We instituted a swear jar about a year ago and used the money for our vacation. Since we returned from our vacation the swear jar isn’t going as well as it was before the vacation for a couple of reasons. One, we just don’t swear as much and two, we just aren’t as dedicated to it as we were before the vacation.

I realize that you have to have some type of goal to keep things up, and this can be said for about anything.  I realized one reason why I am been keeping up with running is Nike + and the 10K training program sets the running goals.

Anyway, I had an idea about how to change the energy use habits of my daughter and husband and that is to institute an energy jar. Daughter has a very bad habit of leaving lights on and using the wrinkle guard on the dryer overnight. Husband has a bad habit of starting a half empty dishwasher, so I figured their energy indiscretions should cost them.

Leaving a light on = $1
Starting the dishwasher half empty = $3
Leaving the wrinkle guard on = $5
Leaving the refrigerator door open = $1
Leaving an outside door open = $1

Not sure what we’ll use the money for this time, but our energy bills are too high, so I am trying to figure ways to curb waste and one thing I noticed about our new washer is that it washes the clothes forever, so since we don’t roll around in the mud I figured I could lower the soil level so it doesn’t wash for an hour.

We instituted a swear jar about a year ago and used the money for our vacation. Since we returned from our vacation the swear jar isn’t going as well as it was before the vacation for a couple of reasons. One, we just don’t swear as much and two, we just aren’t as dedicated to [...]

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Did you know that if you have been a resident of Alaska for a year and intend to remain a resident you can apply for the Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD)? Actually, you and all of your kids providing you’re not a convicted felon. Big deal you say? This year the estimated payout is $2,000 that would be $6,000 if we qualified. On top of that each citizen is going to get $1,200 to help pay for their high fuel costs. Nice huh? I think so.

Did you know that if you have been a resident of Alaska for a year and intend to remain a resident you can apply for the Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD)? Actually, you and all of your kids providing you’re not a convicted felon. Big deal you say? This year the estimated payout is $2,000 that [...]

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TV shows, newscasts, newspaper articles and recently GE is pushing for people to go green and invest in green technology. We as a nation created this problem through complacency and ignorance to the problem. The problem? Nobody wants to change anything in their life that can cause them undue pain. People talk a good game, but when it comes down to actually getting involved with the basic of activities like recycling, how many people actually do it unless it is easy and requires little effort.

I am not trying to be a radical environmentalist, but rather making the point to clean up after yourself like you would (or at least should) when you make a mess. The argument that there is not a recycling program in my neighborhood is no argument. It is a cope out because finding a recycle center requires effort.

Taking care of your mess instead of just throwing it away and forgetting about it is a bad habit that breed’s irresponsibility for the future of our nation. One way to highlight this point is to recycle for a month plastics, glass and paper. Then see how much your waste goes down when you take your trash out every week. We are talking about a few things in order for this to happen.

1. Find a recycling center
2. Make some room where you can separate the materials
3. Drop off the recyclable waste.

Three steps to lessen the amount of energy used to convert raw materials and getting involved in a solution instead of contributing to the problem. The only question is can you give up some time and human energy to work on a positive habit? Or do you enjoy paying more and more for things and would like to wait till the pain is so overwhelming it will cost more to fix.  The choice is yours.

TV shows, newscasts, newspaper articles and recently GE is pushing for people to go green and invest in green technology. We as a nation created this problem through complacency and ignorance to the problem. The problem? Nobody wants to change anything in their life that can cause them undue pain. People talk a good game, [...]

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