Tips on how to Save on Bills

Below are a bunch of ideas I have discovered can help lower so of your monthly bills. I have discovered this information by either trying it on my own or research that I have done on the Internet. Some prices were derived from the average monthly U.S. charge or what I am getting charged in my city.

Cut down on water usage

• 40% of the water that comes into your house each day gets flushed down the toilet
• Most toilets use about 4 to 5 gallons of water per flush
• get a newer toilet that uses less water
• cheaper way is to put a milk jug filled with water or you can put a couple bricks in the tank
  this can help you save around 1 gallon of water per flush
• average person flushes the toilet about 5 times a day
  20 flushes a day for a family of 4
• a 10 minute shower you will use about 50 gallons of water
• invest in a low flow shower head and make up the cost with the water you save
  simple cheap way of course is to just try and speed up your time in the shower
• cut that 10 minute shower down to a 5 minute shower
• another quick water saving tip.....save 2 gallons of water by not running the water while you brush your teeth
• leaky faucets and toilets waste plenty of water
• a small leak can waste more that 50 gallons of water a day
• Most leaks can be fixed by replacing the washer inside the faucet.
  get a kit from almost any store (ie. Wal-Mart or any hardware store) to fix your leaky toilet.
• Not sure if you toilet is leaking? Well have you ever heard it make the sound it makes after you flush when it is filling the tank back up and nobody has flushed it? That is a leaky toilet and it can waste a ton of water.

Power down that electricity

• average cost of residential electricity was 9.86¢/kWh in the U.S. in March 2006
• 60 watt light bulb on for an hour is 0.06 kwh
• pennies turn into dollars after time
• get 15 watt halogen bulbs to replace those old 60 watt bulbs
  halogen bulbs use less electricity and last longer
• noticed one day that 5 lights were on in my house but only 2 were really in use
  I started making sure that lights stayed off when they weren't in use
• saw my electric bill go down the following month
• usually at least 12 hours of free light shining into house every day
• don't worry about turning on lights in the house; the sunlight can provide you with plenty of light to do your day to day activities
• 2.5 ton AC unit is around 3500 watts
• running this unit for 16 hours of the day would cost around $200 a month
  save money here by not running it as much
• take maybe 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening and just use ceiling fans or even oscillating fans. This alone could save around $50 a month. Possibly even more depending on your electric costs.
• check all doors and windows to make sure they all have good seals
• turn off the TV when you aren't in the room watching it
• get the other members of your household involved in trying to save money on bills
• put the money you save in a savings account for a fun vacation

You could save over $100 a month if you look into all these tips I hope this helps you out on your bills and maybe helps you find or see other ways to save money around the house.