Before the leaves fall, assess where your tree needs
The last few weeks of summer offer a last chance to assess where the summer sun shines on your home, since any trees — in regions of the country with seasonality — will soon be free of leaves. Take advantage of the opportunity to put together a plan for where you’d like to plant new trees in the spring to help shade your home and reduce your cooling costs when summer comes around again.
COMPUTER MONITORS
Here’s a smart tip from Harvard Law School’s energy manager, Eric Potkin, on how to reduce the electricity consumption of your desktop computers. Reduce your computer monitor brightness from 100% to just 70%. It’s barely noticeable in appearance, and it cuts around 20% of the unit’s energy consumption. And check to make sure your computer has something called “power saving mode,” which helps it to automatically save energy. This feature is often disabled and needs to be enabled in order to work.
FRIDGE FILTERS
What’s the big deal if you don’t replace your refrigerator water filter when it’s due? A whole lot, it turns out. First, a filter that’s unable to keep harmful substances like lead, mercury and pesticides out of your water means you could be drinking them instead. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, 77 million Americans do not meet federal standards for clean water in their homes. But an old filter also causes scaling and deposit buildup, which ultimately can damage your fridge and ice maker. Most filters need a change every six months, but check your brand and model to make sure.
AREA RUGS
When there’s a big snowstorm outside, use the fluffy white stuff to help clean your area rugs. It’s as simple as bringing your rugs outside into the show and sprinkling a generous amount of snow on top. Then beat the rug with a broom to help remove the snow and repeat as needed. The snow picks up grime and dirt, and the freezing temperatures help to deodorize the fibers, too.
Brush off the snow before bringing indoors, and any residual snow will quickly melt and evaporate.
MILK IN THE BACK
Milk is one of those staples that, in many homes, every member of the family grabs and uses throughout the day. Make it a new habit to keep the carton of milk in the back of the fridge, not the front or the shelves in the door(s). Whenever milk is brought out of the fridge, its temperature rises, and because the front and the shelves in the doors take the longest to re-cool after the fridge is opened, a carton of milk that is placed there takes longer to get cold again, leading to premature spoiling. Placing it in the back of the fridge helps the milk get to its ideal temperature more quickly.
PET FOOD BOWLS
How often should you clean your pet’s food bowl? It depends on what you feed them. If it’s wet food, the bowl should be cleaned and scrubbed every single day. Caked-on food can grow harmful bacteria, which can make your pet sick. If they eat dry food, a simple rinse and a good cleaning at least once a week will do the trick. And if you feed your animal a raw food diet, it’s imperative that you clean the bowl after every meal, since raw meats can harbor E. coli and salmonella.
COFFEE GROUNDS
If you drink coffee but don’t compost, do this: Sprinkle your used grounds on your lawn. The nitrogen, phosphorus and minerals in coffee grounds are nutrients that your lawn (and earthworms) will love. The key is to distribute the grounds properly. Scatter them so you don’t have huge clumps, and use a rake to spread the grounds and mix them into your lawn’s soil.