If you are switching cellphone carriers, you may not actually need to buy a whole new phone with your new carrier. Many cellphone companies that are competing for your business will activate a deactivated phone for you if you switch to their plans. The only way to know if your new carrier will do this is to bring in your working old phone and ask. This can obviously save you money over time, but it also cuts back on the electronic waste piling up in our homes.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

Take a look at your water heater’s temperature setting. It’s probably automatically set to 140 degrees. This is the temperature that water heaters are generally set at when installed in a home. You can save energy by lowering the water heater default temperature to as low as 120 degrees. It’s a small difference that’s virtually unnoticeable, but it’ll reduce water heating costs by up to 10 percent per year. That’s a big difference that’ll have you recouping dollars off your utility bills.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

Do you have a real working fireplace that goes totally unused? Many homes do, especially ones that are older and may have a broken damper inside the chimney. If fixing your fireplace is too cost-prohibitive, try this inexpensive energy-saving solution instead: Get a chimney balloon. This is an inflatable plastic pillow that is made with a very strong poly plastic. It inflates and creates a tight seal inside your fireplace. When you want to use the fireplace, it easily deflates, and it’ll inflate again and again, too.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION