Energy Saving Ideas

As I've shared on here before, I've been getting some bootcamp emails from LV. As is the case with a lot of money saving ideas, a lot of them are the most common suggestions, but I have learned some new things from these and as always, that means I share them on here. 

One day they sent an email with ways to reduce your energy bill and I found a lot of them to be great and new ideas! You may have heard of some of these before, but I think refreshers are always helpful and a reminder to maybe add a project to our to do list! ;)

The first suggestion was to add surge protectors to the plugins for appliances and also using power strips where available so things can be turned off when they aren't in use. This is a really in expensive way to cut your power usage. 

Another idea, which I'm hoping we'll be able to do this year is to plant trees. According to the email, "Three trees properly placed around a house can save up to 30% in energy use. Plant on the west and northwest to provide mid-to-late afternoon shade. We recommend deciduous trees because they drop their leaves in the fall, letting in more light and heat during the winter." 

Insulating your home always seemed like a very daunting and huge project to me. Turns out it can be as easy as adding a foam insulation pad behind each outlet plate, to each outlet that faces an exterior wall and cost as little as $5 each. 

The thing I liked about this email was how easy these ideas are! Here is another simple idea that can take as little time as one minute and save you $20 a year! They suggest that your refrigerator temperature setting be between 35-38 degrees and your freezer should be set to zero degrees. 

Apparently opening the oven while baking is a big no, no for your bill! You lose 25-50 degrees of heat each time you open it! Also, if you use a small pot on the large burner you waste 40% of the burner's heat. If you put smaller pots on the smaller burners you could save up to $36 a year! I've already been more mindful of that one, who knew? 

It's also best to use the air dry on your dishwasher. 

This was also really great. I haven't had a chance to do it myself yet, but I think it's worth a try! "Check out Earth Aid, a green website that tracks your utility bills and gives you reward points when your usage falls below the prior year's. We calculated that you could save about $360 per year simply by reducing your energy consumption and letting Earth Aid reward you for it. That's a sweet deal if ever we've heard of one."