It’s become second nature to turn off the lights when we leave a room, and turn off the tap while we’re brushing our teeth.
But my wife and I have found many more ways to pay less on our power bill. Follow these tips to cut back on your bills, too:
Sweet Tip #1: Unplug the Power
Even when you turn off computers and televisions, they still draw electricity to keep certain settings (e.g. time and available channels). While we don’t unplug our electronics every time we’re done using them, we do pull the plug if we don’t use it often or if we’re leaving on vacation.
Sweet Tip #2: Update your Electronics
When we wanted to replace our 10-year-old TV (it stopped working), we realized that while it may cost slightly more upfront, LCDs consume half the power that plasma televisions do. We discovered that we would see a big boost in efficiency if we upgraded old appliances such as refrigerators and dishwashers.
Sweet Tip #3: Check the Temperature
To get the best efficiency out of our refrigerator, we keep the fridge temperature at 2 degrees and the freezer at -18. These are the optimal temperatures to store food without wasting energy.
Did you know that your fridge and freezer are also more efficient when they are full? It’s a good reason to pick up some more gelato. While we have empty space in our freezer, we fill milk jugs and pop bottles with water to help keep the temperature below freezing.
Sweet Tip #4: Toast, Don’t Roast
Ovens are a huge power drain and will overheat your home during hot summer months. The solution? Use your toaster ovens and microwave to help cut back.
Sweet Tip #5: Fill your Dishwasher
When using the dishwasher, we always run a full load to make the best use of the electricity (and water). However, don’t overload the dishwasher or the dishes won’t be properly cleaned. We might turn off the machine to let the dishes air-dry, which should save even more money.
After giving these tips a try, you could see your energy bills shrink each month!
Tom Drake is the owner and head writer behind Canadian Finance Blog and also works as a financial analyst for a major retailer. Tom and his wife Amanda welcomed their beautiful baby boy Christian in October of 2009. To read more of Tom’s posts, subscribe to Canadian Finance Blog’s RSS feed and follow @CanadianFinance on Twitter.