How to cut down on your utility bill without living like a caveman
If you want to cut down on your utility bill without living like a caveman, try the following:
1. Go green. You can replace some of your energy consuming appliances such as your washer, dryer, dishwasher, stove, and fridge with energy efficient appliances. This is often referred to as going green, and it is really wise. Often times your utility company will even give you a rebate for purchasing such appliances, and often will pay you for your old appliances as well. So, whether you are replacing one of your appliances because it is old and needed replacing anyway, or replacing them just to get a break on your utility bill, go green!
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2. Be conscious. One of the best ways to save money, or cut down on your utility bill is to simply be more conscious of the costs associated with doing things you do regularly that waste energy and hike up your bill. Make sure everyone in your house is conscious. You can still take a hot shower, just limit it to 5 minutes instead of extending it to 20. You can get plenty clean in 5 minutes. Shut the light off as you leave the room. Do not open the fridge over and over again. Shut the door so as not to let your conditioned air out. Turn off the television. Etc. there are a lot of things you will start doing just because you recognize that it helps. For example, you will not run the water for the whole time you brush your teeth, you will wet your toothbrush when you start, and you will rinse it off and your mouth out when you finish.
3. Open your blinds during the day when you need light, keep blinds closed in other rooms. If you want to cut down on your utility bill, you simply need to use less utilities. To do this, do not use your lights during the day, instead open the blinds. However, when you leave the room, shut them. Often times blinds act as an insulator to protect your cool or warm air from escaping. Also, sun can warm a room, so you will want to keep them shut in rooms you are not using if you have your air conditioning running.
4. Turn off the heater and the AC. You might like coming home to a nicely air conditioned room, but if you run the air conditioner or heater all day when no one is home, you are wasting money. Instead turn it on right when you get home, and it will warm or cool your home quickly. You can probably live with a few minutes of discomfort if it saves you a fortune on your utility bill.
5. Turn down your hot water heater. You very rarely use the hottest water in your water tank, in fact, when you shower you probably have it on partial hot, partially cold, so why pay to heat your water hotter than you will use. You can still get your dishes and clothes clean using not as hot of water, and turning it down even a few degrees can reduce your utility bill a lot.
6. Go soft. Soft water is a lot cheaper to heat, and you could save even $30 a month going to soft water over hard. It also means being able to spend less than you have been on all of your soaps.
