10 Ways to Lower Your Utility Bills and Save Money
Whether you are looking to buy a new home or you have been living in the same home for decades, one question you might have is how to save money on your utility bills. After all, utility bills are typically one of the larger monthly expenses you have, regardless of whether you are in a house or an apartment. Some people’s utility bills seem absurdly high…and they are. If your utility bill seems way too high to be acceptable, odds are you can probably shave a good portion of that off by following a few simple steps.
In this post, we want to do our best to fill you in on some of the top tips to save money on your utilities each month, including your electricity bill, water bill, internet bill, and more. If this sounds interesting to you, keep reading! Most likely, after reading this post, you will be able to shave at least 50 dollars off of your monthly utilities and probably even more, as long as you are willing to follow some of these steps.
Ways to Save Money on Your Electricity Bill
People often think that their electricity bill is more or less out of their control. After all, you need to use electricity every day, and there’s really no way around turning on your appliances or turning on the lights. While this is true, there are ways that you can minimize consumption without inconveniencing yourself at all. Here we will highlight a few of them that can make the biggest difference.
1. Take Advantage of Natural Light
Newsflash: sunlight is free! While some homes get better natural lighting than others, everyone can still utilize whatever sunlight they do get to cut down their electricity bill. For any rooms that get decent natural lighting, there really is no need to turn on the lights during the day. While some rooms probably do not have large windows, like most bathrooms, plenty of other spaces should be able to get enough sunlight to brighten themselves naturally. If you turn the lights on in a room that is already getting good natural lighting, you really aren’t doing yourself any favors. Especially when privacy is not a major concern, raising the blinds and letting the light shine in is one of the easiest ways to cut down electricity costs each month.
2. Save on Air Conditioning by Taking Advantage of the Outdoor Temperature
This one doesn’t work all year, but it works pretty well for a good chunk of the year depending on where you live. Typically the best times to use this cost saving method are the shoulder seasons of spring and fall. If the temperature outside is between 66 and 73 degrees, there really is no need to run any heating or air conditioning! Just open up the windows and let the natural air temperature fill your home. Air conditioning is one of the biggest contributors to high electric bills, and finding ways to minimize its usage can really save bundles of cash.
You can even take this one a little further to do it more efficiently and effectively. If there is a particularly cool day in the fall or spring, like 60-63 degrees, that might be the perfect day to open up the windows and let the cool air flow in. If you welcome in that cool air and then trap it inside, your house will stay cooler for longer! When you do need to run the heating or the air conditioning, it is best to pick a temperature, stick to it, and set your thermostat to auto so that it doesn’t overcool or overheat, saving wasted energy. Also, on the topic of windows, never run your air conditioning with the windows open. You’ll just be blowing your hard earned money right out the window.
3. Unplug Things That Are Not in Use
This might sound like too much effort or sound like something that probably won’t have a major effect. And, well, in some ways you would be right to think that. Leaving devices plugged in when they are not in use only uses small amounts of energy. However, even if it only amounts to twenty dollars of savings over the course of a year, that is still over $1.50 per month! A great strategy is to use power strips as much as possible and simply unplug the entire strip when it is not in use. While this method isn’t a great idea around devices that need to reboot every time they are unplugged, like cable boxes, routers, and desktop computers, it is very easy and effective for small kitchen appliances and device chargers.
4. Replace Your Lightbulbs with Energy Efficient Alternatives
This one is the easiest money saving method on the entire list, as all it takes is one trip to the store (or Amazon) and then an hour or so of work. Old light bulbs are simply not energy efficient. Nowadays, they make lightbulbs that use very little energy and last for over a decade. An entire decade! Some of these lightbulbs use 80% less energy than their traditional counterparts, which equates to 80% of savings on your electricity bill as far as lighting is concerned. The lightbulbs do cost marginally more than their traditional counterparts, but the savings coupled with the fact that you won’t replace them for ten years make the initial investment well worth it.
I mentioned briefly earlier that you can find the bulbs on Amazon. This is true, and Amazon may actually be the best place to buy them. On Amazon, there are sellers who refurbish used energy efficient lightbulbs, restore them to full life, and sell them at extreme discounts. To amplify your savings even further, try getting these recycled bulbs off of Amazon.
5. Use a Drying Rack for Clothes Instead of a Dryer
Don’t worry, I don’t mean that you should never use your dryer. On the contrary, I mean that small loads of laundry don’t need a whole dryer cycle for themselves! If you spilled some tomato sauce on your favorite white shirt and just threw it into the washing machine, you should consider hang drying it instead of using the dryer. Whether you put one shirt or thirty shirts into the dryer, it uses the same amount of electricity. Did I mention that dryers are one of the appliances in your home that contribute the most to your electricity bill? On average in the United States one dryer cycle adds a dollar to your electricity bill. Cutting down on a few dryer cycles per month can save you forty dollars per year!
Ways to Save Money on Your Water Bill
Before I dive into the two methods that I recommend to cut down your water bill each month, I feel the need to preface with the fact that they are nothing you haven’t heard before. Both of these methods pop up everywhere, but for good reason. Water is another thing that we simply need to use every day, and there is no way around that. However, being more conscious about how we use it can save us a few dollars each month! Here are the two ways I recommend doing that.
6. Wait to Use the Dishwasher or Washing Machine Until You Have Full Loads
Common sense, right? Firstly, it is worth noting that a washing machine uses significantly less energy than a dryer, so saving a dryer cycle is like saving three laundry cycles. Still, running the washing machine with only a few items really doesn’t help you much and can cost you a few extra bucks per month. Of course there will always be things like the tomato sauce stained shirt that need immediate attention, but on a day to day basis running full loads can really help you cut down on your water bill.
The same thing goes for your dishwasher, if you have one. While over filling can lead to dishes that are not fully cleaned, you should still try to maximize your space and fill it as much as you can without squeezing things in. Fewer dishwasher cycles means less electricity and water usage, putting a few more dollars back into your pocket at the end of the month.
7. Turn Off Faucets When They are not in Use
This one might be the most cliché suggestion that I put on the list, but I want to dive into it a little further to demonstrate what exactly it means. I am sure that you have heard that you should turn off the faucet while you brush your teeth. This is true! That water is literally doing nothing except going right down the drain. Just like the water, your money is going right down the drain too. While water is a lot cheaper than electricity in most places, you are still wasting money that doesn’t need to be wasted. Turn the water on to wet your toothbrush and turn it on again to wash off your toothbrush when you’re done. That is all you need to do! The same goes for shaving. Turn the faucet on when you need it, and off when you don’t.
Where I think the bigger savings can be had is not in the bathroom, but rather in the kitchen. Whenever you are washing dishes by hand, you do not need the faucet running constantly. You need the water to initially wet the dish, and then later rinse it off. For small dishes, there really is not much of a need to turn the water off, as the dish is so quick to clean. But for larger items, like pots, pans, and blenders, turning the water off while you scrub can add up to five to ten whole minutes of savings. That is a lot of water! That is three to five days of leaving the water on while you brush your teeth.
Ways to Save Money on Your Internet and Cable Bills
8. Bundle Your Services
Warning: this one is not my recommended method. Of the three ways I will list to save money on your cable and internet bills, this is the one I like the least. However, if you are not willing or able to do the other two things on this list, bundling your services is a great alternative. Unless you are getting an absolute steal on cable from one company and internet from another, there is no reason not to use the same provider. Most providers offer large discounts for bundling your services, and this can amount to hundreds of dollars over the course of a year.
Companies like Verizon and Xfinity know that their competition is limited and offering bundling promotions can easily lure their customers away from their rivals. These bundle deals are great opportunities for you as a customer and are one of the easiest ways to save costs each month. Not to mention having just one provider means paying only one bill per month, rather than having to make two or three separate payments each month!
9. Switch From Cable to a Streaming Provider
This is the big one. I was recently talking to someone who told me that she pays over $200 per month for cable and wifi. She said that the wifi was about $75 of that, and the cable was somewhere between $125 and $150. Ladies and gentlemen, that is absurd. Cable bills these days have gone through the roof, and there is really no need to pay such high amounts. If this sounds like you, you may want to consider cancelling your cable. Does that sound crazy? Hear me out.
Many people pay for cable every month but don’t even watch TV. They watch Netflix every day, and maybe use their cable once a week. Is once a week worth $100 to you? If you are someone who does watch TV more frequently but still wants to save money wherever possible, you should look into switching to a TV streaming provider. Basically, these companies enable you to watch the full channel lineup, including national and local TV, by streaming via the internet rather than a satellite or cable. As far as you need to be concerned as a customer, it works exactly the same as long as you have good wifi. FuboTV, for example, costs $65 per month for its regular package which includes over 100 channels. You can also customize your plan to include channels that you care about. If you are paying more than $65 per month, you should consider switching to FuboTV immediately!
10. Downgrade Your Wifi Plan to the Speed that Suits You
This one is very easy to do and if very straightforward. If you find that your wifi speeds are already too slow or are unsatisfactory, you can skip this tip because it won’t help you. However, if you have never had a complaint about your home internet, you should explore downgrading to a cheaper plan. Often customers pay for a plan that provides speeds much faster than they need, which costs them a lot of unnecessary money each month. I recommend downgrading your internet service each month until you think it is too slow. When you find the package that is too slow, simply upgrade one tier higher and you’ll be in your correct package! For individuals or couples, you should not really need any more than the basic 200 Mbps package offered by most providers. 400 Mbps is great for families that have two devices streaming video content at a time, and higher packages are more designed for literally five devices to stream at the same time. Unless you plan on watching Netflix on five screens at the same time, you should be good with just 200 or 400 Mbps.
After reading this post, hopefully you can make some easy changes that will save you tens to hundreds of dollars per month. Something as simple as switching to FuboTV instead of Verizon, Xfinity, or DirecTV can save over $50 per month right off the bat without losing any kind of benefit.
If you visit Myrtle Beach or any other place in South Carolina and fall in love, reach out to us for help. We at The Boyd Team are always here to help you figure out whether Myrtle Beach is your next home or not, and we are committed to helping you find the right property for your needs and dreams. Any question that you have about moving to the area and finding your dream home by the beach is our pleasure to answer. Feel free to send us an email at eddie@boydteam.com or text or call us at (843) 222-8566, and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Being true natives of the Grand Strand and Horry County and with over 25 years of experience in the local real estate market, whether buying or selling, we can help you make your dreams a reality.
No One Knows The Grand Strand Better! Trust, Knowledge, Experience, Professionalism, You Can Count On!
Written by Greg
