so Little Money and Plastic.

Karen Hanrahan of Best of Mother Earth  gives us a informative cost comparison of conventional and green cleaners in Saving Money with Green Means.


This concludes the November Green Moms Carnival on Saving Money through Green Means. Please join us for next month’s Carnival hosted by The Green Phone Booth on December 7th where our topic will be Greener Traditions.

How to Conduct Your Own Home Energy Audit

Unlike some areas of the United States, my local gas and electric companies do not offer free home energy audits to their customers. After much digging on my gas company’s Website, I found a link to the Energy Star Website that allowed me to conduct a DIY home energy audit using their Home Energy Yardstick. Best of all this service is free. I like free. Free is good.


I entered information about my home from the last 12 months of my natural gas and electric utility bills, clicked Submit and hoped for the best. The Home Energy Yardstick gave me an energy performance grade (Below Average to Above Average) and a score on a ten point scale.

Once I found out how much energy my home used last year, I needed to check the energy efficiency of the structure and mechanicals. Pros do with this inferred cameras and blower door test gizmos. Fortunately I was able to find most of the same information on my own with a flashlight, a candle, and a some poking and prodding around the house.

How to Do a Free DIY Energy Audit in Ten Easy Steps

1.Check your natural gas and electricity usage for the previous year using the Home Energy Yardstick


2.Search for interior air leaks and drafts


3.Search for exterior air leaks and drafts


4.Check your home insulation levels Often the minimum code requirements aren’t enough for maximum energy efficiency as I recently found out.


5.Check your heating and cooling air ducts for air leaks

6.Count your light bulbs How many do you have? How many are energy efficient models? If you want immediate savings replace them now. However it’s perfectly fine to replace the bulbs with more energy efficient models as they burn out. That way the bulbs won’t all go out at once and leave you bumping around in a very dark room. Guess how I found that one out?

7.Check the energy rating on your appliances and how often you use them. Conventional wisdom says ditch your major appliances and get Energy Star rated appliances to save money. However, that may not always be the case. For example, when I compared my current refrigerator to its Energy Star equivalent I found that I would only save $1 in electricity a year if I upgraded. In my case, it’s more wasteful to make the change because my refrigerator is looking and working well and barely 5 years old. However, I found that I could still reduce how much electricity my refrigerator used by cleaning vacuuming the coils on the back at least once a year (which I never did until now), checking that the door seals were tight, keeping it full because a full refrigerator and freeze run more efficiently than an empty one. Tip: You can keep your refrigerator or freezer full when it is emptyish of food by filling empty milk jugs with water and putting them in your refrigerator between shopping trips.)

8.Check your habits. Do you leave items plugged in or turned on when not using them? Do turn off the lights as you leave the room? You can buy all of the energy efficient items you want but if you leave them on constantly or when not in use, they are wasting energy, Energy Star rating or no.

9.Check your furnace. You may need to call a pro or the manufacturer for this information. How often do you replace or clean the filter? A dirty filter makes it work harder and use more energy.

10.Check your air conditioning. Again, you may need to call a pro or the manufacturer for this information. Also evaluate your habits. At what temperature and how often do you run it? If you have a window unit do you remove it during the winter? Tip: If you don’t remove your window air conditioning unit during the winter you are causing a massive air leak and wasting energy.

Conducting a home energy audit was my first step in my 20% Home Energy Reduction Challenge project. I found a lot of air leaks and habits that needed changing. But it paid off; it helped me reduce my home’s energy consumption by 32% and saved me a nice little chunk of money too.
Have you ever conducted your own Home Energy Audit? What did you find?

This post is part of the November Green Mom’s Carnival where our topic is Saving Money through Green Means hosted by me, Condo Blues!

6 DIY Recycling Ideas for Non DIYres

It only takes a short drive to go from my city that has a formal recycling program for glass, paper, metal, and plastic to tiny rural town America that tried and failed to make their city recycling program pay for itself. They reluctantly canceled the program.

In a situation like that I would take the DIY approach to recycling and reducing my household waste. But what do you do if you aren’t a DIYer, don’t have the skills, or time? Don’t worry; you can easily recycle items if you put your mind to it. Here are six DIY ways to reuse items even if you are not a DIYer.

1. Paint Halloween pumpkins instead of carving and use as food later. This year I painted my pumpkin which means it didn’t uh, self compost early like Husband’s carved pumpkin. The day after Halloween, I cut the pumpkin in half, scooped out the seeds for roasting, composted the goop, and then roasted, drained, and pureed the pumpkin for food. I froze 8 cups of puree from that pumpkin – that will make a lot of pumpkin soup!

2. Coffee can as compost caddy. I keep an empty plastic coffee can with lid under my sink for daily food scraps destined for the outdoor compost bin instead of one of those cute little ceramic containers. Truthfully I wanted a cute little ceramic container when we started our composting experiment. Then Husband brought a plastic coffee can home from work because his office doesn’t recycle and was about to throw it out. He thought it life in it and that surely I could “do something with it.” What can I say? The guy marvels at my creative reuse skills. Some girls get flowers, I get garbage.

3. Save and refill small empty bottles from new/refill bottles. If I can’t refill an old bottle from a bulk/refill size, I split the contents of a new bottle between it and an empty bottle (I do not mix different brands of cleaners. It’s not smart to cross contaminate even when using environmentally friendly brands.) This way I have a small stash of cleaning supplies under the kitchen and each bathroom sink to use as the need arises.

 

4. Cut up old towels to reuse as cleaning/shop rags. For towels that are too worn to donate, I cut them into fourths, stash them with cleaning supplies under the bathroom and kitchen sinks and use them like paper towels. Yes, I have to wash them and that uses other resources. However I put them in with my regular laundry so I’m really not doing or using anything extra to clean that tiny towel for another reuse.

5.Plastic bags for trash or pet pickup. I use reusable shopping bags but I still end up with plastic bags when I buy bread, dried beans, frozen vegetables, etc. I put those bags to reuse for doggie duty because my city requires me to bag it as well as my household trash. Of course I could just get my groceries in a plastic grocery bag from time to time but I found that those plastic bags multiplied in storage like bunnies! I found a better solution by trading a family member who wanted to kick the plastic grocery bag habit a bunch of my extra reusable shopping bags for her hamper of plastic grocery bags. It’s not a perfect solution but it works for me. As always your mileage and needs may vary.

6. Find a new reuse for something you already have even on a temporary basis. For example:

• Turn a teapot into vase.

• Turn a trashbag and towel into a draft blocking chimney pillow.

 

• Turn a six pack container or coffee caddy into a household organizer.

Do you have any recycling DIY ideas for Non DIYres?



This post is part of The Green Moms Carnival  where our topic is recycling. Be sure to check out the rest of the carnival posts on our hostess Recycle Your Day November 15th!

Candyland Cake

Little Mr G. had a birthday. Birthdays mean cake. No crappy grocery store bakery cake for this kid. Mr G’s mom made a cake from scratch, plunked it on a clean and reused cake plank, and decorated it to look like one of his favorite game boards.

Photo curtesy of Mr. G's mom

Candyland!

With real candy, yo.

Coolest. Cake. Ever.

This post is part of Trash to Treasure Tuesday and DIY Day.

Practically Green

When I got my free review copy of Micaela Preston’s book Practically Green Your Guide to Ecofriendly Decision-Making  I devoured it in almost one sitting. Yeah, I liked it that much.

Practically Green teaches readers how to make mindful green choices and not to get stressed out if you can’t 24/7 365 days out of the year. Micaela is one of the few green authors that I’d read in awhile that acknowledges that sometimes there isn’t a greenest of green answer for where you live or for what you need to do due to time, money, or location. She doesn’t make you feel guilty about it either. But she does encourage and show you how to find the greener way that works for you and with the way that you live. Practically Green is the kind of book that I would write if I wrote a book. (That’s supposed to be a compliment by the way.)

Practically Green gives many environmentally friendly options at all price points, has 30+ DIY projects, and some great recipes that can help you avoid a fast food meal or a junk food snack when time is short (try the Mexican Pizza Puffy – easy, quick and a hit when I made it for dinner!) Best of all, the book is peppered with anecdotes on the hits and sometime misses of Micaela’s green living adventures. It’s nice to know that a green living guru has some of those Oops moments like I do too.

I appreciate how each chapter in the book is broken down into “Buy It” and “Do It” sections because while I lean towards the DIY approach, sometimes I want to or have to go the Buy It route. The best example of this is in the Cleaning chapter. If you want to buy a greener cleaner Micaela tells you what chemicals to avoid in store bought cleaners in the Buy It section. She also offers tips on which brands of cleaners are more environmentally friendly and are more widely available. If you want to save some green and make your own cleaners, Micaela gives you an easy recipe for making your own room deodorizer spray (which I’m going to try soon) and all purpose cleaner in the Do It section.

If you’re looking for a green living book that isn’t preachy and offers a practical real world approach to environmentally friendly living you’ll find it in Practically Green: Your Guide to Ecofriendly Decision-Making. Be sure to check out Micaela’s blog Mindful Momma while you’re at it!