MONEY SAVING TIPS TO REDUCE YOUR ELECTRIC BILL

In today’s economy we are all looking to reduce our debt to income ratio, save money, and practice better debt management, so any help we can get to do this is welcome news. Here are some tips taken directly from a large utility supplier that can reduce your yearly electric (bill) debt by as much as 5% to 30% a year, according to the U.S Department of Energy.

The first step in saving on your energy costs and reducing your debt is to perform an audit on your home’s energy efficiency, you can go online for a DIY energy audit at http://hes.lbl.gov and it will step you through the process.

Basically, what you will need to do is search for air leaks around; doors, windows, doorframes, pipes, attic or cellar doors or hatches, baseboards, and electrical outlets. An easy fix is simply to weather strip or caulk around any areas you find not to be air tight. The next step that follows is to adopt these energy saving measures into your daily debt management living habits:

1. If you do not have one already install a programmable thermostat.

2. During the winter/cold months program your heat thermostat to 68 degrees with the thermostat fan on auto while you are at home and reduce it when you are sleeping or are leaving the house.

3. In the summer and warmer times of the year set you’re a/c thermostat to 78 degrees with the fan on auto and increase it to around 80 while out, if you have a large home over 2700sf you may want to keep the thermostat at a constant temperature of 79 degrees in order not to have to expend a lot of energy to re-cool the entire home again, keeping it at a constant low use setting is more energy efficient which means money saving.

4. Do not pre-wash your dishes before loading the dishwasher it will save both energy and water.

5. Make sure you clean and replace air filters in a/c units and your clothes dryer.

6. Use appropriate water levels when doing laundry and use energy efficient temperature settings.

7. Use the dryer’s auto dry sensor so you don’t use more energy than necessary.

8. Turn off ceiling fans when not in the room.

9. During the summer do not run your pool pump more than 6 hours per day or 4 hours during the winter.

10. Turn off unnecessary lights both indoor and out and always turn lights off when leaving a room.

Occasional Bills

These are bills that are not paid on a monthly basis. However, they are not miscellaneous cash spending either. These are the things that you must pay for but only occasionally. These will include new tires for the car, school graduation expenses, replacing an old appliance, painting the house. In other words, these are things that must be done or bought as opposed to things we would just like to do or buy. And they are difficult to plan for because you don’t know when that tire is going to suddenly need to be replaced (different brands, driving habits, and mileage will all effect replacement time). You may know that the house is going to need repainting in 5 or 10 or 15 years, but there is no sense in planning for this now. These are long-term expenses. They are also sometimes emergencies. For instance, if you didn’t keep an eye on your tires, you might suddenly have a blowout and need to buy a new one right now. If your washing machine goes, you need one now or at least within a few days. But painting your house can be put off for awhile.

There are two ways you can cut costs on these items. One is to take the time to shop for pricing. If you are 1,000 miles from home and have a blowout, you have to put on your spare now and, if it is one of those little donut spares, you have to get that tire replaced very quickly. But if you notice that one of your tires is beginning to wear more than the others, you will have time to make some phone calls to find the best deal. The same is true for non-emergencies such as painting the house or buying a washing machine.

The big problem with shopping for the best deal on anything is that a lot of us are not shoppers. If none of the adults in your family like shopping, how about the kids? Any child from 13 years old and up should be learning about budgeting money anyway so tell them what the criteria are and let them make the phone calls. A kid who likes doing research will be excited when he finds that he saved Mom and Dad $100 on a new refrigerator. If no one in the family likes shopping, then have everyone share the responsibility. Each person check out the prices at two tire stores and you will have quotes from eight places with only one quarter the effort.

Two, is to do-it-yourself again. Just as with your car, there are a lot of repair and maintenance jobs you can do yourself. Granted we have known people who would actually find old washing machines, pirate parts from them, and put together an actual working washer. However, we do not recommend this method unless you are really into this sort of thing. However, there are things you can take care of yourself.

You can paint your own house. Depending on how big a house you have, it could cost quite a bit and take a lot of time to paint your whole house. In that case, why not paint one side each year. This will spread out the cost, spread out the time involved, and keep your house looking great. And don’t think that only men do this type of work. One of the best roofers we have ever seen is a woman. She doesn’t do it professionally but, when a friend needs help, she is up there hammering.

When something does need repair or fixing up, think about whether you or your spouse or even one of the kids can do it. You can even make a family project out of it.

Occasional items are more difficult to save on but, even if you only make one major purchase a year, by shopping around for the right price you could be talking about a $50 to $200 savings on that one thing. By doing a major job like painting your house or laying your own carpeting, you could be saving thousands of dollars.

US Small Business Administration