How to save on utilities?

How effective are attempts to save on utilities, and how much can you really win? In fact, much more than it seems at first glance. What you need to pay attention in the first place, if you decide to come to the management of the family budget the most rational?

Do we always know what we pay for? And isn't it time to stop paying for what we don't need?

1. Carefully read all the items in the document for payment. You may still be paying for services that have long been disconnected. This may be a radio receiver, which has been silent for many years, or cable television, which you do not use.
2. Check the rate of a landline phone, perhaps it is the maximum, and you need a “city” once a month. It may be worth changing the tariff to a cheaper one, or even abandon it altogether.
3. To reduce utility bills, make them to those banks that do not charge for this commission. It seems to be a small amount for the year decently burden the family budget. As a rule, it is cheaper to pay via the Internet.
4. If you leave the house for more than five days, you can request a recalculation. Take care in advance of the documents that confirm that you really did not live in your apartment. During the summer holidays get a significant discount!

One of the most expensive resources is water. Paying extra money for it is not worth it. The most effective way is to save on utilities, putting in order the apartment water supply system.

1. Install counters if still not done. Every day, water supply and sanitation services are becoming more expensive, and especially for those who do not have metering devices in the apartment.
2. Check for leaks from time to time, for which record the readings of water meters before leaving the apartment, and compare with those that are obtained upon return. This is especially significant if you leave your home for a couple of days. Check if the taps and toilet bowl are leaking. Water dripping in a month can reach a volume of hundreds of liters.
3. Substantial savings on utilities are impossible without saving water, but this does not mean that you need to wash under a thin trickle. Replace the shower head with thinner holes. Wash in the shower - water will go less than the bath.
4. The replacement of two-valve taps with single-lever valves will help to significantly reduce water consumption: water of the required temperature is immediately supplied to the faucet.
5. If there is one button on your toilet bowl, replace it with one that has an economical drain mode (two buttons). Throwing away in a bucket and not in the toilet is also a significant savings.
6. Do you know how you can reduce utility bills, if you brush your teeth when the faucet is off? Water consumption will decrease by 900 liters per month!
7. Another way to save is to buy a new appliance: a washing machine and a class “A” dishwasher. These units will consume less not only water but also electricity.

Sitting in a darkened room is not only unpleasant, but also unhealthy. The eyes and nervous system will not thank you for that. However, electricity can be saved, if properly approached the case.

1. Two-tariff and three-tariff meters help to save on utilities practically without any efforts. Mobile phones and other gadgets charge at night, and it will cost less. At night, you can program and wash, and washing dishes in the dishwasher - at night, the cheapest electricity.
2. Replace conventional incandescent bulbs with energy efficient ones. They are not for nothing called - the savings will be up to 80%. In addition, the light from such lamps is more pleasant and useful for the eyes.
3. So that the light does not burn in vain, illuminating empty rooms, you can install switches with motion sensors, or at least train yourself not to forget to turn off the light.
4. Do you have an electric stove? It is better to replace it with an induction one, it consumes much less electricity, besides such a stove will not only save on utilities, but also facilitate cooking.
5. Pick up the size of the pan to the size of the burners, otherwise up to half of the spent electricity will go "into the air."
6. Conventional electric stoves can be turned off five to ten minutes before food is prepared, which also provides energy savings. Due to the residual heat, food will have time to fully prepare and without additional heating.
7. A gas stove will help save on boiling water if you give up the electric kettle. Do you use electric? De-scale it in time to avoid energy overruns. And press the power button only when it is really necessary, and not “just in case”
8. The instructions to the refrigerator is not for nothing that they write that it should be installed away from the batteries and the southern windows, and they are not recommended to be placed close to the wall. All this leads to a deterioration of heat dissipation and increased power consumption.
9. You can reduce utility bills by purchasing high-end household appliances with low energy consumption class A or B. This applies not only to refrigerators and washing machines, but also to vacuum cleaners, irons, stoves and even teapots!

To understand how big your heating expenses are, compare the numbers in the payment with the numbers of your neighbors. Do you think you pay more?

1. Make an independent calculation, for which the area of ​​housing multiply by the standard for heat and the price of the unit of measurement of heat. What we succeed should be divided into the footage of all the apartments in the house, and multiplied by the area of ​​your apartment. In the event that you pay more than the resulting figure, contact your management company for clarification.
2. Saving on public utilities of the house, for example, an entrance will help to save on utilities. Check with your neighbors how well the front door and windows in the entrance keep heat, and if necessary, contact the management company.
3. For the winter, warm the windows, and especially the balcony doors, through them a significant amount of heat is lost. If it is possible, replace the old frames with double-glazed windows, at least two-chamber, and better with energy-saving.
4. It is believed that the dark color of the battery allows you to increase the heat.
5. Constantly open the window in the winter - a source of increased heating costs. It is better to open the window for a couple of minutes than to keep the airing mode all day.