UPDATE
6-11-08
I discovered a super easy way to stay warmer in bed using a $1.00 item
which you can buy at Harbor Freight on sale. Or you can pay a bit more
and find it at most sporting goods stores AND it's even used in wrapping
packages. What is it?

Aluminized mylar. It's the shiny plastic film which you see on windows,
on the 'emergency sleeping blanket' , package wrap for Christmas, etc.

It's used many places and it's just a clear plastic which looks silver
due to a thin film of aluminum which has been sprayed or deposited on
the plastic.

Why it works and works well. Plastic is an excellant insulator. It will keep heat in if you cover yourself with it. Besides this fact the
reflective film of aluminum reflects heat from your body back to you.
It feels like plastic film, and when you look through it you'll see it
might be bluish or grey color. This is the aluminum interfering with
light through what is normally clear mylar.

How to use it.
Put it between the sheet and the blanket(s). This will put it close
to your body but not directly on your body. If you are sweating or
otherwise releasing a lot of moisture you might find a problem with
regards to the plastic not breathing. But I don't think you will. Not
in my experience has this been a problem.

Buy several.

This product often comes folded into a 6x6" square. If you find it on
a roll , as in wrapping, rejoice. Use it for the bed AND in Summer use
it on the window , inside, directly on the surface.
It will reflect sunlight back out before it can come through the window
pane to be absorebed in the air and heating the room.

Leave no space between it and the pane or you'll defeat the purpose.

Well that's it. My $0.02 or 2cents.

-- And not the End.. see below..
As I searched online for

reflective mylar film I realized there's so many more uses so here's
an edit:

They make ballons from it. The mylar and aluminum helps keep the gas in.

IF you buy the bubble pack with reflective film you might gain even more.
Watch for it in big rolls you buy 1 foot at a time - Home Depot

See it on eBay 4' x 25' is $20. A fair deal considering it has to be shipped
to you. The fact that it's rolled is a bonus. Look for it locally unless
you're going to buy a lot to offset shipping. Although it's weight is very
low so you must avoid paying a lot for shipping For example the piece
4' x 25' will weigh less than 1 lb probably.

Computer parts bags. Using a heat sealer put your easily damaged by static electicity
parts in bags made of it.

Reflect more light to plants with it.

It's not so perfect for a mirror. But you will see movement and shapes easily.

And so on
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-END==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I found a nice link with more helpful savings and frugal living advice.
Don't forget to add your own at the end of the page here. But if you've read
all of these posts then feel free to go here and pick up more tips.
Frugal Living Links

Hi, I posted in Finance because I saw a frugal living link and figured maybe Finance was the best general category.

I wanted to start a thread that would talk about saving energy
and saving money. We all know that we're skinflints. (someone look up
the etymology of that word).

With some discussion we can increase our understanding of what can save
money and make us more comfortable.

I got my degree in electronics in 1974 just about the time the energy shortage
was in swing the first time. One of my ideas at that time was to put alternators
on each wheel of a car so that when the brakes were applied the electricity generated
would charge the battery. They do that now. It took 30 years.
But whether it was my idea or the collective consciousness it happened.

And it can happen here.

There are simple rules.

Post your ideas for saving or creating energy that improves the comfort of your
health, wealth, or happiness.

Post links to sites that we can collect and put them in a list for people to download
as a bookmark or web page. I'll be glad to help collect links and create a page on my
web site where we can post the page.

Invite people to FW site. It's not beneath you to make up some business cards with
your name and a few select sites that you can hand out when you're in line at the bank
or elsewhere that you might strike up a conversation. Include the FW web site on the
card with other links that are of money saving interests.

We're all Americans. And we do it better. Let's prove it.

Here's my first link. I promise to add more.

It's pretty basic. It's the link to the Energy Star
web site where you can get ideas for saving energy and even get loans
and other methods to help you to save money.

http://www.energystar.gov/

Linked Linked

And here's an idea for saving energy that I use regularly.

I put some thermometers outside the windows where I can see them daily. Some thermometers have long wires on them so you can run them outside and put the unit inside. When I can see the outside temperature then if it's warmer outside than inside and I want to warm up the house I can turn on my whole house fan and bring in warmer air than the inside air.

This usually happens about September here. When sometimes at nights it's been cold but the next day is warm. If the house has not been opened up and I don't turn on the heat the house can become colder from the night before than it is outside.

Usually unless it's about 8° difference I don't turn on the whole house fan. But if it's 8° I turn on the fan and get 'free heat'.

Once the house has warmed up a bit then I turn off the fan to save energy.

Soon I Hope to make what's called a differential controller that will sense the difference in heat and turn on the whole house fan automagically when I ask for heat (or cool). <- this happens at night in the summmer when the house has become warm but it's become cool at night.

Let's hear your ideas.

UPDATE : Please add your requests for products or services to this list. IF you're wanting to solve a problem we can help you. If you don't have your PM (private message) turned on . Turn it on so you can be contacted directly if the matter is personal

CFL spiral light bulbs - get the right brand and youll have pleasant light at 75% less energy cost. Some have unpleasant hues, be sure to try a few.

Use a geothermal heat pump instead of traditional gas or electric heating. Geothermal heat pumps will pay for themselves in just a couple years. See http://www.geoexchange.com/ and http://www.nrel.gov/clean_energy/home_geo.html for more information.

Feedback...... instant feedback can help you modify your behavior. This $30 gadget measures the energy consumption of whatever you plug into it. Kill-a-Watt Electricity Usage Monitor. Using this device, I found that my 12-year-old fridge was using over 50% of the electricity in the house. I was also able to show my wife that our computer + monitor are using much less electricity than she thought.

Weatherproof your doors and windows. Sounds obvious, but my home I purchased was 10 yrs old. You can feel a draft at front and back doors. That means cold coming in in winter, and cool going out in summer. Heating/cooling costs can skyrocket from that alone. It's cheap and easy to fix yourself at Lowes or Home Despot - weather stripping for doors, caulk for windows, etc.

Our energy provider, Reliant Energy, will also come free once per year to check these things for you and make specific recommendations on numerous items to lower your electric bill.

Freaking gas bill is 300$ if I keep the home at 70C


If I keep the home at 65C.....Freaking medical bills are around the same.


All measures are taken to seal windows doors.

What to do now?

fatcool said:Freaking gas bill is 300$ if I keep the home at 70C


If I keep the home at 65C.....Freaking medical bills are around the same.


All measures are taken to seal windows doors.

What to do now?

I had a similar issue in a prior home. I replaced the furnace and my bill went down by 60%. Basically paid for the furnace in one year. Have your furnace checked it may not be working properly.

fatcool said:Freaking gas bill is 300$ if I keep the home at 70C


If I keep the home at 65C.....Freaking medical bills are around the same.


All measures are taken to seal windows doors.

What to do now?

65°F is not cold. If you get sick from being at 65°F, you need to look at your health more seriously. When it is 50°F outside, I go jogging in my shorts.
For winter: program you thermostat to be at 65°F from 6 am (or whenever you get up) to 8 am, then 55°F from 8 am to 5 pm (or 30 mins before you come home),68°F from 5 pm to 10 pm, 60°F from 10 pm (or whenever you go to bed) to 6 am.

Pick up ice swimiing to strengthen your immune system. "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger."
Take showers at the gym, you are already paying membership for it.

For summer: If you have central air, program it similarly to the winter program to have it cool when you are home and off when you are not.

Most important is to insulate you house to prevent warm air escaping in thw winter and cold air in the summer. I think the new R-30 insulation is the standard. I have a 50 year old home and it has something like R-15 in it. This is going to be my summer project. For now, I use electric matress pad. Electric blankets are useless since hot air rises, and you are under the blanket. You are essentially heating the room. It is cheaper to keep the bed warm at night than the whole house.

I hope one day, we can all go to Home Depot and buy solar panel shingles to replace the roof on the house to generate electricity. So far, only Arizona and New Jersey allow you to sell electricity back to the electric company. Their meters run in either direction. In theory, if you have a roof big enough and don't use much electricity, you would get a cehck from the electric company instead of a bill.

Like people said before, replace all the light bulbs with CFL's. The off color hues are due to cold mercury in the lamp. Give it 5-10 minutes to warm up and the light is natural day light. My flood lights start up purple when it is bellow 0°F outside, and in 5-10 minutes are bright white, brighter than my neighbors 1000 watt quartz light, while only using 23 watts of juice.

Turn off TV and computer when not in use. Although I don't have Kill-a-watt thingamaling, APC's Battery back up provides accurate enough power rating. 19 inch monitor uses 110 Watts, a 3 Gig AMD based, water-cooled PC uses 150 watts, with a 450 watt power supply in it. LED alarm clock 5 watts. VCR/DVD in stand by mode = 7 watts.

If you have oil heat, it can be converted to run on used vegetable oil, just like diesels can run on used crisco or biodiesel.

Showers use a lot of water. Low flow shower heads are the way to go.

exigent said:If you have a garage attached to your living space, and especially if you have a room *above* the garage, insulate the garage. One particular place where people fall down on this is with regard to their garage door. If it's just a metal garage door, either insulate it yourself (this is the cheapest option) or replace it with an insulated door. Wood garage doors offer some benefit over metal, but fall far short of an insulated door. This helps moderate you heating *and* cooling bills (the latter is especially true if your garage door faces west).

Any specific products you'd recommend? Or just go to the hardware store and get whatever?