Nine easy ways to save energy in your house

Maybe you’re a full-fledged tree hugger who’s already drooling over the new Ford Fusion Energi electric hybrid sedan. Or maybe you’re just hoping to save a few bucks on your next electric bill or make your living room a little less frigid during the cold months of winter. Either way, taking steps to reduce your electricity and energy use at home is a smart choice — and the good news is you won’t have to replace all your windows or move to a yurt do it. Here are a few quick and easy projects to get you started.
1. Insulate electrical outlets. Insulate the electrical outlets in your house that are located on exterior walls. Your local hardware store probably sells foam socket sealers that will help block cold or hot outside air from entering your home. You’ll need a screwdriver to remove the outlet plates or switch plates, but the whole process shouldn’t take more than a few minutes per outlet.
2. Get an energy audit. Pay attention to your utility bill. Some utility companies occasionally offer a free energy audit, which typically entails a home inspection from a utility employee. If your electric bill seems high and you can’t figure out the reason, getting an audit is a great starting point for investigation; the results will help you understand the factors that may be affecting your energy use, such as drafty windows or a poorly insulated roof. If you’re lucky, the utility company may even throw in a few energy-saving freebies such as low-flow faucet heads or compact fluorescent light bulbs.
3. Switch to fluorescent light bulbs. Replace your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs or LEDs. Compact fluorescent bulbs are brighter and more efficient than incandescent bulbs; they may be more expensive up front, but they’ll last much longer. LED lights are another option that’s even more energy efficient; the downside is that they’re pretty pricey (expect to spend $20 or so per bulb). If the light generated by fluorescent bulbs is too harsh or industrial for your taste, try replacing existing incandescent bulbs with incandescent bulbs with lower wattage.
4. Give your fridge a hand. Vacuum the coils on your refrigerator. Pet hair and dust bunnies accumulate on the coils over time, causing the fridge to have to work harder to get rid of the heat. If you clean off the coils now and then, the fridge will have less work to do and will use less energy.
5. Block off unused heat registers. Be smart about heating and cooling. Is there a room in your home you rarely use? Is there a register in your laundry room two feet away from the furnace, resulting in a double dose of hot air? In rooms you don’t really need to heat and cool, insert something in the register to block it off and redirect the air flow toward other areas of the house.
6. Close the chimney flue. If you have a fireplace, make sure the chimney vent is closed, unless you are about to make a fire. This helps insulate your home from warm or cold air, so your heating and air conditioning won’t require as much energy. Closing the chimney flue also prevents wildlife from taking up residence there. Trust us on this one: Having a live raccoon fall down your chimney in the middle of the night is an experience you’d rather omit from your bucket list.
7. Winterize windows and doors.
If you live in a place with long, cold winters and your home is drafty, it’s definitely worth investing in winterizing supplies. Double-sided foam tape can help plug gaps along the edges and bottom of exterior doors and window frames so the wind doesn’t whistle through your kitchen.
If you notice lots of cold air coming through the windows, consider getting a window insulator kit. Most kits contain what looks like a large roll of ordinary double-sided tape and several giant sheets of plastic wrap. Installation is simple. Outline the window frame with double-sided tape, stretch an appropriate-sized piece of plastic wrap over the window, and blow dry the plastic until it tightens up like a drum. Yes, your windows will look a little odd for a day or two until you get used to it, but the difference in warmth is noticeable.
8. Turn down appliances.
Besides your HVAC system itself, the fridge, freezer, and hot water heater are probably the biggest energy users in your home. Check the thermostat in your refrigerator and freezer; your fridge should be set between 37 and 40 degrees and your freezer at about 5 degrees. Hot water heaters are typically set at 140 degrees, but you can probably get away with setting yours at 120 degrees unless you have health concerns that require extra-hot water. For more tips on optimizing home energy use, check out the U.S. Department of Energy website.
9. Insulate hot water pipes. If you have easy access to your hot water heater, hot water pipes, and heating ducts, insulate them with foam or insulator foil. It’s a little bit of trouble, but the energy-saving results are impressive, especially considering that the materials are relatively inexpensive.

Read more: Nine Ways To Reduce Energy Costs In Your Home: Tecca Tuesday Tech Update | REALTOR.com® Blogs

Want to sell? Bye bye, wallpaper...

Wallpaper, huh … What is it good for?… Absolutely nothing!
Well not exactly, but you’re not going to like the answer. If the wallpaper on your walls was applied within the past decade—maybe you’re ok. If it was installed any time before that – uh oh.  If it was applied before you moved in – you’re in need of an intervention.
To buyers wallpapered walls, unlike painted walls, represent a lot of time, work and money. When they view a house that has wallpaper they are immediately turned off.  I have taken buyers through homes that had every feature they truly loved, only to reject it because of wallpaper.  In their minds they envision a huge job ahead of them before they can feel settled in a home. Very often wallpaper will have a print or style that will clash with their furnishings. It is disconcerting to them and causes them to start deducting big bucks from the sale price of the home; if they are at all willing to consider it.
A room painted in a color that clashes with a buyer’s furnishings is easy and inexpensive to remedy. They know that. But in their minds wallpaper is much trickier and thoughts turn to:
Will it come off without damaging the walls? How many layers are there? How much time is this going to take? How much would it cost to have a professional do it?
To them they are all reasonable, unanswerable questions. To you, the seller, that is another scenario.
Since I recently worked on this project myself, I can give you a bit of insight as to what is involved and how to go about it. To transform an average sized room from bad to rad will take two people a weekend (including Friday after work as prep time). The key is to rent a wallpaper steamer. Many of the big home improvement stores or local rental facilities have them. A steamer will make the job go much quicker and will cause less damage to the walls. Two cautionary notes:
1. Be careful not to allow the steamer to drip on your skin. It is boiling hot water in there. 2. Protect your furniture, floors or carpets by covering them.
You can search the internet for videos and how to information about the process.  Here is one to get you started.  http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-remove-wallpaper-with-steam/index.html
Once you have removed the wallpaper a critical step is to scrub off all of the glue from the walls with a scrubby sponge and water. If you don’t the paint will not go on smoothly, or worse yet it won’t stick. A little spackling and sanding will patch up those oops areas and any other holes left in the walls.
Now you’re ready to paint. Well, almost. You need to apply primer to the walls before you can apply your preferred paint color. Believe it or not paint over non-primed walls that were formerly wallpapered can slide right off the wall. The person in the paint store would be a trusted adviser as to whether those paint/primer combos would be appropriate for this purpose. Don’t forget to give the ceiling a fresh coat of paint while you’re at it. Ceilings are very often overlooked, and yet a newly painted ceiling brightens everything.
See my blog post for help selecting paint colors.
By now your eyes are probably glazing over and your motivation waning.  That is exactly how buyers feel. Find out from your local painter how much it would be to have it professionally done. If you can afford it, by all means go for it. A job that might cost you $500 to have it professionally handled is far less than the price reduction a buyer will take for those unanswered questions they have in their minds.
I can honestly tell you from recent experience. Once the job is done it is truly rewarding.  The house looks better and you feel better. That burdensome project that has been looming over your head for years will have finally been lifted and you feel inspired.  Isn’t that how you want a buyer to feel? –Inspired.

Read more: Got Wallpaper? | REALTOR.com® Blogs