The colder it gets outside the higher our bill spikes for heat. Hot water experts say this year your bills can skyrocket even more than last year because of rising fuel costs, politics, and other reasons; but don’t you worry this is why we have written this post to enhance your savings. During the cold winter is the best time to apply some of these successful techniques to reduce your utility bills. Here you will read many ideas on how you can save big money with simple tips. Many of them are free that you can do right now for huge savings, even if you are not handy around the house. We have consulted several experts and examples to notice how they deal with their monthly bills.
Let’s jump right into them:
It’s time to turn the heat on your thermostat down. Probably about ten percent of your heating bills can be saved by saving on heating or even more. Along with this, during winter it is smart to set your electrical fans counterclockwise.
The normal clockwise is what you want in the summer because it vents air down, but during winter you may want to send the warmer air from the middle of the rooms upwards and then flows against the walls achieving a warmer overall temperature in winter, and cooling it down clockwise in the summer.
- Fix and/or update your refrigerator. If you have an old fridge from the 80s 90s, honestly upgrading to a newer one will be a sensible decision. Old fridges with noise and air leaks tend to lose heat and aren’t able to retain as much cold affecting your expenses on the lasting of your groceries, but also eventually on your electricity bill. But more important if you can invest in upgrading your refrigerator. Honestly, refrigerator technology has advanced much in the last decades, and in the powering, the comparison between a fridge from the 80s to one today is going to cost you around five to six dollars in your bill. So actually is a substantial amount of energy saved. You can definitely see a lot of energy and money on your bills also by keeping your fridge not too stacked but neither too empty.
- Another tip of the freezer is if you keep your ice maker off, simply fill up your own ice trays. The next tip is to keep your refrigerator coils maintenance updated, this means you should be cleaning your refrigerator coils every six months. The coils get clogged. They can’t properly release heat. So the compressor is having to work overtime which can actually shorten the life of the fridge.
- Run your dishwasher or washing machine at non-peak hours Typically electric companies charge more during peak hours which are 4 to 9 p.m. So using your appliances after 9 p.m. or earlier in the morning, say before you head to work or right as you get up you run the dishwasher, you’re going to save money simply because you’re going to be using cheaper electricity and having a lower price bill.My next tip is to run your dishwasher at full capacity because if you’re going to be using electricity, you’re going to be using the water to clean as many things as you possibly can.
- The same thing goes for your washing machine, make sure that you’re running your washing machine completely full and even if you do have a smaller load from time to time and the washing machine routines have the option to match the water level for a light load, it is best to wait because you’re still going to be using around the same amount of electricity. So by waiting to compile a large laundry load is better, to put it all into a high load run. Get all of those things done at once, also watch out for their filter and clotting of coils.
- You can turn your hot water heater down so that it runs 420 degrees and you’ll still have hot showers, but you can save quite a bit of energy.
- The next tip is to air dry your dishes. A lot of dishwashers use tons of power to air dry, so instead turn this option off and just open the dishwasher so air can get in and dry them.
- Make a smart decision on how to heat your food. Over time rather than having your oven heating up your meals you can save a lot of energy using microwaves and toaster ovens or toasters, especially if you’re heating up something small is actually better for the environment.
- Make sure that you’re matching your pans to the size of your burner. If you’re using a pan that is a couple of inches smaller than the burner you’re actually going to be wasting up to 50% of the heat and energy. So save that money by using the right size pan and burning panels.
- Then also, one of my favorite tips is to Simply chop your vegetables as small as possible, so they take less time cooking and heating. The smaller the vegetables are the faster these vegetable cook, which is a great way to save energy, save money and eat healthily.
- When it comes to hot drinks, there are different ways to brew them and to make teas or coffee. It is found that the most eco-friendly way of Brewing when it comes to energy consumption also happens to be the least wasteful way of pouring coffee, is the French Press. Also, use the French Press for tea.
- Now let’s improve on your gas expenses, there are lots of different things you can do to help save on your natural gas bill and one of the best things is to run your furnace in the winter with new filters. Changing the filter helps your furnace to run more efficiently, so your house runs better and with less money. Gas is really expensive but it’s really easy to buy new filters. This can also help save lots on repairs.
- The second thing would be to turn up your AC or down your furnace now. It’s probably common but you can do other things to keep yourself warm like cooking in your house, you can wear a sweater or a blanket. And your house will feel warmer.Also, you can use the humidifier. The humidity makes it feel warmer, even though the temperature is the same. So having a humidifier turning your furnace down saves some money. Although the humidifier does take a little bit of electricity it will not be as much as an AC heater.
- If you live in a large house, there’s no need to heat the whole place and rooms which you will not be using. Keep doors closed. Get the best insulation for your windows, and invest in thicker insulation if worth it both for winter and summer. But in the case of a large house instead of heating the whole thing, you would turn the furnace lower where you are the least and then would have a heater for the rooms which you specifically use. In this way, you will not only have more comfortable drafts within your house but be able to keep cold out.
- Search for cold and hot drafts and invest in your house weather stripping is another good tip. Loof for air drafts around doors, windows and buy weather strips and door sweeps. There can be drastic air drafts making you lose heat, either entering cold ones or exiting warm air, all these can be easily fixed just by putting a strip at the bottom and tops of doors, and strips on the side of windows. And then insulating the curtains too will help keep the heat out in the summertime.
- If you have broken glass on a window it is definitely worth repairing, even consider investing in remodeling to new windows with a better ER factor if you can afford to put them in. Since new windows are a really good way to help reduce your utility bills in your house.The best are single-pane Windows, they can make a huge difference going from the old ones to single-pane wood windows, not vinyl. So even though that’s more expensive it does save money in the long run. So it’s an investment really.
- More ideas on the insulation in the Attic. Here’s another expensive suggestion. I know it sounds like a high profit, but pay attention to this going from a 3-inch old house original insulation in the attic to 11 inches thick fiberglass insulation. Wait until the installations are on sale and plan yourself, go up there and do it yourself and there will be a huge difference not only in how much it saves you, but also it will make a tremendous difference in how comfortable the house feels. So it is definitely worth considering that investment again.
- Here’s another investment suggestion, get yourself a tankless water heater, go ahead and save up enough money to buy a water heater off of Craigslist, or do a good search for a sale on one, try to have a friend come over to help you install it. All these can save a lot on your bills, especially if you do them with good planning, and involve yourself in doing the fixes and installations and not leaving them to a third party.
We wish some of these ideas have sunk into yours for your quality of life, comfort around your home, and for making the best out of your bucks, and save on your utility bills, there is a lot more you can do with those extra pennies!