You may have fallen in love with the charm of your older house, but you are not loving how inefficient it is. Yes, it looks cozy and quaint, but you keep getting higher electric bill than ever before. You’ll need to modernize it to save money.
No matter your reason for lowering your electric bill, there are lots of ways to do it. Some are as easy as making a phone call and others require a little effort.
In this article, I will go over some ways you can easily reduce your energy bill.
Buy Energy Efficient Appliances
If your appliances are old then they are costing you a lot of money. It may be a lot out of pocket to replace them, but they pay for themselves over time.
For starters, a dual zone mini splits air conditioner will cool your house quickly using less energy than a window unit.
After the air conditioner, the next place to look is at things that run constantly. Your refrigerator is an obvious place to save money. A new one can use up to 40% less energy than one built only 20 years ago.
Then replace your clothes dryer, dishwasher and washing machine and really see some savings.
Adjust the Temperature of your Fridge
If your food that is close to the back of the fridge often gets frozen slightly, then you know that your fridge is set way too cold.
You only need it to keep food from spoiling, so keep it around 4 or 5 on the dial. That is enough to keep your food cold but not so cold that your fridge is running all the time.
Air Dry your Clothes
In the summer there is little reason to use your clothes dryer at all. If you hang your clothes out to dry it can take less than an hour for them to dry when the sun is at its peak.
Even if it isn’t sunny, you can hang the clothes in a room that isn’t used much so they won’t be in the way.
You’ll save quite a bit just by doing this and it is very environmentally friendly.
Unplug things that aren’t in use
Many of your electronics use electricity even when they aren’t “on”. The secret is that they are mainly on standby so they do pull a current called a phantom load. You should unplug things you aren’t using like your TV, computers and game consoles.
Unplug your chargers as well if you aren’t charging your phone or camera.
Switch Providers
When there is competition there is money to be saved. By asking around you may find a different energy provider that has better rates or will give you a deal for switching to them.
It only takes a few phone calls and can potentially save hundreds per month.
Use Appliances at Night
Since the peak time for electricity is during the day and evening, if you wait to do things like your laundry, wash dishes or dry your clothes until the night then you’ll save money with no extra effort.
Rates can drop by as much as half at night.
