I compiled a list of a few energy saving ideas that several of us agreed we need to be more watchful of, and hopefully, our energy bills will go down and our bank balance will go up.
I have found in recent discussions with friends, that many of us are forgetting the “common sense” things in life when it comes to saving money and energy.
So, here are my 5 simple energy saving ideas for your home, that you can implement today and start saving straightaway!
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1. Take a 5 minute Shower
Yes, sometimes we need to relax in a long, hot shower after a stressful day, but not all the time. Many times we can be in and out and perfectly clean in 5 minutes or less.
Being intentional about getting clean and getting out quickly will save you time, and money on your water and heating (hot water heater) bill.
Multiply this times the number of people in your household and the savings could really add up.
2. Turn off lights when you aren’t in a room
Most of us have switched to the more energy-efficient light bulbs, and we all agreed that if you are going in/out of a room, it doesn’t make sense to turn the lamps off and on because they do take a minute to fully light up.
We also agreed that we sometimes need to leave a lamp on in a room while we are out, etc so we can see when we get home or for security reasons. We all agreed to make a concerted effort to use the lowest watt lamps for this purpose.
However, we do not need to leave on multiple lamps in the same room when it’s not in use, or if the additional lighting isn’t necessary. One friend mentioned that out of habit, they turned on four lamps in their large family room every evening.
Only she and her husband were typically using the room to watch television, and for 2 weeks they just used one lamp.
They found that they actually preferred the room dimmer, and over the long term will likely see some savings from not using the other three lamps every night.
3. Unplug things you don’t use regularly
Some argue that you should unplug everything when it’s not in use. That doesn’t work well for my family. Instead, we unplug things we don’t use daily.
The toaster and a few other small appliances we use throughout the day, so we do leave those plugged in. Phone chargers, the blender, and other appliances that we use occasionally get unplugged after we are done with them.
4. Check the thermostat in your home
In the summer, we wear shorts and light clothing around the house and drink plenty of water.
We keep the thermostat set at a comfortable temperature for this. Not too hot, but not cold. In the winter, we tend to keep it more on the cool side.
We dress warmly, wear thick socks, and use blankets. It’s not cold in the house, but it doesn’t need to be hot either.
5. Energy-efficient curtains
When we moved into this house, I used some old curtains we had on most of the windows, but didn’t have enough to cover them all.
Yes, they had blinds, but they needed curtains too. When I went to purchase the curtains, they only kind in stock happened to be the energy efficient kind. Being thrifty, I didn’t want to pay the extra money for these, as I had never used them before and didn’t know if they really made a difference or not.
I was shocked to see just how well they worked. Enough so that I went back and bought energy efficient curtains for all the windows in my house and donated my old curtains to a charity!
If you are thinking of reducing more your electricity bill, I’ve written another blog post about this very topic. And of course, I’d love any additional energy saving ideas that you might have!
Stay in touch
Hope this post inspires you and of course, I’d love to know what you think! Let me know in the comments below or find me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and add the hashtag #practicalfrugality so that I can see your post.
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Magdalena
Kelly Faber says
These are great tips! I never knew that with plugs being plugged in outlets even when not it use still uses electricity! We definitely watch out water consumption use around here and we use energy efficient light bulbs!
Laura says
Great tips. I try to keep our home as energy efficient as possible.
Sarah Hayes says
These simple little things can really add up to nice energy savings. I try to do as many of them as I can. this list is a nice reminder of all that we can do.
Maddie k. says
Great tips. Thanks.
Kate F. says
We turn off the lights when we aren’t in the room.
Carol says
The best way we save energy is open the windows at night in trhe summer to let the cool breeze in.
Richard Hicks says
we turned back the temp on the hot water heater to lower power bill
ardy22 at earthlink dot net
dezerieg@yahoo.com says
use fans instead of ac
jamie tucker says
we have blackout curtains on all the windows
tuckersaver at hotmail dot com
Alicia Ponce says
Our family uses energy efficient light bulbs, waterheater temp is adjusted , and use washer/dryer on off peak times.
beth says
Those are all great suggestions! The only one I can’t get on board with is the 5-minute shower. 🙂 I actually prefer long baths… but to save energy at home I turn off lights – especially the hot kitchen ones – and we recently replaced our 35-year-old furnace with a new, 95% efficient one. That should help!
Deborah Hogue says
We wash laundry with cold water and only full loads,
also we turn off lights and unplug appliances when
not in use
RANDY FULGHAM (@moooondog) says
USE THOSE TWIRLY LIGHT BULBS AND TURN OFF LIGHTS WHEN NOT USEING THEM
shanon hyatt says
We use energy saving light bulbs,turn out lights,and make sure all radio’s and TV’s are off when gone or out of the room.
Susan Smith says
We turn off lights and TV if nobody is in the room. Instead of turning on the air conditioner we use our ceiling fans
christal c w says
We unlplug this we do not use everyday, and we only run the air when it is 90 degrees or hotter,, easy to do in the midwest. I did change bulbs to cfl as well
Melanie B says
In AZ the summers are super expensive!! So, I try to do my laundry and other things that take more energy in the evening when the heat has gone down a bit. The air doesn’t have to work as hard.
Sara Zielinski says
We turn off the TV when it is not in use.
Lisa Brown says
We save by not keeping lights on in rooms that no one is using and using CFLs
Stacey Roberson says
We make sure we have the lights off in the rooms we are not using at that moment. Also, we try to minimize using the a/c and open the doors instead and let in some fresh air.
Karen says
We adjust the thermostat during the day when no one is home!
Karen
Cynthia C says
I’m careful to turn off anything that’s not being used.
April V. says
We try to run our large appliances (dish washer, dryer)after 8pm as the energy used is cheaper then.
Alicia Keen says
we turn off lights
gibberish (Julie G.) says
A few years ago we replaced all of our lightbulbs with energy efficient ones. Our energy bills were drastically reduced by this one action.
jennyatdapperhouse says
DARN IT!!! I always forget to change my filter and that is a BIGGIE! Helps your system run longer as well. Thanks for the great tips…gotta go change my filter 🙂
Shannon V says
Turn off lights not needed, use all cfl bulbs and keep blinds closed in summer on really hot days.
Vicky Carlson says
I caulked everything that needed caulking in the house that I possible could. I also do all of the above, lights out, no ac when not necessary, unplug a few things, energy efficient bulbs, and put blinds up, which helps.
Suzanne B. says
We always turn off/unplug everything and turn the heat/ac off whenever we leave the house. It helps a lot!
nenasinclair says
I installed new weatherstripping around our doors and windows, during the cold months, I turn down the heat at night and when there’s nobody at home, lights get turned off when not in the room and I have foam-backed curtains to keep the cold and heat out.
Anne Taylor says
We turn off lights if nobody is in the room, we take short showers, we turn off the water while brushing our teeth.
Melanie C says
We turn off all lights, run the washer and dryer at off peak times and caulk the windowns