Tips on how to save energy in your home

In these days when energy costs are rising, everyone is looking for ways to save money on their monthly energy bills and still be comfortable in their homes. There are many ways you can cut costs and learn how to save energy in your home, but you do have to be diligent.

Some of these ways include:

Take shorter showers

Turn down the temperature of your hot water heater a notch or two so that you are not heating the water to such high temperatures.

Use energy efficient lighting instead of the incandescent bulbs in your lamps and light fixtures. This means using compact fluorescent bulbs.

If there is no one in a room of your home, turn the lights off in that room.

Turn off heaters in rooms that are not being used. If you have a furnace, you can shut off the ducts in these rooms and keep the doors closed.

Instead of keeping the refrigerator door open while you look for something, take out what you need and close the door.

Turn down the temperature of heat in your home and if you find it a bit chilly, put on a sweater.
Have extra blankets on the bed so that you can turn the heat down or even off at night.

You burn more electricity by turning the heat up and down that you do by setting it at one temperature and leaving it there. Then the heaters or the furnace will not cut in as often.

When no one is watching the TV or listening to the radio, turn them off.

If you are not using your computer, turn it off.

Close the damper of your fireplace when you have a fire burning. With it open a lot of the heat goes right up the chimney.

Don’t run the water in the bathroom when you are washing or shaving. Instead, fill the sink and use this water.

If you have a faucet that drips, have it repaired or replaced as soon as possible.

Consider installing an energy efficient toilet that takes less water to flush.

Wash your dishes by hand instead of using the dishwasher all the time.

Use a microwave to warm up small amounts of food rather than use the stove.

Instead of hosing down the driveway, use a broom to sweep it off. This will also give you a good workout at the same time.

When the weather is warm, cook outdoors on a gas barbecue rather than on the stove in the kitchen.

If you use an electric frying pan you will use far less electricity that you would by using a burner on the stove.

A toaster oven uses less electricity than a conventional oven

Use an outdoor light that automatically comes on a sunset and goes off at sunrise. Then you won’t waste electricity by forgetting to turn the lights off during the day.