This is a guest post by John Smith. Take it away, John.

Several appliances in our homes use energy. The biggest culprit of all is the heating and cooling system. Then, follow other electrical and electronic appliances: lights, fans, inverters, and kitchen appliances. Here are 15 great tips on how you can make your house more energy efficient.

1. Insulate Your Home

Good builders refer to your home’s exterior as the “envelope” or the “shell.” If you keep this envelope sealed against air leaking into the house from outside, you can bring down your energy expenditure for space heating and cooling, and keep out those drafts. Test your home for leaks and identify the points from where cold air is entering your home. To stop the inflow of cold air, you can caulk your home’s exterior, use gaskets to plug holes, or choose from several other methods to ensure air infiltration does not occur.

2. Turn Off Lights

Turn off lights when you leave a room. Use energy efficient light bulbs that give you greater quantity of white light while consuming lesser power. Invest in motion-activated and heat-sensing lights for your porch, living room, and main living areas. These lights turn off automatically when there’s no one in the room. Use solar-powered lights for your garden.

3. Turn Off Appliances

We need to understand that when an appliance is on, it draws a certain amount of power to remain in ready to use state. Most people assume that since the appliance is not being used, it’s not consuming energy. This is not true.

4. Don’t Keep Devices Plugged in

People keep their mobile phone chargers plugged in and turned on for ready use. Know that power is diverted to the charger even if you’re not actually charging your phone at that point. The same goes for printers, speakers, DVD players, televisions, and other devices that are usually plugged in active mode when no one’s using them.

5. Use Manual Sprinklers in Your Garden

Automatic sprinklers tend to waste both energy and water. Use hand held sprinklers to water your plants. Use the automated sprinklers only if you have a large lawn that needs frequent hydration. During the rainy season, turn the automatic sprinklers off.

6. Coat Your Hot Water Cylinder

The thicker the coat of your hot water cylinder, the less heat you lose. Get your water heater cylinder coated with an 80mm-thick coat at low cost and save on energy and money, as well as lowering your carbon footprint.

7. Use Only as Much Heating and Cooling as You Need

Ensure that your boiler thermostat’s thermostatic radiator valves heat only the rooms that you use, and only when you use them. Set individual thermostats in every room and save on energy. Every month, make sure you change your air conditioner’s filter to minimize the wear and tear on your AC unit. If you live in a hot region, it’s good to plate your single pane windows with solar shades to reflect the heat and keep it outside your house.

8. Use Solar Power

If you own a home, you can garner the power of the Sun to provide most of your energy needs. Even if you live in a region that doesn’t see much sunshine, cleverly placed solar panels on the roof will gather enough heat to supplement your power requirements nicely. Solar power can be used to power up lights and virtually any appliance you use in your home.

9. Update Your Refrigerator

Did you know that refrigerators consume about 20% of your total household energy? Make sure your refrigerator is Energy Star rated. Energy Star rates refrigerators that consume 25 percent less energy. Set your refrigerator and freezer temperature according to your refrigerator’s manual to optimize on energy consumption and turn on the energy saver switch. The gaskets around your refrigerator and freezer doors must be clean and sealed tightly to prevent loss of cooling.

10. Surround Your Home With Greenery

Homes can heat up during the summer in regions where summers are always hot. This is all the more evident if your home is poorly insulated. Grow plenty of shrubs and trees around your houses to block the infrared radiation that causes the heat build-up. The greenery acts as a natural cooling system while reducing the usage of your home’s cooling system.

11. Get Your Home’s Energy Audited

Get your home’s energy utilization audited so that you know what aspects are consuming more energy and how you can cut back on your energy consumption. Your local Housing and Community Affairs Department will be able to put you in touch with reputable power auditing agencies for this purpose.

12. Turn Off Heating and Cooling When You’re Out

Be sure to turn off your home’s heating and cooling when you’re out. You can install a programmable thermostat and a timer for your water heater and your cooling system to achieve this. Set the system to start just before you reach home in the evening. This way, you’ll ensure that your energy consumption is moderate.

13. Rearrange Furniture to Facilitate Better Cooling

After doing everything possible to achieve better cooling for your home, if you’re still not getting the best out of your AC, check if your furniture is blocking air vents. The flow of cool air tends to stagnate if your air vents are blocked by huge chairs, couches and other pieces of furniture. In such cases, the cool air doesn’t flow but stagnates in different corners, giving you a dispersed cooling effect, with some areas feeling cool while others remain hot.

14. Set Your Washer to Warm Water Setting

If you wash all your clothes under the hot water setting, your washer will consume a great deal of energy. Set your clothes washer to the cold-water or warm water setting. If you switch from hot to warm setting for at least two wash loads in a week, you can save nearly 500 pounds on your carbon footprint every year, not to mention the energy and money savings.

15. Run Only Full Loads in Your Dishwater

Don’t start your dishwasher unless it’s absolutely full. Your dishwasher will consume the same amount of energy whether it’s full or not so make use of your energy consumption by loading it to the limit. Also, set your dishwasher on the energy saving setting if you have it. This will allow the dishes to air-dry, saving you that much more energy. Another option is to turn off the drying cycle manually. Opting not to use heat in the drying cycle can save you 20 percent of your dishwasher’s total energy consumption.

John has been living an eco-friendly life for last 5 years and manages an online nursing scrubs store, NursingUniforms.net

The following is a guest post from Baily Harris. Please direct your attention:

Growing a garden is definitely hard work. There are various steps in the process including planting, weeding, watering, and harvesting. After the planting, you may immediately be faced with the major issue of garden pests. Pests come in many forms, but have one main focus: the destruction or consumption of your precious plants. Many products that promise to keep pests out of your garden exist on the market today. The problem is most of these products contain chemicals that can harm us, our families, our pets, and the environment. Luckily, you can create your own non-toxic pest repellents that will keep pests away from your garden without posing any health or environmental risks.

Insects

There are many recipes for non-toxic insect repellents. One effective recipe for a repellent spray uses 10 cloves of garlic, 8 hot chili peppers (any variety), 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, 1/2 teaspoon liquid dishwashing soap, and 2 pints of water. Finely chop the cloves of garlic and hot chili peppers. Combine those with the water and allow the mixture to steep overnight. The next day, strain the mixture and add the oil and soap. Pour ingredients in a spray bottle and shake well. Spray the mixture on the leaves of healthy plants, and repeat once a week and after it rains. The strong smells will repel insects from coming near your plants.

Another recipe uses essential oils to ward off insects. Just combine 3 drops sage essential oil, 3 drops thyme essential oil, 3 drops lavender essential oil, 1 teaspoon rubbing alcohol, and 4 pints of water. Mix all the essential oils with the alcohol and water. Pour into a spray bottle and shake well. Apply to the leaves of your plants 1 to 2 times a week and after rainfall. Sage has long been used as a natural insect repellent, and the thyme and lavender have strong smells that insects detest.

Slugs

If slugs are becoming a problem in your garden, they can be hard to control. A simple slug repellent is lava rock. Simply place lava rock around the base of affected plants. The rough, abrasive surface will be avoided by slugs. Be sure to keep the rocks above the soil’s surface, otherwise slugs can use the soil as a bridge to get across to plants.

If you have access to seaweed, it can also be a very effective slug repellent. Use the seaweed as mulch around the perimeter of your garden or in between plants. The seaweed is salty and slugs don’t like salt; it can kill them. Be sure to avoid direct contact between the seaweed and plants, as the saltiness can harm plants as well.

Moles

Whether tunneling through your yard or garden, moles can be quite the nuisance. You can make a non-toxic mole repellent using 1/4 cup castor oil, 6 tablespoons water, and 2 tablespoons liquid dish detergent. Blend together the oil and dish detergent using a blender, until foamy. Combine with the water and sprinkle the mixture over holes and areas of the greatest damage in your garden. Moles do not like castor oil and should stay away from the areas you treat. Make larger batches if you have a big mole problem. Repeat once a week and after it rains.

Rabbits and Deer

Although rabbits and deer are cute, friendly creatures, they can cause major problems if they find their way into your garden. Since they are larger pests, it doesn’t take them nearly as long to eat up your plants. The best remedy is to prevent them from entering your garden in the first place.

You can make a non-toxic repellent for rabbits and deer using one part egg, one part milk, one part dish soap, and 5 to 10 garlic cloves. Combine all and mix well in a blender. Keep the mixture in a closed container, preferably outdoors, for 24 to 48 hours, or until it begins to spoil. Then strain it and place the liquid in a spray bottle. Spray it around the perimeter of your garden and plants at least once a week. Rabbits and deer do not like the smell of eggs.

Another recipe for rabbit and deer repellent uses 2 tablespoons cayenne pepper, 2 tablespoons dish soap, and 10 tablespoons cooking oil. Combine the three and mix very well. Pour into a spray bottle and spray around the perimeter of any plants or shrubs you want to protect. Repeat as needed. The strong smell of cayenne pepper is a major turnoff for rabbits and deer.

Dealing with pests in your garden can be very stressful. If you use harsh chemical repellents in your garden, you may be harming you and those around you. This, in turn, will cause you more stress that you just don’t need. Give these natural, non-toxic pest repellents a try. You will rest easy knowing your garden and family are safe and sound.

Bailey Harris writes for www.insurancequotes.org, a site that provides quotes for car insurance.

This is a video update post.  If you are reading via email or feed reader and cannot see the video, please click here to go to the site to view it.

Happy New Years everyone! Party harty! This is another video update discussing some changes going on around Frugally Green for 2010.  I like doing these on holidays. Watch and enjoy.  If, for some reason, you’re not able to view the video, here are the highlights:

I’ve finally completed my annual review and, for the most part, have my life set for the next 365 days.  Hopefully you’ve got some big plans for 2010 as well.  Feel free to let us all know what they are in the comments.

As a result of my annual review, I’ve decided to make three significant changes to Frugally Green this year.  I’m excited.  I hope you are, too.

New Guest Contributor

Aldra from Consciously Frugal will now be a guest contributor here, posting monthly. If you don’t already know her from the comments section of the site where she’s an active participant, let me tell you she’s a pretty great person and an excellent writer with enough opinion to go around.  I’m really excited to have her on board and I know you’re going to love what she has to offer.

If you’re dying to get to know her right away, feel free to head on over to her site.

New Posting Schedule

I’m changing the posting schedule back to once per week.  I weighed a lot of options while considering this and it was a tough decision to make, but I am certain that it is what is best for you, me, and Frugally Green.

Though a little less frequent, the new schedule will allow me to write much deeper posts that are more valuable and actionable to you. Every time you read a Frugally Green article, I want you to have all the information you need to form a full opinion or implement a new idea in your life.  This schedule will help support that goal.

Frugally Green Now Accepting Guest Posts

In an effort to make Frugally Green a really great, community oriented site, I will start accepting guest post submissions.  Reading through all the comments of 2009, I realized that many readers are also bloggers and have some really awesome things to say (I love having smart readers!).

If you’d like an opportunity to share your wisdom here, I’d be happy to help facilitate that.  Just head to the contact page and get a hold of me however you like. Also, feel free to just leave a comment here if you’d prefer and I’ll get in touch with you.

Thanks for being such an important part of Frugally Green in 2009.  I really look forward to spending the next year with you.

~~~~~

If you’re planning to have an awesome 2010,  leave a comment and subscribe get free updates.

Connect with me on Twitter: @tylertervooren

This is a video update post.  If you are reading via email or feed reader and cannot see the video, please click here to go to the site to view it.

Merry Christmas, all!  This is just a quick video salutation (less than 1 min.) to say:

• Merry Christmas, duh!

• Presents are cool, but people are better.

• Don’t forget to recycle your wrapping paper.

• Stay tuned for an update next week about what Frugally Green will look like in 2010.

I hope you’re in a nice warm place with friends and family.  Wear out your voice singing Christmas carols if you must, but make sure there’s plenty of eggnog around to soothe the windpipes.

Merry Christmas.

~~~~~

If you haven’t passed out from too much eggnog yet, leave a comment, or subscribe get free updates.

Connect with me on Twitter: @tylertervooren

Sorry, no Eco-Links this week.  Here’s something WAY BETTER.

Howdy folks.  Another week’s gone by and I can hardly wait to spend the weekend catching up on projects I’ve let slide a bit.

Last week I wrote out what I’ve decided to call my “Christmas List” -  a list of things I want to complete by Christmas.

One of the itemson this list to check off is “declutter.” It’s more of an ongoing process for me, but I wanted to really make a go of it before the holidays are in full swing.

Jessie and I have been on a minimalism kick lately, and it’s driven us to purge a lot of things from our lives.  It feels great to pare down my belongings to the things I truly value and use regularly.

However, a lot of things I’ve been getting rid of aren’t junk, they’re pretty useful.  I just don’t have a place for them anymore.

I’m happy to give the things I don’t use any more to charities like Goodwill that can do great things with them, but since it’s the season of giving, I thought I’d extend a little of the same to you.

I’ve chosen a few items that I feel like Frugally Green readers would really enjoy and decided to give them away. I call it the Frugally Green Garage Sale Giveaway. That’s the cheesiest name I could come up with.

What you’ll win

I scratched my head for a few minutes, shuffled some things around on the floor and then organized everything into 4 prize packages:

Grand Prize (1 Winner): A “green home” package consisting of 5 great home design books to help you plan for a new home, a remodel, or just a redecoration to create great living in small spaces:

• The Not So Big House Collection (2 books) by architect Sarah Susanka
• Not So Big Solutions for Your Home by Sarah Susanka
• Green by Design: Creating a Home for Sustainable Living by Angela M. Dean
• PreFabHome by Michael Buchanan

Second Prize (1 Winner): Two excellent books to help you make the green changes in your life that matter most to you:

• It’s Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth Friendly Living by Chrissy Trask
• Sleeping Naked is Green: How an Eco-cynic Unplugged Her Fridge, Sold Her Car, and Found Love in 366 Days by Vanessa Farquharson

Third Prize (1 Winner): A DVD copy of Wal*Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices (Caution: causes extreme beard stroking and furled brows)

Fourth Prize (4 Winners): A cute little (brand new) cotton tote bag for carting your groceries home from the store

How to win

Ok, now that you’re all excited and ready to wet your pants, here’s what you need to do to enter yourself in the great Frugally Green Garage Sale Giveaway:

Leave a comment on this post letting everyone know what you think is the best way to save (or make) money while improving the world.

That’s it.  That’s all you have to do, but I want your best stuff because you can only be entered once.

I’ll eventually compile your responses into a full post to highlight the mind blowing intelligence of all my readers.

Second chance entries

If you’re just dying for a second chance to win, I’ve come up with two more ways for you to get your name in the hat:

• Leave a thoughtful response to someone else’s comment.  I want to know what you liked (or didn’t like) about their comment and why. No “great point” or “you suck” type of responses.  Get that hamster wheel spinning for a second before posting.

• Retweet this post on Twitter. Now, that’s simple, isn’t it?  Make sure you include “Frugally Green” or “@FrugallyGreen” in the tweet so that I can make sure you’re counted.

The details

So really you have 3 chances to win and I hope you use all of them.  This little promotion will run until this time next week.  On Friday, December 11, I ‘ll assign each entry a number and use a random generator to select the winners.

If you’ve won, I’ll contact you over the weekend to let you know.  All you have to do is give me your address and I’ll take care of the rest.

Thanks for being part of Frugally Green.  Good luck!

~~~~~

Want to get even more out of Frugally Green? Share this post with your friends, leave a comment, or get free updates.

Connect with me on Twitter: @FrugallyGreen

Garage sale image by sfllaw.

This is a video update.  If you are reading via email and cannot view the video, please click here to go to the site.  A short text summary is also included below. Enjoy!

Happy (early) Thanksgiving

Happy early Thanksgiving everyone. I hope wherever you end up tomorrow, it’s with people you love.  Don’t forget to take a second between bites to think about all you have to be thankful for.

I know what I’m thankful for: readers like you.  There are days when I come home tired and don’t want to work on the site, but remembering that you’re out there reading reminds me that I have nothing to complain about and everything to be grateful for.

So, thank you. You are what keeps me going day in and day out.

A Thanksgiving Guest Post

I did, in fact, write a full post for today. It is a guest post that is up right now at Get Rich Slowly, another blog that I am very thankful for.  It’s titled Giving to Receive: What Legacy Will You Leave? and discusses the idea of social responsibility and how you can succeed by helping others.  Feel free to leave your comments there, or come back here to leave them if you’d prefer.

Whatever you do, I hope you read it and take a moment to consider the message.  I think it’s important.

Thanks again for being part of Frugally Green.  I wouldn’t be here without you.

What do you have to be thankful for this year?

~~~~~

Want to get even more out of Frugally Green? Share this post with your friends, leave a comment, or get free updates.

Connect with me on Twitter: @FrugallyGreen

Hey all you FGers,

This is just a quick little update to let you know that a guest post that I wrote for Alan Schram over at Saving for Serenity is now posted.  Alan writes a great little blog about the philosophy of finding happiness and financial independence.

The post is titled Fail to Plan or Plan to Fail?: Why We Avoid Important Decisions and discusses the tough choices that we all know we have to make, but often avoid because they make us uncomfortable.

I hope you make it over to Saving for Serenity and check it out. I’ll see you all on Wednesday with a new article about my really fun, frugal, and green weekend.

In the meantime, here’s a funny eco video:

Hey all!  I’m a slow learner when it comes to this interwebz stuff, but I have been working hard lately to update Frugally Green, adding features to improve your experience here.  And I won’t stop until this is the best environmentally focused money blog (money focused environmental blog?) on the web!  Just so you know what’s changed recently:

• I’ve added a subscribe section to the sidebar so that you’re never but one click away from getting all the latest Frugally Green updates (like this one!).

• If you look to the top right of the site, you’ll notice there is now an archives page where you can find any post no longer held in the “Recent Posts” section of the sidebar.

• Right next to that archives link you will also find a contact link.  I can’t believe it took me so long to add it, but now you can feel free to buzz me with any questions, concerns, or story ideas you might like to share. I also accept fashion tips, Thai food recipes and pictures of cute, furry animals.

• In the event that you feel one of my posts is worth sharing, you may now click on the little green button that says “Share This Post” at the bottom of each article to submit it to your favorite social bookmarking site.  Spread the word! Drink the kool-aid! Or just spread the word.

• Finally, I’ve added a section to the sidebar to link to current blog carnivals that Frugally Green articles are featured in.  Check ‘em out.  There are tons of great writers out there just waiting for you to find them. These carnivals will help you find them faster.

That’s all for now folks. In the coming weeks you may stumble upon (like how I did that?) a whole new look to the site as well as a freshly designed logo. The current theme that’s been around for about two months (longer than most of my ex-girlfriends) is just not going to work out in the long run (recurring theme!?).  Like I said, though, I’m a slow learner with this cyber-geek stuff.

Cheers!