Cut the cost of your utilities and give your household budget a substantial boost when you start seeing the reduction in your monthly. This way you will be able to do more with the same income. One of the areas that can be reduced quite easily is the cost of your utilities. So, how do you cut the costs of your utilities and make your home more energy efficient? First, you have to change a habit or two but you also may want to do some work on your household. Here are several tips to help point you in the right direction.
Prioritize zones in your home.
The first thing you need to understand when it comes to cuttting the cost of your utilities is the fact that the size of your home affects energy spending and the utility bill. So, you can drastically reduce the cost by not heating/cooling down the areas that you don’t spend time in. For instance, you can heat up your living room throughout the day, the same as your home office and children’s room. Your bedroom can be heated later in the afternoon and, as for the rest of the place, you should do so occasionally. This is the simplest trick that doesn’t require a major modification of life habits or financial investment of any kind.
Prevent heat from leaving the home
This is the second time already that we’re talking about heating your place. The reason behind this is the fact that heating your home costs you the most. So, how do you prevent it from leaving your home? First of all, you want to install some double-glazing windows in place of the regular ones. This alone will save $200-$250 every year. Next, you want to insulate your walls, as well as insulate the attic. In order to cover all fronts, you also want to replace your front door. This way, you’ll have an end-to-end energy-efficient system.
Make sure your installations are in order
In order to keep your home efficient, you need to make sure that all the installations are in proper working order. For instance, a plumbing problem will drastically inflate your water bill due to constant leaks and flooding instances. According to experts behind Sparkys NOW faulty electrical grid is even worse. Not only does it increase the power use within your home but it also increases all sorts of hazards. In other words, inspect your home’s infrastructure before doing anything else.
Switch to low-flow fixtures
The next idea worth considering is trying to reduce the water use of your home. First of all, you need to consider switching to low-flow features in your bathroom. The toilet is the first item that you have to replace, seeing as how it spends 25% of all the water in your household, on its own. A low-flow shower and faucet are also quite important. The investment itself is not really that expensive and it saves you a small fortune in the long run.
Switching to smart technology
Smart technology allows you to make some of the most difficult power-saving habits completely automated. You see, switching to smart technology can be quite costly but you don’t have to make the transition all at once or even right away. A smart thermostat, on the other hand, can make the heating of your home into something much more convenient. Other than this, it will maintain the exact temperature much more accurately. A Wi-Fi irrigation system can make a similar saving when it comes to your home’s water use, as well.
Find alternative ways to keep your home cool
A ceiling fan is a far more frugal alternative to the AC. Sure, it’s not a 1:1 replacement but there are a lot of instances in which it can be a decent substitute. Also, every human body produces the heat that is the equivalent of a 100W incandescent light bulb. So, try to spend as much time outdoors during the summer, as possible. As far as home improvement projects go, you could always try to make a decent backyard patio.
Work on your lighting structure
The light inside of your home is one of the first things that you can improve. For instance, just by replacing all the bulbs with LED, you’re creating a scenario where you get the same illumination while using 4-8 times less energy. Still, it’s more than just raw power saved. You see, LED bulbs tend to last 25-50 times longer. This means that you will have to spend substantially less on bulbs every year, even though the price per bulb seems to go in the favor of the incandescent. The key thing is that you manage to look past this misleading metric.
In conclusion
Other than this, you should also learn to turn off appliances when you’re not using them, rinse while shaving and much more. The reason why we choose the above-listed seven habits is due to the fact that they don’t require any extra effort. A LED bulb, great insulation and a low-flow toilet merely save money and resources without requiring you to invest any kind of extra work into it. This is definitely something worth thinking about.
