A lean utility bill not only saves you a lot of money each month but also shows that you are using energy efficiently and helping to conserve this precious resource. Here are a few tips on how you can greatly lower your utility bill as well as help you be more mindful of the environment.
- Replace your ordinary bulbs to low energy LED bulbs. They consume less energy than ordinary bulbs and last longer too. You’ll go through fewer units on your meter and also save money since they are not constantly needing to be replaced.
- Set your washing machine to the lowest temperature possible. This conserves energy since less power goes into heating the water. Some washing detergents are also more effective with a cold-water setting. If your machine has the option of an Eco mode setting, then use that. 8 Things To Look Out For When Buying A Washing Machine
- Fill your washing machine drum to ensure that you make the most efficient use of water and electricity. Washing machines use a lot of resources so if you have a light load, it would make more sense to hand wash them. 10 Mistakes To Avoid While Using Your Washing Machine
- Take showers, not baths. Baths use up a lot of water. Avoid taking long showers too. As tempting as a long, hot water shower is, it is not good for our environment due to wastage and your pocket because of the electricity consumed. The Hazards Of Showering Every Day
- Fill up your freezer with food. This minimizes the amount of warm air that enters the freezer because the food is compact and keeps the cold air in. So, when you open your fridge door, the freezer doesn’t have to work hard to cool the air back down.
- Avoid having to open the fridge/ freezer door frequently. If you’re cooking or making a snack, take out everything that you need at once. As mentioned no. 5, warm air in your fridge means that your appliance has to work much harder to cool the air and that means it consumes more electricity as it does that.
- Since we’re on appliances, cheap is expensive. Go for superior quality appliances. They make be expensive initially, but they will save you a ton of money in the long run. They use energy more efficiently, lowering your electricity bill and they also don’t break down often because of the top-notch items that were used to make them so you don’t have to keep buying new ones. 7 Things To Look For When Buying General Appliances
- Don’t boil water unnecessarily. Boil only the water that you need when using a kettle instead of heating up a litre of water to make a cup of tea. Alternatively, you can boil the litre of water and store it in a thermos so that you don’t have to boil more when you need to make some more tea.
- Repair broken appliances as soon as possible in order to restore their efficiency in energy consumption and also to keep you safe. One of the causes of fires that occur in the home is due to faulty electrical appliances.
- Get a legitimate power connection. Illegitimate connections not only pose a great danger to you and your family they are also very inefficient energy sources.
- Utilise solar energy. The sun is a free, natural energy source. Why not make use of it? The initial investment in a solar panel or a solar water heating system may be high, but in the long run, the benefits will outweigh the money you put out. You will say goodbye to hours sitting in darkness because of a power blackout since the solar power generator will complement electricity from the grid. You will complement electricity from the grid. Moreover, you can save on this plan by taking advantage of credible energy comparison sites like ElectricityRates, which enable you to choose the best renewable plans that suit you by providers around where you live.
- Need to boil some maize or beans on the jiko? Use alternative fuels such as briquettes which are compact masses made out of coffee husks, sawdust, and wood chips among other things. They are four times more efficient than charcoal which means you can cook four times the amount of food with one kilo of briquette fire than one kilo of charcoal. Due to their compactness, they also occupy less storage space.
- Purchase an energy-saving jiko like Jikokoa which is more efficient than a metal jiko.
- Use ceramic or glass bowls in the oven. They are good at holding heat which means you can lower the oven temperature when you cook and use less electricity.
- Switch off lights when not in use.
- Switch off everything from the socket when not in use to avoid leaving things on standby. Even if less energy is used, switching them off means no energy is used which equates to some savings.
- Unplug your phone when it’s fully charged. If possible, avoid charging your phone overnight. It’s wasteful and doesn’t do any good for your battery. If you’re home a few hours before your bedtime, use that time to charge your phone. Or if you have a few hours in the morning before you have to leave the house, you can use that time to charge your phone. Phone manufacturers are making devices that use less time to recharge so you won’t need more than two hours to fully recharge if your battery was completely empty. How To Prolong Your Phone’s Battery Life
Here are some other ways to save money in harsh economic times.
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