10 ways to reduce your utility bill this summer using LED power & more. {#LEDSavings}
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Living in Texas has it’s pros and cons. Our summers definitely fall into the latter and while the air-conditioning will be cranked up in most homes, the energy bills will definitely be physical proof of the dent in the monthly family budget. Our family has already begun working towards cutting energy costs around our home. A few inputs into the power consumption calculator were enough to convince us to switch to using LED power instead. That and a few more changes should have us ready to take on summer like energy saving pros!
10 ways to reduce your utility bill this summer
1. Invest in a clothesline ( or two) and opt to hang dry your clothes versus using a dryer
2. Avoid using your dishwasher and hand wash your dishes.
3. Don’t lower the temperature on your thermostat at home. Leave it on the temperature you have it running during cooler months and use ceiling fans and floor fans to cool rooms. (Ours is consistently at 78 degrees or 77 degrees when we’re at home. When we step out for a few hours, my husband cranks it up to 82 degrees)
4. Remember to change the air filters for your air-conditioning system every month. It definitely improves efficiency and prevents loading on the system. While doing this, also make sure you clean your ceiling fan blades regularly to ensure they work effectively as well.
5. Don’t leave electrical appliances and equipment plugged in when not in use. They actually eat into the energy consumption as well!
6. If you plan to bake, opt to use your toaster instead of the oven especially if you plan to bake small quantities of baked treats or casseroles. Not only do you save on energy costs but having the room heat up as a result, is also avoided. (I’ve begun doing this and we’ve already noticed a difference!)
7. Encourage the kids and other members of the family to avoid leaving the water running when brushing teeth or while washing hands with soap, when not required.
8. Consider window tinting your windows with solar window films and using solar blackout curtains. This cuts down cooling bills and keeps the room cooler especially during the summer.
9. While doing the former, rooms may get darker quicker, especially during the evening so the use of lights in the house will peak. Ensure you replace regular incandescent light bulbs with LED light bulbs.
My kids love to read and to ensure the lighting is sufficient in the living room, we would use two lamps attached to the ceiling fan, two floor lamps and a table lamp.
While the cost of incandescent bulbs was cheaper, the effect on our utility bills was not. Making the switch to using GE’s LED light bulbs was hard as the cost per bulb is much higher but we’ve only needed to use two floor lamps and the lighting effect in the room is so much better!
10. Replacing LED light bulbs around the house is not enough. Make sure you switch out the garage light bulbs, patio light bulbs and light bulbs around the house. (This is important especially if you leave the light running all night for safety.)
The savings adds up at the end of the year and you won’t think of using otherwise!
I would love to know what your family does to avoid running up a huge utility bill during the summer but before you share your tips, here’s a 1$ off coupon when you go shopping for GE LED light bulbs.
Click on the link or the picture to access your #CollectiveBias #LEDSavings coupon.
You can also follow GE on Facebook: www.facebook.com/gelighting, Twitter : www.twitter.com/gelighting and Instagram – www.instagram.com/gelighting for the latest energy saving product introductions, promotions and more.
And in case you’re wondering where you can find these in your local Walmart, check the Paint and Hardware section.
Those are some great tips and I’m glad to see we’re already doing a lot of them! We do need some new air filters though! I actually find that doing dishes by hand keeps things more manageable and is actually easier a lot of the time.
These are great tips. There are so many ways you can waste energy if you aren’t careful. We try to really be on top of this.
Great post and this comes at perfect timing too, my bill was double last month than it usually is! I’m trying some of these tips!
These are fantastic tips! I am horrible about leaving everything plugged in all the time. My Husband is switching out all of our lightbulbs to LED
We switched a few months ago and what a difference these make… LOVE them.. and WOW look at your pictures.. amazing.. Thanks for sharing, every little bit of saving helps
Drying clothes on a line is awesome! It saves so much energy and nothing beats the way they smell afterwards.
I’m game to try anything thay will reduce my energy bill. I think it’ll be worth going through this list with family members.
We have quite a few LED light bulbs in our house. I actually noticed a difference in our electric bill over the course of a few months while we were switching from old-school incandescent!
These are great tips! Last year we replaced our entire upstairs with GE LED lightbulbs and we saved $20 by the next power bill! It was an awesome savings.
Thanks for the great tips!! We have switched all of our light bulbs, and try to save energy where we can.
These are some great ideas, we did some of these already!! 🙂
We plan to install ceiling fans before it gets too hot so we don’t have to run the AC as much.
We try our best to conserve energy. Thankfully, the summer temps in this section of Alaska rarely get hot enough to need AC. But, I remember that the cost of AC was really high when we lived in warmer climates.
Those are all great tips! We are going to add a bit more insulation this year under our house too.
We have started upgrading our lights to LEDs. Great advice on ways to save… I actually saw a neighbor with a clothesline out the other day! We’ve been incorporating some of the other tips recently also!
Great tips! My favorite were the solar curtains to block out sunrays, and led lights to combat the darkness that follows.
great tips, I would imagine these bulbs would be nice and bright with a natural glow.
Ahhh…great tips! My electric bill was almost as much as my rent, so anything I can do to save some cash, I’m game!
Hanging your clothes out is a great tip. When I lived in my first apartment, the landlady had a clothes line behind the building for us, and I loved using it. I’ll have to see if I can get hubby to set something up for us here for the summer.
We spend time in places with air: libraries, movies, museums. Keeping the lights off helps as well. I will start unplugging things. I made a docking station for all devices and will start unplugging the open boxes to save energy.
Since Spring has arrived the weather has cooled down a bit and we have been able to cut our AC bill in half. When it’s cooler outside we turn off the fans and open the windows. It’s nice to have fresh air once in a while!
I live in Arizona where the summer gets very warm. These tips will be very helpful in reducing our monthly bills and I love how easy it is to make a difference! #client
I always run our dishwasher overnight and I also try to run the washing machine in the very early morning so by the time I get up the clothes have been cleaned, just have to toss them in the dryer. We’ve been slowly swapping out our lights too – it’s a great way to save energy.
I’m bookmarking these tips. I could use all the help I can get with a drafty 30 year old house.