When it comes to saving money around the house, I think it’s best to start with the so called low-hanging fruit, those expenses that are both biggest and easiest to tackle and so have the most potential for saving lots of dough.
In our home, some of our biggest expenses are the cost of heating and cooling the air and the cost of heating the water. Just heating water alone accounts for about 14-18% of our utility bill.
So how do we pick these low-hanging fruit and help save on our utility bills?
Probably one of the biggest things we can do, according to energy.gov, is turn our thermostats down when we leave our homes during the cool winter months and then move them up when we leave our homes during the warmer months.
Now you might be saying to yourself, “but then my furnace or air conditioner has to work harder to get back to my comfort zone when I return, cancelling out any savings.”
Well, the folks at energy.gov say this is a common misconception, but that actually when your house temp drops below its normal temp in the winter, it will lose energy to the surrounding environment more slowly.
So the longer the house stays at the lower temp, the more energy saved. The same is true during warmer months. The more time your house is at a higher temperature, the slower the flow of heat into your house will be.
Staying Out of Hot Water
As for saving on water heating, here are three easy things to think about.
First, installing low flow faucets and shower heads can achieve water savings from 25 to 60%. Less hot water usage equals lower bills for heating hot water.
Next, washing more of your clothes in cold water will save on hot water, too. What really needs to be washed in hot water after all?
And lastly, turning down the thermostat a bit on your hot water heater will make a big difference in the amount of energy needed to maintain the temp.
Simple right?
For more info on how to save on your water heating, check out this infographic from energy.gov.
Ok! Go forth and save,
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