Set Up A Timer For Your Water Heater

Water heaters take a lot of energy to power, and doing something as simple as setting up a timer for your heater can save a load of electricity and money. The best part is that you can buy a timer separately, and they're usually pretty cheap. Just set the timer to kick on before you usually use your heater to ensure that you'll have hot water and you're good to go.

You'll probably be surprised at how much money you end up saving. You could also just turn off your heater after you finish using it, but we all forget from time to time.

Insulate Air Ducts

If you have a central heating system in your home and your air ducts aren't insulated, then you might be losing up to 30% of your warm air. That's a huge percentage, and it translates to much higher energy bills. So, it's worth making sure that your air ducts are insulated, and that heated air isn't being lost as it's traveling through the ducts and into whatever room it's supposed to be getting to.

Insulating your air ducts is also a fairly simple project, and insulation can be bought at most hardware stores for fairly cheap prices. It just might be a bit time-consuming considering you're going to have to crawl around in the attic.

Remember To Change Your Furnace Filters

Regularly changing your furnace's filters is one of the easiest things you can do to ensure it keeps running efficiently. Of course, should fully service your furnace at least once a year, but simply changing its filters can also go a long way. Filters need to be changed about once a month in the winter when furnaces usually get the most use. This will help your furnace use less power than it normally would.

It'll also help extend your furnace's lifespan, which is really important considering how expensive it can be to replace. Filters can be picked up at most hardware stores if you live in an area with cold winters.

Consider A Mini-Split System

This one might not be right for everybody, but for many, it might be worth considering investing in a mini-split HVAC system. These little systems don't require ducting, and they can cut cooling costs by as much as 30% percent. However, they do sometimes require a pretty sizable upfront investment. Still, they're easy to install compared to traditional A/C units and can save you a ton of money in the long run.

You can also cool or heat around four rooms with most mini splits, meaning this might be perfect for most people. They're also a better choice than window units as they cool and heat up to 40% more efficiently.

Cut Down On Costs With Power Strips

This next statistic is pretty surprising, but some estimates say that most appliances in your home use 75% of their energy when they're not even in use. In other words, all of those appliances that are plugged in but not in use at the moment, such as your T.V. use most of their energy when you're not using them. To combat this, try plugging al of them into a power strip.

Don't overload a single strip, but do install a lot of them around your home, and make sure to turn them off when you don't need an appliance like a lamp or T.V.

Drain Your Water Heater Regularly

Water heaters can be pretty expensive to run compared to most other household appliances, so you want to ensure that they're already performing as efficiently as possible. This is why it's recommended that you drain your water heater at least once a year. If you don't, then sediment can build up inside and cause your heater to exert much more energy to heat water. This is because it has to heat this sediment before it heats the water.

If there is any appliance in your home you want running at peak performance, it's your water heater so remember to give it a good drain about once a year.

Use Weather Strips On Doors

Weather strips are adhesives that are pretty easy to install and help keep cool or warm air from escaping out the cracks between your door and the doorframe. Not every door in your house might need weather strips, though, and you can check by using a flashlight. If you can shine the light and see it through the cracks from the other side, then there's some cool or warm air getting through there.

Weather strips can be bought at most hardware stores, and since they usually use adhesive to stick to doorframes, they're really easy to install. They're also especially useful if you're trying to heat or cool an area of your home with a window unit.