4 No-Cost Ways to Save Serious Electricity (And Money)

During the coronavirus pandemic here, you can use every way you can imagine to put a little more cash in your pocket.

Focusing on electricity savings won’t make you rich. But it could be that little extra bit you need to be a little more financially comfortable.

…And where should you focus your time and effort? After all, you don’t want to waste your time going to extreme lengths just to save another $5 each year. That’s how much you’ll save if you opt not to use your oven during the summer, for example.

It’s a tip. But it’s not one that really makes a difference.

So here’s what to focus your time on instead:

1. Thermostat Control

If you do anything to save electricity during the year, this should be it. It’s a guaranteed way to put more money in your pocket.

The biggest obstacle lies in getting others to join in with you if this disrupts their comfort.

You can switch to a smart thermostat. Raising your thermostat by two degrees gives you about 5% energy savings throughout the year, while raising it by five degrees can boost that to 10%.

So, you could easily be looking at $100 – $200, and possibly a little more.

2. Manage Unused Electronics

Standby power mode is better than leaving your electronics on. But even better than that? Turn off your devices entirely and unplug them so you know they don’t suck any power at all.

For the average household, you’re looking at a 5% (about $75) to 10% ($150) energy savings annually.

Now that’s a nice chunk of cash!

3. Hang Dry Your Laundry

Yeah, you’ll take a bit of a step into the past with this one. But hey, let others get quizzical looks on their faces while you put another $50 or so into your wallet.

Say you do about 8 loads of laundry per week. If you hang dry just 4 of those loads, that gives you $50 in savings roughly.

Hang dry all 8 loads, and you put another $100 into your pocket.

For such a simple thing, that’s almost as good as monitoring your thermostat and electronic devices in standby mode!

4. Take Shorter Showers

While we’ve talked about 3-minute Navy showers on this blog before, we’re not recommending those.

C’mon…what person will actually do that anyway? A small few might. But if you’re like most, you won’t.

You have to be practical too. And it’s not necessarily wrong to enjoy yourself a little here and there.

Anyway, if two people in your home cut their shower time by just a single minute each, you’ll save $30 per year.

A minute? Now that’s doable!

So if you add all those up, you’re up to saving about $255 on the low end and $500 or so on the high end.

Now that’s some cash you can do something with!

And think about the good you do the earth by saving all that energy too.