Patty Manzi's Tri-Valley Real Estate Blog

Trim a Safe Tree

1. When purchasing an artificial tree, look for the label “Fire Resistant.”

2. When purchasing a live tree, check for freshness. A fresh tree is green, needles are hard to pull from branches and do not break when bent between your fingers.

3. When setting up a tree at home, place it away from heat sources. Monitor water levels and keep the stand filled with water.

4. In homes with small children, take special care to avoid sharp, weighted or breakable decorations, keep trimmings with small removable parts out of the reach of children who could swallow or inhale small pieces.

For full article visit: www.cpsc.gov

Kitchen Tips for an Energy-Wise Holiday

Oven Tips

The turkey is traditionally stuffed early in the morning and roasted for hours. Since it’s a long, slow cook, there’s no need to preheat your oven, even when the recipe suggests it. This also holds true for a holiday ham. In fact, unless you’re baking breads or pastries, you may not need to preheat the oven at all.

Image via Wikipedia

Don’t open the oven door to take a peek at what’s cooking inside. Instead, turn on the oven light and check the cooking status through the oven window. Opening the oven door lowers the temperature inside—by as much as 25 degrees—which increases cooking time and wastes energy.

As long as your oven is on, cook several items at the same time. Just make sure you leave enough room for the heat to circulate around each casserole and pie plate.

In an electric oven, you can turn the heat off several minutes before your food is fully cooked. As long as the oven door remains closed, enough heat will be stored inside to finish cooking your meal. The same principle applies to your electric range-top—the metal heating elements stay hot even after the electricity is turned off.

If you use glass or ceramic pans, you can turn your oven temperature down 25 degrees, and foods will cook just as quickly.

Refrigerator Tips

In addition to your stove, your refrigerator and freezer also get a real workout over the holidays. While newer refrigerators are much more energy efficient than older ones, they remain one of the largest energy consumers in your house, often accounting for as much as 15 percent of your home’s total energy usage.

Help your refrigerator and freezer operate efficiently and economically by keeping the doors closed as much as possible so the cold air doesn’t escape. However, leaving the door open for a longer period of time while you take out the items you need is more efficient than opening and closing it several times.

Dishwasher Tips

According to research, a load of dishes cleaned in a dishwasher requires 37 percent less water than washing dishes by hand. However, if you fill the wash and rinse basins instead of letting the water run, you’ll use half as much water as a dishwasher.

If you opt to use the dishwasher, wash full loads only. If you must rinse your dishes before loading them, use only cold water so you’re not running up your energy bill by heating water unnecessarily.

Image via Wikipedia

Don’t forget to use the energy-saving cycles whenever possible. Dishwashers that feature air power or overnight dry settings can save up to 10 percent of your dish washing energy costs.

For more information and full article visit www.consumerenergycenter.org/tips/holiday.html