6 ways to minimize using plastic

1. Use bottle for drink not plastic bottle.

2. Don't use plastic bag for grocery bags but cloth.

3. Use plastic for crafts.

4. Re-use plastic bags.

5. Don't purchase for plastic bags.

6. Don't waste plastic garbage carelessly.

10 simple ways to save electricity at home

1. Turn off lamp on daylight.

2. Close the door or window if the air conditioner is on.

3. Turn off dan if the air conditioner is on.

4. Don't let air conditioner turn on all day.

5. Keep refrigerator door closed.

6. Use solar energy (sun) to dry clothes.

7. Turn off PC or laptop if not used.

8. Cleaning a full load of clothes every wash with washing machine.

9. Unplug the power plug of TV if not used.

10. Turn off outdoor lights on daylight.

10 ways to save money in a recession

10. Get better at re-using your stuff

It's the kind of stuff that fueled your grandparents' stories about hard times: Stretching supposedly disposable, used items further than most consumer companies want you to; Using your mind—and your hands—to solve problems without jumping in the car and busting out the wallet. We suggest finding inspiration from how Lifehacker readers creatively reuse disposable items. Re-purposing isn't all about balled-up tinfoil and grimacing, of course. Our most popular re-purposing posts of 2008 show that a little thought and some creative tinkering usually pays off with a one-of-a-kind solution to household needs.

9. Cut your food costs

Other than shelter (rent) and water (also rent, or municipal bills), food is the one thing you have to spend money on every day. If you really want to hack down your bills, carnivores can save money by buying whole animals—a process that's easier than they might think. For a weekend kick, you can make your favorite chain restaurant recipe at home. Stay away from the high-fat cruft on dollar menus and switch to a cheaper, healthier Mediterranean diet or these twenty health foods for $1 or less. And for those nights when cooking a full, healthy meal just isn't in the cards, a "Microwave Diet" is a surprisingly nutritious fall-back.

8. Dress and look sharp with less cash

Let's not pretend you can look like a million bucks with $7 and change. What you can do is focus on taking a clean, elegant style and maintain and extend it without hitting the malls at all. The thrift-conscious J.D. at the Get Rich Slowly blog has 18 tips on smarter used clothing buys, whether as a staple or just a complement to your wardrobe. And, while the political hook is a bit, er, dated, we did consult with style-conscious types to help dress like a honcho with humble means. For everything else that isn't soap and a haircut, try taking on easy ways to look sharp, like de-cheap-ifying a suit, shaving with a straight razor, and using coat hangers to prove to yourself that, yes, you really do have something to wear.

7. Start working for yourself (crazy as it sounds)

Even if you've invested in your paid-by-someone-else career, the layoffs just keep happening, leaving hard workers looking for their next gig. Assuming one's money is locked down, it can be surprising how much cheaper it is to start working for yourself—if the conditions are right. The self-employed route is one of the most common suggestions from our readers in response to post-layoff confusion, and if you don't have to pay for a commute, parking, lunch-on-the-go, daycare, or many other costs, freelance work might help you stem the losses, at least until you can land back on your feet. Everyone's situation is different, of course, and self-secured healthcare isn't getting cheaper, but we happen to know at least one certain blogger/developer who's taking a chance on working totally off the grid for 2009.

6. Cut the cable and get your TV free

When the nation-wide transition to all-digital, over-the-air television happens (be it Feb. 17 or later), anyone with an antenna will get digital channels for free (in fact, you may even get more channels than you were before). If you don't get great reception, or you like your television a bit more on-demand, there's never been more free programming on the web. Start with our six ways to catch your favorite TV shows, which covers the free market in all its forms, from official sites to BitTorrent. Next, check out Lifehacker readers' five favorite sites to stream TV for more inspiration. Looking for something that doesn't tie up your computer? Our ooh-shiny-savvy sibling Gizmodo has posted a great tutorial on taking a relatively cheap Apple cast-off, the AppleTV, and using the free Boxee software to spin it into a TV-streaming, download-playing, multi-media powerhouse.

5. Trim your cell phone costs

The economy stinks for you, but it really stinks for providers of services that can easily be scaled back—like cell phone providers. On the one hand, they may fight harder to keep you paying for data plans, text messages, and other "value added" items, but they really, truly don't want to lose you as a customer. If you can't re-negotiate a better deal, though, take a tip from PC Magazine columnist Sascha Segan and cut your phone bill by actually jumping ship (to a pay-as-you-go phone), then let them come crawling back with a package pitch. Stuck in a contract with a huge cancellation fee? Check out contract-swapping sites like CellTradeUSA.com and CellSwapper.com, which make use of (legal!) trade clauses and might just help you escape your monthly vig.

4. Invest in your career

Financial guru Warren Buffett, as he so often does, said it best back in April, before the market fell: Unless you're going to make investment analysis a nearly full-time gig, you're better off spending your discretionary time in furthering your main career and honing your skills than surrounded by earnings reports and endlessly changing charts. It's the same reasoning SmartMoney's Jack Hough uses in explaining why renting might make more sense than buying, especially if you're not partial to putting work, time, and money into a place right now. Neither is a call to yank all your hard investments out and start a blacksmith shop (as appealing as some might find the idea), but they reason that the revenue-generating asset you might have the most control over is your career.

3. Trick yourself into spending less, saving more

Curbing spending, like cutting back on calories, is something any self-help-ish expert can and will tell you to do, with few details given. So you're left, just as with dieting, to come up with your tricks and techniques for teaching yourself to do and not do certain things. When it comes to tricking yourself into saving money, we like the kind that you don't need much to start out doing, like Merlin Mann's Crap I Just Don't Need.txt file, in which he captures all his do-wants and must-haves, as if it were a wish list, but ends up checking it every so often to see just how well he's gotten along without all those things. High-speed, low-drag spending psychology.

2. Get serious about Craigslist

Craigslist is a website built for an economy that's scaling back to basics. People looking for extra cash divest themselves of stuff they don't really need, and those who need to spend less snatch up their stuff. If you're on either side, it helps to have the right tools. Get savvy with your selling by digesting Adam's seller's guide to Craigslist, and on the flip side with our Craigslist tips for power users. Hone down on exactly what you're looking for (time is money, after all) with the previously mentioned Craigslist Image Preview extension, or the image mashup MyWiseBunny.com (formerly CLHack.com). It can feel harsh grabbing up deals when you know times are tough, but to many sellers, the buyer who actually pays is worth more than some future ideal of better times.

1. Reduce your bills by simply asking

One of the most effective means of shaving money off your monthly costs doesn't involve a website, coupon code, or any kind of hack, unless you count working up the small courage required to just, well, ask. Our weekend editor Jason found deals on his internet package, gas bills, household insurance, and even trash disposal, just by being persistent and, in most cases, simply asking if there was a deal he didn't know about.

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5133176/top-10-ways-to-save-money-in-a-recession

10 Ways to Protect Endangered Animals

 

1. Organizations like Greenpeace and World Wildlife Fund have dedicated themselves to preserve the earth and its ecology. Many volunteers join organizations like these and work for the environment. You can find some international/local organizations like these and join them.

2. Boycott fur coats and medicines made from rare animals. Boycott ornaments made from ivory and staff like this. Baby seals are murdered for their skin, as it is used to make expensive coats- don’t bye them.

3. Raise your voice against this injustice. Peaceful protest, human chain, petition and rally are some ways to do it. You can also write a heart felt and logical letter to the government stating your ideas about this issue and how it can be solved. Like I wrote a post about African Lion Burgers which are being sold in Arizona.

4. Try to raise awareness amongst your local people. Apart from face to face interaction, the best way to do so is blogging. Blog about endangered animals and what we can do to help them. If you have posts like this, then please write about it in the comment section.

5. Recycle and reuse. It will reduce the need to have more raw materials to produce something. As a result a lot of trees will be spared and wild animals’ habitat will be undisturbed.

6. Governments should come forward to create more safe zones and national parks for wild animals where they will be able to move freely without worrying about hunters and poachers. Governments should apply strict laws to stop poaching.

7. You can make a little room for your wild neighbors. Like, you can build a bird house and feed local birds.

8. Plant a tree.

9. Stop hunting for pleasure.

10. Donate money or trees to different non-profit organizations which work to protect the wildlife. You can donate money to Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund etc. You can gift trees from Arbor Day Foundation.

Source: http://lifeasiknowit22.blogspot.com/2009/05/10-ways-to-protect-endangered-animals.html

29 Tips How to Save Money on Gas

Brake the right way

1. A car consumes most gas as it accelerates. It's a simply law of physics (force equals mass times acceleration). A moving car doesn't require much gasoline to keep moving (due to the inherent inertia). In real life this means, in order to improve your mileage you need to keep the ride smooth. Let me give you some examples.
About 30% of the drivers I see in somewhat heavy traffic apparently cannot control their speed with the accelerator pad alone. Instead I see those guys speed up and slam on the brakes all the time. Obviously, that makes the guy following too close behind very nervous and he too needs to brake and accelerate constantly. In really heavy (but still moving) traffic about 90% of the cars do this. It is relatively easy to hold a speed in a long line of cars without stepping on the brake. Just keep a little bit more distance and try to practice this. If the traffic moves along, you rarely need to brake, unless everything slows down. If you pay attention to the cars ahead of you (not just the one right in front of your nose, but the other cars ahead of that one), you can anticipate when things will slow down and you can ease off the gas. This means you won't lose all that power to friction (on the brakes) and you can keep your speed without having to accelerate. In heavy traffic this is the most efficient way to save gas and can easily get you 10% - 20% better gas mileage.

Hybrid drivers

2. If you own a hybrid powered car, the statement above applies even more to you. Try to avoid fast braking. Hybrid cars have the ability to convert braking power into electric energy and store them in their batteries. However this (induction) will only give yo so much braking power. If you need to decelerate faster, your brakes will engage and energy will be lost.
So the next time you are approaching a traffic light, start braking a lot sooner and don't slam on the brakes the last minute. This will significantly improve the efficiency of your hybrid car.
By starting to decelerate sooner, I can often avoid coming to a complete stop (regular car), before the traffic light switches to green and the cars in front of me start rolling. This way I can keep some of my inertia and don't have to accelerate as much (<- more gas saved).

Turn off your air condition

3. This tip might be somewhat impractical in some areas. I would never dare to switch off the air condition of my car in Arizona in the Summer. However I also know that the compressor for the air conditioner loads the motor of my car more, which will reduce my fuel economy. I try not to use the air conditioner if I don't have to.
Park your car in the shade if you can, so you won't have to keep the AC working as hard when you go somewhere.
Roll down the windows just a tiny bit, so the air can circulate through your car while you are parked (might not be a good idea in areas with a high theft rate).
Turn off the AC 5 minutes before you reach your destination and don't keep it working until the last second.

Shifting Manual

4. A manual transmission is truly fantastic. I can only encourage everyone to try it out. You can pretty much determine if you want a sporty shifting (at higher RPM) or a fuel efficient shifting (at low RPM). No matter how "intelligent" automatic transmissions are, they aren't as smart as you. Due to the way an automatic transmission shifts, there are also higher losses associated with automatic transmissions. Overall a manual transmission can be a lot more fuel efficient.
If you have a manual transmission and want to save some gas, you need to shift up early and shift down late.
Most people get taught that they need to shift at a certain RPM, which is, excuse me, complete BS. You need to feel the car and the load condition to figure out when you need to shift. A car that goes uphill needs to pull a lot more and should be driven at a higher RPM (or else it jumps). On the other side, if you are gliding along an empty road, you can drive at extremely low RPM (high gear). Then if you want to accelerate (you need a bit more power), you quickly shift down, get up to speed and shift up again. I always shift by feeling the car and I rarely ever look at the RPM (except for my amusement or out of boredom, or if I really want to race and need to shift before the red line).

Shifting Automatic

5. If you have a cruise control and there isn't a whole lot of traffic, you probably should use it (it will keep the speed constant and hence doesn't need to accelerate).
6. Use the overdrive gears, as this will generally keep your RPM down and your wallet happy.
7. Shift into neutral when you are standing still to reduce transmission strain and cool off the transmission.

I added some more information on shifting, down in the comments below this post.

Reduce weight

8. Coming back to the force equals mass times acceleration. We already established that one shouldn't accelerate as much. You can also try to reduce the mass of your car by emptying out the trunk and removing heavy items that you don't need (keep your spare tire and car lift, but get rid of the gardening equipment).

Turn your car off

9. When you turn on a car, it uses a bit of gas. When the car is idling, it uses a fixed amount of gas over a period of time (especially with the AC on).
In most scenarios (depending on the car), the energy balance will be positive if you turn off your car for more then 20 seconds.
That means you can save gas if you turn off you car while waiting at long traffic light sequences, railroad crossings or while your better half pulls money from the ATM. Any time you can foresee that you will not be moving for more then 30s or 1minute you should turn off the engine to help your vacation budget.

Drive slower

10. Yeah right. Obviously thats not something I am all that fond off being the leadfoot driver I am. Well, it's a proven fact that driving fast will increase the drag (turbulence) and thus increase your fuel consumption, however I simply cannot bring myself to drive below the legal speed limit. It's your choice. There is not that much difference between 60mph and 65mph in terms of fuel consumption. However I grew up in Germany (no speed limits). A car racing along at its maximum speed of 200km/h (depending on the car), would consume about twice as much gas as if it were driven at 160km/h. At the upper end of the power spectrum engines become very inefficient.

Ride the slipstream

11. This driving technique has given me some excellent mileage when I used to commute long distance a long time ago. Obviously, it requires a bit of skill and it's not exactly recommended, since you should pay attention to the road and we all know, most people who read this just don't. However it is probably one of the best "secret" fuel saving tips I can give you.
This technique is frequently used by race car drivers to gain speed and truck convoys to save fuel.
Every car has a certain amount of drag (or wind resistance). This drag, the rolling resistance of your tires (see below under maintenance) and the friction in your engine are the three main causes of reduced efficiency. A car moving through the air causes the air to split around the car and turbulence behind the car (the slipstream). If you drive your car into another cars slipstream, both cars will save fuel (less turbulence). The following car saves the most gasoline.
Now remember, I am not advocating to tailgate. However, you can try to find a large truck (more turbulence and a longer slipstream tail) and slip in there. Now you can still keep some distance (unlike the NASCAR driver) and still save gas.
However, many people cannot regulate their speed without braking (see above). In this case you are probably better off just keeping your distance and not braking.

Close your windows

12. Believe it or not, but opening your windows will increase the turbulences and eventually cost you fuel. If you can, use only the ventilation system of your car. I cannot really gauge this against using the air conditioner. I believe that opening your windows at low speeds and using the air conditioner at high speeds gives you better fuel economy.

Fill up at Arco

13. Year after year Chevron and Shell are making new record earnings while squeezing the poor motorists for every penny. They advertise their expensive gasoline with buzzwords such as Techron, V-Power and some other BS words. Basically, that means they put some expensive stuff into the gas to sell it at a better profit. In fact, the gasoline of all gas stations flows through the same pipeline and the only difference is the magic stuff they poor into the gas to claim a cleaner burning fuel or better fuel efficiency. At the same time their average gas price is about 10c - 30c above other cheaper gas stations in the neighborhood. I can see no difference in my gas mileage when I empty a tank of Arco vs. a tank full off Techron enhanced souped-up high tech additive gas spritz. And if it cleans anything then certainly my wallet, which is all squeaky clean after filling up.
Well, I am tired of financing the billions of those mega empires. I am getting my gas at the Arco and I have never had any trouble with the quality. Of course you are free to throw your hard earned dollars at Chevron (pay 10% more and save 3% on their rebate cards - another scam to tie the customer to their high priced gas) or Shell in the hopes their magic bullet fuel additives do anything for you.
Now let me back up a second. Sometimes I actually go to Chevron to fill up. I put exactly 8 gallons into my tank so I qualify for a discount at the car wash.

14. When I am on the road, I try to keep an eye open for gas prices along the way. If I see the price jumping down, i usually fill up. Some gas stations offer free coffee with fill up or a free hot dog, and if their gas costs the same as the gas across the street, I go for the coffee with my gas.

Pick a better route

15. Avoid heavy traffic and lots of traffic lights. The shortest route is not always the most fuel efficient if you have to stop a lot.

Cheap Car maintenance

Why cheap car maintenance? I don't believe that spending a lot of money on fuel additives or special tires or whatever I see suggested elsewhere will really help you to improve your bottom line, and that's what this article is about. For instance I do not believe that your fuel economy suffers much if you change your oil every 5000 miles instead of 3000 miles (but it does save money not to change oil that often).

Pump it up

16. Inflate your tires to the specified level (I usually go about 0.2 PSI above). This will reduce the contact area of your tire to the road and therefore reduce the friction. It will help you to get a slightly improved gas mileage.
17. If you don't need Snow Tires or Chains, remove them. Don't drive around all summer with Snow Tires. They are softer and have a deeper profile which will increase friction.

Rent a smaller car

18. Remember that mass and acceleration equation? Well, a small car always has a better fuel economy due to its smaller mass. Smart budget travelers therefore rent smaller cars and don't care much about the status a shiny big car conveys. They rather indulge in a good drink at the end of the day (when they don't need to drive anymore) with all the gas money they saved. Their vacation pictures look just as glorious, but they still have pocket change for bigger prints.

Reduce drag

19. Why are you driving around with that ski-, bicycle- or luggage-rack on your roof if you don't need it? Didn't you know that this increases the wind resistance of your car? Well now you do. Seriously, removing those will save you quite a bit of gasoline.

Eco tuning

20. Chip tuning for your engine used to be pretty big way back when gas cost less then water. These days the buzzword is  

eco tuning. Many tuners offer replacement chips for your engine computer that increase the power while at the same time saving gas. How is this possible? Well to cut this already long article short, they improve both ends of the curve. At the upper end they give you more power (with reduced efficiency) and at the lower end a better efficiency. You choose with the gas pedal which mode to use. Make sure you use manufacturer approved tuners if you don't want to lose your warranty.

Use the correct grade of motor oil

21. The grade of the oil pretty much tells us about the viscosity. If you use the wrong grade, you may increase the friction in your engine. It gets hotter and uses more gas.

Air filters

23. Replace your air filter when you need to, or your mix won't be right. However don't replace it every time the mechanics tell you to (they make money with it). Try to find out how often you need a new filter.

Turn off the lights

24. Well, this one might be a safety concern. Many Rental Car companies have daylights enabled on their cars which are rather efficient. However every electrical equipment is powered from the alternator which will increase its load on the engine to produce more power. So when you can do it safely, turn off those headlights.

Drive less

Here comes the discussion we don't like to read as much.

Carpool

25. Well, if two people are riding in a car, the gas used per person is immediately cut into half. If 4 people are sharing a ride, their individual gas bill becomes only one third. Since they can now use carpool lanes, they won't have to spend as much time in traffic (idle engines use gas too) and get an even better gas mileage, plus they get home sooner. Its not always feasible though.

Combine Trips

26. Try to combine trips. If you live outside of town, try to go into town only once and get everything you need done.

Fuel Efficient Cars

27. If you are in the market for a new car, you definitely should consider fuel efficiencies. However I wouldn't buy a hybrid just for the better fuel economy if I weren't in the market for a new car. You can easily calculate how much money you would save a year and weigh that against the cost of the car (plus the potentially higher maintenance cost).

28. Its not commonly known, but Diesel engines can give you a much better gas mileage than Hybrids on long distance drives. That's one of the reasons, hybrids aren't popular in Europe but Diesels are.

Source: http://www.opentravelinfo.com/travel-guide/uncategorized/how-to-save-money-on-gas-29-tips.html