Dishwasher: Run full loads to save energy and don't pre rinse. Do both and you'll save up to 20 gallons of water per dish load or 7,300 gallons a year!

Microwave: Keep your microwave clean to maximize its energy. This means less electircity used, less money spent! It costs ten cents to cook one item in a microwave, it would cost forty-eight cents to cook the same item in a standard oven.

Refrigerator: Keep your head ot of the refrigerator and the door closed! The refrigerator is the single biggest energy consuming kitchen appliance and opening the refrigerator door accounts for between $30 and $60 of a typical family's electricity bill each year!

Stove: Use the right sized pot for your stove burners. You could save about $36 annually for an electric range or $18 for a gas range.



These tips come from the book: the green book The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen

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~Happiness is a large family~

I use an old Softsoap pump for dishwashing liquid--I fill it with 1/3 Dawn, 2/3 water. A small bottle lasts 6 months this way--when I just poured from the bottle, I went through a bottle a month. I would love a prettier pump, but don't want my savings on soap to go toward a new dispenser!
I keep two sets of dishtowels: the old, ratty terry cloth towels and the pretty, embroidered flour sack towels. The terry cloth are for cooking, wiping up spills, drying countertops, and spot-mopping the floor. The pretty towels are for drying clean hands and clean dishes only. This saves on laundry because I always know which towel is clean instead of having three or four out that I'm not sure about. It also saves on paper towels.
My coffee pot came with a permanent filter. After 2 years, it is still going strong. We make at least 2 pots a day, so even if I had to purchase a new one (about $5) it would still save me money over using paper filters.
I nuke my sponge in the microwave for 2 minutes after doing the dinner dishes. My sponges last about a month now instead of a week.
I use dishtabs instead of liquid/powder in my dishwasher. I stock up when they're ten cents or less a piece, and I always know exactly how many loads I can do before they run out. I have a hard time accurately measuring liquid/powder and hate never knowing how much is left.

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SAHMmy Says
Your Bossy Sister is a Stay At Home Mom!

Now I could keep it clean if DH would just put a cover over his dish.

Great tips!

For the dawn does it still work well with pots and pans? I don't want to water it down to end up using more?

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Did you know you can wash your sponges in the laundry? I've used the same one for months, just by regularly washing it in my laundry load of towels, dishcloths etc. Works perfectly!

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Children Learn What They Live, And Live What They Learn.
What have you taught your child today?
When life throws you a curve ball...it's up to you how you catch it!

If you're going to turn on your standard oven, cook more than one thing at the same time. For instance, I always cook two cookie sheets of cookies at once. If I'm roasting a chicken, I always toss in a few foil wrapped potatoes, too, even if we won't be eating them until another meal.

To keep your microwave running longer, let it air out! All that moisture gets to the electronics in the control panel. Leave the microwave oven door slightly ajar after using it so the inside can dry out.

Same goes for the dishwasher or washing machine - let the humidity vent.

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"Poor people work for their money. Rich people make their money work for them."

I never thought of that! Does that mean I should keep it wet in there if i'm trying to make a case for a new one :P Ours is a real stinker. I wish durable goods were actually durable nowadays.

My dishwasher has a heat dry feature that comes on every time we start the dishwasher. I always turn it off and let them air dry. I also get the cheapest liquid I can, whether it's the name brand with coupons or the generic, and I only fill the dispenser 1/2 full. My dishes have always come out clean.

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There are more than 40 different types of congenital heart defects. Little is known about the cause of most of them. There is no known prevention or cure for any of them.
My Blog:Musings of a Heart Family

My stove has an oven drawer where some stoves have a pot or warming drawer.I use that for most of our meals instead of heating up the entire oven. I picked it out just for the small oven.