Home ownership, although wonderful, can be quite expensive. With rising costs of fuel, groceries, child rearing, property taxes and the cost of the home itself, being able to save a little when possible can go a long way. One of your biggest expenses as a home owner is going to be your hydro bill.
Especially in a house with multiple people where everyone is using electricity at different times throughout the day, it can be hard to manage and monitor. However, there are a couple of fairly easy steps you can take in your home to shave a few dollars of each bill. As always, if you have some other tips or ideas for our readers please share in the comments or on Facebook.
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- Switching to LED bulbs. Albeit a very small difference, but nonetheless a power saver. LED bulbs are relatively the same cost as regular ones but are much more energy efficient and last waaaaay longer.
- Laundry – Almost ¼ of your Hydro bill will typically come from laundry alone. Now although we don’t suggest walking around with dirty clothes, there are ways to reduce costs.
- Do laundry once per week and in bigger loads rather than multiple smaller loads during the week.
- Switch to cold water. If you have an electric water heater, this will save you big bucks on your energy bill. If not then you will save on gas, either way it is worth looking into.
- Programmable Thermostat – We covered this in our last post as well, meaning it is a smart idea and you should definitely make the switch. You can program your thermostat to stay cooler during the day when no one is home and warm up on your way home and you can more accurately set your temperature. For every 1 degree lower you set your thermostat, you can save 3% on your bill.
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- On and Off Peak Hours. Off peak costs are 8.3 cents/kWh and On Peak is 17.5 cents/kWh. The cost is more than double to use your electricity in the red-zone. This is especially important for laundry, dishwashers and other large, energy-sucking appliances.
- Window and Doors – Another topic covered in our last post, another very important one. Make sure all the cold air stays out and the hot air in (opposite in the summer). If you’re not sure where to start, you can hire companies to come in and blow some smoke (literally) and it will show you exactly where air is escaping in your house. Caulk the gaps, put the film on the windows and draft guards on doors. This goes a long way.
- Using Phantom Power – Leaving certain appliances plugged in while you’re not home can suck some juice when you’re not even using them. Although not a lot, everything on this list will quickly add up. Things like computers, TV’s, phones and other electronics take electricity. Invest in a power bar that you can turn everything off at once or even a timer that shuts off when you go to sleep at night.
By doing each of the above, you will shave little by little off of your electricity bill and when you add them all up – you will start to see big differences. Now when you take this approach with other costs of living like groceries, gas, vehicles, etc., the annual savings can be staggering.
Have any other good ideas or something we may have missed that could help a fellow Home Owner? Please share in the comments or Tag us in a Facebook post!
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