if you're composting, then the junk mail should go there, not in the trash!!!

the biggest thing is to reduce consumption, and pay attention to the hidden "life cycle" costs of things - like do you buy lots of out-of-season foods that have been shipped from SouthAmerica or Australia? act locally by supporting local producers

Bill

I agree with Bill on the junk mail - compost it!

Also, when you buy, watch the packaging. Buy items that have less packaging, and buy things that are in recyclable packaging.

Another thing to do is to watch your water consumption. Little things like turning the water off while you brush your teeth, not letting the water run while you do dishes, make sure you do full loads of laundry, and use greywater from the shower and dishes to water your flowers and/or houseplants. Speaking of laundry, if you can hang-dry your clothes instead of using your dryer, that helps too.

Oh, and use organic cleaning products, and cut down your use of paper goods (towels, plates, cups etc.)

Okay, I'll stop now, lol!

:)
Dee

I need to stop consuming so much. That's a big weakness. Buying unecessary things, too much food... And I'll try to compost as much paper junk mail as my shredder can handle. I'm trying to use up my old cleaning supplies and replace with greener organic stuff. Thanks for the tips! Keep em' coming...

You use a setback thermostat, but what are your settings? Comfort is one thing (and desirable at that :-), but I often find it easier to use a throw or put on a heavier shirt or sweater than to kick up the temperature for the entire house -- or to use a fan where I am instead of setting the A/C lower.

Other thoughts:
- Are there items you can unplug when they're not in use? AC adapters, clock-radios in little-used rooms, etc.?
- Are you taking advantage of sunlight or screening it out if it gets too warm?
- Using appliances efficiently? My oven usually isn't started up unless I have a few things to cook. I'll use my microwave or a toaster-oven or wait rather than throw just a couple of baking potatoes into the big oven. The dishwasher and clothes washer don't roll unless they're full. And so on.
- Anything with a filter (range hood, vacuum, furnace) should have a clean filter.
- Watch the powered appliances. Consider whether you really need an electric knife or electric air fresheners or a powered string trimmer or even a razor that uses batteries.
- Remember Reduce/Reuse. Better to not have to worry about disposing of it if it never enters the house at all.

Our local dump produces electricity too.

Is the junk mail addressed to you? Here we can stick a No Junk Mail sticker on our letter box. Unfortunately if Australia Post is paid to deliver it then they have to. Come to think of it, that applies to mail addressed to The Householder at the address or even mail without an address on it at all. But the sticker has reduced the quantity we get.

Junk mail should not go into the compost pile unless it is black and white print. It should be recycled, however.

Turn off your computer for at least 4 hours a day. The carbon emitted by the energy to keep it running accounts for a lot to support several appliances. Better yet, only use your computer for about 4 hours a day.

Change your light bulbs to the CFL type; they cost three times as much as much as a regular one, but last several years longer and cost one quarter of the electricity to use them. Most of the bulbs say CFL on them, 25 watts is the equivalent of 100 watts in a regular bulb.

Hang up a clothesline and cut down on using dryers.

Open a window once in awhile to get rid of stale air; lower your thermostat in the winter; and layer your clothing. You don't have to freeze, but lower it by about two-five degrees and it will help if everyone does this!

Support your local farmers and buy groceries from them. To find one; type in localharvest.org and find farmers, greengrocers, etc. by zip code. It takes a lot of petroleum product to ship goods all over the country.

Take a bus or bike to work, if you can. At least; carpool and use one vehicle for several people.

Do not use plastic bags; more end up in a landfill and it takes 1000 years to break them down. They use petroleum products to make, and only about 3% of them get recycled. San Francisco is making efforts to outlaw them.

Live more simply and consume less.

I'm going to suggest cutting back on packaging.

Reusable shopping bags make a very big difference over time. I bought some years ago, and I'm still using them now. I try to shop at the local market more and not use any packaging for items, just put the fruit and vegetables in the reusable bags. About half of our food uses no throw away packaging now, and the reusable bags are certainly a big part of that.

What packaging we do use is recycled so as little as possible has to be landfilled. Glass in the bottle banks, metal lids in with the scrap metal, plastics and paper/card in the appropriate collections too. A good number of packages are now 100% recyclable if you're determined to collect the materials and recycle them separately, and many are over 90% recyclable - the exception often being the plastic lid.

Also consider using more reusable items and longer lasting things. Rechargeable batteries are a good example many people could use.

Get a bunch of power strips and plug your TV, computer, DVD player etc. into them. Many of these things draw power even when turned off. It's much easier to just flip the switch off on the power strip instead of bending down to unplug everything when not in use. In other words you're much more likely to flip the switch than actually unplug these things. To make things really easy, try to mount the power strips at a height that works well for you so you don't have to bend down at all.

Kevin

Plant a tree, or two or three. If you own your property think about siting a deciduous tree to shade your home in the summer. Talk to an arborist about the right tree for the right place and enjoy the greeness of it all.
If you don't own your property there are many organizations planting trees all over the world and urban tree groups often need volunteers to plant, and or prune trees around town.

Below is a link to use to check out the many beneficial effects of trees.

http://www.sactree.com/treeInfo/benefitsOfTrees/benefits

Another sneaky energy waster is shipping. If you have gifts to mail off, allow enough time for them to be sent in a truck rather than by air. Planes are grossly inefficient. I never thought of this one until it was pointed out to me last Christmas.

-Ellen

i have a question. i am home alone all day, spend most of my time in my own room. i need to know if it is cheaper to buy a small heater for my room and keep the thermostat turned low for the rest of the downstairs rooms. i use a small fan in summer that works well for me.
bury junk mail as compost--oh how i love that idea!

i need to know if it is cheaper to buy a small heater for my room and keep the thermostat turned low for the rest of the downstairs rooms.

There are a few variables to consider (like how much electricity costs versus how much your home heat source costs), but, most times, heating one room is far better than heating an entire floor or house, even if the source of that heat (electricity, in your case) is less efficient and/or somewhat more expensive than house heat. I find it also helps to use throws or afghans and slippers when I'm just sitting. My laptop throws off a fair amount of heat, too. :-)

lyk71 - I've found the "funnest" way to recycle junk mail is to make hand made paper from it. This is something the kids can get in on and create their own greeting cards, note paper, scrapbook pages - you name it. All it takes is a yard sale blender and some water. Anything left in the pulp tub can go directly to the compost bin/pile. Just NEVER pour your leftover water/pulp down the drain. Flush it if nothing else. Go to my post in the crafts forum for more info. cora