These economical household money management tips I am about to share with you will help you keep more money in your wallet.

When it involves family money management, these are straightforward approaches that my family uses. In fact, speaking from experience, if you begin to put these money saving tips to use, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much money you can save; and how you can avoid spending on credit cards and accruing debt. So if you are the type of person who relies on credit either on credit cards or short term loans like provident loans take a look at these tips – they could start to change your spending habits forever.

House Energy Cost Savings

There isn’t any doubt in my mind that everyone is able to stop leaking cash with these energy reduction tips. Are you aware that the typical family spends at least $2,000 a year on home utilities? The good news is that there is a lot you can do to save energy and money at home.

Below you will find easy and inexpensive money management tips which I use to save energy. But a word first about your energy supplier. If you have been with the same gas or electricity supplier for a few years, the chances are that you could be getting a better deal elsewhere.  So before you start trying to save energy make sure you are not paying over the odds for it. It is quick, simple and free to switch energy supplier so if you can get a better deal with another supplier then go for it!

Programmable Thermostat

You can use a programmable thermostat to knock down your cooling and/or heating costs each year. These thermostats are actually fantastic bits of technology. You can simply program in when to turn the heating and hot water on and as well as AC (if you are lucky enough to live in a hot climate where air conditioning is required, unlike me) using a pre-set routine. This one simple step means your heating and AC don’t operate when you are sleeping or away from your house.

Electricity Consumption

Lights, lights, lights – if your family is anything like mine it’s a constant battle to get them to turn off the lights when they leave a room. But persevere and you will all develop good habits that waste less energy and save you money. Make sure you are also using energy efficient bulbs in every light fitting in your house – they may cost slightly more initially but they last much, much longer (up to 10 years) and use up to 75% less energy because they do not generate and release heat compared to standard bulbs.

If you do use air conditioning then plant trees and shrubs near the AC outlet to provide shade. This cools the area and enables the AC to cool your home using less electricity compared to the same operating situation with no shade.

Appliances – If you are looking for a brand new appliance, nowadays they’re a lot more energy efficient compared to older versions. But still, depending on how frequently they are used, refrigerators and freezers as well as washing machines and tumble dryers can be big energy guzzlers. When looking around for a brand new appliance, make sure to compare the actual power levels. The labeling will highlight the estimated annual running cost of the appliance and just how much annual electricity the appliance consumes under average use.

And don’t forget to do an annual defrost of your freezer if you don’t have a frost-free model – it can really make a difference to energy consumption.

 

Water Consumption

You can substantially reduce your water costs if you take short showers rather than baths. You can also save cash by decreasing the temperature a degree or two in your hot water heater.

Additional money management tips when it comes to water consumption include:

• Only switch on the dishwasher and washing machine when you have a full load
• Turn off the running tap when cleaning  your the teeth
• Fix dripping taps
• Reduce the quantity of water used to flush your toilet by adjusting the float on top of the cistern
• Use garden water sprinklers less often

 

Insulation

Having the correct insulation can help you save a lot of money on your utility bills. You’ll especially want to check the insulation thickness inside your attic. And if you have cavity walls make sure they are insulated too.

You’ll additionally want to ensure the heating system and hot water pipes are fully insulated.

Adding draught-proofing to all your doors and windows is actually another money saver. If you can seal just about all openings towards the outside where cold air can get in this can be just as effective as much more costly measure like cavity wall insulation and double glazed windows. Don’t firget to stop up plumbing and electric ducts that penetrate your external walls.

 

Other Power Saving Ideas

Our homes tend to be packed with electrical and electronic gadgets and whilst one individual device left plugged in overnight may not make too much difference when you consider 3 televisions, a DVD player, games console, your PC, laptop and tablet; plus those of your other family members and the additional energy they use it does start to become significant. PC’s, TV’s as well as DVD’s etc still make use of quite a bit of power even in standby mode.