Electricity bills for a lot of people are a real pain because they just seem to go up and up as we use more and more electrical technology in our everyday lives. As any parent will tell you they also go up by a lot as soon as the kids begin to start using these things as well. Luckily however there are many ways that we can all save on our electricity bills that don’t take too much time, and can end up saving us a lot of money in the long run. Many people overlook or forget these methods, but really they are just common sense.
Firstly a good thing to do is to get energy efficient light bulbs that use a lot less power even if left on all the time than regular light bulbs that are only used when you are in the room. The second thing to ensure is that you turn of lights when you leave the room and not to use them in the daytime as much which a lot of us tend to do. The thing about the daytime is that there is free light everywhere so opening your curtains and turning off the lights everyday is another good way to save a few dollars each month.
It is amazing how many people will sit with the curtains drawn making their rooms dark, and then turning on the lights instead to keep the room lit, and it doesn’t need to happen the majority of the time. Similarly to using more efficient lighting, using lower wattage bulbs as well as more efficient bulbs will also help to lower costs significantly. If the weather is good a lot of the time where you are as well a good idea is to just cool your home by opening a window when its too hot rather then using a fan, and by sitting outside whenever it is warm enough. Doing a lot of cooking outside on the gas barbecue or charcoal grill will also save you a lot on cooking costs, as well as the oven not making the house too hot whilst your food is cooking.
Another thing that can be very effective in cutting the costs of heating your home if you use an electric system is to make sure your house is better insulated. Meaning more heat will be trapped inside and you will have to use the heating itself a lot less. Things like draft excluders by the doors and double glazed windows will all help this to be achieved, as will getting roof or attic spaces fully insulated so that less heat is lost that way. It has been estimated that these measures can lead to your heating bill being halved from what a standard home would require to keep it warm all year round. Which is obviously a massive saving as in many places a households electricity bill will be mainly comprised of heating costs above any other appliances etc.
Lastly another smaller measure that can be effectively and easily used it to simply unplug things that aren’t being used overnight so that they aren’t using up power whilst on standby etc. Things like the TV, stereo and gaming consoles don’t really need to be plugged in all the time unless they are being used, which during the night they aren’t. Obviously things like fridges shouldn’t be left off at nighttime, as these need to be running constantly, but these tend to be a lot more efficient than general consumer and luxury electronic goods anyway.
There are now several different gadgets that you can buy to help you to save electricity, and therefore money as well. Firstly you can now buy a remotely activated device that lets you turn off all of your socket based appliances at the wall. Meaning they aren’t wasting any energy by sitting on standby all the time. There are also soon to be available sensory lights, so that when you leave a room they will turn off by themselves, and then if set to, turn back on again when you enter the room.
There are also several ranges of low energy appliances that are becoming available such as TV sets, monitors and even larger items like washing machines as well. Soon there will also be a cold wash washing machine that cleans clothes up to 30% more effectively, and that uses less than half of the energy than a conventional machine. This is due to be released to the general public sometime in the next year or so, and again can help you to save on your bills.