A step-by-step plan to lead a more eco-friendly life and save yourself a little money.

Reduce Water Temperature. Cooling your water heater from 140°F to 120°F will not only prevent burns, but will save up to 10% of your home’s energy usage.

Buy Local. Shopping at a local farmers market or buying local in your grocery store doesn’t just support your area’s agriculture, it cuts down or out the CO2 emissions that result from the thousands of miles food normally travels to get to your table.

Stop Idling. Idling your car for more than 30 seconds gets 0 miles to the gallon. If Americans reduced their idling by 2 minutes, it would save our country 400 million gallons of gasoline per year.

Recycle. Sorting and recycling your trash works! If every American recycled just their Sunday paper each week, it would save 500,000+ trees every week and create more recyclable fibers for the paper industry.

Change Your Bulbs. Compact fluorescent light bulbs produce the same amount of light as standard incandescent bulbs but consume 1/3 of the energy. They also last 10 times longer. Switching just 5 bulbs in your home or office can save almost 500 pounds of CO2 and $40 per year in energy costs.

Adjust Your Thermostat. Turning your thermostat down 2° in the winter and up 2° in the summer not only saves energy, but can reduce your heating bill by 3% each day.

Reuse Your Bags. The US consumes approximately 100 billion plastic bags each year. Using a canvas bag for your market shopping will save almost 1000 bags per year.

Take Better Showers. Showers account for 32% of a home’s water usage. Keeping your showers to 10 minutes and installing a low-flow showerhead can save a family of 4 up to 20,000 gallons of water each year.

Pump Your Tires. 25% of all cars on the road have under-inflated tires. If all drivers checked their air pressure it could save over 800 million gallons of gasoline.

Sign up for Green Energy. Over 50% of electricity consumers now have the option to purchase green power. Visit www.doe.org to check your state’s availability.

Slow Down. Speeding decreases a car’s fuel economy by as much as 7%. If 1/3 of all drivers decreased their speed by 5 mph it would save 2.5 billion gallons of gas.

Visit the Car Wash. If you wash your car, use a professional car wash. Car washes use an average of 32 gallons of water per vehicle, whereas cleaning your car in the driveway uses 10 times that amount.

Don’t Wash the Dishes. Loading the dishwasher will save as much as 20 gallons per full load than hand washing or presoaking. And, your dishes will be just as clean.

Repair Leaks. Check your house for leaky faucets and running toilets. Fixing leaks can save up to 2,700 gallons of water per year.

Use Cold Water. Washing clothes in cold water saves approximately 85% percent of the energy used to machine-wash clothes and gets them just as clean.

Buy a Water Filter. Manufacturing 17, 1.5 liter bottles for water releases 40g of hydrocarbons, 25g of carbon minoxide, 20g of nitrogen oxides and 2.3 kg of carbon dioxide into the air. Plus, bottled water consumes exorbitant energy costs in the transportation of the materials to the manufacturer and then to the market.

Know Your Waste. Nearly 4500 tons of mercury is released into the atmosphere each year. Reduce this toxic emission by donating cell phones, computers and other electronics instead of throwing them in the trash.

Reduce Your Carbon Footprint. Carbon and lifestyle calculators like the one at www.earthlab.com show you how big of a footprint you’re leaving and what you can do to reduce it.

Carpool. Carpooling not only saves gas and money, but reduces almost 10% of your monthly carbon emissions.