It’s often the case that many households are spending far too much on their home energy bills than they should be doing. That extra money being spent could be put to better use, whether that’s treating you and your household to more vacations or new clothes for example. It could be a helpful addition to your food budget but instead, the money goes on running the home.
With that in mind, there are ways in which you could save money on your home energy bills, in order to make some extra money here and there. Let’s take a look at eight easy ways to save money on your home energy bills so that you can free up a bit more of that income for the year ahead.
Wash clothes in larger loads
The laundry can often add up and accumulate quickly over a short period. From young kids who spit up or get food on their outfits, to the general daily washing of underwear. While you might want to do some washing that’s urgent from time to time, you want to aim to do your washing in larger loads.
Of course, you don’t want to overload your washing machine and potentially cause damage to the machine itself. However, holding out to do your washing until you can fully load the machine is better than doing multiple washes over the course of a day or week.
Where possible, you might want to mix your darks and lights, if you’ve got the right detergents and laundry additions to catch any color runs. By washing your clothes in a larger load and on the lowest possible setting, you’re going to save yourself a fortune in water and electricity bills.
Turn down your thermostat
Heating your home is important so much so that you shouldn’t need to decide between heating your home and putting food in your belly. However, heating costs money and so a lot of people will simply switch off their thermostat.
However, it’s important that you are able to heat your home for the purpose of your health and to ensure your pipes don’t freeze and burst. With that in mind, it might be worth timing your heating to come on via your thermostat at certain times of the day. For example, that first hour when you’re getting out of bed might benefit from the heating being on a half-hour beforehand.
The same goes for the evening, and when you’re switching on the thermostat, keep it at a more tepid temperature as opposed to turning it up full whack.
Maintain heating appliances
Maintenance of your heating appliances is important, especially when it comes to saving money and avoiding any hefty payouts you may incur from broken-down appliances.
Some appliances, although may last for years to come, might not necessarily see the shelf life if they’re not looked after properly. Even with the best maintenance, those heating appliances you rely on, will one day break down for good.
With that being said, any maintenance of your heating appliances will help optimize its performance and hopefully save you money in the long term. Whether it’s a problem with your HVAC or furnace, an HVAC or furnace repair is a good way to keep on top of the health of these appliances.
Otherwise, you might find yourself paying out more for ignoring any underlying problems that could have been spotted through regular maintenance checks.
Unplug your devices
Unplugging your devices is a good way to save money on your home energy bills. While some like to have the radio playing on repeat, it’s not always the best way if you’re looking to save money and spend it elsewhere.
Be considerate of what devices you have playing around your home or have switched on at all times. You might do better to remove the plug from the outlet in order to stop any electricity powering the device, even if it’s in sleep or standby mode.
Unplugging your devices may make quite a difference to the amount of electricity your home uses throughout the days and weeks. Be mindful of what you leave plugged in and try to make a more conscious effort to switch things off once you’re done with it.
Make use of draught proofing
Draught proofing is a good way to help keep your home warm during the cooler months of the year, while also keeping it cool during the summer months. With draught proofing, you keep draughts out of the home so that there are fewer cold spots or rooms within the home.
Draught excluders can be used at the bottom of your doors both internally and externally to prevent the cold air from traveling in and throughout the home.
As well as this, you could also consider adding some insulation to your home, whether that’s in the walls, under the flooring, or in the attic space of the property. All of this can help to save you some money and use your heating less due to the home already feeling warm.
Be wary of how many lights you leave on
It’s good to be aware of how many lights you’re leaving on throughout the day and evening. Ideally, where you can, you should leave all your lights off throughout the day to save on electricity bills.
This might also be handy to do during the summer months when the evening draws in later and therefore you have more daylight and natural light to play with around the home.
A more conscious effort to switch off your house lights when you leave a room is helpful because it’s often the case that some room lights get left on occasionally. Check every room in the home right now and chances are, there will be a light switch on that doesn’t need to be on!
Reduce your water usage
To help reduce the water bills, you should look to reduce your water usage where possible. For example, you could take more showers than baths and reduce the time you spend in the shower each time.
When it comes to taking a shower, you might want to set a timer or just be more conscious of how much time you’re spending washing your hair or shaving your legs.
The same goes for using water when brushing your teeth or washing your face. Try not to leave the tap water as that can often lead to an overuse of water as a result.
You could also consider conserving your water by collecting rainfall in a water tank outside your home. This can be extremely helpful for using said water to water your plants and for other cleaning uses around the home if the water can’t be purified for drinking.
Switch suppliers when necessary
Every year when your contract with a utility company comes up for renewal, you should look to switch your suppliers. This is important because over time, your rates will go up and you may be able to find a better deal elsewhere. While it can be a bit of a hassle to switch suppliers, it’s definitely something that can make a big difference to your household bills each month.
Saving money on your home energy bills is good to do where possible so try and implement these methods where possible. If you’re able to save a little, it can be spent elsewhere on things that will be more meaningful and memorable.