Make 2008 a year of significant changes for your home
Gary Carnivele
Special to FineLife Home
Photos Submitted
New Year’s resolutions typically come in one of three categories: health, family or finances. For a welcome change, try and focus this year’s resolves on your home. All the data is in and it’s widely available. Two of the top candidates for improvement are getting rid of junk and cutting down on energy costs.
Do the de-clutter and donate dance
Stop ignoring those over-stuffed closets, packed-solid drawers and crowded cabinets. Tackle one room each week and be ruthless. Get rid of clothing that hasn’t been worn in two years; cut up worn-out clothing and linens and use the pieces for cleaning. Donate everything you deem useful to your favorite charities.
In the kitchen, start with the refrigerator. Check expiration dates and toss out expired food and stuff like obscure condiments that just aren’t being used. Rinse all glass and plastic containers and put them in the recycle bin. Box up unwanted canned and packaged goods and drop them off at local food banks. Dive into those gadget drawers. How many corkscrews do you really need? Donate them or offer them to friends and family.
Once a year, take a hard look at the contents of your linen closet. Large worn-out sheets are perfect drop cloths for painting and craft projects. Other bed linens can be cut up into appropriate sizes and used for lint-free cleaning chores. Donate worn blankets and towels to either local animal shelters or your veterinarian.
Become a permanent resident of Conservation Nation
Save energy as well as money by performing the following no- or low-cost actions. Be vigilant about turning off all appliances and electronic equipment when not in use; unplug or recycle that second refrigerator or freezer. Use the washer, dryer and dishwasher only when you have a full load. Replace all standard incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), which last 10 times longer and use up to 75 percent less power. To provide light outside the home, replace old fixtures with automatic motion sensors. Reduce heat loss by adding weather stripping around doors and windows and keeping a cover on your pool and spa.
By investing in new Energy Star home appliances you will be using 10 – 50 percent less energy and water and certain products will net you a nice rebate from PG&E. Make certain when you replace you water heater it has an Energy Factor (EF) of .62 or higher for a gas unit or .93 or higher for electric.
The City of Sonoma offers numerous tips and rebates to assist homeowners with conserving water. Begin by taking part in the WaterSmart Program. Call 707.547.1910 and schedule an appointment to have a free water evaluation, after which water saving recommendations will be offered. Free water conservation fixtures, including showerheads, faucet aerators and hose nozzles, are yours for the asking at Sonoma City Hall. The purchase of a new ultra low-flow toilet on the city’s list makes you eligible for a $150 rebate.
Learn and live by the New Three “Rs”
Reduce, reuse and recycle should be your mantra for the new year. The California Integrated Waste Management Board reminds us that recycling should be your last resort. Recycling is important, but it does consume energy and resources. Begin the process by reducing the generation of waste. Substitute reusable items for consumable items. If you must make new purchases buy only recycled products and products made of recycled materials.
Reduce the influx of wasteful packing by buying in bulk when certain nothing will be wasted and by purchasing items made by manufacturers who have chosen to use less packaging. Avoid like the plague plastic packaging that is not recyclable and remember that nearly all plastic is a petroleum product. Reduce unwanted mail by contacting Direct Marketing Mail Preference Service and ADVO Inc. and get off their junk mailing lists. Call the toll-free numbers on catalogues you no longer wish to receive and tell them to stop mailing them to you. Do your banking online and have your bank email you statements. Arrange to have all your bills emailed to you.
Speaking of the wasteful use of paper, try and eliminate your family’s use of paper towels. Reuse absorbent old towels and sponges for general cleaning and spills; beyond-their-prime t-shirts for cleaning windows and mirrors; and cloth napkins instead of paper, which will also lend an air of sophistication to your table. Cloth grocery bags are inexpensive, more sturdy and bigger than paper or plastic bags. Who really needs that glut of paper next to the refrigerator or wad of white plastic multiplying all over the house? Purchase rechargeable batteries and a battery charger for every item that requires a power source. It will save you money and spare you extra recycling actions.
Take your recycling efforts to the next step by making certain there are containers in several strategic locations in your house. Contact the company that performs your curbside collection to make certain you are taking full advantage of recycling. Recycling Centers are locally available to collect batteries, hazardous chemicals, motor oil and even demolition debris. Old computers and electronics should be taken to the Computer Recycling Center in Santa Rosa. If they can be refurbished they go to the needy, if not hazardous materials are removed and most everything else is recycled.
Resources
Visit Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s Web site,
www.pge.com, for more tips on saving energy in your home.
The City of Sonoma’s Web site, www.sonomacity.org,
offers information about water conservation.
California Integrated Waste Management Board’s
Web site, www.ciwmb.ca.gov, can help you reduce, reuse
and recycle.
Where to take old electronics:
Sonoma County Eco-Desk can be reached at 707.565.3375 or www.recyclenow.org,
Goodwill can be reached at 707.523.0550 or by visiting
www.gire.org.
Computer Recycling Center is available at 707.570.1191 or www.crc.org.
Where to recycle batteries:
Best Buy, Home Depot, Longs Drugs and other electronic retailers will recycle batteries for free.
