Save money by reducing your bills today
Are you concerned about the rising cost of living, and more specifically your rising utility bills? If the answer is yes, don’t worry, you are not alone. According to Mortgage Choice’s inaugural Money Survey, 54.8 per cent of Australians said rising utility bills were their biggest concern.
This is largely unsurprising when you consider that, according to St Vincent de Paul Society’s latest Relative Price Index, the cost of electricity; water and gas have climbed by 83.8 per cent, 59.7 per cent and 55.6 per cent respectively over the past five years.
But while rising utility bills is understandably a big concern for many, there are a few easy tips that you can implement to reduce the cost of your utility bills and feed money back into your hip pocket, including:
1. Turn it off at the wall – Many Australians don’t take the time to turn their appliances off at the wall when they are not using them. It may sound like a small thing, but switching your appliances off at the wall can help you cut standby power use and save you a significant amount of money. According to data from the Queensland Government’s Department of Energy and Water Supply, the average household pays around $100 in standby power costs a year.
2. Environmentally friendly lights – Replacing your old light bulbs and fittings with newer, energy saving options such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can help save you money over the long term. Today, LED bulbs are available for standard fittings. They may be slightly more expensive to buy, but they have a life expectancy of 50,000 hours (or 50 years for the average household).
3. Protect your home from draughts – With the cooler months upon us, now is the time to draught-proof your home. Sealing gaps around doors and windows can help you to stop the warm air from escaping in the winter. A ‘door snake’, rolled up towels or newspaper can be used fix the draught problem in your home.
4. Wash in cold water – Washing your clothes in cold water can save you more than you think. Nearly all of the energy used by the washing machine goes into heating the water. So, if you want to save money and energy, consider washing your clothes in cold water. Your local supermarket will sell laundry powder that is suitable for use in cold water.
5. Out to dry – Hanging your clothes on a clothesline rather than putting them into a tumble dryer can help you reduce your electricity bills and ultimately feed money back into your pocket. Research conducted by the Australian Government found using a clothesline rather than a dryer once a week can save you $69 a year.
For more energy saving tips see the Energy Smart Checklist by clicking here.
