Are you looking for ways to reduce your energy costs around your home? While you may have heard of some of these ideas before, we guarantee there are a few new ones you might not have tried, yet. Read on to see how you can save money and reduce your electric bill each month:

Adjust Your Thermostat

• This one really should be a no-brainer, but so many people don’t take advantage of it. During the summer months, set your thermostat to 76-78 degrees when you're home, and turn it off' when you're not (unless you have pets that live indoors). Making this small tweak will reduce your energy usage by 1-3% for each degree that the thermostat is set above 72. That could be a total reduction of up to 18%, which is huge! Ceiling fans and room fans are a great way to circulate the air and keep you feeling just as cool as if the AC was blasting.

Replace Light Bulbs with CFLs

• This is another really simple way to save some money on your energy bill every month. CFLs, or compact fluorescent lights, are fluorescent lamps designed to replace incandescent ones. CFLs use ⅕ - ⅓ the electric power of regular light bulbs, and last 8 - 15 times longer. Replacing your 75W light bulbs with 18W CFLs will save you $8 - $15 per year, per bulb replaced. Replacing your 100W bulbs with 23W CFLs will save you $10 - $20 per year, per bulb. And replacing your 60W bulbs with 13W CFLs will use 78% less energy, meaning you can power about five CFLs on the power needed for just one incandescent light bulb! Did a light bulb just go on over your head?

Do Smarter Laundry

• That laundry isn’t going to do itself, so finding ways to do your laundry more efficiently is probably a good idea. You can cut down on the time your dryer takes to dry your clothes by using dryer balls. As the dryer spins, these balls tumble between the clothes, fluffing them as they spin, which speeds up the drying process. You should also wash your clothes in cold water to save on the energy needed to heat the water. Doing your laundry at night is another great way to minimize the energy demand during the peak hours of the day. Depending on where you live and they type of electric meter your home has, you may pay less for off-peak energy, meaning more savings on your bill!

Conduct a Nightly Energy Sweep

• Leaving fans, lights, and appliances on in other rooms at night while you sleep is a massive waste of expensive energy. To avoid throwing your money away, walk through your home before going to bed and check to make sure unnecessary electric devices are turned off.

Adjust Your Water Heater’s Settings

• Try setting your water heater to 120 degrees. This will not only reduce the danger of scalding hot water, but it will save you money. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that a heater set at 140 degrees or higher can waste $36 - $61 per year in standby heat losses to keep water that hot, and more than $400 to bring fresh water up to that high temperature. Plus, super hot water isn’t great for your skin, so give your skin and your wallet a break!

Buy Reusable Filters

• Buying reusable, or permanent, AC and furnace filters versus disposable or temporary filters, will save you some money on energy costs. Yes, permanent filters do cost more upfront, but rather than buying expensive replacements every couple of months, you can simply hose these off and put them back to use. How often have you waited to change out a disposable filter long past when you should have? Waiting too long to replace filters in your AC and furnace units makes your HVAC system less efficient and costs you more in electricity.

Seal Cracks

• If you add up all the small cracks and air leaks around your home, it is essentially the same thing as leaving a window open all year long and throwing money out of it. To avoid throwing your money away, use some inexpensive expanding foam or caulk to seal cracks in areas where cold or warm air typically escapes. Some examples might be

  • around windows and doorframes

  • around the top of a basement wall where the cement or block comes in contact with the wooden frame, (also known as the rim joist)

  • around the holes in walls where pipes enter or exit your home

So, you see there are several relatively easy ways you can make a few small tweaks around your home that will ultimately save you quite a lot of money over the course of a year. Not to mention, mother nature probably won’t mind the backup relief either!