Everyone wants to save money and most people are also environmentally conscious as well. There are several ways you can save money around our home, and I have highlighted a few of these below.
Use a programmable thermostat
This is an easy way to ensure that you maximize the dollars you spend on heating and cooling your home. You can program your thermostat so that you are comfortable while you are at home, without having the heat or air conditioning running as much while you are out.
Every time that you look at your monthly electricity bill and it’s a bit higher than you expected, if you’re anything like us, one of your first thoughts may be that it has something to do with your thermostat. After all, especially during the summer and winter seasons, when we’re trying to keep the rooms of our house at a comfortable temperature, that tends to be when we see a hike in our energy costs.
And while sometimes it could actually be our thermostat settings that are causing us to pay a lot of money, the reality is that there are a lot of myths out here about thermostats. So, in order for you to know what’s true and what’s not, we wanted to take out a moment to provide you with some common thermostat myths below:
Myth #1: You save more energy when you turn your thermostat off during the day and then back on when you return. In theory, we could definitely see why you might think that you should turn your thermostat off when you’re not using it; however, being that it requires quite a bit of energy to get it back up and running again once you do, our recommendation is not that you turn it all the way off but that you simply turn it down. This brings us to Myth #2.
When it comes to heating and cooling your home, you may have discovered several tactics for maintaining your interior temperature and saving on your monthly utility bills. You might keep shutters, blinds, or drapes closed during the day to keep out the sun or add a layer of insulation against cold, winter winds. Perhaps you’ve added energy film that repels heat-producing solar rays. Or maybe you keep the fans running during the summer and throw on sweaters and wool socks when the chilly drafts of winter come to call. You might even use your fireplace once in a blue moon. And of course, you can hire a professional to perform a home energy audit to seal up any leaks that are letting the bought air out. But if you really want to reduce your energy costs, you should be taking advantage of the benefits your programmable thermostat has to offer. Here are a few tips to help you set your system for optimum efficiency and savings.
Learn how it works. Figuring out how to program your digital thermostat effectively is not terribly difficult, but it may require you to read the directions. Can’t find them? Simply look online for a PDF that matches your system. When you know what all the buttons do and how to use them accordingly, you can set your system to a daily program, or in some cases even a weekly one. And you can always reprogram as needed, say for weekends when you’re home during the day, or when you’re on vacation and the house is empty.
I highly recommend buying a programmable thermostat