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Green IS the color of money, after all...

I’ve found the best way to promote the virtue of a green lifestyle is to promote the value of a green lifestyle.
Not everybody cares about ‘saving the earth’ but nearly everyone cares about saving a buck.
It’s been a small triumph in my home that we’ve lowered our heating bill this winter – it’s been a challenge.
My home is an interesting mix. Two-thirds of the house was built in the 1950s and the other third is an addition that’s only a few years old. What results is a house that will be two-thirds freezing and one-third toasty…or vice-versa. Why the differing climates in one house? The newer part is insulated and sealed-up within an inch of airtight Tupperware and the older part of the house leaks like a sieve.
Lie on your belly in the living room, directly in front of the door, and you would be able to see my neighbor’s well-manicured lawn through the sliver of space between the front door and doorjamb.
It may seem like just a crack but during the coldest or hottest parts of the year, enough of those little gaps can cost you an arm and a leg.
It’s doing the earth no favor either when you compensate by jacking the heat or the AC up to counteract the leaks.
That gap…if it’s one-eighth of an inch wide the whole way round…is equivalent to having a six-inch square hole in the middle of you door.
Weather-stripping is by far one of the easiest ways to make your home more energy efficient — and one of the cheapest.
The cheapest of the cheap is to take a rolled up towel — or one of the knick-knacky rolls made for this very purpose — put it front of the gap that air is flowing through. Voilà! No more drafty door. (Or make your own like this blogger did.)
For something more permanent, but only a little more pricey, there pressure-sensitive adhesive-backed foam. It comes in rubber and plastic and in rolls of varying lengths and thicknesses. It’s not a forever fix but it’ll last around two years.
There are other types, too, and they run from cheap-o to high dollar. Whichever you chose, you’re making the right choice.
If you’re not sure where to start, the guys at Lowe’s were helpful with answering questions I had about weather-stripping (and I’m sure all home improvement stores around the area will be more than willing to educate about the advantages of weather-stripping). Local heating and air technicians can also give you a hand.
Check in next week to see which items are pulling double-duty in my house as we examine one of the three Rs of environmentalism “reuse”.

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