How to Save Energy Over Winter

by Lilly
(Minneapolis, MN)

We just needed to drastically cut our energy expenses as winter approaches in Minnesota.

We did a couple major things to get ready. First of all we did our windows.

We upgraded some of our old windows so we can save energy and cup down on the drafty-ness of our house.

Plus we can tap into the Obama tax credit too.

The second thing we did to save money was plug all of our major appliances into power strips. At night when we go to bed, we shut off the power strips.

This move saved us $50 on our energy bill last month.

Basically, your TV, DVD player etc are constanly pulling energy even when they are off. But if they plugged inot a power strip that you can turn off you can keep these big items from sucking all your energy when you aren't using them.

Note: It takes more time for them to power up so if you are picky about that, then you might not want to do this.

The final thing we did was turn down the heat one degree. For example, if we wanted the heat set at 70, we ran it at 69. That's a little difference temperature wise but it has saved us a ton of money on our energy bill.

We also program our thermostat so the heat doesn't run as much during the day and at night while we sleep.