Don't Let Your Utilities Grab Your Money! Save Your Money for Yourself!

To Save 10¢ a day, is nothing to bother with. BUT.... TO SAVE $1.00 a day is a great start (remember, that's $365 a year) and if it doesn't cost you anything and is so EASY TO DO - why not do it!!. Whether you call it Make Money or Save Money or just Stretch the dollars you have, why wouldn't you want to do it!!

"10 Things That Are Grabbing Your Money!"

1. A fish aquarium can run you about $88 a year. Do you REALLY want it - and the work? Think about it.

2. Christmas lights: 10¢ an hour for 100 lights. HOW MANY LIGHTS ARE ON YOUR TREE? And how many more on your house or for decoration? All those lights times 10¢ an hour per 100... you do the math. Could be $60 just for the month of December alone for just your average amount of lights! If you do more decoration in your yard or on the house, it goes up with every bulb you light. Then there's the November and January times to add on! Not to be a Christmas scrooge, but just watch what you do! Light them every other night. Light them only when you are home. TURN THEM OFF when you go to bed. If you aren't in the room where the lights are, turn them out until you go back into the room. Just use some common sense at this time of year! Light them 6 nights instead of 7. Depends on how much you want to spend and what's in your budget. I'd rather spend the money on a gift for my kids to have the rest of the year!!

3. Set your thermostat to 65 degrees (in the winter). Saves $80-$100 a year! And we are only talking about the winter months - 3-6 months a year depending on where you live. Throw on an extra blanket or sweater. Light the fireplace if you have one! Add a thermal undershirt! Sip that hot tea or coffee you made yourself! How easy is that! And it doesn't take long to get "used" to the cooler temp. And since germs breed "better" in warm tempertures, if your house is a little on the cool side, the germs aren't going to want to stay around!

4. Water bed (heated, no cover) can run up to $1.00 a day or $365 a year! Get a cover or just turn it off some nights! Turn the temp of the water down. Don't use it in the warmer months, and only on those really cold nights in the winter. Again, Common Sense can SAVE YOU MONEY!!!

5. If you do alot of laundry each week, do back-to-back loads - meaning, do at least three loads at once - not 1 now, another after you get back from where ever, and another before bed. It is easy to figure out a schedule for laundry. It is such a "nothing effort" job. When you do loads back-to-back you are using hot water (gas or electric to heat that water) that is already hot. Seperating your loads means each time it starts, it has to heat up that water - thereby costing more money! Same with the dryer, It is already hot after the first load was dried, so it just starts drying at that hot temperture. Once it cools down, it takes the gas/electric to heat it back up. So get it all done at once and SAVE MONEY at the same time!

6. Make sure you wash ONLY FULL LOADS of laundry. And even use just COLD WATER on the loads instead of warm or hot! They still get clean just fine!

7.. Often there are "low rate" times for your utilities. Check your utility bill or call the company. In my case, after 7pm and before 7am the electric rate is a bit cheaper than during the day peek hours when the utilities are being used more. So I start my laundry at 7pm. Or I start it a 7am. Any that doesn't get done at that time, just sits until the 7:00 rolls around again. It isn't hard - and since you are saving money - think of what you want to do with that money while you are loading that washer at 7:01 pm!

8. Run ONLY FULL Loads in your dishwasher. About 80 percent of dishwasher's energy use, goes to heating the water and the dry cycle. Select "unheated" or "air drying" to cut that by about 12%

9. Turn out the lights!!!! You have heard this over and over - but it is also so easy to forget to do!

10. Make sure you NEED the wattage of the bulbs in your fixtures. Most don't need those 100 watts. Many can do with just a 25 or 40 watter!

So give a look around and see what you find that you can adjust (not change, just adjust! How easy is that!) to help you save your money! I have been working on my utility bills for the last several months and have seen the gas and electric drop $10-$20 a month. And all I did was "adjust" what I did. It is so easy to do and so worth it when that bill arrives! You will be so pleased with yourself and think - how easy was that!!!