Ten Ways to Save on Your Utility Bills This Summer

Peak cooling seasons can bring many families sticker shock. In an effort to keep their homes comfortable during a summer heat wave, and while accommodating summer guests who are showering, flushing, rinsing dishes, and adding to the laundry pile, families may be faced with unpleasantly high electrical bills at the end of the season. 

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the average American family spends $2,200 a year on utility bills. This includes the consumption of both water and electricity. But while the numbers are staggering, the good news is that there are simple ways to cut back on both energy and water usage in your home – even during the scorching summer months.

Conserving Energy

• Crank up the thermostat. If you can stand to keep your home warmer, you will see substantial savings in your monthly electrical bill. To keep air flowing through your home, turn on your ceiling fans (or invest in a tower fan), and open windows for cross ventilation. You can even purchase a programmable thermostat that will auto-adjust to raise the temperature during certain times of the day – for instance, when you’re at work – so you aren’t paying to cool an empty house.
• Maintain your HVAC system. Regularly maintaining your system will ensure it is working as efficiently as possible. If you own your home, contract with a company that can service your unit twice a year. Also, replace your filters regularly – ideally, every six months.
• Seal your home. A well-insulated home is an energy-efficient home. Walk through your home to look for cracks, gaps, and drafts, and repair them. Add weather strips to drafty doors and windows to ensure your AC and heat don’t escape.
• Turn down your hot water heater.The EPA estimates that a hot water heater set at 140 degrees or more can waste $36-$61 annually. Set your heater at 120 degrees – a temperature that will require less energy but still heat your water enough to kill dangerous pathogens.
• Swap out your bulbs. Replace your incandescent bulbs with fluorescent or LED lights. This will save you about $30 throughout the life of the bulb.
• Hang up your clothes. Instead of tossing everything in the dryer, consider hanging your clothes in your laundry room or on a clothesline instead.
• Invest in energy-efficient appliances. When purchasing appliances, look for the “Energy Star” label, which is an assurance that the product will conserve energy. Swap out your old, outdated appliances for these high-efficiency ones for more savings on your monthly energy bill.
• Turn up your refrigerator and freezer. Keeping your refrigerator at 37 degrees and your freezer around three degrees will keep your food cold – but not unnecessarily or excessively so.
• Don’t light an empty room. The simplest way to conserve energy is to cut it off when it’s not needed. Unplug or turn off any appliances you aren’t using.
• Monitor your usage. Each month, check the statements you receive from your energy company to identify areas that need improvement and vow to make changes. For instance, if your statements show that the bulk of your bill applies to cooling, turn up your thermostat three degrees next month to see how that impacts your bill.

Conserving Water

• Shorten those showers. We all love a long, hot shower, but shaving off even two minutes from our shower time reduces our water usage by about ten gallons. 
• Look for leaks. Check to make sure your appliances aren’t leaking. Drippy faucets and pipes with hairline cracks can waste gallons of water over time. 
• Harvest your rainwater. Install a barrel in your yard to catch rainwater and runoff, and use it to water your indoor and outdoor plants. However, be sure to use the water instead of letting it sit – otherwise, it will become a mosquito breeding ground!
• Install efficient fixtures. Your shower head or faucets may be releasing more water than they need to, resulting in waste. Look for showerheads and faucet attachments that release less water, and install low-flow toilets to reduce your overall water usage by up to 50%.
• Don’t let the water run. Turn off your tap when washing your hands or brushing your teeth.
• Cut it off. If there are parts of your home that you simply don’t use – like guest bathrooms – cut off the water supply to that part of your home. 
• Pad your plants. Adding mulch to your flowerbeds can help your plants stay moist, requiring less regular watering. 
• Skip the sprinkler. Sprinklers can waste water by spraying the sidewalk, gutters, and side of your house just as much (or more!) than the grass and plants themselves. Instead of running a sprinkler, consider watering your lawn by hand.
• Put the hose away. The same goes for using a hose to clean off your sidewalks, porch, or driveway. Use a broom or blower instead of a hose to clean up your home’s exterior rather than blasting it with water.
• Commit to full loads. Make sure your dishwasher and washing machine are full before running them to avoid wasting gallons of water. 

Incorporate these small lifestyle changes one by one and you will likely see substantial savings this summer – allowing more room in the budget for that family vacation!

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At Harmony Communities, we feel strongly that each resident has a sense of home. That they come home from work and feel pride in their environment and in their place in the greater community. That families are comfortable raising children in our neighborhoods, and that couples and singles know that they belong to something bigger than their four walls. In other words, we seek to create harmony within each community, making our communities not just passable, but peaceful, safe, functional, and beautiful.