There are many ways in which you can make your home into a more frugal place. Needless to say, the majority of these savings come in the form of greater energy-efficiency. This means that the money you make on the utility bill alone may end up being significant enough to pay back for the initial investment. In other words, all of the below-listed improvements have a positive ROI. Now, not all of these will necessarily work in your case or give a satisfying result, which is why you need to come up with a plan of action. Here are six improvements that should definitely find their way on your list.
Programmable thermostat
The first idea that you need to consider here is the concept of installing a programmable thermostat in your home. The way in which this works is fairly simple. You have this device that you can control via a smartphone or set up to have a schedule of its own. Think about it, no more freezing as soon as you come home from work until the place warms up or leaving the thermostat on throughout the day in order to avoid this scenario. This way you invest in comfort and energy efficiency at the same time.
Insulating your home
The next massive step you should undertake in order to make your home more energy efficient is to insulate the place, thus preventing the loss of heat. This can also be a great opportunity for you to give the place a brand new look. First, you give the place some exterior insulation and then you cover it all with some quality house rendering. This way you get to reap several benefits of this action at the same time.
However, while the majority of people focus exclusively on the walls, you need to understand that about 35 percent of all the heat that leaves your home does so via the roof. Therefore, you might also want to insulate your attic, while you’re at it. Still, this is far from being an end of all your worries and there are a couple of other areas for you to upgrade. Speaking of which…
Replacing your windows
Other than walls and roof, your doors and windows are another potential weak spot in your home’s perimeters. Therefore, another thing that you need to take into consideration is replacing your window. If you have single pane windows at the moment and intend to replace then with double-glazing ones, you may stand to reduce the heat loss this way by as much as 40 percent. Not only is there another pane to further separate the interior of your home from its exterior but the air compartment between the two panes also does its part.
Replacing appliances
Something as simple as replacing your household appliances with those that are labeled with energy star can make a huge difference. Nowadays, these items aren’t more expensive than their traditional counterparts and the net change in your phone bill is truly massive. The thing is that the majority of your home appliances may be due for a change anyhow, this means that you don’t have to go out of the way to make your home power-efficient. Massive appliances like refrigerators, washing machines and garbage disposals can really make quite the saving.
Switching to LED
Another thing you should definitely consider is replacing all your lighting fixtures with LED ones in order to save some power. You see, the lumen-to-watt ratio heavily favors LED and a led bulb creates the same amount of light with 4 to 8 times less energy wasted. In other words, you gain a massive advantage in the field of energy-efficiency by sacrificing nothing at all. Sure, individual LED bulbs are somewhat more expensive than their incandescent counterparts but their frugality and longevity (they can work 25 to 50 times longer) tend to justify this Low-flow wherever you can
Finally, power is not the only thing you should try to save, due to the fact that water also may be a significant issue on your utility bill. Fortunately, with low-flow fixtures on your site, this task shouldn’t be difficult. Other than this, if you need an outdoor irrigation system for your garden, getting a programmable Wi-Fi sprinkler system can help you out quite a bit. The way in which this works is quite similar to what we’ve discussed in the thermostat section. Every bit helps.
In conclusion
The best of all is the fact that by doing some work on your home, you’re not just reducing the cost of living but also improving the quality of lifestyle. With each improvement, the resale value of your place also increases, thus making this investment even safer. One last thing worth keeping in mind is the fact that this also implies that you’re doing the right thing, which is quite priceless, to be honest.