Little changes that you make every day can have a big impact on your life and your finances over time. The longer you maintain a positive change, the more you will save over time.
Reducing your electricity bill is one way to save money every month of the year. If you combine your efforts to save on electricity with your efforts to reduce your heating bill and water bills, you could save quite a bit each month, adding up to significant savings over a lifetime. If you are tired of paying too much for electricity, here are 10 tips to reduce your electricity bill:
- Turn off lights when not in use. This sounds obvious, but many people have a habit of leaving light on as the go from room to room. If you have children remind them to turn off the lights as well. Send them back to the room to turn off the lights. This can apply whether you are in the house, or not. If you aren’t in the room, the light doesn’t need to be on.
- Unplug appliances and electronics when not in use. Many of them still draw electricity, even when turned off. There’s a phenomenon called “electricity vampirism.” The only way to completely avoid a flow of electricity, turn off electronics. Use smart strips to make this easier. While you can’t unplug the refrigerator, there’s no reason to leave the TV, computer, and other power drains plugged in.
- When possible, use a fan instead of your air conditioner. The fan uses less energy, so it will save you money.
- To help with the above, use blinds on windows to block the heat from sunlight in the summer. You can also open the windows at night to cool the house down. However, in order to keep the cooler air in longer and the warm air out, close the windows in the morning. You might be surprised at how this, combined with fans, can reduce your need for the air conditioner.
- Thaw frozen foods in the refrigerator before cooking. This will save from not using the microwave or extra cooking time. It’s a small thing, but when you think about how much use your microwave for defrosting items, you might be surprised at how much you can save.
- Configure your computer for sleep or hibernate mode, or shut it off when not in use. Computers can draw a lot of power, so using settings designed to reduce power consumption are a smart move.
- Don’t open the oven door if you can check through the window. When you open the oven door while cooking, the oven has to work harder to make up for the decreased temperature from the escaped heat.
- If you are making a smaller meal, use a toaster oven or slow cooker instead of a full size oven. Both of these appliances use much less electricity. On top of that, you’ll find that they don’t heat up the house, either. This is important in the summer, when having the oven on can trigger the air conditioner… and a higher power bill.
- Keep the refrigerator at 2 degrees and the freezer at -18 degrees. While this will ensure food safety, lowering the temperatures further only wastes power. You don’t need these very cold temperatures for adequately cold food. Also, don’t leave the doors open. When you let the cold air escape, the fridge or freezer has to work harder to cool things off. Also, let leftovers cool a bit before putting them in the fridge. If they are too hot when you put them in the fridge, it can force the fridge to draw more power to cool it down again. Be mindful of situations that result in higher temperatures in your fridge or freezer.
- Only wash full loads in your dishwasher. This will save electricity and water, reducing your overall utility bills. Air drying the dishes will reduce the amount of energy used as well. There really is no reason to have the heat dry on for your dishwasher.
Finally, you can boost your home’s energy efficiency by purchasing appliances that are rated as energy savers. When you buy new appliances, check them for efficiency. These days, some of the newer appliances don’t even cost that much more when they are more efficient.
Tom Drake
Tom Drake is the owner and head writer of the award-winning MapleMoney. With a career as a Financial Analyst and over a decade writing about personal finance, Tom has the knowledge to help you get control of your money and make it work for you.
Comments
Frugal Canadian Living
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Don’t stay up late at night. Staying up late means keeping more lights on longer.
Father of Five
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Good idea. I have always wondered why I close the curtains to keep the light out in the morning, and then turn the lamps on at night to make light. What I should do is adjust my schedule to maximize the use of daylight – easy savings.
amiksinha
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Thanks for helpful advice. If my appliances are plugged into a surge protector oulet strip, I turn off the outlet strip result in the same savings as unpluging the individual appliances plugged into an outlet
Joe
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I think knowing these simple things can really save us lots of money. The energy we might waste on doing such thing like opening a microwave or refrigerator is just a little amount of energy but if you will just combine all the energy being wasted every time you do that it would be a huge amount. Thanks for your tips. They are really helpful.
Money Beagle
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You should keep your fridge and freezer full. Empty space fills with air, which escapes every time you open the door, meaning more work to cool off the air once it’s closed. ‘Stuff’ will retain the cooler temperatures for longer, meaning less work for the appliance. I’ve heard it said that if you have a lot of empty space, adding a few water jugs (don’t fill the ones in the freezer all the way to the top since the frozen water will expand) is a good way to fill space and reduce the energy consumption.
Marie @ My Personal Finance Journey
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We’ve been trying to reduce our electricity bill, limit our T.V. usage, switching off the lights when no one is using. And also the biggest electricity eater, the refrigerator, we set it at the very low temperature.
P.Weaver
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These are obvious measures. We need information on TIME. When is it chespest to use the washer/dryer. How much does it cost to run a TV, a computer. A washer/Dryer and best time to use any appliance to save money. time. Is using the oven/stove cheaper after a certain time. These prices from Horizon are too high! I don’t use air and little heat. I am not wasting energy! Yet my bills are too high!
mandy cat
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Unless your local utility, like our own, offers an optional time of day pricing program, the cost per kilowatt is the same no matter when it’s used. Many utilities provide a free energy efficiency audit. Perhaps you could take advantage of that instead of expecting this article to analyze your specific problem by remote control.
Joseph
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I have to agree with your list. The biggest one for me was setting up the power options on my computer so I use less electricity all the time. Every dollar counts!
Damyanti Malhotra
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I would also like to add that another way to save on electricity usage at home is by installing a power monitoring device. It is not possible for all of us to know which electrical appliances at home utilizes how much power supply. So a smart solution to this is by installing a device like OHM Assistant – a power monitoring equipment that keeps a tab on your appliances’ consumption and it even notifies you about any phantom loads being consumed.
