When it comes to paying bills for the entire family, things can start to add up. Not every family has six figure salaries; therefore, it can be complicated to pay for everything comfortably when the time comes to open the bills and pay them.
One of the biggest culprits for bills is utilities. In order to cut down your expenses, you will need to make some changes in your household, which everyone should participate in. It may seem like a challenge, initially, when you have children who aren’t as easy to train to learn new habits; but with enough practice, you can all put in the effort to lower your electric bill and save hundreds a year by making these simple changes.
Shower Every Other Day
If you have an electric water heater, this can start to add up each time someone in your family takes a shower or bath. When you have many of your family members doing this every day, plus laundry and dishes, it can start to add up quickly.
Limiting your showers to every other day is a very effective way to lower your electric bill, significantly. For some people who have jobs or play sports which get them very sweaty afterward, this may not be something you are willing to do. However, if you have an office job and can manage to get by with just a rinse in the sink and a change of clothes you may find this option works.
Even cutting out just one or two of your showers a week combined with the efforts of everyone in the family can make a big dent in your bill at the end of the month. Try giving it a go and see if it something that everyone feels comfortable with.
Always Turn Off The Lights and Appliances
Many people make the mistake of leaving lights on all day. Rather than just assuming this doesn’t make much of a difference, realize that this is literally throwing money out of the window. If you aren’t in the room and you don’t need to use something then turn it off.
This may take some getting used to for kids who are used to simply leaving a room without thinking twice about turning off the light, but if you continuously remind them, then after a while it should become more of a habit. Besides turning off appliances when not in use, you may need to perform frequent maintenance on the appliances to ensure they are working at their peak. As an example, if your water heater is faulty and consuming a lot of electrical power, it is recommended that you contact a professional water heater repair service to fix it right away, otherwise you may have to pay high energy costs.
Don’t Use Your Heat Too Much
Even though the winter months may be frosty and you want to feel cozy inside of your house, consider minimizing extra energy by putting on some extra layers and using blankets.
Your heaters use thousands of watts throughout the house and can be the biggest overall contributing factor to your bill.
