With the cost of electricity jumping every year, households are looking for ways to lower the electricity usage. This goal of this article is to show you that you don’t have to spend any money to reduce your electric bill. How much will the following tips save you? Well, depending on you usage you should save anywhere from 5% to 25% by applying this techniques. Spend a little bit of time now, and save money every month on your electric bill – can’t beat that deal.
- Turn off lights: This is the easiest way to save money. Remember, a light bulb that has been turned off uses zero electricity, so get everyone in your family to turn the lights off when they leave a room.
- Turn down your water heater: Turn your water heater down to 120 degrees, any higher and you are just wasting energy. For each 10 degree reduction, you will save 3% to 5% in energy costs.
- Turn off the heated dry option on your dishwasher: Unless you live in a really humid climate, you should turn off the heated dry option on your dishwasher. This will cut your dishwasher’s electric usage by 15% to 20%.
- Wash cloths with cold water: You do not need to wash you cloths in hot water. Today’s laundry detergents work just as well in cold water as in hot water. Up to 90% of a washer’s energy usage comes from heating the water, so only use hot water on really dirty cloths.
- Finish laundry: This may sound like a silly tip, but how often have you forgotten about a load of laundry in your washer or dryer and you had to re-wash or re-fluff the load. This causes you to use a lot more water and electricity to wash a load.
- Use your computer’s power management feature: If you are prone to leaving your computer on all the time, you can save a lot of energy by changing your computer’s power management settings (located in the control panel.) By setting you computer to hibernate after 30 minutes of inactivity, you will save a lot of electricity and extra wear on your computer.
- Use your crockpot or toaster oven instead of your oven: When your oven is on, it is one of the largest consumers of electricity in your home. So the less that you use your oven the better. Try to plan meals around your crockpot or toaster oven.
- Turn your thermostat down: For each degree that you can lower your thermostat, you will save up to 5% on your heating costs. You can save even more by turning the thermostat way down when you are sleeping or not home. Try to keep your thermostat on 68 degrees when home and 60 degrees at night and when you are at work.
- Unplug unused devices: Some devices will consume electricity even when they are turned off. If it uses a remote or has a clock, it will continue to use electricity when you shut it down. The best way to do this is to unplug things before you leave and before you go to bed at night.
- Clean your refrigerator coils: Your refrigerator will have to work harder if its coils get covered in dirt. This increases its use of electricity and causes unneeded wear and tear on the compressor. By cleaning the coils, you will keep your refrigerator running longer and more efficient.
If you have any other suggestions for saving electricity, please leave us a comment.
