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It’s taken quite a few years to get our house looking more like we want it. We’ve been actively working at ways to save energy in the process. One of the changes that we made that had the most immediate noticeable effect was switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). What a difference that made in the temperature of our house! You don’t realize how much heat (and energy) normal bulbs waste until you get rid of them.

Despite all our changes, I’m sure there are still additional things we could do. It would be nice to know ahead of time what type of effect on our wallet making the changes might have. To that end, a couple of experts from the Home Depot have volunteered to answer questions. If you have any questions on home improvement projects that can help you save energy and reduce costs, or on “green” products, leave them in the comments or send me an email with them. They’ll be answered in a future post.

Meanwhile, here are some articles on other subjects that might interest you:

Jonathan Fields asks “What do you want to be known for?”. What would happen if we lived a more deliberate life? Intentions help us head in the direction that we’d ultimately like to be.

Frugal Dad explains how they arrived at the amount for their initial emergency fund when they were just getting started. Emergency funds are the greatest idea!

Clever Dude shops around for contact lenses and gets a much better deal by doing so. I usually get my contacts at Costco, but should probably shop around as well before doing so this time. (Eyeglasses are a different story, I’ll be ordering from Zenni Optical again.

Squawkfox offers a first apartment essentials checklist. While I know that it’s possible to do without many of the items on the list, I like it because it points out so many of the things that people often don’t consider before moving out on their own for the first time. Better to be forewarned about the many potential expenses.

Quest for Four Pillars talks about pricing. As a small business owner I can attest that properly pricing your products or services is hard to do. And people DO value things differently based on the price.

Canadian Capitalist discusses investing in an inflationary world, describing how how various asset classes have behaved in an inflationary environment.

MoneyNing points out that you never have to wait for a check again. He explains how to do most of your transactions electronically using a variety of methods. I love almost never having to write a check.

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