The Best Fluffy Pancakes recipe you will fall in love with. Full of tips and tricks to help you make the best pancakes.
There are so many extra service charges and taxes adding up in electric bills each month. According to an EIA forecast, there might be an increase of $100 per year in northeast regions of USA. Other areas are also facing this surge of inflation in about every field of life. People in lower and middle class economy status are influenced s much that they have to cut down on groceries in order to pay the bills. So, I your Budget Queen decided to share top 10 genius ways to save money on electric bill that not only saves you bucks but also don’t force you to lower your life standard.
There are many ways to save money on electric bill, ranging from how you use the thermostat to how you take a shower. Minute changes in the way you do everyday things and they add up to reduce your power bill a huge sum.
1- Seal Up Leaks to Save on Heating and Cooling
If you have gaps in your window frames, below the door and behind the fans, you will lose your precious heating or cooling. One third of heat is lost through windows and doors according to USA’s department of energy. Imagine the amount of energy conservation and reduced bill you can achieve just by insulating the said gaps.
As you can’t see these leaks with your naked eyes, you should get a house audit. And genius part is that you can get a tax return on it due to inflation reduction act. Still if you want want to fo through this process, you can insulate your windows via weather stripping. The rubber strips used for this process are cheap and sticky and you can easily install them by yourself.
2- Optimize Window Coverings for Every Season
It may feel like a very small underrated way to save money on electric bill, but it makes a huge difference. In winters, you should use natural sunlight to heat up your room. For this, just open your curtains of all sun facing windows during day time and close them at night. Sunlight will warm up your room without depending on electric or gas heating system.
During summers, you must close the dark blinds while sun is up, to keep the room cold, and you can open them when the sun goes down. Most of the time there is a light cool breeze blowing at night time, so don’t forget to open your windows to enjoy it.
3- Adjust Thermostat Settings and Use Fans
Using thermostat incorrectly might add hundreds of dollars in your electric bill. To reduce this, you must reset it every time you leave the house. This way you won’t be paying for heating and cooling when you aren’t even there. In winters, you can lower your thermostat by 10-15 degrees because you will be under covers. This way you can save up to 10% on your overall heating bill. Smart thermostat is also an option for people who don’t want to manually reset it several times a day.
Don’t use HVAC system if the day isn’t very hot in summers. Rather make use of the electric fans. If windows are open, fans work good to maintain a cool breezy environment and only cost 1/10 of your HVAC electric bill, saving to at least a hundred dollars in the long run.
4- Upgrade Appliances for Long-Term Savings
Replacing old appliances with energy saving ones is a great way to lower your electric bill. Little conservation will add up in time, saving you 10-15% charges annually.
Dish Washer: Replace it with Energy star-certified dish washer and save $40 annually and 5,000 gallons of water. Let your dishes air dry to reduce the cost further. You also need to load your dishwasher properly, so that you don’t waste time and energy by doing dishes again.
Laundry Machine: There are Energy star-certified laundry machines you can purchase to reduce your ever-increasing electric bill. They use less water and electricity lowering both bills simultaneously. You can reduce $63 dollars annually if you wash clothes in cold water rather than hot one.
Dryer: Dryer would be more efficient if you clean the filters regularly and spin clothes a little more in laundry machine.
5- Take Showers instead of Baths
By swapping your shower head with clean medium speed one, you can enjoy showers more than a bath. Filling a bath tub needs a lot more water than you would require to become clean. After that you also have to rinse off the soap with more fresh hot water. By replacing baths with showers, your burner would have to heat a very little amount of water and you will reduce electric units.
6- Switch to Energy-Efficient Lighting
If you are still using incandescent bulbs in your house, swap then with LED alternatives. They last 25 times longer and use 75% less electricity. By just making this small change, you will be reducing your annual electric bill up to $100. Additionally, you should also invest in some dimmers, they make your place not look like a hospital and give warm ambience but still reducing your energy consumption.
7- Curb Energy Vampires
Gaming consoles, computers, old TVs all used a lot of electricity even on standby mode. Chargers also use some current while not in usage. Make a habit of turning them off while not in use or invest in some good power strips.
8- Conserve Energy in the Kitchen
Kitchen uses a lot of electricity in a household. By optimizing the usage of electric appliances, we can cut our electric bill in half.
- If you are cooking small portion, use microwave or toaster ovens.
- Don’t open the baking oven when food is still cooking. Electricity has to make up for the lost heat.
- Lower your water heater temperature from 140°F to 120°F, saving up to $400 annually.
9- Embrace Solar and Green Solutions
Going solar is the best thing you can do for reducing your electric bill and for the benefit of planet. While it might be difficult or too costly to convert your whole house to a green solution, you can incorporate certain aspects like solar chargers and outdoor lighting. In daytime, try to use sunlight as your main illuminating source and don’t use light bulbs when not needed.
10- Keep Heating and Cooling Systems in Shape
If your heating or cooling system have leaked ducks, holes or clogs, power would be lost. Get it audited and fixed to lower your electric bill. HVAC efficiency would increase 20% just by fixing these issues. Again, you can get your tax return on this audit as explained in Tip # 1.
Small Changes Add Up
Individually, all tips and the money saved by them might feel zero to little, but look at the bigger picture. If you add all the money saved collectively, you will feel a huge reduction in your electric bill. Carbon footprint would also be lower if you implement these ways in your household. If you follow our list of ways to save money on electric bill, please let me know about how much were you able to save.
