Light Bulbs, Thermostats, and Night Time Laundry

by Dave T
(Dublin, Eire)

I am a very frugal person since I bought my first house three years ago.

With each year that passes I try to save more money on energy and home heating costs during the winter.

First off I had all my light bulbs changed out with energy efficient bulbs. This reduced the bill drastically especially since I am home all day and when it is dark I can easily use lights without costing money.

We also installed a new thermostat that allows us to program various temperatures on several schedules. This has saved our house a bundle and I would highly recommend doing this.

We set the temperature cooler while we sleep and program it to be warmer in the house only when necessary and this allows full control of the temperature we want.

We then monitor our bills as well.

In order to save more money on energy we do laundry at night when it is cheapest, always wash in cold water, then dry the large items (ie towels, blankets, sheets) for half the cycle time and then hang to dry.

It is amazing how quickly they dry after this.

These are some of my tips and experiences for saving money during the winter.