Saving Money on Your Monthly Electric Bill

Monthly expenses compose the largest part of our budgets, especially those for utility services. We can always count on these bills arriving very timely every month, and having to pay them within a few days or weeks to avoid paying late fees. Your electric bill can easily be lowered enough to save you 20 to 30 percent on your monthly and annual fees with a few new habits, allowing you to save money for more important expenses.

Electric heating or air-conditioning units use much of our energy when they are in use, and can easily make our bills skyrocket when not paid close attention to. Water heaters are next in line for providing the highest percentage of electricity costs, but additional measures can be taken to lower this usage, too.

Helpful tips for saving money on your electric bill include lowering the temperature on your electric water heater. Most of these tanks are kept at unnecessarily high temperatures that result in an electric power sponge.

These settings allow for you to get your much-needed hot water in seconds, but with a little patience a lowered temperature gauge can save you significant funds. If you only lower your water heater temperature by 5 to 10 degrees, you’ll notice a difference almost immediately. This is also a great advantage to homes with children when it comes to preventing scalding burns.

Another great money saving tip is to start washing all of your laundry, except those which are absolutely necessary, in cold water only. Invest in a special cold water detergent designed to get your clothes just as clean in lower temperatures, and enjoy a longer life and less shrinking! Also, consider air drying certain clothing items to reduce your electricity costs in running your dryer.

If you have rooms that are not used often, close the vents in those rooms and close the doors until it’s necessary to use them. Guest rooms may always apply here, but at night your kitchen and living areas aren’t being used, and during the day your bedrooms probably aren’t either. Don’t forget to keep the laundry room closed off, too.

Space heaters in these areas can be reduced to 50 degrees Fahrenheit when not in use. You may also invest in a programmable thermostat to automatically reduce the temperature at night or while away at work.

Perhaps the most involved but best long-term goal for saving money on electric bills in your home includes increasing your home’s insulating features. If you live in an older home, insulation was probably never even placed in your exterior walls. Your local hardware store carries insulation that can be blown into these walls and plugged in order to better your home’s insulation factor.

Saving money on electric bills will also be quickly noted with the replacement of old windows by double-paned, energy efficient versions. If you’re in the market for ideas for improvements to your home, you may also consider new appliances that don’t require near as much energy to continue to provide the same level of service.