5 Tips to Save up to $268 in Annual Utility Costs

Who doesn't like to save money?  Well, here is an article from http://squirrelers.com.


Many of us have had a time where we opened an electricity or water bill, and thought to ourselves something along the lines of “Wow, that’s a lot of money! I don’t want to spend that much again.”
I recently had one of those moments, looking at what I owed for the prior month’s utility services.  These things can happen, as variations in resource consumption do occur for a variety of reasons. That said, when you stop to think about just how much utilities are a part of our regular cash outflow, it makes sense to consider tips on how to trim some of these costs.

I looked for some ways to save money, and one place I spent a little bit of time was the ENERGY STAR site. I found plenty of infomation on energy efficiency, tax credits, and even some tips to reduce energy usage.
After going through the information, looking for simple ways to save that don’t involve significant change or a lot of time, I found 5 easy tips that can save money on resource consumption:

• Turn Off the Lights.If you leave a room, why keep the lights on? Cutting 8 hours of daily usage from a 60-watt incandscent light bulb can save $15 per year.
• Go Low-flow. A new, low-flow shower head can save up to $145 in energy annually. This is on top of the savings from reduced water consumption though using up to 5 fewer gallons of water in a 10-minute daily shower.
• Be Cold to Your Laundry. Hot water heating accounts for 90% of the energy a machine uses when washing clothes. Using cold water to wash clothes can save up to $40 annually.
• Watch Out for Overdrying. Instead of erring on the side of getting clothes overdry when starting the dryer, try to match the time you’ll really need to dry clothes. Using an extra 15 minutes of dryer time for every load can save up to $34 per year.
• Clean the Lint Trap. I remember being much younger and wondering why my clothes were no longer drying well. I thought there was something wrong with the dryer. Well, as it turns out, my practice of rarely cleaning the lint trap wasn’t optimal:) Now that I’m older, I clean it after every load. Funny how that makes such a big difference! It also can save you up to $34 per year.

These 5 steps are easy, requiring little effort or inconvenience yet yielding measurable savings. The potential savings: $268. 

There is a lot many of us could do with $268, don’t you think?