Save Energy, Gas, Money and More With Your Home Improvements

High gas prices at the pumps and higher utility and other bills all adds up one thing. It's time to think more and more about conservation and savings efforts, especially with your home improvements. Here are some tips to help you get more and use and spend less:

• Your shower - Take a shower over a bath and upgrade your shower head to an energy saver model. You will use less water in a shower then you will by taking a bath. That means less hot water usage and in turn less energy to heat the water. Bath tubs take a huge amount of water to fill up, leaving you with much more energy needs. That is unless you happen to take very long showers and in that case, try to cut down on the length of your shower for sheer improvement in your energy bills quickly.

• Laundry - When washing clothing, consider washing in the coldest setting allowable for the fabric and look into replacing your current model washer and dry with energy efficient units for long term savings and conservation. This also means no over dry clothing; set your timer to alert you as soon as the laundry is dry rather than when the timer ticks on. Plus only wash clothing in full loads. Smaller loads just waste water and money in energy. You may also want to consider new detergents that claim to be able to wash your laundry with just as much benefit in cold water.

• Your cooking habits - The way that you cook also makes a difference. In the summer, use the outdoor or indoor grill to keep the heat from the oven out of the home. In the winter, back breads and make dinner around the middle to late afternoon when it is the coldest. This will help to keep up your home. Your cook top should also be used more often then your oven as it uses less energy to work. Look at energy ratings on your cooking alliances and grills.

• To conserve automotive fuel, start by checking the air pressure in your tires. If your tires are not filled correctly, you will not get the most mileage for your vehicle. If they are under or over filled, you could be wasting money. If you are not sure, check your owner's manual for specifications. Check your tires at least once per week. And before you head out for home improvement projects, check around first and find your hammer, duct tape and other materials before you buy more. You may find what you need around the house without wasting gas and time running around town.

• Change your oil regularly, per your manufacturer's guidelines. Doing this regularly will allow you to get the highest function from the vehicle including in gas savings.

• Drive correctly. Do not step on the gas pedal hard. Ease into speed. Drive at the speed limit which has been created to help you to save gas. If you drive quickly and start quickly, the vehicle needs to use more fuel and that wastes money in your pocket.

• Most experts agree that there is little fuel savings from more expensive qualities of fuel. Stick to the lower costing product unless your vehicle specifies a higher quality is a must.

• Driving with the windows up or down does not matter as much as having the air conditioning on full blast. Even on the freeway, keeping your windows down and the air conditioning off is much more cost effective.

You can easily add these into your every day usage and see benefits right away from doing so. Energy conservation does not have to be hard or challenging, but should be smart.