Have you noticed how monthly bills and household maintenance cost quite a lot? Do you often wonder what is it that you do with electricity, water and other consumptions to be charged such a huge amount of money each month? Perhaps you talk to your friends and know that their bills are significantly lower. If so, how is that the case? Can you lower your bills, too? The truth is you can, you just need to change some habits and make quite an effort in the beginning. Once you get used to the new regime, you’ll do it almost effortlessly and your bills will be permanently lower.
Dimmer switches and lamps
Instead of going from zero to one hundred every time you turn the lights on, wouldn’t it be great if you used the amount of light you actually need? The solution lies in dimmer switches. Their purpose is to adjust the amount of light to your needs at a given moment instead of having to choose between on and off only. Also, if you want to do some minor reading, a simple low voltage lamp will suffice. As soon as you change all your switches to dimmers and start using light only when you need it, your bill should lower.
Go easy on the AC
Air conditioning is something we absolutely cannot live without. However, sometimes we can use some cheaper alternatives in order to save some money, as well as the environment. One suggestion is to control natural light. During the winter, we try and take it all in. However, in the summertime, the sun and the heat cause a greenhouse effect and our house becomes much warmer than usual and we have to use the AC more. However, Australians have figured out a way to fight this by buying some amazing Zebra blinds in Sydney. Their new technology of layers enables you to have full control over the light that comes into the house.
Get rid of the dryer
Drying your laundry in the dryer certainly has its advantages. The waiting time is minimal and you don’t need any extra space apart from where to place the machine. However, these are quite costly when it comes to electricity, so you may want to consider drying your clothes the old-fashioned way. If you have a backyard or a balcony, this really shouldn’t be a problem. Just hang a rope or get that drying metal construction and leave your laundry to dry in the natural air.
Kill phantom loads
Perhaps you didn’t know this, but most of your appliances use electricity secretly once their power is off. If they are still plugged in, they use electricity while they’re on standby. This is an absolute waste of energy, as well as money, so you should do something about it. For instance, you could plug all your appliances together in a power strip or several and each night, before you go to bed, turn all the strips off and you’ll save a significant amount per month.
We hope you’ll be able to use some of these suggestions to lower your own electric bill. Perhaps you already take some of these measures, but we hope you were able to learn at least one new one and that you’ll start applying it. It’s a great way to support the planet and your own wallet at the same time.