Home improvement projects are great. After all, who wouldn’t want to improve the beauty and value of their home every once in a while? The trouble is, updating a home can really put a dent in your bank account. Making an educated and economical decision is everything when it comes to home improvement. Here are seven smart home improvements provided by one of our favorite blogs, the Money Pit:
1) Replace kitchen countertops (Recycled and composite surfaces are available) 2) Remodel your bathroom for comfort and safety 3) Paint! 4) Construct a deck or patio 5) Improve your front yard landscaping 6) Improve your home’s energy efficiency 7) Organize your home
These steps are both easy to do and cost efficient. Each one can be completed for under $1,000. So, whenever you are ready to take your home to the next level, remember these seven tips. Your home will be forever grateful.
How many times have you needed to use a flashlight, but it was missing batteries or the batteries were dead? This problem is compounded by the fact that you have to find new batteries in the dark! Needless to say, flashlights with alternate power sources have caught my eye. NightStar’s shakable flashlight is one great solution. With every shake, it passes a magnet through coils embedded in the flashlight to produce electricity. Thirty seconds of shaking produces up to 20 minutes of light for use in or out of your home. Applied Innovative Technologies sells the flashlight for approximately $30 on its site.
Everywhere you look today people are talking about the high price of gas and how we can reduce our usage. Now Design Within Reach is offering the Neuton Battery-Powered Mower to help. The Neuton's 24-volt rechargeable battery gives it enough charge to mow for 45 to 60 minutes and produces no CO2 emissions. Given that about 800 million gallons of gas are burned annually mowing lawns, this is a chance to make a big change.
Solar power has plenty of potential but right now the start-up costs can be high—between $20,000 to $35,000 for solar panels—before rebates. But a new company called SunRun is looking to change all that. SunRun installs solar panels on customers' homes but the panels are owned and maintained by the company; customers pay only for the electricity generated by the solar panels. After paying a small up-front fee, SunRun customers lock into a electricity rate that is lower than the retail utility rate. The company is obviously doing something right as they recently raised $12 million in venture capital funding.
You may remember the recent scare about trace amounts of mercury in CFLs (compact fluorescent lights), those energy-saving wonder lightbulbs. While the mercury is not a danger in household use, it can be a problem when thousands of the CFLs are improperly discarded and put into a landfill. But now Home Depot has started a recycling program for these bulbs. It will now take back CFLs at all of its 1,973 stores nationwide. Previously, customers had to seek out local hazardous waste programs or smaller retail stores for recycling, leading to a two percent recycling rate. Both Home Depot and Wal-Mart are heavily promoting CFLs, which are 10 times as energy-efficient as conventional bulbs.
If you enjoy drinking beer and like the idea of solar energy, I've found the web page for you. It provides detailed instructions for creating a solar heating panel made entirely of old beer cans. Why use beer cans? The authors provide a list of reasons, but my favorite is "Instead of buying a sheet of aluminum for $24 at Home Depot, you get to drink $24 worth of beer." Sounds good to me.
With energy costs skyrocketing, homeowners are looking for ways to save money. One of the easiest ways is to use a programmable thermostat. It's estimated that doing so can shave about 10 percent off your annual heating and cooling bill. But not only are programmable thermostats good for your wallet, their efficiency is also good for the environment. Each properly used programmable thermostat reduces the use of 1,847 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions a year. So, why not use a programmable thermostat? Energy Star makes it easy with this page of tips and a video podcast on using a programmable thermostat. And installation is easy. BobVila.com's Step by Step How To video, "Replacing a Mercury Thermostat with a Programmable One", shows you how.
