Tens years ago, in 2008 my family started a year long product to reduce how much energy we use and our bill in our new home because a ton of Greenzillas said I couldn’t until I trashed all of my conventional and came new with the house major appliances and systems and replaced them with new super duper high efficiency (and expensive) everything.
I blogged about our new habits and inexpensive energy efficient DIY projects right here on Condo Blues in the very first year of this blog. Long story short, we reduced our use by 32% and kept it that way while staying toasty warm, clean, and well fed.
And using less energy than comparable families and homes in our area – including the Energy Star rated homes of which we are not.
Until recently when natural gas bill started to creep higher. Not break the bank, we’rel going to starve high, but high enough to knock our house from constantly rating Very Good to smack dab in the middle of Good.
I wanted to figure out what’s going on because I had bragging rights on the line!
Turns out we were wasting too much energy heating water and after addressing Tips One through Three we lowered our energy and hot water heating bill.
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Sunday, January 14, 2018
How to Make a Hanging Mittens, Gloves, and Hat Closet Organizer – Winter Gear Storage Made Simple!
My coat closet is a big, hot, disorganized mess! Hats, gloves, mittens, and scarves play hide and seek way too often. I can’t tell you how many times I took Lacey outside wearing non matching gloves because I couldn’t find a pair in the hall closet.
I resisted organizing our hats and gloves using a hanging shoe organizer on the back of the closet door for many years because the pockets aren’t large enough to store scarves (hand knitted courtesy of my mother in law. Thanks Mom!) and they rip easily with heavy use.
The solution was to sew my own custom hanging closet winter hat, glove, and mitten organizer. If you can sew a straight line, you can make this project. It only looks complicated but it is not. I promise!
Disorganized coat closet BEFORE
I am not proud of this
I resisted organizing our hats and gloves using a hanging shoe organizer on the back of the closet door for many years because the pockets aren’t large enough to store scarves (hand knitted courtesy of my mother in law. Thanks Mom!) and they rip easily with heavy use.
The solution was to sew my own custom hanging closet winter hat, glove, and mitten organizer. If you can sew a straight line, you can make this project. It only looks complicated but it is not. I promise!
How to Sew a Closet Door Pocket Organizer
Thursday, January 11, 2018
Friday Favorites Linky Party 407
Let's get this party started! Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us this week.
Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:
Amy at A Day of Small Things - Pin
Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL
You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!
If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!
Sunday, January 7, 2018
6 Ways to Insulate a Drafty Sliding Glass Door
I walked from my toasty warm home office to the kitchen downstairs. It was so cold I almost felt like someone left a window open in the dead of winter.
I found and sealed the interior air leaks around my windows, water pipes, and front and back doors years ago and mulled over what could be wrong when the cold air hit me.
I didn’t weatherize, weather strip, or check the sliding glass door for air leaks when I did the rest of the house.
I didn’t need to light a candle or stick of incense and run it along the patio door to find warm escaping because the air leak was so big and blatant it almost smacked me right in the face. There is absolutely no weather stripping between the stationary and sliding glass doors. Take a look!
I found and sealed the interior air leaks around my windows, water pipes, and front and back doors years ago and mulled over what could be wrong when the cold air hit me.
I didn’t weatherize, weather strip, or check the sliding glass door for air leaks when I did the rest of the house.
I didn’t need to light a candle or stick of incense and run it along the patio door to find warm escaping because the air leak was so big and blatant it almost smacked me right in the face. There is absolutely no weather stripping between the stationary and sliding glass doors. Take a look!
There’s yer problem!
Sliding doors can be tricky to weather-strip and seal to prevent drafts and leaking air if you need to use the door during the winter but it is not impossible.
6 Ideas for Winterizing a Sliding Patio Door
Thursday, January 4, 2018
Friday Favorites Linky Party 406
Welcome to our first creative roundup of the new year!
Let's get this party started! Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us this week.
Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:
Amy at A Day of Small Things - Pin
Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL
You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!
If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
The 15 Best DIY and Green Living Ideas You Need to Try Right Now!
We’re celebrating the New Year by taking a look back at some of our favorite Condo Blues DIY projects for 2017.
From the looks of it, there are a bunch of you who like to garden but hating watering plant and like to decorate and make things with recycled materials and add green home improvements to our homes, myself included!
Pin this post for later and to share with your friends!
From the looks of it, there are a bunch of you who like to garden but hating watering plant and like to decorate and make things with recycled materials and add green home improvements to our homes, myself included!
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