In today’s economy, a penny pinched is a penny earned. There are many reducing usage tips on lowering your bills around the home. The most obvious places to start reducing usage are utilities such as electricity and the water heater. However an individual can also reduce usage on other items such as cable, telephone and internet.
Reducing heating and cooling bills are the most common reducing usage tips on lowering your bills around the home. There are several ways to reduce electrical usage including reducing cooling and heating cost. If warm weather is present, raising the temperature in the home by a degree or two usually will not be felt by homeowners. Generally a homeowner can save 7%-10% on cooling costs for each degree the thermostat is set above 78 degrees. Likewise, for heating costs the same amount can be lost for setting the thermostat each degree above 70 degrees. A programmable thermostat can reduce energy usage while away from home and automatically reset to the desired temperature when people will occupy the home. Filters need to be checked monthly to ensure proper airflow, caulking and weather stripping should be replaced on doors and windows and they should be closed if heating or cooling is used. Preventing energy loss in these simple ways is an easy way to save money. In fact, according to the pros at Jayhawk Exteriors, “energy loss can account for 10 to 25 percent of the heating bill.” If outside temperatures are comfortable energy usage can be saved by opening the windows to cool the home.
There are many ways to save with your water heater bills. Your water heater should be set at 120 degrees or excess energy costs may be incurred. Washing in cold water also reduces energy usage. Making full dishwasher loads instead of partial loads and running full loads of laundry will reduce excess energy and water usage around the house. It actually may be more cost effective to wash dishes in the dishwasher rather than by hand if a large amount of dishes are dirty. Generally a large load of dishes in the dishwasher uses less gallons of hot water than washing by hand. Leaky faucets are another culprit for water loss. One drip per second uses about 2,300 gallons per year.
A reduction in usage lowering bills around the home also includes cable, telephone and internet. By realizing what channels a family normally watches, premium channels that are not watched can be eliminated reducing the cable bill. Telephone bills can be eliminated if cell phones are only used. If a land line is required for a security system, removing long distance, call waiting and caller ID will significantly lower land line usage costs. Also reducing the speed of internet connections can reduce costs. If home computers are used primarily for email and social media, reducing the speed will lower the monthly bill. Another tip to remember is bundling these bills can save a large amount in monthly bills. Reducing usage of everyday bills is no longer only for a miser, but for all families wanting to survive in today’s economy.