… plus be nicer to the environment too!

If you’re looking for ways to reduce your utility bills, or you simply want to help preserve our beautiful world, here are ten ways you can:

1. In the winter, set your heat to 65-68. By simply keeping your house a little bit cooler than normal, you can reduce your heating bills by 20% or more. If you can reduce the heat even further, you’ll see better results. Try putting it down to 60 or 65 degrees while you’re away from home, or at night time when you’re snuggled under thick blankets.

2. In the summer, set the AC to 72-75. In the same way that reducing the heating temperatures in winter can help save energy, increasing them in the summer time will provide similar results. Setting up an automated temperature adjustment timer makes this task much easier, because you don’t have to worry about forgetting to adjust the temperatures in your home.

3. In winter, open curtains to let the sun in. This is particularly helpful for windows that are facing south, because more sun comes from this direction in winter.

4. In summer, close curtains in the sunniest windows. Summer time temperatures can rise dramatically inside when you let too much strong, hot sun in. Try closing and insulating windows which face west and north particularly, because the sun is hottest from these directions in the summer months.

5. Change your lightbulbs. You may think those little squigly “pig tail” lightbulbs look funny, but you might just be amazed at how much they’ll reduce your electricity bill. And even though they cost more to buy, they end up lasting much longer than conventional bulbs do too.

6. Turn lights, tv, and other appliances off when you leave a room. This should be a habit you and your family have ingrained. If you leave a room, turn the lights or other appliances off. Leaving the TV on when no one is watching just wastes electricity, and increases your costs. In the same vein, there is no reason to have lights on in an empty room, and there’s no reason to leave your computer or other electronics turned on if they’re not being used.

7. Insulate your home. This is particularly important for older homes, because they tend to be drafty by default. Just putting some simple insulation around windows and doors will help keep cold air out in the winter time, and hot air out in the summer.

8. Plant trees and bushes. Having trees and bushes around your home can reduce the temperature by as much as ten degrees. And having them placed in strategic areas will help even further. Put tall trees on the west side of your home for instance, and they’ll help shade the roof during the hottest days of summer. Plant a bush or small tree close to your air conditioning unit too, and that will help the device not have to work so hard.

9. Wash and/or rinse your clothes in cold water. Most clothes do not need to be washed in hot water, and they definitely don’t need to be rinsed in it either. And by not using hot water for washing or rinsing, you’ll save the water heater from doing extra work. Also try reducing the frequency of laundry… cloths can often be reworn a few times before they need washing.

10. Cook food in batches. This is not only an energy saver, it’s a great time saver too. If you cook a week’s worth of food on Saturday or Sunday, you won’t have to fire up the oven or stove during the week. You can simply reheat your meals in the microwave. This helps keep your house easier to cool during hot summer months particularly.