Curb Appeal

Don’t let the cold winter months get your curb appeal down! Visit your local garden center, botanical garden or arboretum to get ideas on how to lighten up your landscaping naturally by using various shades of green, gold, copper, bronze and burgundy.  If that’s still not enough, there are even spray paints made for grass that you can apply to help liven it up!

Conserve energy while you cook

We all want to save money on our power bills. Here are some tips to help you save energy: #1- Don’t peak! (We’re all guilty of this!) Every time you open the oven door, the temperature inside is reduced as much as 25 degrees. This forces your oven to use more energy to get back to the proper temperature, not to mention delaying your tasty meal! #2- Which baking dish are you using? This will help determine how high you really need to set the oven temperature. If you’re baking in a ceramic or glass dish, did you know you can typically set your oven for 25 degrees less than the recipe calls for? #3- Use your smaller appliances. Start using slow cookers, microwaves, toaster ovens and warming plates. The average toaster oven could use up to half the energy of the average electric stove over the same cooking time. To find out more information to help you estimate how much energy your appliances are using, visit EnergySavers.gov.