Everyone who knows about electrical bills knows that they can run up during the summer months.
With a typically warmer climate and hot sun, people are constantly look for ways to cool down during the summer months.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t come at a cheap price.
With electricity costing more and more by the day, it often requires clever techniques to save money and cool off.
That said, I’ll share with you a few tricks that I’ve learned during my relatively recent summer experiences that have helped me keep down my electrical bill.
My first tip seems somewhat obvious. however, I am constantly surprised by some people’s habits.
Turn It Off
Turn off all unused appliances, especially lights!
Living in a house filled with other tenants and subletters, I often come downstairs to find the lights left on in my living room. Other times, the television and air conditioning unit are left on throughout the course of the night.
Typically, that can add 6-8 unnecessary hours of electrical use to your utilities bill. Putting that into a monthly perspective, that is 180-240 hours of charges being added to your electrical bill.
To avoid this, I would suggest making a quick walk through your home before you go to sleep to turn off all unnecessary appliances.
Use Blinds
Another trick that I learned during my time living in Puerto Rico is to use blinds! They are especially resourceful with keeping sunlight from heating up furniture such as your sofa or bed.
This way, next time you decide to sit down to relax and watch your favorite TV show you won’t feel the need to turn the a/c on to compensate for the hot furniture.
To give you a better idea, you should never have to put your thermostat cooler than 72 degrees. They say, for every degree warmer you proportionally save 3% on your electrical bill. Definitely gives you some incentive to reconsider those blinds, doesn’t it?
If you still feel that 72 degrees isn’t cool enough, invest in a ceiling or portable fan. These are known to be much more energy efficient than an air conditioning unit (just remember to not leave it running unnecessarily!).
If all else fails, I’ll share with you my final tip.
The Mall
During those hot summer days, go to a mall or air conditioned location. The temptation of shopping is can definitely lure you, but remembering the reason for your visit should be enough to remind you of why you shouldn’t spend.
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