37 Hacks to Save Money on Energy

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As most of you know, I’m always looking into new ways of saving money at home. That’s why today I’m publishing this article about my favourite hacks and tips to save money on energy.

Saving energy is one of the first things people look into when they want to start saving money.

Some homes can potentially save hundreds of dollars just by making a few easy changes (that’s how it was for me). Keeping an eye on your gas and electricity bill is important and it will help you understand where your money is going.

However, while getting the best energy deal for your home is great, there are many other ways to reduce your electricity and gas consumption. Saving money on energy is not only good for your pocket, but it also favours the environment!

In this post, I’m sharing some hacks you can do to save money on your energy bill. After all, the less you spend, the more you save!

This list helped my family to cut down our energy expenses in $900 and I’m sure it can help yours too.

Turn your Thermostat Down by 1°C

Did you know that turning your thermostat down by 1°C can save you over $80 per year? I did it and I couldn’t tell the difference in terms of warmness and comfort but it certainly lowered down my electricity bill.

Keeping your heating on constantly and at low consumption will potentially save you a lot of money compared to switching on and off a few times per day.

In fact, if your home is well insulated, I recommend you to set your thermostat to 21°C (69 °F). Plus, if you have a baby, the ideal temperature to have in the room where a baby sleeps should be kept between 20–22.2°C. Source: Babygooroo.

Consider Changing from Electric to Central Heating

Gas central heating is about 3-4 times cheaper than electricity per kWh. If your house is still using electric heating, you may want to consider changing to central heating.

Will it be worth it? Let’s do some numbers. If you use an average of $80 per month on electric heating, that’s $960 per year! By changing to central heating, you will be able to save approximately a 75% of the money. Then, you’ll be saving $720/year.

The next question is, how much will cost upgrading your home? It really depends on the size of your house, number of bedrooms and other factors. But assuming that the total cost of the upgrade is $5,000, then it will take 7 years to start seeing a positive return on investment.

If you are planning to keep your home for more than 7 years (most of the people do), then you should consider changing from electric to central heating. Plus, if you want to sell your house, remember that the price of a property with central heating worth more money than a property with electric heating.

Cook in bulk (batch cooking)

This is one of my favourite tips! By doing batch cooking, you’ll save a lot in electricity (or gas).

Every month, my wife and I cook in bulk for a few weeks. What we do is to prepare four to five different recipes in large amounts (10 portions each), and then freeze them in plastic containers. With this tip, we cook in a day a total of 20 meals for two people, that’s 40 portions!

This will save you money on energy and what’s even more important, a lot of time! The only thing is that you need a medium to large size freezer with space for a few plastic containers.

Some examples of food we cook are casseroles, pasta sauces (carbonara is our favourite), stir-fried veggies (to add to rice), etc. If you want to see easy to make recipes, you can check my wife’s blog.

Every day after work I defrost one of the meals for the next day. Oh… I love eating our own food while at work, it’s so much better, healthier and cheaper than the food from the canteen.

Use smart gadgets to save money on energy

These gadgets can save you a few hundred of dollars in energy every year:

Efficient Shower Head. Efficient shower heads reduce the amount of water that you need to take a shower. The flow rate is lower but the pressure is higher, so you won’t notice that is actually less water. Potential savings – $182.50/year (based on a 4 members family).

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs. CFLs can save a lot of money every year. Plus, these bulbs last longer than regular bulbs. It’s one the easiest to apply, simply change your regular bulb with a CFL. It’s so easy! Potential savings – $300 (based on 8 light bulbs in a house, 37.50$ savings each bulb).

“Smart” Power Strips. Do you use a desktop computer at home? If you answer is yes, then you should consider this gadget. This smart power strip will allow controlling all your peripherals (monitor, speakers, printer, etc) from your main unit (your computer). Potential savings – $210/year.

Electricity Usage Meter. By using an electricity usage meter you can control how much each appliance consumes at home. I’m a saving-fanatic so I like to control where my electricity consumption is coming from. Potential savings – $165

Be smart about washing

Use these three tips to become more efficient with washing:

Save energy with your washing machine. 90% of the washing machine’s electricity expenditure is used for heating the water. Whites may need high temperatures, but most of the conventional clothes can be washed at 30-40°C. You can save up to $2-3 per washing cycle. Plus, your clothes will last longer (high-temperature cycles might damage the fibres of some of your clothes).
Avoid using your tumble drying by all means. If you have a choice, better hang up your laundry after washing, in particular during the warm seasons. Tumble dryers spend a huge amount of energy.
Save energy on ironing. At home, we use hangers when we hang up the laundry. Some of the clothes don’t need ironing afterwards 🙂

More ways of saving money on energy

11. Get a home energy audit

12. Install double glazed windows

13. Keep your curtains open during sunny days

14. Don’t run your dishwasher until is full

15. Turn off the water when you brush your teeth

16. Don’t cover your heating units

17. Wear more clothes around the house

18. Use the oven for more than one meal

19. Leave the door of the oven open after cooking (it will heat your home)

20. Use eco cycles with your washing machine

21. Getting a new house? Get it with a proper wall insulation

22. Install solar panels

23. Compare electricity prices and switch to the best price

24. Get a new boiler

25. Budget your energy bills

26. Switch off your monitor screen when you don’t use it

27. Reduce water temperature

28. Clean your oven regularly (this improves efficiency)

29. Shower at gym

30. Seal the leaks (windows, doors, chimney)

31. Unplug appliances that you don’t use regularly

32. Look into government energy efficiency schemes

33. Close your curtains during the night to prevent heat escaping through the windows

34. Buy efficient appliances (A+++)

35. Use a timer on your central heating system

36. Insulate the roof

37. Switch off your home heating if you’re leaving home for a few days

Make sure you apply more than one of these strategies

Saving money on energy is a matter of planning and consistency. If you apply more than one of these strategies, you’ll start seeing results within a few months. Start by doing the easy ones and then gradually keep implementing new strategies.

In less than a year, we saved over $900 on energy at home, and I’m sure we still have room for improvement. So you do!

How do you save money on energy? Do you apply all of these strategies? Would you add anything to the list?