Flat Fee MLS Blog

  Need free boxes for your move or to store items while you sell your home?  If so, forget digging through the supermarket dumpster.  You can save yourself some money and trouble, while you recycle at the same time. 

The U-Haul Website has a Free Box Exchange Service.   The U-Haul Box Exchange is a messageboard that you can use to trade, sell or buy reusable boxes and moving supplies. With every reuse of a box, a new box is prevented from entering the cycle.

To get started, you will need to create a U-Haul Customer ID.   To post a new message or to see posted messages in your region, simply click on that region listed below.

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P.S.  Sellers should remember to take advantage of a free home listing at the InfoTube.net homes for sale website.  Thousands of Home shoppers visit the site daily to look for new listings, video tours, real estate advise and more.  Don’t miss the traffic.  The Infotube Featured Home Service is Free for Why6 customers.

Yes, you heard right…according to expert Brian Clark Howard, the latest announcement from Sam’s Club (the big box retailer of modern consumerism) is that they are poised to market solar panels at nine Southern California Clubs: Corona, Murrieta, Glendora, Ontario, La Habra, Chino, Long Beach, Fountain Valley and Torrance. These locations  have Home Effieciency Centers that have been created to showcase green products and appliances.

Sam’s Club is working with Borrego Solar Systems and BP Solar, and buyers can expect to save in the neighborhood of $500. Consumers can expect to see kiosks in participating stores that tout the benefits of solar energy.  The company is also ramping up offerings of Energy Star appliances, low-flow fixtures, DFLs, LEDs and other green building products.

The news from Sam’s Club echoes recent reports that IKEA is investing $77 million into its GreenTech energy fund, with the goal of producing and selling solar panels, efficiency meters, and energy efficient lighting. The green trend is finding its way into home marketing, as a selling tool and to educate homebuyers and sellers regarding energy efficiency that saves them money.

That Sam’s Club and IKEA are making forays into home renewable energy is big news. This will make a real dent in our current energy crisis and pave the way for a cleaner future. Alternative technologies available in stores across the Heartland will make this possible.

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                                                                                                         If you want to decrease your cooling expense, install some awnings. Awnings are great for summer and for winter. By blocking incoming solar rays, they decrease cooling loads, which are among the biggest expenses for buildings. In summer, awnings can intercept the near vertical solar rays, while letting in the low-angle rays of winter.

Awnings make rooms more comfortable and save money on high air conditioning bills. They can add value to your home because they ”dress-up” your home and smooth out the structural lines. If you are marketing your home to potential buyers, you can show them how awnings result in lower bills, and this is a memorable talking point.

Install some awnings over your windows and your home will be more energy efficient with less air conditioning use. You will save money while also adding value and curb appeal to your home.

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During previous decades,  “draft snakes” were regular accessories in many homes, particularly during the Great Depression and in other tight times, according to expert Brian Howard. But as current homeowners have gotten used to relatively cheap oil, these handy items have largely fallen out of favor. However reducing drafts in the home can cut down  on energy use 5 to 30%, according to the U. S. Dept. of Energy.

Place a rolled bath tower or custom-made “draft snake” across the bottom of leaky doors and windows. This will improve the efficiency of heating and cooling, which are typically the biggest energy uses in the home, as well as make your rooms more comfortable.

The best thing about a “draft snake” is that it is an extremely cheap and easy way to green up your living space.  You can buy premade ones, reuse an old towel or get crafty and make one out of scrap fabric, filled with sand or kitty litter for weight. Add humorous touches with googly eyes or felt tongues. Another idea: recycle old neckties into adorable “draft snakes.”

Here are 5 tips to tighten up your home’s envelope:

1. Seal your attic door

2. Install gaskets in outlets

3. Seal ductwork

4. Replace door gaskets

5. Repair window gaskets

Sealing against drafts will save you both energy and money.

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              Here are some eco-friendly suggestions for living greener, ranging from the simple to the more extreme:

 1. Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents. Switching to compact fluorescent lighting could save you $30. a year in electrical costs, and the bulbs last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

2. Turn off your tap while brushing your teeth. It will save you 10 gallons of water each time you brush.

3. Put your computer on sleep mode when you are not using it during the day. This can reduce the compter’s energy usage by 80 percent.

4. Buy groceries in bulk, not only to save costs, but also to reduce the amount of excess packaging you are throwing away.

5. Unplug appliances and other devices such as cell phone chargers, when not in use.

6. Skip the dry cycle on your dishwasher.

7. Start a backyard garden and produce as many of your own vegetables and fruits as you can.

8. Sell all but one car and use the bus-system to get around. If that isn’t possible, at least reduce the number of car trips your family makes. Carpool, walk or ride a bike.

9. Buy 120 watts of solar panels, LED lights and a solar refrigerator to reduce energy consumption.

10. Reduce your debt and consumption of resources and goods, even if it means living in a smaller house than you currently own.

11. Don’t isolate yourself from nature. Take time to enjoy the natural world and share the experience with others.

Think GREEN, people are realizing the environment is worth taking care of…be an optimist…there are big challenges, but we’re capable of dealing with them.

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If you garden consists of flowers, vegetables or a little of both, here are some tips to help you maintain a water-wise garden:

1. Water in the morning so roots have time to take up moisture before it evaporates during the heat of the day.

2. Install drip irrigation or soaker hoses to put water right at plants’ roots and prevent runoff.

3. Frequently check irrigation systems, sprinkler heads, etc. for leaks.

4. Water deeply but infrequently, causing roots to reach down into the soil for moisture and strengthen growth.

5. Use an organic mulch to keep roots moist and cool.

6. Reuse household water as much as possible (e.g.water from rinsing and cooking pasta and vegetables, cleaning aquariums and emptying coolers, vases, etc.)

7. Put up a rain gauge to help manage your water needs.

8. Clean decks, patios, sidewalks, etc, with a broom instead of a hose.

Remember, using rain barrels is a great way to water your garden and lawn and conserve water.

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 Houseplants can help remove certain harmful volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) from indoor air. Things nobody wants around their lungs or their kids.

According to NASA and the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA) in the late 1980’s they conducted a study of 19 houseplants and found that the plants had potential for capturing harmful gases. The study was an attempt to find ways to purify air for extended stays in orbiting space stations.

Many of these plants are adapted to tropical climates and grow under dense canopies and low-light conditions. They have to be superefficient in capturing light as well as in processing the gases necessary for photosynthesis. Because of these traits, they have greater potential for purifying the air in your home by capturing the harmful gases.

The next time you visit a local nursery, pick up a few of these common houseplants: palms, ferns, corn plant, dracaena, rubber plant, weeping ficus, english ivy, peace lily, dieffenbachia (dumb cane), schefflera, orchid, philodendron, pothos, dwarf banana and Chinese evergreen. Florist mums and gerber daisy will also do the job for you. What they learned in outer space can be applied to your inner space as well.

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                Quiet as the evening breeze and almost as green-installing an attic fan can bring the ancient wisdom of natural ventilation to your home with modern technology. Man has harnessed natural ventilation to keep his dwellings cool, yet the contemporary house ignores this idea, relying instead on creating a sealed and expensive conditioned environment.

Summer temperatures in an attic can get up to 220 degrees, and fans can bring that down to 100 degrees, cooling your whole house. Make sure you have venting fans in your attic, the temperature controlled type being the best. The cold air your air conditioner produces is being heated by the hot ceiling, making your AC much less efficient.

Air conditioning is the biggest electricity user in many homes. An AirScape whole house fan (WHF) can reduce or even eliminate the need for A/C and dramatically lower home energy use and the cost by up to 50%. In dry climates where evenings cool off, it just makes sense to harness the cool air that mother nature provides, rather than expensively manufacturing your own.

AirScape whole house fans are much more sophisticated than the old whole house fan: modern, energy-efficient and very quiet using advanced noise -reduction strategies. They are designed to run all night, steadily drawing cool fresh air in through open windows while exhausting hot stale air out through the attic roof vents. This flow creates a comfortable, natural living and sleeping environment while drawing heat out of the structure to reduce A/C load for the next day.

Conserve energy, save money, and help the planet….You’ll be thrilled you did!

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One hypothesis is that cacti evolved to counter the effects of harsh solar radiation. According to researchers at the Institute of Geobiology in Chardonne, Switzerland, they announced in the mid -1980’s that tests showed employees who used to suffer from headaches and tiredness felt better after working for two years with a cactus next to their monitors.

If you’re worried about the uncertainty surrounding possible links to cancer and other problems from electromagnetic fields (the science is unproven) but why not play it safe and enjoy a little nature while you work?

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                                Ceiling fans do a nice job of circulating air in the rooms that you occupy most, and they use only about 1/30th the electricity of a room air conditioner.  But if you can’t live without air conditioning, there are some greener options out there.

A single window unit that  keeps one room cool is far less energy intensive and polluting than central air conditioning that keeps all the rooms in the  house (including those you’re not using) cool. Look for new models that display the federal Energy Star label,  which marks units as energy efficient.

By investing in an Energy-Star certified air conditioner, you will see substantial savings in your energy bills, as well as enjoying high quality. Maximizing energy efficiency is a great way to relieve stress on the over-taxed power grid. Room air conditioners must be a t least 10% more efficient than typical models to achieve Energy Star, and central air must be at least 14%.

When the heat is sweltering , cooling costs really add up across the country. Home buyers and sellers, FSBO, and those listed on the MLS are all interested in saving money and decreasing our carbon footprint while staying cool.

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