By hanging your clothes out to dry on a clothesline you will save a lot of energy and your clothes will last longer and retain their color better. Why put one of those fresh air dryer sheets in with your laundry when you can have the real thing!

Some other ways to reduce energy consumption when drying your clothes.

• Put a retractable clothesline in your basement for the winter months. This will actually help add humidity to the dry winter air in your home as well.
• Use a lower heat setting.
• Wear your jeans twice before washing them.

Replacing them all at once can also be expensive. Compact fluorescent bulbs cost considerably more so I would recommend just replacing your old bulbs as they burn out. You could also move your bulbs around so you use compact fluorescent bulbs in lights you use most often and put the old bulbs in rarely used lights to live out the rest of their lives. They will probably pay for themselves in energy savings over time but unless you have a lot of bulbs that are on all the time I don’t you aren’t going to see a drastic change in your electric bill. Every little bit counts though.

The U.S. government has also past regulations that will phase out the sale of incandescent bulbs in the U.S. by 2014. So you might as well do the environment and yourself a favor and start switching out those old light bulbs now.

I repaired the ducts and wrapped them with foil faced insulation from Home Depot which made an immediate difference since I wasn’t heating the attic anymore.

I started looking for deals on insulation and doing a little research on how much insulation should be up there. For my area (Chicago) most recommendations were between R-38 and R-50 in the attic. You can lookup your recommended R-values here. I found a rebate on insulation and ended up adding R-25 on top of what was already there which got me to about R-50. It took me one day to roll out a whole layer of insulation up there. It wasn’t very much fun because it’s a real tight space and I definitely recommend getting the encapsulated stuff if you are doing it yourself so you don’t get covered in fiberglass. But the difference was immediate, no more cold and drafty areas upstairs and the next months heat bill had a nice surprise. Although it was colder in December 2007 than it was in 2006 my Natural Gas usage dropped nearly 30% which lead to a nice savings.

Adding insulation to your home can be an easy weekend project which will conserve energy and conserve some cash. I spent about $400 on insulation and saved $60 on my first month’s gas bill. The insulation will more than pay for itself in a few months and will continue to save me money in heating and cooling bills for as long as I own the home.

Here’s some additional reading on the benefits of insulating you home better: http://www.ornl.gov/sci/roofs+walls/insulation/ins_01.html

I also recommend watching the newspaper or checking online for rebates or sales. I’ve see deals for rolls of insulation at buy one get on free. Some power and gas companies offer rebates and you may be eligible for a tax credit for the money you spend on adding insulation to your home.