Household Penny Pinching from the House Guy!

1. Reduce the temperature on the hot water heater! This is easy and all you need in most cases is a screwdriver to open a panel to see the thermostat controller. It takes about 30 seconds and the hot water heater is one of your biggest users of electricity!

2. Buy and use a programmable furnace thermostat! We have our set to go down at 10 PM (2200) and back up at 6 AM (0600). It works as we like the cooler temperatures to sleep in the three seasons we need some heat. By the way–Wear the right clothes for the season: sweaters in winter; light, loose clothes in summer and your house temperature can be adjusted to save even more. Put the thermostat in a low temp setting and “on hold” during cold temps and in a high temp setting and “on hold” during high outside temperatures when away from the house for a day or more. No one at home during the day? Set it to go down or up when you leave and if you return at a regular time you can set it to adjust just before you get home!

3. Put curtains on windows/doors that can be closed when conserving heat or cool air in the summer and block the sun if its hot or open when its cold and the sun radiation helps warm you up. We have large south facing windows and sliding doors that we love since they provide a great view of our woods and river across the road. We open the curtains when we want to the sun and close them when it is hot.

4. Amazingly this technique works quite well in the summer in a moderate climate: We watch the cool air come in the morning with the windows and doors with screens open and then close up at 10 or so and it stays cool for several hours before we need air conditioning. I recognize that this might not work in some hot and humid areas (we lived in Panama and Charleston, SC during a couple of tours). This also does not work if you have elderly family visiting from Florida who do not like the early morning cool air but we love it.

5. If it is a hot day consider using the grill outside to cook to avoid heating up the kitchen! We have a great spot to grill and cook meat, fish and vegetables on it all the time. We just purchased a new grill with a burner that can heat water so its even more utilitarian.

6. Hard day at work or in the garden? Use the shower instead of a bath to clean up. You will save a lot of hot water and electricity. Of course, if you sing a concert while in the shower the savings go down! I remember my dad use to insist that we soaped up before turning on the shower! But I still can’t do that but some do.

7. Always fill the dishwasher before turning it on and turn off the hot drying tool! It takes a bunch of electricity to dry your dishes when just a bit of time will do the same thing!

8. Do you have an attached garage or carport right next to the house? In the winter bring a warm car into the garage and close the door to add the heat. In the summer during hot conditions leave it outside to cool!

9. Are you windows and doors sealed well? If not, you might consider purchasing some sealer and caulking windows and putting new strips around your doors.