Cut down on your household
expenses and put your savings to better use with these tips:
- The small stuff adds up. Turn the lights off when you leave a room, and skip the daily coffee run or trip to the vending machine.
- Make a shopping list before you go to the grocery store and stick to it. You’ll buy what you truly need and eliminate unnecessary purchases.
- Utility costs. Set your programmable thermostat so that it automatically cools down your house when you’re asleep or out of the house.
- Invest in ceiling fans to circulate air more efficiently and help reduce your heating and cooling costs.
- Buy energy efficient light bulbs and turn off your computer/laptop, television when you’re not using them.
- Vacuum the dust off the coils on your refrigerator to improve the efficiency of one of the larger consumers of energy in your household.
- The dryer is the other big energy-sucking appliance in your house. When you can, hang your clothes to dry in the laundry room and use the dryer sparingly.
- Switch to a low flow shower-head, repair leaky faucets and toilets and cut down on watering your lawn.
- Turn down the temperature on your water heater to 120° Fahrenheit.
- Use the microwave instead of the oven whenever possible – the cost just to preheat an oven is more than the cost to cook a meal in the microwave.
- Reassess your cellphone use every year and see if there’s a cheaper plan that fits your needs.