Dear Readers:

Today, I have posted a survey on the top right hand corner of the blog home page. It asks you about your favorite regular features on the blog. It’s important for me to know what you like, what you don’t like and what you’d like to see more of. This survey will be live for the month of November, and I hope you’ll take it. It shouldn’t take more than a minute to complete.

I’ve added an “other” option to the survey so you can tell me about a new regular feature you would be interested in seeing me add to this blog. You’ll notice that is says “Other: Please post comment.” You can post a comment on this post or another in the near future to let me know what “other” means to you. Maybe there’s a regular feature on another blog that you read that you’d like to see me add here. Perhaps you’ve asked yourself many times, “Why doesn’t Leah cover X.” Well, let me know what X is and I’ll see about adding that to The Lean Green Family (formerly Suddenly Future) soon.

Thanks for taking the survey.

Perhaps my love of cardigan sweaters began when I professed my commitment to preppy dressing, thanks to The Official Preppy Handbook. Whereas my high school classmates would don jean jackets and sweatshirts on chilly school days, you could usually count on me to have on a cardigan of some kind. This love of cardigans continued into college, my work days and my current life as a wife, mother and writer. In fact, as I’m writing this blog posting, I’m wearing a Tommy Hilfiger argyle sweater (bought on sale at the outlets).

Now that I’ve embraced green-and-frugal living, I’ve come to realize how important cardigan sweaters (or any sweater, for that matter) can be. That’s because during cold winter months, you might be tempted to turn up the thermostat when the going gets cold. But we green-and-frugal folks know that for every degree of heat we do not add to the thermostat, we can save one percent on our heating costs. Lower the thermostat to five degrees less than you would normally set it in the winter, and you can expect to cut your heating costs by five percent.

That’s why this week, I’m giving my Suddenly Frugal Seal of Approval to cardigan sweaters. I don’t care which brand you wear or what style sweater you choose. The idea is that as we go into the cold-weather months here in the United States, you may be tempted to continue dressing like it’s late summer and just to crank up the heat to keep warm. Don’t. Instead, put on a cardigan (or other kind) of sweater, and keep your thermostat at a conservative number to keep your heating costs down. Remember, the less energy you use to heat your home, the fewer CO2 emissions you’ll be contributing to the atmosphere. And you’ll look pretty darn smart wearing a cardigan, if I do say so myself.