As your laundry accumulates, pre-sort it into designated baskets for lights, darks and whites. This way, a load will be ready to throw in the washer whenever you have a minute to spare.
While sorting, don’t forget to close zippers, clasp hooks and check pockets to prevent snags and avoid washing tissues, money, lipstick, etc.
Streamline the laundry process by incorporating storage solutions and flat working surfaces into your laundry room. This will keep laundry where it belongs and eliminate the need to treat, sort and fold in other rooms of the house.
Wash small loads as needed between laundry days. Today’s high efficiency washing machines use substantially less water and energy than a conventional top-loading washer. Which means you can do small loads when you have time, rather than waiting for the basket to fill up.
Don’t overload the washer or dryer. Clothes come out cleaner and less wrinkled when given room to move freely.

Follow these tips to cut your energy use at home:

Set your thermostat at 68 degrees F during the day and 60 degrees at night. You might need to wear a light sweater, but the change will show up on your bill.

Keep your lamps and TVs away from air-conditioning thermostats. The heat they produce can cause the unit to run longer.

Reduce your trips to the refrigerator. Up to 30 percent of the cold air escapes ecah time the door is opened.

Make sure your furniture is not blocking any vents or radiators.

Clean your dryer filter. A dirty filter can increase energy use by up to 30 percent.

This is little more involved:

Go to http://hes.lbl.gov to give your house and energy audit. Use the site to calculate you home’s energy use by entering your zip code. Then find out more ways to save energy.

I visited the site and found I could save up to $500 in energy costs. Of course some of those changes would require an initial cash output, for example, adding insulation to parts of my home, but the long term savings might make it worthwhile.

We’ve all experienced power outages and the mess of melted and spoiled food that must be cleaned once the power is restored. If the power is out for an extended period of time, the smell of rotten food can be hard to remove.

Here are step-by-step instructions from inrich.com for getting the smell out:

Start by cleaning the refrigerator compartment thoroughly. Anne Field, an emeritus extension specialist with Michigan State University Extension, suggests this method: Unplug the appliance, remove all food and removable interior parts, and wash the interior with a solution of 1 to 2 tablespoons of baking soda in 1 quart of warm water. Rinse and wipe dry.

Leave the door open and let the refrigerator air out, with a fan directed toward the inside. If weather permits, open the kitchen windows.

Field recommends washing removable shelves and other parts in a warm detergent solution. Don’t put glass or plastic parts in hot water, she cautions. They might crack, especially if they’re cold.

Clean the door gasket with a detergent solution, too.

Next, clean the freezer compartment following the instructions that came with the appliance manual. If you don’t have a manual, contact the manufacturer. Some can be found online.

Ways to absorb odors: If odor remains, Field suggests trying one or all of these removal methods:

Spread baking soda on shallow pans and place them on the shelves of the empty refrigerator to absorb odors. Leave the door open and the refrigerator unplugged.
Spread activated carbon, also called activated charcoal, in shallow pans and place the pans on the shelves. Turn the refrigerator on low and run it empty a few days till the odors are absorbed.
You can also try the same method with cat litter spread on shallow pans, several ounces of imitation vanilla (not pure vanilla extract) poured into a saucer or fresh ground coffee in cereal bowls. With the coffee method, a slight coffee odor might remain, but it can be removed by cleaning the refrigerator again with baking soda solution, Field says.
Pack each shelf of an empty refrigerator with crumpled newspaper. Set a cup of water on the top shelf or sprinkle the newspaper lightly with water. Allow the refrigerator to run for five or six days. This method takes longer, but Field says it can be effective in removing strong odors.
Buy a commercial odor remover. One brand Field suggests is Odors Away by Wrap-on Co., available at some hardware and hospital supply stores.
If none of the methods removes all the odor, Field says it probably has penetrated the insulation. You can contact an appliance service company for an estimate on the cost of removing the liner and replacing the insulation, but replacing the refrigerator may be a better choice, she says.

For the rest of the country facing cold winters, now is a prudent time to start winterizing your home.

Here are a few tips on getting your home ready for winter:

Furnace Inspection

Change your furnace filter, and remove anything flamable near your furnace.
Call a heating and cooling pro to inspect your ducts and your furnace.
Put in a digital, programmable thermostat.
Bleed your radiator if you have hot water heating.
Now might be a good time to look into a more modern, efficient furnace and heating system.

Check your Fireplace.

Here in Los Angeles, part of our smog prevention program outlaws the installation of new wood burning fireplaces, and severly restricts burning wood even in old classic brick chimney fireplaces. For the rest of the country, make sure the chimney has a proper screen or cap to keep out rodents and birds and to keep sparks from flying out and onto your roof. If your hasn’t been cleaned for a while, call a chimney sweep to remove soot and creosote. Check your damper for proper opening and closing, do a quick visual inspection of the chimney itself looking for cracks or problems with your mortar. Stock up with wood and you re ready to go.

Doors and Windows and Exterior Walls

Look for cracks, crevices and opening. Make sure your vent screens are well sealed. You would be amazed at how small a hole can provide a warm living space to a cold woodland creature or stray cat. We’ve had cats and possums try to set up homesteads under our house.
Keep in the warmth and keep out the cold with weatherstripping and caulk around doors and window jams. Protect your wooden doors by sanding, and painting or revarnishing any exposed surfaces. The front door on my hilltop colonial faces towards the ocean and goes from shiny to ratty in a matter of months from the alternating sun and rain of a single year. Switch summer screens with glass replacements or install your storm windows.

Inspect your Roof, Gutters & Downspouts

Now is the time to check flashing so water can’t seep in under your roof tiles. Flashing is all of the little steel sheets around your roof’s exhaust pipes and roof edges. Wind can push rain into places you never imagined and rot out your roof or puddle on your floors in just one season. Replace worn roof shingles or tiles, clean your gutters, wash out your downspouts and you are ready to go.

Check Foundations

Rake away all debris and plants from the foundation and the footings of your house
Make sure that all downspouts drain away from the house. When I bought my home, I discovered, in the middle of a major rainstorm that the downspouts on one side of the house drained into a courtyard sloped towards the house. When I discovered a lake under the house, I understood why the basement storeroom had been so mildewy when I bought the house. You should seal up any vents or entry points to keep small animals from crawling under the house. Inspect sills and exterior wood surfaces for dry rot or pest infestation. Don’t forget to close any crawlspace doors. Remember,critters are also looking for a warm winter home.

Don’t let your plumbing freeze
Locate your water main so you can shut off the water in an emergency. Drain garden hoses, air conditioner pipes, and insulate any exposed water pipes that might freeze in cold weather.

Refrigerator

Average life span: 14 years

What you need to do: Locate the condenser coils by checking your owner’s manual. Clean them by unplugging the fridge and removing dust gently with a broom or brush. Check the seals by sliding a piece of paper in the closed door. If it falls out, you need to replace your seals. And defrosting regularly can’t hurt.

Inspected and cleaned: Have it done if your at-home remedies don’t work or if there are noises you can’t locate.

Washer, dryer

Average life span: Washer: 12 years; Dryer: 14 years

What to do: Clean the dryer’s lint filter and hoses. Kinks or ridges can cause highly flammable lint to build up, a major cause of fire.

Inspected and cleaned: Replace the hoses on your washing machine every 3 to 5 years.

Window air conditioner

Average life span: 13 years

What you need to do: Changing the air filter every month helps the system run more efficiently and improves air quality. Dirt and neglect are the main causes of AC failures, so clean it well.

Inspected and cleaned: Do it twice a year, usually fall and spring.

Garbage disposal

Average life span: 13 years

What you need to do: Keep anything stringy, like pumpkin pulp, out of it. Also leave out tough produce, anything hard that can dull the blades, and grease, which can clog your pipes.

Inspected and cleaned: Have this looked at whenever your plumbing is checked.

Microwave

Average life span: 5 to 8 years

What you need to do: Microwaves are simple appliances; they don’t know the difference between the food you want cooked and old splatters in the chamber, so keep it clean and don’t exceed the recommended usage.

Inspected and cleaned: Anytime there’s a problem. You should never attempt to work on it yourself.

Dishwasher

Average life span: 9 to 12 years

What you need to do: Be mindful of what you put in it. Leave out small pieces that can get lodged in the drain and make sure everything is dishwasher-safe. Use a powdered detergent, because gels can cloud dispenser and glasswear. Spend the few dollars on a rinse aid, such as Jet-Dry, every month or so.

Inspected and cleaned: Every 2 to 3 years.

Water heater

Average life span: electric: 6 to 14 years; gas: 5 to 9 years

What you need to do: Check your hoses, fittings and release valves. Also watch for damaged areas on the outside of the tank and leaking.

Inspected and cleaned: Every couple of years.

Stove

Average life span: electric, 16 years; gas, 19 years

What you need to do: Check temperature with a thermometer or by following a basic white cake mix and making sure it cooks correctly. Keep it clean inside and out, using nonabrasive cleaners. Check your seals and the hinges, which can bend over time and let heat escape.

Inspected and cleaned: Any time it’s not heating properly.

Central air system

Average life span: 10 to 20 years

What you need to do: Check for leaks around the system and with hose connections. You should also change your filter monthly.

Inspect and cleaned: Seasonally

Be sure to turn off power to your furnace before working on it so that a motor doesn’t start while you’re tinkering. You can usually change a filter without turning off the gas or oil supply, but for all other maintenance be cautious and turn off the fuel supply. Before you do, be sure you know how to relight the pilot light. 

With almost any heating system, replacing the thermostat with a programmable digital thermostat will save energy. These thermostats automatically adjust the temperature of your home to keep you comfortable when you’re there and save energy when you’re not.

At a very minimum, change the air filter in any forced-air furnace on a monthly basis. A good programmable thermostat will remind you when to change the filter. Some experts recommend inexpensive fiberglass filters; others, midrange filters that trap smaller particles. Furnace performance should not be impacted if filters are changed regularly. Base filter selection on your sensitivity to air-borne particles. Vacuum the blower and accessible areas of the furnace every few months. Even with regular filter changes dust will accumulate on the blades of the blower.

If you have an older natural gas or propane furnace, oil the motor and blower shafts — they only need a couple of drops of 20-weight oil on an annual basis. Most new models have sealed bearings that don’t need to be oiled.

Your furnace blower might be powered by a V-belt connected to an electric motor. If the belt is cracking or fraying, it needs to be replaced. Even if the belt looks OK, you might want to check the blower and motor pulleys for alignment; if they’re not aligned the belt will wear out faster (and make more noise). To align it, loosen the screws holding the motor in place, then align the pulleys using a metal carpenter’s square and tighten the screws.

You can replace the oil filter to keep clean fuel flowing to an oil-burning furnace. Check the owner’s manual to find out how to bleed air out of the fuel line, though it may not be necessary on your model. Regularly checking the fuel lines and connections for leaks is a good idea.

If you have a hot water system, bleed air out of radiators annually. While the system is on, simply open the bleeder valve on each radiator until water comes out without sputtering. Be prepared to catch the water and be careful — it’s hot! There are different types of bleeder valves on radiators: Some open with a screwdriver; others, with a special key or a knob already in place.

For all types of furnaces,  make sure the outside vents and chimneys are not blocked by snow, leaves, nests, etc.  Such blockages can cause carbon monoxide hazards.  Flues that leak pose carbon monoxide and fire hazards, so check for cracks or joints that are separating.

You can read more at motherearthnews.com and then go on down to the basement and do a little preventative maintenance even if it’s just changing the filter.