Ways to Cut Back on Your Utility Bill
We would all like to save a little more money, right? Well, that means doing one of two things: either making more money, or spending less. If you can make more money, that’s great! But it’s safe to say that everybody could probably use that second option. When looking for different ways to trim down on your budget, one aspect that we don’t think about enough is how much we spend on utilities for our home. With a few smart adjustments, we can save, significantly, on our gas, electric, and water bills every month. By the end of the year, this could mean hundreds, or more, in additional savings! Here are some ways that you can cut back on your utility bill…
Insulate your home, properly
One of the biggest drags on our utility bill comes from the cost of heating and cooling our home. It’s safe to say that this is probably a majority of what goes into your utility bill.
However, by spending a little bit more money upfront, you can cut down on how much energy is needed to get your home to the desired temperature that you want.
You can do this by making sure that your home is properly insulated. By adding insulation to your attic, or putting film treatments on your windows, you can keep the hot or cold air outside your home.
Doing these things could shave off 10% or more of your energy bill! Not only will this help you save energy, but it also makes you home more sustainable.
Program thermostat
Most homes are built with a programmable thermostat, nowadays. If your home has one, you should be taking advantage of it!
What a programmable thermostat allows you to do is set certain times of day for your climate control system to operate.
If you are away at work all day, then there’s little reason that you need to spend so much energy heating or cooling the home while you’re gone. By setting smart times to heat or cool your home, you cut down on your energy costs by roughly 8-9%.
Use cold water to wash clothes
For some reason, it has become the norm for people to use hot water to wash their clothes. This is probably due to the fact that we use hot water when washing our hands and bodies, but it is actually unnecessary to do so for your clothes.
This affects your energy bill, because you are paying to heat that water up. By switching over to cold water when you are doing your laundry, you will cut down on the amount of hot water your washing machine uses by 95%.
Check for water leaks
Unless you have a landlord that covers it, water is another utility for which you end up paying for every drop. A lot of amenities in a home use water, and a lot of them can end up wasting it.
For example, a leaky faucet may be wasting more than 2000 gallons per year, or 10% of the average home’s water usage. For this reason, check around your home for leaky faucets, leaky appliances, or even toilets that continue to run water for longer than they need to (here’s some help on how to fix that).
Use a low-pressure shower head
Another way that we use water a lot is when we take showers or baths. Now, I don’t want to be the one to tell you to take shorter showers after a long day, so I won’t.
However, you can still save on water costs in your bathing routine by switching to a low-pressure shower head. Shower head technology has really skyrocketed apparently, and you can now get shower heads that will cut down on the water flow by roughly 70%, while still applying the same amount of pressure, if not more!
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Category: Family Finances, Saving Energy
