It's you versus the utility companies in a battle for your money which doesn't seem fair but this post is filled with tips to help you get the edge and save some depth.
There are actually a handful of easy and relatively painless ways that you can save money on your utility bills and this is important because then you can take your hard-earned dough that you've saved and spend it on important stuff like snacks or other necessities, actual groceries. So we're going to go over those options including some nice smart home gadgets you can use to help you save money but we've got other tips as well. Some as simple as how to best wash your dishes? or why you should mess just a little bit with your water heater? let's dive in.
Tip #1 Smart Home Savings
As it turns out, connected devices aren't just for showing off to your friends by turning off the lights without getting off the couch. Lots can legitimately help you save money, either by consuming less power as they work or giving you more ways to monitor and control what you're using.
Lots of connected devices have some sort of money saving ability. Smart Sprinklers help you save water, some Smart Plugs will track the energy usage of what you've plugged into them, but let's focus on our favorite devices for the task.
Thermostats
According to the department of energy you can save as much as ten percent on your heating and cooling costs by changing your thermostat setting by seven to ten degrees for eight hours per day. So let it get a little cooler in the winter or a little warmer in the summer. You know what devices are great at helping you do that? Smart Thermostats; Most make it really easy to set a schedule using their app, some will actually learn your behaviours over time and make those changes for you or they can track your phone so they know when you're coming or going. So I'm not actually talking about turning your thermostat down by 10 degrees at dinner time and forcing your family to huddle under blankets while they enjoy your gourmet spaghetti, I'm talking about changing your thermostat when you're sleeping or while you're at work or both.
Our Favorites include the 3rd Gen Nest learning Thermostat and Ecobee's Smart Thermostat at the high end and the Amazon Thermostat if you want something with a more budget-friendly.
Lights
It turns out incandescent bulbs aren't very efficient. Who knew 140 year old invention could be improved and what we have improved it, very much so recently. It just took a long time. Most LED bulbs use around 85 percent less energy than their incandescent cousins, that's a lot of percent. Now funny story, you don't actually need smarts. There are plenty of dumb LEDs and they will save you money on energy and they're more affordable but these smart versions are affordable now too and they're super common.
Also Read: 10 Must-Have Home Gadgets
The smarts let you set schedules, you can trigger your lights with other smart devices like motion sensors or smart speakers you can turn them off after you've left with the app in case you forgot and yeah cool factor is important too! You gotta get that high five from your surly neighbor somehow. Check out the Philips Hue Starter Kit or wise bulbs if you want to dive in if you do feel like getting fancy you can also install a monitor from Sense which can help you better track your energy usage, so you can take direct steps to cut down.
Tip #2 Use that Dishwasher
Enough smart home stuff, tip number two use your dishwasher instead of hand washing your dishes. I imagine this one is surprising but hopefully it qualifies as good news. I'm asking you to do less work. Modern dishwashers are very efficient in their water usage at this point. The department of energy regulates, regular models have to use 5 gallons or less.
Believe it or not the US geological survey estimates that it takes anywhere from 9 to 27 gallons of water to hand wash a load of dishes. You think you're helping with your elbow grease? Nope, just put them in the dishwasher and use all of that extra time you now have to count all those dollar bills you just saved.
Tip #3 Turn Down your Water Heater
How hot is too hot? and with that I'm specifically referring to the water coming out of your faucet and nothing else! By default your water heater is set to 140 degrees Fahrenheit and you're almost certainly not going to need water hotter than 120 degrees so crank it down. You're paying for the heat used by the machine to get that extra 20 degrees in there even if you never actually use water that's that hot. The thermostat dial on your water heater is likely near the bottom of the tank on the Electric or Gas control valve. Check the manual, consult a professional if you need to. Be safe please. It's actually pretty easy to adjust.
Tip #4 Change the HVAC Air Filter
While you're feeling handy, another quick piece of maintenance you can do is change the filter on your HVAC system. Dust makes the whole process less efficient, keep them clean and keep the air flowing. So I'm definitely not a professional at this but one thing you want to make sure you do before you mess with your HVAC system is cut the power to it. You can do that on the circuit breaker but a lot of models have a switch, it's just like a light switch and then boom the HVAC system is off and likely won't explode when you try to do this.
Also Read: These are the Features all Homes Should Have
So the filter is then down below, you should look for a compartment and it just has a screw and then we turn off and find the filter now with this you can see it has little push tabs so you can punch them in and pull the filter and normally you're going to then take a clean one and shove it right back into place and put the stand back up and you did it!
Tip #5 Off-Peak Rates
I know that talking with the utility companies can feel like flirting with the enemy but some actually offer time-of-use plants that raise the cost of energy during peak hours but in exchange they bring the price down during the rest of the time. You might not want to do this if you work from home or you need to run your appliances during the start or end of day rush. If you're gone during the day and you can run your dishwasher and washing machine at night you can indeed save some money with a plan like this and a proper schedule. I'm pretty sure they just make you pinky swear that you won't intelligently use a plan like this when you sign up. And so you'll save money and turn the tables on those dastardly utility companies. So stop washing dishes right now. Note that none of these tips should actually involve much work or discomfort on your part, that's not the point. Work smarter not harder and then make it rain and share these tips with your friends and family as well.
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