If you would like to pay lower water, electricity and gas bills every month, here are some tips to help you with saving lots of money on utilities.
1. Unplug electronic devices. Do not let mobile phone and computer chargers, printers, hairdryers, electronic toothbrushes, coffee makers, microwave ovens, digital clocks or floor lamps to quietly steal electricity when you are not using those devices. All of the electronic appliances draw as much as 50% of regular electricity usage when plugged in sitting idle in stand-by mode. They are all sucking energy like vampires suck blood. Do not just switch off the devices, unplug the unused ones, or use smart power strips.
2. Have shorter showers. You just need to hurry up a little bit when enjoying your morning and evening showers. Try lowering the water temperature. You may also brush your teeth while showering, if you really cannot stand brushing your teeth in cold water. Shorter and cooler showers allow you to save abundant amounts of both cold and hot water every day.
3. Turn off the light when leaving the room. You do not need to keep the light switched on around the house, if you only stay in the kitchen for a couple of hours. Work on developing the habit of turning off the lights every time you shut the door behind you. Teach your kids this habit, so your next electricity bill will hit the ground.
4. Pack garbage bags full. Every time you throw away rubbish remember to pack as much as you can into the black garbage bag. Garbage bags are usually quite expensive because the companies that manufacture them know that people cannot stop using them.
5. Have a break from watching TV. Spend some quality time with your spouse and kids. Or, get out of the house and have a walk, talk to your neighbors, or rake the leaves in the garden.
6. Wear one pair of clothes the whole day. Do not change your outfit every two hours because being such a diva will cost you fortune. And, your washing machine may not be super happy working around the clock.
7. Dry laundry outside. Dryer machines are great, especially in winter. But drying your clothes outside is also perfectly fine for those who are on the budget. My mom has always been drying clothes in the garden. I still remember the smell of fresh clothes full of wind and sunshine when picking dry clothes up from drying racks in the evening.
8. Use one cup only. I have a very bad habit of using all cups available at home. Every time I go to the kitchen to get some water I take a new cup from the cabinet. Why did I even spend so much money on buying so many cups while only one would suffice? And now, I need to wash six cups instead of one. What a waste!
9. Do not make phone calls, send emails instead. Call only when emergencies happen, or the issue cannot be dealt with otherwise. For long-distance calls, international call and family chats use SKYPE which is free. Send emails whenever possible. Nowadays, more and more people use smartphones, so they will be able to read your emails even though they are not sitting in front of their computers.
10. Consider changing the current utilities provider. But before you do this, compare fares from different utility companies to choose the most suitable one. Many people are afraid of changing. When I used to live in Poland, I used the same bank for over 10 years. But after the bank picked up a bad habit of increasing monthly fees almost every few months, I closed my account mercilessly. I regret I did not change my bank earlier. Banks in China are great because most of them do not charge any monthly fees for using a simple bank account.
11. Use more electricity when it is cheaper. Many electricity providers have different fare such as a day rate and a night rate. Usually, electricity is cheaper in the night than during daytime. Sometimes, your electricity fee after 11pm but before 7am may be three times cheaper than during the day. That is why you can do laundry late at night or very early in the morning.
12. Use solar panels to heat water. In some countries, the government subsidizes solar panels in order to promote environmentally friendly energy sources. If you cannot get the whole purchase price covered by your local authorities, maybe you can get a smaller grant, so you do not have to bear the entire cost. Solar panels are great in the countries with the greatest number of sunny days like USA, Australia, Spain, Namibia, Kiribati, Tanzania or Niger.
13. Catch rainwater. If you live in a place where it constantly rains like Ireland, Scotland or England, catch rainwater, which is useful for watering or flushing the toilet.
14. Collect water while showering. You can place one or two bowls on the floor inside your shower cabin to collect dirty water. Two bowls can pick up roughly 20 liters of water every shower, which means 600 liters of water every month. What to do with dirty water? Use it for flushing the toilet, cleaning the floor in the garage or washing your car.
15. Brush your teeth in cool water. This is quite an extreme way to save money on hot water. You can brush your teeth every morning without using much hot water. Sometimes, it takes ages for hot water to start running anyway. You can also wash your face using cool water.
