Five Ways to Lower Your Utility Bills Year Round by Combining Good Energy Saving Habits with Simple Energy Saving Solutions. Part 2 of 3

Five Ways to Lower Your Utility Bills Year Round by Combining Good Energy Saving Habits with Simple Energy Saving Solutions Part 2 of 3

Use My Guy here again with 5 more tips on saving energy and another way to kick the old habits and bring on the new ones. 

Step 2) Put it in Writing:  Janet L. Wolfe, PhD, a clinical psychologist in New York City says that logging your habits and triggers is a great way to establish a baseline and set goals for yourself.  Wolfe recommends keeping the journal for a week at least.  When you have finished logging your habits and triggers for that week stop and analyze them.  Look for specific triggers so that you can begin to avoid them.  Studies have shown that writing and using multiple senses when studying or memorizing shows a significant increase in information retention and this works on the neural level too.  Habits that have been ingrained for years or lifetimes are much harder to break and require more focus and conscious training to change.  This means that you have to work harder and smarter to beat them.  Writing a few lines a day only takes two or three minutes and when it comes to saving money a few minutes is something that we can all afford.

1)  Having a low flow toilet installed is one of the best ways to turn your bathroom into a utility saving paradise.

Most standard toilets use 3.5 gallons for every flush, at 6 flushes a day that’s 21 gallons a day per person and that is a conservative estimate on the number of times the average person goes to the bathroom.  In a household of 4 that’s 84 gallons a day, just to flush your peeps and poops.  Happily that doesn’t have to be the case.  Most low flow toilets reduce the amount of water used by about 2.3 gallons per flush.  That means that instead of using 3.5 gallons per flush these toilets use a whopping 1.2 gallons per flush.  That saves 13.8 gallons of water per day per person and once again that is based on the conservative estimate of 6 flushes a day.  So if a family of 4 uses 30,664 gallons of water a year just to go to the bathroom with standard toilets that means that with low flow toilets they can save 20,000 gallons a year every year for the life of the toilet.   Now if the average cost of a gallon of water in the Phoenix area is .003 cents per gallon than the monetary savings for a family of four will be 60 dollars a year every year for the life of the toilet.  That’s pretty cool considering that a basic low flow toilet costs about 88.00 dollars.  The money spent on the new toilet will be recouped in about a year and a half.

2)  Have a ceiling fan installed in rooms without one.   

     Getting a new ceiling fan can actually be a fun 

     experience.  With the amount of variety that is available these days just looking for a new fan can   be a joy, as the styles available often border on art and many of the fashions are pleasing to look at. 

A ceiling fan can save you up to 40% on your utility bills.  The reason being that fans increase what is called the wind chill factor.  This means that the air flow around the house is better, if you use your fans during the summer they will move the cool air around so your home is more evenly cooled.  Because of this you can turn your thermostat up so that your A/C unit does not have to work as hard.  For every degree you turn your thermostat up above 78 degrees you can save 3-5% on your utilities.  At 400.00 dollars a month you can save 32.00 dollars a month just by turning your thermostat up to 80 degrees.

3)  Install a programmable thermostat.

This is going to be a slightly more expensive fix than some of the other things I’ve talked about but it will be well worth it as an entry level programmable thermostat costs about 120.00 plus installation.  The way that a programmable thermostat saves you money is by allowing you to set the thermostat higher for times that you don’t need the A/C to work as hard such as early in the morning or times when you are out of the house at work or at the gym.  The programmable thermostat saves you money in the same way that installing a fan does.  By setting the thermostat to turn the temperature up when you are not at home or late at night you will be able to save 3-5% on your utilities for every degree you turn the thermostat up above 78 degrees.  This can lead to significant savings that you will see even in your first 2 months.  About 6.00 dollars a day if you program the thermostat to raise the temperature by 2 degrees above 78 degrees for 12 hours a day.  Also if no-one is home than there is no reason not to turn your thermostat up even higher which in turn will lead to even more significant savings. 

      

4)  Water at the right time of day

This is of paramount importance especially since we live in the sunny state of Arizona.  Watering at the wrong time of day will waste the water that you use and there are many maladies that can be harmful to your grass if watered improperly.

Slime Mold on Grass

  Watering in the middle of the day in summer is very wasteful because the water will quickly evaporate before soaking into the grass and can lead to soil erosion because you will have to water more to get the same results.  Soil erosion is not the only problem that could affect your yard from watering at the right time of day.  If you have a brick wall surrounding your yard or a raised porch next to your grass sprinklers can erode the wood or brick in addition to causing low spots.  I have seen many relatively new brick walls that are in terrible condition because of sprinkler overs-pray.  If all of your sprinklers are perfectly tuned and pointing in the right direction than you should not have to worry about it.  However it is a good idea to check all of your sprinkler heads to make sure that they are adjusted and aimed properly, just in case.  Erosion of your brick wall is probably a worst case scenario but this is just an example of the many problems that can arise because of improper watering.

Powdery Mildew

  The other mistake people make is watering at night.  This leads to fungi, disease and more often than not mosquito's.  The reason for this is that lawns do not have the chance to aerate properly if watered at night and the standing water becomes a breeding ground for mosquito's and mold.  Watering at night can also cause soil erosion for the exact opposite reason that watering in the middle of the day does.  The standing water causes the soil to become too soft and if there is any foot traffic on the grass the next morning  you will quickly begin to see the erosion and low spots form.  The low spots will lead to higher likelihood of mosquito's and fungus.

  The best time of day to water your lawn is in the morning.  In summer between 7:30 and 8:00am and in the winter around 9:00am.  The reason that the times vary is because when the seasons change the time that the sun comes out changes by over an hour from winter to summer and it is ideal to water when it is cool in the morning with the potential to warm up and ensure that the water evaporates and there are no pools of water to attract mosquito's and fungi.  If you water at the right time of day even in the middle of summer you will only need to water every 3 days.  Watering correctly will save you thousands of gallons every week and will lead to happier, healthier grass.

5)  Install motion sensing switches.

Motion sensing switches will not only lead to savings over time but will also greatly increase the ease of access for your home.  Think about how many times you’ve woken up in the middle of the night to soothe a crying baby or use the restroom and how many of those times you have bruised a shin or stubbed a toe.  Motion sensing switches will greatly reduce the amount of times that happens.  It is so nice to be able to get up and not have to stumble to the wall looking for the switch.  This will make your life easier and the lives of those living with you easier as well.  Motion sensing switches also ease your conscience because you never have to ask yourself if you turned off all of the lights in your house when you go on vacation or leave the house for the day.  Some switches can even be set to go on at certain time.  This is especially helpful for vacations because you can set the timer to go on at times that people would normally be home thus deterring home invaders.

Just remember, to see savings that you will notice you will have to actually incorporate these changes into your everyday life.  This means that you will need to bump your thermostat up to 80 degrees and water in the morning.  It also means that you will be helping our environment which so sorely needs our help.  Also don’t expect to see changes if you are the only one in the household that is following these practices.  Get your family or roommates involved as well.  If you can get your housemates involved then you will really begin to see the changes that you as a reader of this article would like to see.

If these ideas sound great to you, but you don’t feel comfortable installing a light switch yourself or don’t have the time, than hire a local handyman to do it for you.  Obviously we can’t help you get up in the morning to water your grass but we can install a timer for your system or fix a sprinkler head gone bad.  When looking for a handyman we understand how hard it can be to find someone you trust that’s why we here at Use My Guy Services are on the Better Business Bureau where we have an A+ rating.  We are also on Angie’s List where we have an A rating as well as having received the Super Service Award for 2015.  You can also check us out on yelp where we have dozens of 5 star reviews and Face book.  So look no further because we are your trusted source for all your handyman needs from plumbing and electrical to shelf hanging and irrigation maintenance, installation and repair.  Call us at (602)316-9187 to speak with a member of our friendly and helpful staff or check us out online for a complete list of services offered and for more information about our family and how you can be a part of it.

Thanks for reading. 

 Use My Guy.


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