Last Friday we discussed some ways you can save on groceries. Since I am currently on another of my "saving money" kicks, I thought I would share about five different ways to save some money on your utility bills. Again, these are what I consider some of the best ideas. You probably have seen them all before. But, I am willing to bet you never saw them on this blog before. So, let's cut to the chase.
1. A programmable thermostat. I honestly don't know of many people who don't have one of these. If you live alone or it's just you and the wife, one of these is imperative. Now, I freeze all the time. This is particularly true during the winter. Even so, I keep my thermostat down to 65 in the winter, 72 in the summer. Either way, I'm going to stay cold. So, I figure I might as well save some damn money.
2. Put weather stripping on windows and doors. Yeah, you hear this all the time in PSA on local TV. But, trust me, I know from personal experience it does work. After replacing all the weather stripping in my home, my heating bill went down 10-15%. Your mileage may vary, however.
3. Fix leaking faucets. This should be a no-brainer. How much water would you save if you stop all the leaking faucets in your house? There is an easy way to find out. Well, no, not really. Fix the leaky faucets. It takes, on average, about thirty minutes even if you are all thumbs with tools.
4. Change the filters on your AC/furnace. Ideally this should be done every 30 days depending upon whatever kind of filter you have.
5. Close off vents to rooms you don't use. This is something I did a long time ago. I have two rooms I rarely go to for various reasons. So, I turn off the vents. Why heat or cool a room you don't even use?
Now, there are a lot more tips that I found to be nonsense. One I saw said to turn off the water while lathering up during a shower. I seriously doubt anyone is going to do that. I had to do that when I was in the U.S. Navy. But, that was just one of the hardships of being out at sea. Anyway, I hope you'll give these five tips a try.
2 comments:
Turn the water off DURING a shower? That sounds like torture. How much water would that really save, anyway?
NO way I am turning off the water during a shower. When I was on a ship in the Navy, we had a 15 second burts of water, had to lather up and got a 35 second burst of water 2 minutes later. I still take quick showers 40 years later as a result.
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