Many of us have had a time where we opened an electricity or water bill, and thought to ourselves something along the lines of “Wow, that’s a lot of money! I don’t want to spend that much again.”
I recently had one of those moments, looking at what I owed for the prior month’s utility services. These things can happen, as variations in resource consumption do occur for a variety of reasons. That said, when you stop to think about just how much utilities are a part of our regular cash outflow, it makes sense to consider tips on how to trim some of these costs.
I looked for some ways to save money, and one place I spent a little bit of time was the ENERGY STAR site. I found plenty of infomation on energy efficiency, tax credits, and even some tips to reduce energy usage.
After going through the information, looking for simple ways to save that don’t involve significant change or a lot of time, I found 5 easy tips that can save money on resource consumption:
- Turn Off the Lights.If you leave a room, why keep the lights on? Cutting 8 hours of daily usage from a 60-watt incandscent light bulb can save $15 per year.
- Go Low-flow. A new, low-flow shower head can save up to $145 in energy annually. This is on top of the savings from reduced water consumption though using up to 5 fewer gallons of water in a 10-minute daily shower.
- Be Cold to Your Laundry. Hot water heating accounts for 90% of the energy a machine uses when washing clothes. Using cold water to wash clothes can save up to $40 annually.
- Watch Out for Overdrying. Instead of erring on the side of getting clothes overdry when starting the dryer, try to match the time you’ll really need to dry clothes. Using an extra 15 minutes of dryer time for every load can save up to $34 per year.
- Clean the Lint Trap. I remember being much younger and wondering why my clothes were no longer drying well. I thought there was something wrong with the dryer. Well, as it turns out, my practice of rarely cleaning the lint trap wasn’t optimal:) Now that I’m older, I clean it after every load. Funny how that makes such a big difference! It also can save you up to $34 per year.
These 5 steps are easy, requiring little effort or inconvenience yet yielding measurable savings. The potential savings: $268.
There is a lot many of us could do with $268, don’t you think?
Do you have any tips for saving money by conserving energy and resources? Even if not directly quantifiable, any insights you can share might be helpful to all of us.
Having a programmable thermostat seems to have helped us a ton. Not only is our house comfortable consistently, but we also pay less for our electric bill in our 1750 sq.ft. house ($125-$150 on average) than we did in our 1050 sq.ft. apartment ($140-$185 on average).
I’ve been thinking about the programmable thermostat for a while… how long does it take to pay for itself?
You forgot the best energy and money saver of all, Compact Flourescent Lights (CFLs).
I started replacing all of my lightbulbs with CFLs a couple of years ago and my electric bill dropped by 25%. I have a medium sized house, but it seems like there are two or three lights in every room. And, my wife and kids turn them all on every time they enter a room and never turn them off. Before CFLs, I was removing one bulb per room to cut down on waste.
Not only do CFLs save 75% of the electricity (a 60 watt bulb burns 13 watts) they rarely burn out. When I was using incandescant bulbs, I was buying them by the case and replacing them all the time. CFLs last almost 10 years. I can’t wait for the new LED bulbs to become affordable. They will save even more energy and not contain any mercury.
Bret – thanks for mentioning that tip. You’re saving quite a bit this way! I’m convinced that there are many ways that we could save when it comes to energy, if we just keep an open mind to it.
Don’t use a dryer. Use a washing line, seriously you don’t need one.
Turn you hot water system temperature down, way down. Maybe to 140, it’ll will save you a small fortune.
I don’t know how much this would save, but unplugging the hair dryer or hair straightener from the outlets, or unplugging the cell phone cords when its not attached to a cell phone is helpful for the environment and wallet.
Is it called “phantom energy”? Not sure what its called, but it’s a good way to decrease electricity usage.
It’s not too exciting, but on top of the lint trap, I actually move my dryer and clean the connection in the back to the vent about every 6 months….it is usually clogged up quite nicely and makes a big difference after it’s cleaned.
Of course, it could just be that I have a lousy dryer that let’s lint get past the trap!
CNC – that’s an interesting tip, and it makes sense how that can work. I believe that with many appliances, it’s possible to extend the life and limit major problems through routine maintenance such as what you described. What you described can’t take that much time – the biggest hassle may just be moving the machine, depending on the space it’s in.
I save money in the winter by keeping my thermostat at 55 degrees and wearing sweats. Year before last my PG & E bill was $180.00, and this year for the same month it was $48.00. Big Difference!
TrixieAnn – that’s quite a big difference, $180 down to $48! Was it easy to get used to 55 degrees at home?
Another way I save money is by car pooling. Since I fill up half as often, I save $90.00 a month at the gas pumps.
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Good post….thanks for sharing.. very useful for me i will bookmark this for my future needs. Thanks.It is a useful and charming post.It is extremely helpful for me
I placed a gallon milk jug into the tanks of my toilets. I put rocks and water in them to keep them from floating. That makes an existing toilet a low flow toilet for free. Saves a lot of water. Been doing this for a while now.