12 ways to save on utilities

Digital Thermostat with a male hand, set to 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Saved with clipping path for thermostat and hand combined.(Getty Images/iStockphoto/koinseb)

Few things wear down your finances like the endless grind of monthly utility bills. Those include energy bills, water bills, sewer bills, natural gas bills and heating oil bills. If it keeps your house warm or cool, provides water or eliminates waste, it likely costs you money each month.

Every little advantage you can get when it comes to reducing those monthly utility costs means more money at the end of the month in your checking account. The best part is that there are many effective ways to trim your utility bills by doing a one-time task that lowers those bills. Here are 12 things you can do to reduce your utility cost:

Two business men shaking hands during a meeting to sign agreement and become a business partner, enterprises, companies, confident, success dealing, contract between their firms. — **Negotiate —** Go through each of your utility bills and mark every charge you don’t recognize. Call up that utility, ask about all of those charges and request to have them removed from your bill. Every charge you can have eliminated from your monthly bill is a savings for you going forward. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/Pattanaphong Khuankaew)

Need a new fridge? The weekend of Saturday, Feb. 16 is the perfect time to save on qualifying Energy Star appliances through the annual Shop Maryland Energy weekend. (Getty Images) — **Buy Energy-Efficient Appliances —** When you’re replacing an appliance, look carefully at energy efficiency. If you intend to live in the same house for a long time or to take appliances with you when you move, invest in energy-efficient appliances. You’ll save money in the long run. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/NattaneeP)

Turn your water heater down to the least-hot temperature you can deal with, Pogue says -- you won't even notice the difference, except the savings. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/danielsbfoto) — **Adjust Your Hot Water Heater —** Adjust the setting on your hot water heater down to 120 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius). Not only will this keep scalding water from coming out of your shower head or kitchen faucet, it will also significantly reduce the expense of heating your water, reducing your utility costs. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/danielsbfoto)

Woman loading laundry to the washing machine — **Wash Your Clothes on the Cold Setting —** Laundry detergent does an excellent job of cleaning slightly dirty clothes with just cold water. Unless you have truly soiled garments, switch to washing clothes in cold water. This will save you the cost of hot water for each laundry load, which can be as much as 50 cents per load, depending on washing machine size and local energy costs. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/brizmaker)

Caulk Your Windows — Feel around the edges of each window pane and see if you can identify any air leaks, which are spots where you can feel extra warmth on a hot day or chill on a cold day. Those spots are leaking energy. Get a caulking gun and a tube of caulk and seal up those areas.

Eventually a deck will be built outside these doors. (WTOP/Kristi King) — **Install Weatherstripping Around Drafty Doors —** Check around the edges of your outer doors on cold or hot days. Can you feel the cold or hot air seeping through? If so, look into installing weatherstripping around the edges of those doors. This will drastically reduce the constant energy loss, which means your air conditioning or furnace will run less frequently. (WTOP/Kristi King)

Switch to a More Efficient Showerhead — An efficient showerhead not only reduces water use, but it also reduces the amount of heated water that’s wasted. ShowerStart shower heads, for example, don’t start producing water until it’s sufficiently heated, meaning you don’t waste water while it’s warming up. And they provide an easy method to halt water flow temporarily while showering, minimizing the water produced. This not only reduces the total water used in your shower, trimming your water bill, but reduces the amount of water you need to heat as well, trimming your energy bill.

Blue Shorts hanging on a clothes line with single red clothespin, plastic laundry stick. Sun drying - green housekeeping. — **Air-Dry Your Clothes —** Rather than using a tumble dryer, simply hang up your clothes to dry. If you don’t have space in your yard for a clothesline, you can install a simple line on your balcony or run a line across a room in your home. This eliminates the energy cost of running a dryer. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/RoniMeshulamAbramovitz)

Young woman or housekeeper has a laundry day at home, she takes the laundry or whites out of your washing machine or the dryer — **Use a Wool Dryer Ball —** Wool dryer balls not only eliminate the need for fabric softener, but also reduce the running time necessary for drying clothes by about 10%, which adds up significantly if you’re drying clothes frequently. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/kzenon)

Cook Indoors in the Winter and Outdoors in the Summer — During the winter months, cooking indoors means that the excess heat produced warms your home, meaning that your furnace works less to keep your home warm. During the summer, however, you don’t want heat in your home, as it will cause your air conditioning to work even more and add to your energy bill. Aim to cook inside during winter months and cook outside using a grill during summer months. If you can’t, use highly energy-efficient indoor appliances for cooking, such as the microwave or slow cooker, not the oven or stovetop, as this will minimize the excess heat and reduce your utility cost.

Low Angle View of a rustic ceiling fan in an old house — **Use Ceiling Fans in the Right Direction —** Ceiling fans are a great way to keep energy costs low as they can make a room feel cooler in the summer, allowing you to keep your thermostat higher and have the air conditioning run less. And they keep your home warmer in the winter, allowing you to keep your thermostat lower and have the furnace run less. To make this work, you have to have your ceiling fan blades rotating in the right direction for the season. During summer, the blades should rotate counterclockwise, so you feel a breeze under the fan. During winter, the blades should rotate clockwise, and you won’t feel a breeze under the fan. That’s because the air is circulating upward, pushing the warm air down from the ceiling around the room. Almost all ceiling fans have a small switch that will change the blade direction. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/lll0228)

**Install Smart Power Strips —** A smart power strip will turn off several devices at once when you turn off the main device. For example, a smart power strip attached to your computer, monitor and desk lamp will cut power to the monitor and desk lamp when the computer is off. A smart strip attached to your television, DVD player, video game consoles and speakers will power down those devices when you turn off the television. This keeps you from wasting energy after forgetting to turn off a device or due to background energy drain from devices that consume power in standby mode.

(1/12)

Share This Gallery:

These strategies will significantly reduce your energy bill and water bill, saving you money throughout the year and reducing your utility cost without additional effort.

More from U.S. News

9 Secrets to Save Money on a Shoestring Budget

10 Expenses Destroying Your Budget

12 Useless Fees Draining Your Budget

12 Ways to Save on Utilities originally appeared on usnews.com