The environmental consciousness here has influenced us a little bit. We've been doing more lately, in addition to all the things we've normally done motivated out of environmental concern, such as driving less and using reusable bags.

• Rather than leaving my phone charger plugged in all the time, I only plug it in when I'm using it, since it uses energy even if my phone isn't plugged in.


• I've also turned down the fridge so it wouldn't have to run as much.


• I've also been timing my showers to save water - doing something that my parents could never get me to do.


• We've also been turning off the surge protectors for the computer, TV, modem, and router at night, since these devices use electricity all the time, and from what I can tell, it doesn't hurt to turn them off nightly.


• We've also turned off the microwave clock, since there's one right below it on the stove. Why have two clocks right next to each other?

Most of these changes won't make much of a difference in our monthly bills, but if everyone did little things like this, the energy savings and decrease in pollution would be significant. Hopefully we can find more little, easy things to do to save energy.