Have you seen those infomercials that show hundreds of dollars literally flying out from under a drafty door?  Meet my pet door.  If I had hundreds of dollars, I’d have taped them to the bottom of it to pretend like they, too, were flying out.  Instead, I “staged” this picture with an old, brightly striped beach towel so you could really tell how much it blows open.

Okay, I lie.  That picture isn’t staged…I just have a really junky back patio right now.

Anyway, this picture shows what my dog door does on a perfectly normal day.  I live in a really flat area, so it’s perpetually windy here.  Our builder installed the world’s cheapest (to them) pet door, and it blows open about 75% of the time.  I guess my money (in the form of heating/cooling) really was flying out of the pet door!  The door is right by my seat at our dinner table, and my feet froze all winter long.  Don’t even get me started about what happens every time it rains.

So, as part of Apartment Guide‘s “Green Up a New Space” Blogger Challenge, we decided to replace our dysfunctional pet door with one that would stay closed.  We chose the”energy saver” Ruff Weather pet door, because it a) has dual flaps that will keep the rain out, b) is rated to stay closed in winds of 30 mph, and c) was in stock at my local Home Depot.  It cost $109 (but we needed the extra large size, as you’ll see below).  The new door is slightly larger than our last one, so my husband had to cut a slightly larger hole in the door with a jigsaw – no big deal.

The new door was greeted with some initial hesitation.

“Um, you want me to go through TWO doors?” -Duke

“Huh?” -Jackson (he’s really simple minded.)

Now that it’s been installed for a few days, we can already tell a night and day difference.  The door(s) have not blown open a single time.  My feet no longer get cold when I’m eating.  The dogs have even figured out to how to use it.

Keeping our heat and cold air inside our house is going to make a huge difference for us.  We won’t be “air conditioning the whole neighborhood” as my mother used to say, which means that we won’t be using as much electricity.  Installing a more energy efficient pet door is just one way you can go green without spending a ton of green.

Want to make some easy changes for yourself?  Here’s your chance to do it for free!  Apartment Guide is giving away a gift basket with tons of green items, such as cleaning and sustainable materials products.

Want to win it?  Yay!  All you have to do is either follow Apartment Guide on Twitter or “Like” them on Facebook.  Then, just leave me a comment below letting me know which one you did!  You are welcomed to do both, but you need to leave me a comment for each so that you’ll be counted for both.  This giveaway will end at midnight CDT on Thursday, March 17. Good luck!

Apartment Guide is owned by Consumer Source, Inc. Apartment Guide partnered with bloggers such as me to participate in its “Green Up a New Space” Blogger Challenge.  As part of that program, I received compensation.  They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about the products used for the “Green Up a New Space” Blogger Challenge. Apartment Guide and Consumer Source believe that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Consumer Source’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.

This post is sponsored by Apartment Guide.

You may still have snow on the ground, but summer is right around the corner for we Texas folks.  And for us, summer means one thing – extremely high electric bills.  Our poor air conditioning units go to work full time by May, and it’s all we can do to balance not sweating while sitting on the couch and being able to pay our bills.

So, here in Lindsay Land, we have a few little projects under way that I am hoping will save us some money and give a little help to the environment in the process.  I am partnering with Apartment Guide in their “Green Up a New Space” Blogger Challenge, and making some easy changes that will help us in both the long and short-terms.

“Apartment Guide?,” you are thinking.  “Isn’t that the little magazine that features all of the apartments around town?  You don’t live in an apartment!”  It sure is and I sure don’t.  But, AG has tons of tips for decorating, healthy living and making most of your space, regardless of where you live.  They have really great information for people living in any sized home.

One thing I’ve learned from them is that going green doesn’t have to cost you a lot of green.  There are honestly a lot of little changes you can make around your house that will have a big impact.  For instance, adding a cute recycling can in your trash area will help you remember to recycle, thus cutting down on tons of items going to the landfill.

Apartment Guide asked me to make a few changes in my home and share them with you.  I’ll be honest, Tom and I had a great time coming up with a list of possibilities:

• Replace our thermostats with programmable thermostats
• Exchange our incandescent bulbs with Compact Florescent Bulbs (CFLs)
• Install a energy efficient pet door to replace our non-efficient door
• Purchase bamboo sheets and/or towels instead of the new cotton ones we were planning to purchase
• Bring in some house plants
• Find inexpensive heat-blocking window covering options
• Buy a new LCD TV to replace the old CRT TV in our bedroom

Okay, so maybe we were pushing it with that last one.  One day I will figure out how to make that dream a reality!

If you were asked to make some inexpensive changes around your home to make it more green, what would you choose? I’ll reveal what we did shortly, so you’ll want to check back here.  In the meantime, go ahead and “Like” Apartment Guide on Facebook or follow them on Twitter for real-time tips and updates on making the most of your space  — you’re going to want to tell me that you’ve already done that very soon (hint! hint!).

Apartment Guide is owned by Consumer Source, Inc. Apartment Guide partnered with bloggers such as me to participate in its “Green Up a New Space” Blogger Challenge.  As part of that program, I received compensation.  They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about the products used for the “Green Up a New Space” Blogger Challenge. Apartment Guide and Consumer Source believe that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Consumer Source’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.