The cost of running a home makes up a significant part of the family's budget. A challenging global economy attributes to rising costs of living which makes maintaining control of your expenses expedient. One way of accomplishing this is by keeping utilities such as the power bill as low as possible. Here are five ways you can keep a lid on the electric bill without sacrificing comfort and convenience:

Use Heat-Emitting Appliances at Night

Appliances like the dishwasher, microwave oven, and the dryer emit quite a great deal of heat that raises that temperature of your home. This makes the AC system to work harder in cooling your home thus racking up extra energy units. While performing chores like laundry during the day makes sense, switching up to nighttime when temperatures are cooler saves energy.

Switch to Cold Water

LG Electronics derived that heating laundry water accounts for 90% of the energy your washing machine consumes. Therefore, it serves you well to use cold water especially when washing tones of laundry. The same goes for the dishes; make a habit of using cold water and use hot water sparingly such as when tackling greasy utensils.

Air-drying Clothes

A washer-dryer makes doing laundry convenient especially when you are pressed for time. However, the dryer consumes a lot of energy that is sometimes unnecessary like during summertime. The sweltering heat of summer is enough to dry your garments in a matter of a few hours. Consider line-drying outdoors and see your electric bill drop by a large margin.

HVAC Maintenance

If your cooling system is not working optimally, it consumes a lot of power to provide the level of cooling or heating you desire. Neglecting these checks reduces the lifespan of your air conditioning and heating systems, and spends more energy. Schedule routine maintenance checks to identify any issues like malfunctioning components before they wreak havoc on the entire system.

Avoid Phantom Energy

Energy waste through standby power is a real menace. Turning off electronic gadgets does not cut the energy consumption. Devices like TVs, laptops, and WIFI router continue to draw power if they remain plugged into power sources. Use power bars with timers that will shut off automatically when the device is not in use. Also, unplug cell phones and laptops when they finish charging.

Conclusion

There are several ways of curbing unnecessary power consumption around your home. A complete overhaul of energy-efficient appliances may be pricey, but you can make gradual changes like turning off light bulbs when you leave the room.

   

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