Everyone nowadays is talking about going green and a lot of families are making the effort to conserve energy and save money.  In this economy, a penny saved really is a penny earned.  One of the best things about starting conservation efforts around the house is that you can instill some good habits into your children that will stay with them for a lifetime.

So, where to start?  Well, if you aren't already doing so, start recycling your paper, plastics, and glass.  If you've never done it before, it can be a bit of a nuissance at first, but after awhile, it becomes a habit for you just like it does for them.  Another great idea, especially if you're into gardening, is to start a compost project.  You can buy or build a simple compost bin relatively cheap, or if your budget is really tight, you can just make a compost pile in one corner of the backyard.

Another great conservation effort that is fairly inexpensive is to switch over to using compact flourescent light bulbs.  If you haven't seen them, then I suggest you check them out, because not only do they conserve energy, but they also save you money on the electric bill.  We've seen our own electric bill drop steadily as we slowly replace all of the bulbs in the house.  The compact flourescent bulbs are more expensive than typical light bulbs (about $10 for a pack of 4 around here), but you only need to replace them evey 5 years or so, in most cases, and some of them are even warrantied for 5 years.  The ones we use are 13 watt bulbs, which put off the same amount of light as a 60 watt incandesent bulb - that's an energy consumption cut of more than 75%.  The best way we've found to change over is to replace any incandescent bulbs that burn out with the new compact flourescents.  That way we aren't spending $100+ to replace the bulbs all at once.  We've almost replaced all of our old bulbs at this pont.  One thing you might want to look into, though, is the "instant on" versions of the CF bulbs.  Some of the older models take about 60 seconds or so to "warm up" to their full output, which can take some getting used to.

That's all for this article, but I'll be posting some useful green links in the "parenting resources" section of the site as I find them.