Is your home starting to cost a little too much? From mortgage payments to energy bills, the cost of living in a resource-inefficient home can quickly add up, giving you an incredible financial headache.
Luckily, it’s easy to reduce your monthly expenses and lower your bills by changing a few of your at-home habits. If you want to spend less each month, try one of these 10 tips for lowering your bills at home.
Unplug devices that aren’t in use
Did you know that your TV, stereo or computer could still use electricity even when it’s unplugged? Stop yourself spending money to run appliances and gadgets that sit idle by unplugging them from the socket when they’re not being used.
Pull the curtains and enjoy the sun
There’s no need to run expensive artificial lighting all day. Pull back your curtains or open the blinds to fill your home with natural sunlight. Sunlight not only illuminates your home; it also destroys bacteria that lives inside carpets and fabric furniture.
Open windows instead of using the A/C
Hot summer day? Instead of switching on the air conditioner, open a few windows around the house for fresh air. As well as cooling your home at no cost, the fresh air from outside will aerate your home and prevent odours from forming.
Install glazing and high quality insulation
Cool winter? Running your boiler constantly can cost a lot of money, as well as using a huge amount of resources. Heat your home and reduce your energy bill by fitting a high quality glazing material to your windows to keep the heat inside.
Make your home office 100% paperless
Do you have a home office? Instead of printing documents and emails, save them on your computer or cloud storage to save paper. As well as using lots of paper, digital printers can use a significant amount of energy.
Invest in an energy efficient home
The more energy efficient your home is, the less you’ll need to spend every month on electricity and gas. If you’re building a new home, make sure it uses high quality materials and is built with minimal energy consumption in mind.
Install motion sensors for your lighting
Do you keep some lights on all day, even when you’re not in the room? Switching off rarely used lights can save a significant amount of electricity, but it’s easy to forget to flick the switch when you’re thinking about other things.
Instead of switching your lights on and off manually, install motion sensors in areas like closets, spare bedrooms and garages. This way, your lights will shut off on their own when you leave the room, saving valuable energy.
Use water-saving taps and shower heads
Many older homes use taps and shower heads that are highly inefficient. Replacing them with modern water-saving taps and shower heads is a great way to cut down your water consumption and lower your monthly utility bills.
Install skylights and other daylighting
Nothing lights up your home as well as the sun. If your windows aren’t providing the right amount of sunlight throughout the day, don’t supplement with artificial lights; instead, install skylights and daylighting systems for free and natural sunlight.
Use Energy Star appliances and gadgets
Not all appliances are energy inefficient. When you’re furnishing your new home or shopping for appliances, check that they have the Energy Star sticker and use only the bare minimum of energy in order to operate.
What do you do to lower your bills?
The cost of living is creeping upwards, and even small steps to reduce your monthly bills can have a huge effect. What do you do to lower your bills? Do you have a tip or strategy that could help our readers spend less on energy or water each month?