Use less energy and spend less money
By Catherine
BillSavings.com Brief: Looking at your budget and trying to find ways to cut back is frustrating. Normally people look at energy and utility bills as that which we can't control. But we can. Here are some ways to shave 30% from your energy bill.
The economy is struggling and everywhere people are dealing with cutting costs, recession doldrums, and fear about spending. If you haven’t been laid off, you are still probably concerned and most people are looking for ways to spend less each month.
You can carpool, grow your own food, rent out a room in your house, clip coupons, start doing your own laundry and mowing your own lawn in order to pinch pennies. There are also ways you can shave 30% from your energy bill.
Learn from families who have done it
Reducing energy costs in your house isn’t as impossible as you might think. Lots of families have made simple, but significant, changes to their routines and family habits and have been able to save money on their energy bill.
You can cut your home energy bills by nearly a third by simply changing your habits. Here are some helpful hints to lower your costs.
- Spend less time in the shower. Time yourself and see how long you spend cleaning yourself each day. Often, without even realizing, people are in their hot showers up to thirty minutes. If you have more than one person showering each day, that adds up quickly. By speeding up the cleaning process, you can easily cut it back to less than ten minutes. Then the rest of the family can follow suit.
- Unplug your space heater. If you live in a cold environment, you might think that using a space heater is a great way to lower heating costs. Unfortunately, it often uses as much, if not more, energy when you plug in a space heater. Consider unplugging your space heater and installing a ceiling fan in that room instead. If you rotate the fan in reverse, you will be able to re-circulate the warm air that is typically trapped near the ceiling. This small change will make the space heater unnecessary and lower your costs at the same time.
- Lower your thermostat. If you turn down your thermostat just a couple of degrees, it will save you a lot each month. Program your thermostat at 67 degrees during the day and lower it even more at night. Wear long pants and sweaters in the house and pile on some blankets at night. Get used to drinking tea or hot chocolate at night to get rid of the chills. Snuggle with your loved ones while watching television and enjoy the warmth that family can bring without it costing you when the electric bill comes due.
- Unplug, unplug, unplug Have you and your family get in the habit of turning off lights and unplugging appliances when you aren’t using them. Don’t be fooled into believing that just because that coffee maker is turned off that it’s not costing you. All appliances and electronics are still on, to a certain extent, if they are plugged in. So before you go to bed each night, walk through your house and unplug the computer, television, stereo, toaster, coffee machine, and anything else that is connected to a plug unnecessarily.
- Get rid of what isn’t necessary. What about that second refrigerator in the garage or in the basement? Lots of families keep that refrigerator going to store drinks. However, if you disconnected it and gave it away, you probably wouldn’t even notice it was gone. Give it a try. Unplug it and see if you really need that energy drainer after a week or so. Then give it away to charity or sell it at a yard sale. Enjoy the savings.
- Conserve where you can. If you use hot water to shave, consider shaving less often or speeding up the process when you do shave. Perhaps you like a cup of tea each evening? Think about heating up the tea in the microwave instead of boiling an entire kettle of water on the stove for just one or two cups. If you like having the lights on outside or in the pool into the evening, put a timer out there so they automatically go off each evening at a reasonable time. This way you won’t forget and keep them burning all night long.
- Keep the power off when you’re not home. Lower your thermostat even more when you are gone during the day. Don’t make it so low that it costs a lot to raise it to reasonable levels. Just a degree or two can make all the difference in your energy costs each day.
- Turn it off. When you aren’t using appliances or electronics, turn them off. That includes your Playstation, video games, computers, and other things you use often and forget to turn off. It takes a few minutes to start up, but the money you save is worth it.
- Home improvements. Fixing the seals around windows and doors, patching up holes, and other home improvements can help you keep your energy costs low.
3/30/2009
