Energy Conservation
Alternative Products for Cleaning
Water Conservation in Your Home
Factoid: Did you know?
General Guidelines to get Rid of Your Junk Mail

• Paint your walls in a light color so more light is reflected.
• Open blinds instead of turning on lights.
• Dress warmer so you can turn the heat down in the house during the winter.
• Turn down the temperature on your water heater.
• Paint the edges of the window in white so more light is reflected inside.
• Make sure your house is well insulated and if heated or cooled, never leave windows or doors open.
• Turn off lights, computer, fans or TV when not in use.
• Use rechargeable batteries.
• If it's not far, don't take the car.
• Use your clothesline as often as possible instead of your dryer.  This will also keep your house cooler and less humid during the summer.
• Try carpooling or public transportation, even ONE day a week.

• Use borax or baking soda instead of bleach, or use non-chlorine bleach.
• Clean sinks and appliances with baking soda or distilled vinegar.
• Use cedar to repel moths, instead of mothballs, which contain poisons and cedar smells much better.
• Use a washcloth to remove makeup instead of paper tissues or cotton balls.
• Use cleaning cloths, like cloth diapers, instead of paper towels.

Heating and pumping water uses lots of energy.  Making energy creates pollution such as acid rain and mercury emissions.  If we can reduce the energy we use to pump and heat water, we can help reduce that pollution...and save some money. 

IN THE BATHROOM
• Take short showers; draw less water for baths.  Turn down the hot water a little.
• Turn off water while brushing teeth, shaving, etc.
• Check your toilet for "silent" leaks by placing a little food coloring in the tank and seeing if it leaks down into the bowl.
• Install a low flow showerhead; water saver dam in the toilet tank.

IN THE KITCHEN OR LAUNDRY
• Make sure your dishwasher and washing machine only run with full loads.
• Compost your food scraps rather than using a garbage disposal in your sink.
• Wash vegetables in a pan of water rather than under the faucet; use that same pan to preclean dishes after the meal.
• Keep a gallon of drinking water in the refrigerator rather than running the tap for cold water.
• Insulate your water pipes to save hot water.

OUTDOORS

• Wash your car with a bucket of soapy water rather then running the hose; keep a spring loaded nozzle on the hose.
• Wash your car less often or wash it at a car wash where they clean and recycle the water.
• Use a broom instead of a hose to clean off your driveway or sidewalk.

• Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kills as many as a million sea creatures every year! Solution: Use cloth bags.
• Americans buy 2 billion batteries every year.  That's about 8 batteries for each person in the country -- even counting babies! Solution: Use rechargeable batteries.
• We use 65 billion aluminum soda cans every year!  Solution: Recycle your cans.
• Up to 25% of household waste is yard clipping and food waste.  Solution: Compost yard clippings and food waste to make nutrient rich mulch and fertilizer.
• It takes approximately 394 lbs of coal to keep a single 100-watt incandescent light bulb burning for 12 hours each day for one year.  Solution: Turn off lights when not in use.
• Recycling one ton of office paper saves 17 trees.  Solution: Reduce, reuse then recycle your paper.

1. Write the Direct Marketing Association Mail Preference Service.
    Mail Preference Service
c/o Direct Mail Marketing Association
PO BOX 9008
Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008
(202) 347-1222   (212) 768-7277
2. Contact all of your credit card companies and tell them not to release your name, address, or phone number to anyone else for marketing, mailing, or promotional purposes.
3. Similarly contact your credit union, mortgage company and bank.
4. Contact all magazines you subscribe to.
5. Contact mail-order companies you have done business with.
6. Contact all organizations you belong to, universities, and shools.
7. Contact airline frequent flyer and hotel programs you belong to.
8. Contact your cable TV company and long distance telephone carrier. Just about anyone who sends you a bill will sell your name.
9. If you move, don't fill out the Post Office's change of address form. Tell everyone yourself.
10. Contact your phone company and change your listing in the phone book. Request that your name only be listed without your address (most phone companies do this without charge).
11. Don't sign up for free giveaways and sweepstakes.  They often sell your name and address.