Keeping Your House Green Without Spending Much: Bedroom Edition

So now we're moving on to the bedroom. If you are like me, you do more in your room than just sleep. I watch tv, read bedtime stories to my son, read my own stuff, grade school papers, work on powerpoints, etc. There are plenty of ways to be cheap and green in this room.

1) The tv. If you have a tv and/or vcr in this room, it's a good idea to plug them into a surge protector instead of straight into the wall. That way, when not being used, you can turn the surge protector switch off and avoid the "phantom power" drain.

2) Use compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. These light bulbs are much lower in greenhouse gases emitted than the standard incandescent bulbs and last about 50,000 hours. Good for the environment and your wallet. Worried about the mercury content? Home Depot is offering a recycling program for the bulbs that will keep the mercury out of landfills and water sources. In addition, there is much more mercury in your thermometer (500 mg) than the average cfl bulb (5mg).

3) Bundle up! I keep a lot of blankets on the bed because we turn the heat down at night. Just plain common sense.

4) Keep those drapes open if the sun shines in...my bedroom gets very warm, just from the sunlight. In the summer, I do the opposite- close the drapes when the sun beams in so that the room stays cooler.

5) Do your computing on a laptop. I use my laptop to finish work upstairs at night...laptops use less energy than desktops.

6) Be a morning person. There's nothing like waking up early and taking advantage of natural daylight instead of staying up late and using electricity to light up the room. :)

Do you have any tips for saving energy and money in the bedroom?