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25 To Life: Dating & Marriage Tips from Couples Who Have Been Married 25+ Years

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25 To Life: Dating & Marriage Tips from Couples Who Have Been Married 25+ Years

Can we agree that all advice isn’t good advice? Sometimes your friends want to tell you how to do something even if they haven’t been through it (*shaking my head*). So, instead of boring you with tips that are just theories, here is some dating, marriage and relationship advice from couples who have been married for at least 25 years or more.

1. Don’t Go to Bed Angry

Even if you can’t resolve a disagreement before you hit the sheets, you can agree to let the anger go for the night. Remind each other how lucky you are — even as you disagree — to have each other to disagree with.

2. Give Compliments

To give a compliment, you’ve got to pay attention — really notice something about someone. If it’s been a while since you’ve doled out flattering praise, try it. It costs nothing to say, “You look good,” “You did a great job,” or “I like your shirt.” Compliments can really reassure and pump up your spouse.

3. Hold Hands

Back in our parents’ time, hand-holding and discreet pecks on the cheek were tasteful, chaste displays of affection. Although anything goes these days, it’s encouraged that couples simply hold hands in public. It somehow affirms to everyone your undying affection and love for each other, and it shows everyone that you are proud to be with each other and you want everyone to know it.

There’s an actual electrical connection that passes between us when we touch. You can use that electrical connection to provide juice in your marriage. Give each other little pats and gentle touches and hold hands frequently when you’re walking or driving and you’ll keep the energy — and the sweetness — flowing between you.

4. Be a Little Old-Fashioned

Once you are in love, ask questions like: Is this person likely to be a good provider? Can they manage money? Are they likely to be a good parent? Marriage is a financial arrangement in addition to a love one and one in which your economic future is entwined with somebody else’s. And as one husband eloquently said, “Making love is so much better when the bills are paid!”

5. Watch Your Partner While They Play

Watching someone play a game is “extremely diagnostic.” You get a chance to observe how someone behaves under stress, whether they’re honest and how they handle defeat. Small things can tell you very big things about a couple’s suitability.

6. Do a Sense of Humor Check

Observe what makes your partner laugh. If he thinks a whoopee cushion is funny and you don’t, it certainly won’t get funnier for you 30 years from now. It’s a simple test of whether your worldviews align.

7. Cut Back on Complaints

Yesteryear’s couples had a comic reputation for nagging — yet, in truth, many partners often held their tongues. A stumbling block in modern marriages is a constant soundtrack of discord.

Current generations think that closeness comes from sharing everything, and letting each other know how miserable you are. But it doesn’t motivate me to treat you better. Relaying every annoyance is a bad idea. Instead, pick your battles. “Not everything needs to be addressed.”

8. Try Thoughtful Little Acts

Back in the day, with fewer stresses, limited technology and less multitasking, couples were more “present” in their relationships. The presence of little, daily thoughtful acts showed caring and appreciation for one another. This includes things like making breakfast for your spouse or packing their lunch, bringing them coffee in the morning or a drink or glass of wine at the end of the day, warming up their car or putting their keys and other personal effects on the hall table, ready to go. Sustaining a happy relationship requires careful thought, a generous spirit and hard work.

There’s a lot of wisdom to be gained from our parents or grandparents. They had companionship marriage, but we’ve raised the bar — we want romance, great sex, and more intimacy. We can reconcile these two approaches. With some of the gentleness and graciousness of previous generations with the technology and savvy of today’s marriages.

9. Maintain Same-Sex Friends — and Interests

Women, don’t try to regulate your husband’s pleasures and don’t be jealous if they don’t include you. It’s only been during the past couple of decades that couples became expected to share the bulk of their free time together.

Retro couples didn’t necessarily want to participate in each others hobbies. Couples should keep close ties with their same-sex friends throughout marriage. This will give you both time to cultivate your own interests, and not be totally reliant on each other for their entertainment.

10. Still Dress to Impress

You can inspire romance by dressing up for the occasion. With our hectic schedules, it’s tempting to resort to sweatpants all weekend or immediately change into a ratty T-shirt after work. Instead, dress up the next time you and your spouse have dinner or plan a night out. Wearing a beautiful dress or a button-down shirt and slacks will be unexpected and make your partner feel special that you took the extra time to look nice. Taking time with your appearance inspires romance and shows your partner you care. Never let yourself go. Look your best as often as possible — it will make your partner feel loved and proud.

11. Put Pen to Paper

Back before cell phones and instant messaging, people wrote letters of affection to each other, often waiting weeks to receive them. Love letters exchanged between a couple can strengthen their relationship by helping them connect to one another on a deeper level.

These letters may also become treasured keepsakes that can be revisited and experienced anew each time they are read. You’ll reap bonus points if you handwrite it on beautiful paper and enclose a cherished memento such as a photograph or ticket stub from a movie you saw together.

12. Make Manners Cool Again

“Please,” “thank you,” “pardon me” and “may I” are phrases that seemed to have all but disappeared from present-day vocabularies, especially with our loved ones. You should extend your partner the same courtesy you would a stranger. When speaking to your spouse, don’t be rude, be respectful. Use a combination of old-school civility and modern frankness. Additionally, try more sweetness and tenderness by saying things more lovingly. Politeness is like a lubricant for your daily interactions; it makes everything go more smoothly.

Husbands, show her that chivalry is not dead: Pull out her chair, open the door for her, help her over a puddle, give her your coat when it is cold outside, help her put on her coat. This act of affection shows that she is important and there is a level of respect for her.

13. Have Couples Fun

Cocktail hour and formal anniversary celebrations with like-minded couples were common activities shared by our parents and their friends. It’s fun and a great way to be social with others and playful with one another.

It is important to identify friends who are healthy additions to your social circle. Your goal is to become close with other couples with similar standards and interests who have positive attitudes about marriage and family life. Gravitate toward fun couples who make you feel supported and enhance your active, healthy lifestyle. Friends like these are good for your marriage and overall well-being. (BlackDoctor.org by Angela L. Davis)

Being In The Same Room As This Herb Can Help Improve Memory

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Being In The Same Room As This Herb Can Help Improve Memory

Can’t remember what you did last week because your short-term memory is bad? Well, scientists have found a link between on major herb that can help with that.

Much of the things you read online about improving memory are about brain foods like fish and other foods high in omega-3’s like spinach. But researchers found that the incredible, edible benefits of rosemary can help with your memory as well.

Researchers found those in the rosemary room performed much better on the memory tests than the other two. As much as over 15% better! That’s impressive.

Scientists in the U.K. say the herb is linked to better memory, and that simply being in a room diffused with the smell of rosemary improved memory test scores. That’s right; no special recipe or lotion needed, just a room full of the smell of rosemary. That 15% is equivalent to remembering whether or not to take your medicine or if you left the stove on.

In order to determine whether is was the rosemary that boosted memory, volunteers (who were all over the age of 66) had their blood tested for the compound 1,8-cineole. In previous research, this compound was shown to be involved in the processes linked to memory.

The volunteers in the rosemary-scented room performed the tasks better than those in the non-scented room. Also, the blood tests confirmed that those in the rosemary scented rooms had higher levels of 1,8-cineole in their blood. The compound is believed to have been absorbed into the blood after being sniffed through the nose.

Co-researcher for the study Dr. McCready says, “It supports our previous research indicating that the aroma of rosemary essential oil can enhance cognitive functioning in healthy adults, here extending to the ability to remember events and to complete tasks in the future. Remembering when and where to go and for what reasons underpins everything we do, and we all suffer minor failings that can be frustrating and sometimes dangerous.”

McCready and her colleague admit more studies must be conducted, but it’s the first time rosemary has been linked to improving brain function in healthy people over 65.

So get cooking! Garlic and rosemary chicken, anyone? (BlackDoctor.org by Dr. P. Gould)

Personal Income in Hamilton County Among Highest in Tennessee 

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Personal Income in Hamilton County Among Highest in Tennessee 

According to a recent study by SmartAsset, residents in Hamilton County are among the highest earners in Tennessee. The analysis was completed as part of the company’s study on the places with the most purchasing power.

For a closer look at the places in Tennessee with the highest incomes, check out the table below:

RankCounty, StateCost of LivingPer Capita IncomePer Capita Income – Index
1Williamson, TN$48,420$94,74836.91%
2Davidson, TN$42,724$71,65925.34%
3Fayette, TN$38,426$59,21419.11%
4Hamilton, TN$36,583$55,91117.45%
5Knox, TN$36,743$54,64216.81%
6Shelby, TN$37,161$53,85516.42%
7Wilson, TN$40,937$53,62816.31%
8Loudon, TN$37,305$53,51916.25%
9Sumner, TN$40,554$52,40315.69%
10Blount, TN$34,186$48,60113.79%

The income data is a key factor in the study, which also includes cost of living data to determine the places where residents have the most purchasing power.

The full study results, methodology and interactive map can be found here: [LINK]

U.S. Hit 1 Million Organ Transplants

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U.S. Hit 1 Million Organ Transplants

“On Friday, September 9, the United States of America achieved its 1 millionth organ transplant. This historic milestone and world record was confirmed by United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the nonprofit powering the U.S. organ donation and transplantation system. Many of these transplants have been orchestrated by Tennessee Donor Services, the engine behind the Tennessee organ donation and transplant system. Tennessee Donor Services has single handedly facilitated thousands of organ transplants, significantly contributing to this major milestone.

The first successful transplant took place in Boston in 1954. Here are key achievements in the years since:

  • A record-breaking 41,000+ transplants were performed nationwide in 2021, more than double the rate from 25 years ago.
  • Liver and heart transplants continue to set annual all-time volume records – for the past 9 and 10 years, respectively.
  • Organ donation is increasing; more than 500,000 transplants took place after 2007.
  • In 2021, 58% of all kidney recipients were patients of color – up from 33% in 1988.
  • One person can save up to 8 lives through organ donation and change the lives of as many as 75 through tissue donation. 

You can help the U.S. reach the next million transplants by as an organ donor at BeTheGiftToday.com.”

Chattanooga NAACP Begins a New Year With the Election of 2023 Leadership Team in November 2022

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Chattanooga NAACP Begins a New Year With the Election of 2023 Leadership Team in November 2022

Members of record of the Chattanooga Branch of the NAACP will begin receiving notices of the coming election process. The nomination committee will be elected at the September 19, 2022 members meeting, and the election supervisory committee will be elected at the October 17, 2022 members meeting. 

The election of officers and committee members will occur on Thursday, November 17, 2022 using Election Buddy operated by the national office of the NAACP. This year each voting member will use a computer or smart phone to cast their vote. Those members who have not received a notice to the September meeting by email should contact the Chattanooga Branch at naacpchatt@gmail.com.    Ann Jones Pierre, President 423-364-6952 (Text or voice)

Food City Pharmacy Offers Seasonal Flu Vaccine

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Food City Pharmacy Offers Seasonal Flu Vaccine

ABINGDON, VA (Monday, September 12, 2022) – Company officials recently announced that area Food City Pharmacy locations will once again be providing the flu vaccine this immunization season.

“Food City’s immunizing pharmacists are certified to administer vaccinations in accordance with the standards set forth by the American Pharmacists Association and the corresponding state pharmacy associations. Food City Pharmacy offers the added convenience of a number of affordable preventative health care options, including the COVID-19 vaccine”, says Mickey Blazer, Food City executive vice president of pharmacy operations. 

Seasonal flu vaccine provides protection against the most common strains of influenza. Vaccinations are available on a walk-up basis at Food City immunizing pharmacies and will continue throughout flu season, based upon vaccine availability. Visit foodcity.com for a complete list of immunizing locations. 

Food City Pharmacy will be following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Guidelines, including guidance to minimize the risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and reduce the risk for patients during the COVID- pandemic. While all individuals are encouraged to receive a flu shot, the CDC strongly recommends vaccination for individuals considered high risk. High risk individuals include persons 65 or older, residents of long-term care facilities, persons 2-64 years of age with comorbid (more than one) conditions, and pregnant women.  The CDC also recommends the flu shot for healthcare personnel who provide direct patient care and household contacts or caregivers of children under 6 months of age. Food City Pharmacists can immunize individuals 12 years and older. 

Flu vaccines are available in Quadravalent or High Dose. Insurance, including Medicare Part B will be accepted, many with a zero copay. Other vaccines, including COVID, pneumonia and shingles shots, will be available as well. Please consult your local Food City Pharmacy or visit foodcity.com for details. 

Flu viruses are most common during the fall and winter months. Influenza activity often begins to increase in October and November. Most of the time, flu activity peaks between December and February and can last as late as May. 

“Food City takes pride in serving our community and we’re proud to once again offer our loyal customers the added convenience of flu vaccinations,” said Steven C. Smith, Food City president and chief executive officer. 

Barbara Ehrenreich Helped Make Inequality Visible – Her Legacy Lives on in a Reinvigorated Labor Movement

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Barbara Ehrenreich Helped Make Inequality Visible – Her Legacy Lives on in a Reinvigorated Labor Movement

By Adia Harvey Wingfield | Professor of Sociology, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis

Have you heard of Jaz Brisack, Liz Fong-Jones and Chris Smalls?

Those names might not be familiar to all Americans, but their recent accomplishments amount to a potential sea change in labor rights.

As union organizers or advocates for better work conditions at some of the biggest and most powerful companies in the world – Starbucks, Google and Amazon, respectively – these three young people have highlighted just how far out of whack the balance between workers and organizations has grown.

I believe that their work, part of a surge in labor organizing and other kinds of community-building efforts, has its roots in the scholarship and journalism of Barbara Ehrenreich, who died on Sept. 1, 2022.

Opening a window on inequality

Ehrenreich is best known for her 2001 book “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.”

It begins with a deceptively simple premise: investigating whether and how workers can live on what they earn from low-wage jobs. Operating essentially undercover by taking on retail jobs, cleaning houses and waiting tables, Ehrenreich chronicled her experiences and observations as she roved from Florida to Maine to Minnesota. She showed readers that it was virtually impossible to make a living with this work.

Once hired, Ehrenreich refused to rely on her savings or assets, instead paying for rent, food and utilities out of her hourly wages. She quickly found out that doing so left her uninsured, in poor health, sometimes hungry, often tired and always struggling.

“Nickel and Dimed” is an unforgettable best-selling expose that highlights what many low-wage workers already know: It’s impossible to get ahead when you can’t even break even.

A model for sociologists

I first read “Nickel and Dimed,” one of 21 books she published in her lifetime, in 2002 when I was finishing my coursework for a doctorate in sociology. Ehrenreich’s work resonated with me because of her focus on the grind of low-paying jobs.

She earned her own doctorate in cell biology and had no formal training as a sociologist. But she adopted what I like to think are the strengths of my discipline.

That is, she asked questions to help understand various groups’ experiences, as well as the relationships between institutions and individuals. She also forcefully recommended policy changes that could potentially improve the lives of people who are suffering due to powerful forces, such as corporations, the government and school systems.

In my view, Ehrenreich’s ability to document in clear, accessible prose exactly how low-wage work forced people into an unavoidable grind is the best kind of sociological research.

Opening a path

Her work also set an example for many other sociologists studying workers, labor markets and the economy. Ehrenreich laid a clear path for sociologists who have examined the inner lives of employees, the obstacles they face and the strategies they use to survive.

Subsequent studies of how autoworkers try to thrive in a declining industry, why workers blame themselves when they struggle to find employment, or of the relationship between union decline and pay differences for Black and white workers – all of that research followed Ehrenreich’s lead.

This body of work can push people to look at the consequences of these economic arrangements.

It also casts light on how “right to work” laws hamper union operations in 27 states. In addition, this research is scrutinizing short-term, contract work without job stability or benefits. The growth of gig work is adding to the gap between “good jobs” and “bad jobs,” and those with the bad ones are suffering.

This research, like much of Ehrenreich’s work, forces readers to ask why economic inequality has become so severe in the U.S., with wages stagnating while wealth concentrates among those with the most.

A man in a red sweatshirt stands in front of an 'Amazon Labor Union' banner.
Chris Smalls, a former warehouse worker, led the first successful U.S. union campaign for a group of Amazon employees. AP Photo/Seth Wenig

New generation of labor leaders

Brisack, Fong-Jones and Smalls, along with countless less prominent workers, know these things already.

Smalls built a labor movement at Amazon based on his and other workers’ demands that the company do a better job protecting them from COVID-19 at the warehouse where he had been employed on Staten Island, New York. In April 2022, the National Labor Relations Board certified that the workers had prevailed in their efforts to form the first union to represent any of Amazon’s workers.

Brisack, likewise, objected as a Starbucks barista in Buffalo, New York, to what she said were hazardous workplace conditions that heightened employees’ exposure to COVID-19. In December 2021, the campaign she organized led her workplace to become the first of the company’s nearly 10,000 locations to be represented by a union. By the end of August 2022, some 230 Starbucks stores had voted to unionize.

Fong-Jones, a former Google engineer who resigned and became an activist who supports the rights of women, trans people and people of color in tech industries, hasn’t unionized her former coworkers. Instead, she teamed up with others to establish a nonprofit that supports tech whistleblowers and labor organizers.The many recent successes in organizing workers to demand collective changes – safer workplaces, higher pay, better benefits – are right in line with what Ehrenreich always stood for. I hope she saw their achievements as an extension of her own. (The CONVERSATION)

Should You Vote Early in the 2022 Midterm Elections? 3 Essential Reads

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Howard Manly, Race + Equity Editor, The Conversation US; Matt Williams, Senior Breaking News and International Editor;  Interviewed: Edie Goldenberg-Professor of Public Policy; Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan; Lisa García Bedolla-Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate Division, Professor of Education, University of California, Berkeley; Terri Bimes-Associate Teaching Professor of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley

As political campaigning for the midterm elections is ramping up, millions of voters are considering how they should cast their ballots on Nov. 8, 2022. In addition to the traditional way of voting at their local precinct on Election Day, many have the option to vote earlier by mail.

With the exception of Alabama, Connecticut, Mississippi and New Hampshire, early voting is allowed in 46 states and is offered in different forms such as drop boxes, mail or early voting in person.

It’s important to check with your state’s election office, because different states have different deadlines and options available.

In Montana, for instance, early voting is allowed for about four weeks between Oct. 11 and Nov. 7. But in Texas, the early-voting period is only the 10 weekdays between Oct. 24 and Nov. 4.

The Conversation U.S. has published several articles looking at not only the integrity of early voting but also the larger question of turning out the vote.

1. The long, long history of early voting

Early voting periods are as old as presidential elections in the U.S.

The first presidential election occurred in 1789 and started on Dec. 15, 1788. It ended almost a month later, on Jan. 10, 1789, with the election of George Washington.

It wasn’t until 1845 that Congress adopted the Tuesday after the first Monday in November as the national Election Day.

Given the long history, Terri Bimes, an associate teaching professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley, raises an interesting point on the impact of early voting on turnout.

“While some scholars contend that early in-person voting periods potentially can decrease voter turnout,” Bimes writes, “studies that focus on vote-by-mail, a form of early voting, generally show an increase in voter turnout.”

Regardless of overall turnout, more and more voters are choosing nontraditional ways of casting their ballots. In the 2020 election, for instance, 69% of voters nationwide voted by mail or through another means earlier than Election Day. That number was 40% in 2016.

2. Is early voting safe?

Election fraud is rare.

And mail-in ballot fraud is even rarer.

The conservative Heritage Foundation conducted a survey in 2020 and found 1,200 “proven instances of voter fraud” since 2000, with 1,100 criminal convictions over those two decades.

Only 204 allegations, and 143 convictions, involved mail-in ballots – even with more than 250 million mail-in ballots cast since 2000.

Edie Goldenberg is a University of Michigan political scientist who belongs to a National Academy of Public Administration working group that offered recommendations to ensure voter participation and public confidence during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Goldenberg writes: “The evidence we reviewed finds that voting by mail is rarely subject to fraud, does not give an advantage to one political party over another and can in fact inspire public confidence in the voting process, if done properly.”

3. Voting turnout is key to democracy

More people voted in the 2020 presidential election than in any election in the past 120 years, even as nearly one-third of eligible voters sat it out. That means nearly 80 million Americans did not vote.

Among the reasons nonvoters gave were not being registered, not being interested or not believing their vote made a difference. Despite such apathy, about 155 million voters – that’s 67% of Americans over 18 – did vote in 2020.

Part of the problem of reducing the percentage of nonvoters at the street level can be getting people to answer their doors to strangers or answering a telephone call placed by a campaign volunteer from an unrecognized number. Before the pandemic, an effective door-to-door campaign could increase turnout by almost 10%; a well-run phone campaign could add an additional 5%.

When University of California, Berkeley’s Vice Provost for Graduate Studies Lisa García Bedolla began studying voter mobilization in 2005, it was common for door-to-door campaigns to reach half of the people they tried to contact. By 2018, that number had dropped to about 18%.

To close the gap, campaigns moved toward asking people to contact people they knew and help turn out those supporters and social networks. Text messages, especially reminder texts, became the virtual door knock.

“These friend-to-friend approaches are seen as a way to cut through the noise,” Bedolla writes.

These personal approaches can also create a sense of accountability.

Knowing that someone is paying attention to your vote, however it is cast, might make a difference in a local, state, or federal election. (The CONVERSATION)

Common places where homes leak – and where weatherization measures can save money. Department of Energy

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Common places where homes leak – and where weatherization measures can save money. Department of Energy

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Chattanooga Area Food Bank (Food Bank) recently hired Dominique Brandt as chief development officer and Jeannine Carpenter as director of advocacy. This is part of the Food Bank’s five-year strategic plan to invest in people to move forward the mission, increase awareness, ignite public passion, and mobilize the community in the fight to end hunger.

“We’re fortunate to have access to a wealth of talent in our own backyard, with Dominique’s corporate and nonprofit experience and from the advocacy community with Jeannine,” said Food Bank President & CEO Melissa Blevins. “Both bring years of experience from their fields to strengthen our mission and vision, while furthering our resources and our ability to serve our communities, while building pathways to long-term stability in southeast Tennessee and northwest Georgia.”

Brandt has 25 years of fundraising, organizational visioning, event & volunteer management, and community engagement experience, thirteen of which have been spent in nonprofit organizations. Beginning at Habitat for Humanity of Greater Miami, Brandt moved to Chattanooga in 2013 to serve as development director at Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga, where she grew faith-based giving, established the endowment fund and launched the Women Build Breakfast.  Prior experience includes the United Way of Greater Chattanooga and work in the legal field. Dominique and her husband, Jack, have three adult sons. Dominique enjoys traveling, reading, and hanging with friends and neighbors on her front porch.

“I’m excited to join this dynamic team in the fight to end hunger. Increasing equity in distribution and lowering barriers to access to healthy foods, including fresh produce and milk are key initiatives of our strategic plan. Our communities are ready for this work and the Food Bank is positioned to lead it,” said Dominique.

Before joining the Chattanooga Area Food Bank, Jeannine worked as the Director of Research and Policy at the Women’s Fund of Greater Chattanooga. While at the Women’s Fund, Jeannine wrote legislation, advocated on behalf of women’s issues and led advocacy education programming. Jeannine received a PhD in Sociolinguistics from Duke University, a Master’s Degree in English language studies and a Bachelor of Arts from North Carolina State University. She is the proud mother of a two-year old boy and an eight-year-old Doberman. (Continued on Pg. 2)

” I’m so grateful for the opportunity to begin this meaningful work of creating systemic change- to advocate for policy changes that benefit the families and individuals and community we serve, to build partnerships that amplify a collective voice, and increase access to nutritious food to those in need,” Jeannine says.

The Most Cost-effective Energy Efficiency Investments You Can Make – and How the New Inflation Reduction Act Could Help

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The Most Cost-effective Energy Efficiency Investments You Can Make – and How the New Inflation Reduction Act Could Help

By Jasmina Burek | Assistant Professor of Engineering, UMass Lowell

Energy efficiency can save homeowners and renters hundreds of dollars a year, and the new Inflation Reduction Act includes a wealth of home improvement rebates and tax incentives to help Americans secure those saving.

It extends tax credits for installing energy-efficient windows, doors, insulation, water heaters, furnaces, air conditioners or heat pumps, as well as for home energy audits. It also offers rebates for low- and moderate-income households’ efficiency improvements, up to US$14,000 per home.

Together, these incentives aim to cut energy costs for consumers who use them by $500 to $1,000 per year and reduce the nation’s climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

With so many options, what are the most cost-effective moves homeowners and renters can make?

My lab at UMass Lowell works on ways to improve sustainability in buildings and homes by finding cost-effective design solutions to decrease their energy demand and carbon footprint. There are two key ways to cut energy use: energy-efficient upgrades and behavior change. Each has clear winners.

Stop the leaks

The biggest payoff for both saving money and reducing emissions is weatherizing the home to stop leaks. Losing cool air in summer and warm air in winter means heating and cooling systems run more, and they’re among the most energy-intensive systems in a home.

Gaps along the baseboard where the wall meets the floor and at windows, doors, pipes, fireplace dampers and electrical outlets are all prime spots for drafts. Fixing those leaks can cut a home’s entire energy use by about 6%, on average, by our estimates. And it’s cheap, since those fixes mostly involve caulk and weather stripping.

The Inflation Reduction Act offers homeowners a hand. It includes a $150 rebate to help pay for a home energy audit that can locate leaks.

While a professional audit can help, it isn’t essential – the Department of Energy website offers guidance for doing your own inspection.

Once you find the leaks, the act includes 30% tax credits with a maximum of $1,200 a year for basic weatherization work, plus rebates up to $1,600 for low- and moderate-income homeowners earning less than 150% of the local median.

Replace windows

Replacing windows is more expensive upfront but can save a lot of money on energy costs. Leaky windows and doors are responsible for 25% to 30% of residential heating and cooling costs, according to Department of Energy estimates.

Insulation can also reduce energy loss. But with the exception of older homes with poor insulation and homes facing extreme temperatures, it generally doesn’t have as high of a payoff in whole-house energy savings as weatherization or window replacement.

The Inflation Reduction Act includes up to $600 to help pay for window replacement and $250 to replace an exterior door.

Upgrade appliances, especially HVAC and dryers

Buildings cumulatively are responsible for about 40% of U.S. energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions, and a significant share of that is in homes. Heating is typically the main energy use.

Among appliances, upgrading air conditioners and clothes dryers results in the largest environmental and cost benefits; however, HVAC systems – heating, ventilation and air conditioning – come with some of the highest upfront costs.

That includes energy-efficient electric heat pumps, which both heat and cool a home. The Inflation Reduction Act offers a 30% tax credit up to $2,000 available to anyone who purchases and installs a heat pump, in addition to rebates of up to $8,000 for low- and moderate-income households earning less than 150% of the local median income. Some high-efficiency wood-burning stoves also qualify.

The act also provides rebates for low- and moderate-income households for electric stoves of up to $840, heat-pump water heaters of up to $1,750 and heat-pump clothes dryers of up to $840.

Change your behavior in a few easy steps

You can also make a pretty big difference without federal incentives by changing your habits. My dad was energy-efficient before it was hip. His “hobby” was to turn off the lights. This action itself has been among the most cost-saving behavioral changes.

Just turning out the lights for an hour a day can save a home up to $65 per year. Replacing old lightbulbs with LED lighting also cuts energy use. They’re more expensive, but they save money on energy costs.

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We found that a homeowner could save $265 per year and reduce emissions even more by adopting a few behavioral changes including unplugging appliances not being used, line-drying clothes, lowering the water heater temperature, setting the thermostat 1 degree warmer at night in summer or 1 degree cooler in winter, turning off lights for an hour a day, and going tech-free for an hour a day.

Some appliances are energy vampires – they draw electricity when plugged in even if you’re not using them. One study in Northern California found that plugged-in devices, such as TVs, cable boxes, computers and smart appliances, that weren’t being used were responsible for as much as 23% of electricity consumption in homes.

Start with a passive solar home

If you’re looking for a home to rent or buy, or even to build, you can make an even bigger difference by looking at how it’s built and powered.

Passive solar homes take advantage of local climate and site conditions, such as having lots of south-facing windows to capture solar energy during cool months to reduce home energy use as much as possible. Then they meet the remaining energy demand with on-site solar energy.

Studies show that for homeowners in cold climates, building a passive design home could cut their energy cost by 14% compared with an average home. That’s before taking solar panels into account.

The Inflation Reduction Act offers a 30% tax credit for rooftop solar and geothermal heating, plus accompanying battery storage, as well as incentives for community solar – larger solar systems owned by several homeowners. It also includes a $5,000 tax credit for developers to build homes to the Energy Department’s Zero Energy Ready Homes standard.The entire energy and climate package – including incentives for utility-scale renewable energy, carbon capture and electric vehicles – could have a big impact for homeowners’ energy costs and the climate. According to several estimates, it has the potential to reduce U.S. carbon emissions by about 40% by the end of this decade. (The CONVERSATION)

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