Pay Less for Utilities
Reducing energy and water usage are just a few of our ideas on how to Save $50 a Day.
From Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, March 2009
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1. Install a Smart Thermostat: Why heat or cool your home when you don't need to? With a programmable thermostat, you can put your temperature preferences on autopilot. Cost: $70.
Annual Savings: $180
2. Buy Better Bulbs: At $7 a pop, compact fluorescent light bulbs aren't cheap. But those that are Energy StarÐrated use 75% less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs and last up to ten times longer.
Annual Savings: $166
(if 20 bulbs are replaced)
3. Go Low-Flow: Replacing even one pre-1994 shower head and one faucet with conserving counter-parts can make a big difference in water usage. For a thrifty shower head with oomph, try Delta's Water-Amplifying Shower Head (shown above; $13 at Home Depot). It uses a low 1.6 gallons per minute. For an even cheaper fix, outfit your faucets with screw-on aerators (50 cents to $3 apiece).
Annual Savings: $47
4. Plug a Leaky Toilet: A leaky toilet can waste up to 200 gallons of water daily, or 73,000 gallons per year. Put a drop of food coloring into the toilet tank; if it shows up in the bowl, you've got a leak.
Annual Savings: $146
5. Ditch the Old Fridge: The biggest energy eater in your kitchen is the refrigerator. A new Energy StarÐrated model will consume 40% less electricity than a model made eight years ago. Consider Frigidaire's 18.2-cubic-foot model (FRT18HP7JW; $750 at Sears).
Annual Savings: $100
6. Seal the Gaps: No need to heat and cool the great outdoors: Caulk and weatherstrip your doors and windows, and don't forget to close the flue damper when your fireplace is not in use.
Annual Savings: $96
7. Launder for Less: Cut your water and energy use by more than 40% with an Energy StarÐqualified clothes washer, either a top or front loader. Our pick: the Kenmore HE5t series of front-loading washers ($1,600) and the Bosch Nexxt 800 series ($1,450).
Annual Savings: $50
8. Kill a Watt-Waster: Your home electronics are sucking electricity even when they're turned off. Unplug them or use a power strip to turn off multiple devices simultaneously (such as the Smart Strip Power Strip, $40, at www.smarthomeusa.com). Use a power meter to figure out which devices are most wasteful.
Annual Savings: $56
9. Flush Frugally
Replace a toilet made between 1980 and 1994 with one certified by the Environmental Protection Agency's WaterSense program that uses less than 1.3 gallons of water per flush. For economy, check out the Glacier Bay Elongated HET ($128 at Home Depot). For contemporary style, the dual-flush Toto Aquia (shown at left; $435) lets you choose a lower or higher water flow as needed.
Annual Savings: $90
10. Dial Down Your Water Heater: If you have an electric water heater, turn the temperature gauge down to 120 degrees. (Make sure your dishwasher has a heater that boosts the temperature back to 140 degrees to ensure proper cleaning.) If the water heater is warm to the touch, wrap it in an insulating jacket (such as a Thermwell blanket; $20 at Amazon.com).
Annual Savings: $43
11. Bundle Up for Savings: Competition is a wonderful thing. And phone, wireless, cable and satellite-TV companies are competing like mad to get your business by bundling services at discount prices. Right now, the standard-issue package is $99 for TV, telephone and broadband Internet service. All those services can easily total more than $150 a month if billed separately, so a monthly savings of $20 is a minimum if you go the bundling route.
One caveat: That $99 deal usually lasts for only one year. Solution: If your contract price rises, you can either switch providers for a lower rate or threaten to switch providers to bargain your rate back down.
Annual Savings: $240
TOTAL ANNUAL SAVINGS: $1,214
Slideshow: Top Savings Tips for 2009
Save $50 a Day
Pay Less for Banking & Loans
Pay Less for Health and Insurance Costs
Pay Less for Utilities
Pay Less for Food
Pay Less for Transportation
Pay Less for Investing Costs
Pay Less for Leisure
Pay Less for Must-Have Trends
PLUS: How These Super Savers Do It
Reader Comments (19)
Posted by: Rose at 02/18/2009 01:16:11 PM
Launder for less? Spend $3050 to save $50 per year? Hum, that takes 61 years to realize a savings? I don't think so.
Posted by: Julia at 02/18/2009 05:10:48 PM
#7 about the washer is a money waster. Do the math people! You shell out $1450 just to save $50 a year on laundry. At that rate, it will take you 29 years to recover the cost of the machine by which time you'll have long ago replaced it again (several times over I would guess!) So if you REALLY have to save $$ on laundry, do this instead: 1. use half the detergent recommended by the manufacturer - it still works quite well and boost it a bit with baking soda. 2. instead of drying your clothes in the dryer, hang them to dry. You will not use the electricity or gas to heat the dryer, it won't heat up your house and with a liquid fabric softener added in the wash, your clothes will still come out soft. THAT is how you save $$ on laundry!
Posted by: Kim at 02/24/2009 03:41:42 PM
#7: Yes, you may only save $50.00 per year on the washer for electric cost, but if you pay for water, this will also reduce your cost. With the new front load washers, the clothes are less wet coming out of the washer and takes 1/2 the time to dry, thus saving even more on your electric cost. You do use less soap in the washer than the old washers, once again saving money. When you look at the big picture, you probably will save more than just the $50.00.
Posted by: Susan at 02/24/2009 08:17:59 PM
On #8, do they mean to...completely shut down? to turn off the power strip each night? I have never done that-does anyone have a figure on the savings?
Posted by: Lisa at 02/24/2009 08:46:23 PM
A Fisher-Pakel energy saving washer can be bought for $600 and you don't have to use the special (more expensive) laundry detergent that you need for top loaders. After doing it both ways and calling the gas company,it's actually cheaper to keep your thermostat the same temp. unless you keep it at the lower setting for 12 hrs. I started unplugging items that were convenient to do so when not in use and you can save about $10/month on electricity. In the last few yrs. we replaced a very old fridge, washing machine and gave away the freezer we weren't filling. The savings has been about $50/month.
Posted by: Jean at 02/24/2009 10:33:00 PM
We have a big yard, and fruit trees, my wash water goes to a barrel and it is distributed to the different trees. We have been conserving for years. We turn on our hot water heater once a day, for an hour, that's it. It keeps the water quite hot. The only thing, our water company, will be fining us, if we go over our rates dating back to to an average of 2 years. I really object to that, and hope they will not carry this out. Can you imagine? The heavy users wil be rewarded, and we will be dinged.
Posted by: Al Schrader at 02/25/2009 04:33:07 AM
I invented a way to use the waste heat from your fridges condenser to pre-heat the water to your hotwater heater- result is free fridge, and free hotwater.But the realing big thing I'm working on is my new cooling tower heat pump system that uses very little power....
Posted by: David at 02/26/2009 09:56:04 AM
Another great way to save water with a painless effort is to change out your old toilets to a dual flush. Most old toilets can also be converted with a conversion kit that will save water on the first flush. One of the best units is a SelectAFlush, the unit sells for under $40.00 and can be installed in 30 min...If you currently have a leaking toilet this is a perfect time to change as it is the same amount of work but the work will payoff with you saving water and money. I have changed out all my toilets and have noticed a real change in my water bill. I have been spreading the word as I feel we all need to solve our water problem for future security.
Posted by: Dawn at 02/26/2009 10:01:44 AM
Julia, in the meantime you are paying for fabric softener, the doctor for the allergies of pollen, and the doctor for a rash from the chemicals in the softener that will eventually kill you. Plus the money I can't make working because I'm hanging laundry.
Posted by: Denise at 02/26/2009 12:48:24 PM
Jean - liked your idea - but do you use the wash water (with soap) or just the rinse water?
Posted by: Jim Pace at 02/26/2009 03:39:53 PM
Too many of these things require too large of an investment upfront, such as the refrigerator and washer... and I an not handy enough to install a toilet, so there goes another bundle of money... these really aren't as practical as they sound.
Posted by: wolfette at 02/27/2009 07:06:59 PM
Wow..it was like reading an old fiction book from the 90s. Sure..go ahead and buy all the new light bulbs and watch how the power companies raise thier rate about 15%. Sit back and let the oil companies control us w/their outrageous prices..go a head,top up your tank. And while you are it call the phone company to try to have you Home phone, cell phone, satilite/cable on one bill for a discounted price..but you must be a new subscriber..So much for those who have been a customer for years. You're out of luck on that one. Maybe you should keep an eye on utilities bills for bogus charges. Believe me, they are there !!!! With the economy as it now CAN YOU REALLY AFFORD TO SPEND MONEY TO SAVE MONEY ?
Posted by: Al Schrader at 02/28/2009 07:06:40 AM
There are even better ways to save. When you open your fridge, nearly all of the chilled air pours out onto the floor & you pay to replace it. The trick is to attach a clear plastic curtain from the top shelf down, then put highest traffic items on the top shelf like beverages, etc. Then, when you open the door, most of the cold air will stay. The clear plactic costs about $1.00 at Ace Hardware - annual savings, about $100.00 (Nice ROI)...
Posted by: Al Schrader at 02/28/2009 07:12:26 AM
Some days in the winter are so cold that your heater runs non-stop all day. Here's an easy fix-turn it off. Yep! and go some place - the library, museum, planetarium, etc.
Posted by: Don\'t get it at 04/02/2009 09:11:27 AM
I'm not being snide, ... I've just posted a long tutorial about my fixed income. I do use energy efficient bulbs, have proper energy star machines,( not the front loaders that cost thousands,... which are still controversial according to blue book ratings),and my water comes from a well. There are no plumbing, or heating leaks in my home. I know I save money here. But again it's not helping the people who make too little income and too much money per pay to even get assistance, to cover heating costs as the prices rise. I know some people don't understand, but when money is tight, a seven dollar light bulb could be hard to purchase. This might be helpful for those who don't know these things already and can afford to do them all at once. People are looking for more creative ways to stretch the buck. But again, it only will stretch if we have consistancy with prices. Not to mention jobs for people to gain a chance. A light bulb here... and a light bulb there... The one above my head is busted. I don't run on solar energy alone.
Posted by: Kate at 05/04/2009 10:47:21 AM
We save a lot on food, and we eat well. My husband is a menu-planning geek. He gets cook books out of the library and we select recipes for the next 10-day cycle. Then we go shopping to an area where restaurants shop (or Costco, or whatever your local value outlet). We may buy a 10 lb bag of chicken legs, two pot roasts, a lot of veggies and fruit. We cook the pot roasts together, but use different recipes (that's 4 dinners for our family of 4). The chicken gets broken down into ziploc bags with a marinade, labeled, and tossed in the deep freeze. This way we always have quality dinners that are fast to make - just pull one out in the morning. We grow herbs and some veggies, so we seldom buy those during the summer and fall. I've learned to bake "artisanal" bread. It's fun and easy and the kids participate. It takes some planning, but it's worth it and we feel like we beat the system. For spices, we buy them from Penzey's in large baggies, refill our kitchen bottles, and store the rest in the freezer so they don't go flat.
Posted by: halboy at 06/14/2009 09:27:23 AM
For food savings-your best friends are a pantry and a freezer. Check store circulars in your area for specials-many times grocery stores will have the circular for the next week at the checkout. Look over next weeks sales before you shop-if an item is on sale next week-buy it next week and not this week. On items you use frequently-load up when they are on sale-buy several weeks worth at one time. Keep your pantry organized-so you know at a glance what you already have and don't need-can goods and glass bottled items will keep indefinitely. Keep your freezer organized. Many times food can get lost in the freezer due to lack of good labeling and organization. Try this-keep a spiral notebook on top of the freezer-when you put food into the freezer-write it down in your notebook(use a coding system-number packages)by item type and date. When you remove an item-cross it off your list-now you have an on-going inventory of what you have on hand and of what needs to be eaten first. Get in the habit of using freezer items-you have to plan ahead-forgetting to remove food from the freezer means another trip to the store-spending money on a item you need which is probably not on sale. Rain Checks-many times supermarkets will run out of sale items-ask for a rain check. Because you are a sale shopper-you are "buying ahead"-so sometimes a rain check is a better deal than actually buying the item-because the raincheck is an opportunity or guarantee of a lower price at a future date. Sell By Dates-most of the major supermarket chains are pretty strict on sell by dates. It is a fairly common practice to mark down perishable product when it approaches the "sell b"y date. This is particularily true for meats. In reality, the sell by date is a guideline-meat is more durable than most people think-if the sell by date is June 10-it will probably not "turn into a pumpkin" on June 11. If you are stocking your freezer-you can rack up some big savings on marked down meat. Get it into the freezer right away-do not let it hang out in the fridge for a couple of days. A little brown color on beef is just a natural reaction due to exposure to oxygen. Be more careful with poultry-it has a much shorter shelf life. I have been in the meats industry for 30 years-part of which was spent in a supermarket meat department-you would not believe how many "tons" of perfectly usuable product I have thrown away due to sell by dates.
Posted by: AN at 08/08/2009 07:25:34 PM
Spending $1450 for a washing machine may save $50 a year, but that means you won't break even for 29 years!
Posted by: Tom at 10/26/2009 10:01:02 PM
Easiest way to save money on utilities is to push your chores to off peak hours if you can have a smart meter with your utility company. Most utilities charge far lower rates off peak than during on peak. I can save .17 per kilowatt hour if doing things off peak. Example of a way to save, cook your meals on offpeak hours on the weekend and reheat in the microwave during the week if you can't push dinner back to 7 or 9 pm ( I sure as heck can't! LOL) Do load each night after 7. Cuts down on doing it all on weekends and saves $.