This is a collaborative post by Ellie Jo.
Whether you own your own place or you are renting, running a household can be an expensive thing to do. In fact, it can cost nearly as much as the rent or mortgage again to pay for all the bills that rack up during the year. Luckily, there are some tactics you can apply to lower some of the costs of these bills. Read on to find out what they are.
How to Save Money on Household Expenses
Monitoring your electric use
Running around the house and turning off lights as people leave rooms is only going to get you so far with saving money on your electric bill. In fact, it can work against you because the kids never learn to turn the lights off themselves! Although, one way to help them see the effect they are having is to get a smart electricity meter.
This is something that can be a real surprise for the whole family, as it’s very easy to see what appliances and service use of the most energy and coat the most to run when using it.
Monitoring your electricity usage can help you cut it down.
In particular, you may be shocked at just how much it costs to boil that kettle several times a day, and you can show your kids just how much they could save by switching the light off as they leave a room. Remember, even if they are not financially motivated they do teach them a lot about being responsible citizens at school these days so you can use that as a motivator to get the numbers on the meter down instead.
Getting solar panels
Installing solar panels is another great idea for reducing the cost of running your home. OK, so you may be wondering, how much do solar panels cost anyway, and will they work out as a savvy investment? Well, I can tell you that the amount of electricity that they generate is often so much that a normal household cannot use it all. That means you can then sell it back to the grid, and not only have a negative electricity bill but also making a profit. Money that can then be put towards the original costs of the panels and therefore pay them off much quicker.
Of course, you need to ensure that you have the right solar panels in the first place and that they are connected up to the grid. Remember to look for photovoltaic or PV panels as these are the kind that transforms sunlight into electricity, rather heat.
Insulate, insulate, insulate
Another way that you can significantly reduce the running costs of your home is to take insulation seriously. After all, you lose so much money by trying to keep a room at an even temperature when it’s not properly insulated.
To this end, it can definitely be worth your while to insulate walls and roofs when building or renovating your property. It can also be useful to quickly identify and fix any gaps in wood or brickwork that are causing drafts. Then the heat that you have to pay to create is much more likely to be retained within the space, so you home with be warm without it costing you a fortune to keep it that way.
