6 Ways to Lower Your Electric Bill This Winter

Old man winter isn’t going to be too friendly this year. At least, according to the Farmers Almanac. It predicts that

The Old Farmer’s Almanac’s long-range weather predictions for 2014–2015 are available—and another teeth-chatteringly cold winter is on its way across the United States!

It further reports:

“this winter will be another arctic blast with above-normal snowfall throughout much of the nation.”

While some areas of the country, such as California for example, are blessed with fairly mild and quite tolerable for the most part. Other areas of the country aren’t so lucky. Bone-chilling winters can take a toll on your electric bill if you’re not careful. These tips will help you remain comfortable throughout the winter without paying a hefty price for the privilege.

1) Use Ceiling Fans Wisely

Ceiling fans are excellent tools for circulating air around the rooms in your home. They are also highly useful for keeping cool and warm air where you’d like them to be.

It’s important to understand that ceiling fans circulating in a clockwise motion push heat down so the area below is warmer. If you adjust the blades (with the flip of a switch) to circulate in a counter-clockwise direction, you’ll pull hot air up towards the ceiling and attic space, and circulating cooler air around the room.

2) Do Your Laundry at Night

In fact, it’s best to wait until after 8:00 PM if you want to make the most of your laundry efforts. This is the time, according to Life Hacker, when many utility companies switch to off-peak usage times. You’ll have to check with your utility company to be sure, but if you wait until this time to start laundry loads and the dishwasher, you could save a bundle on your energy bills.

3) Use a Whole House Fan

This offers two benefits on winter days when it’s extremely warm in the afternoon but temps did down quite cool at night. You don’t have to turn the air conditioner on to cool off during the hottest hours of the day. Instead, you can use your whole house fan, which will draw stale winter air out of your home and bring in fresh air from the outside while keeping things nice and cool at half the price of air conditioning.

4) End Passive Energy Leaks

Truth be told, it’s a little more than a leak. Passive energy leeches in your home include mobile phone, tablet, and MP3 player chargers, televisions, video games, and desktop computers …and more – even when these devices are turned off. Stop the insanity with power strips that allow you to literally disconnect these devices in one motion rather than unplugging each one every time.

5) Adjust Your Thermostat Lower at Night

It’s one thing to keep your home cozy and warm throughout the day, but a cooler home while you sleep is good for you. It helps with the sleep process and prevents you from paying monster electric bills that are not entirely necessary.

6) Use CFLs To Light Your Home

CFL bulbs last up to 10 times longer than traditional bulbs and cost less to use to light your home. The savings add up to nearly $60 per year according to Duke Energy.

You do not need to spend copious amounts of money or make painful changes in order to save a significant amount of money on your energy bills this winter. These are just a few of the small changes you can make that will save you plenty.