Home Solutions San Diego Blog

Are your electricity bills climbing monthly? Are you looking for ways to save money in your home budget? Here are a few simple tips to decrease your electrical usage at home. This will allow you to put extra money in your pocket while conserving energy.

Change your light bulbs. Standard 75-watt light bulbs are manufactured to last 1000 to 2000 hours. Furthermore, during this time they consume 75,000 to 150,000 watts of electrical energy. In contrast, compact fluorescent twist bulbs last up to 8,000 hours and use only 23 watts of energy. If you do the math, and factor in the cost of the bulbs, this translates into a savings of $74 per bulb over the lifetime of the bulb. Multiply this savings by the number of bulbs in use on an average evening in your home. You can save this much money every four years!

Consider replacing older electric freezers with newer, energy-efficient ones. For example, older chest freezers use, on average, 50 kilowatts of electricity more each month than newer freezers do. A newer freezer may cost $150 to $200. If you calculate the cost of the additional energy, however, (12 cents per kilowatt-hour times 50 hours), you spend up to $12 more per month to cool an older freezer. In one year, you have almost completely recovered the cost of the freezer.

If you use your computer frequently throughout the day, don’t turn it off. Computers actually use more energy by powering on and booting than by remaining on throughout the day. A better alternative is to adjust the settings for screensaver and sleep mode. Allowing your computer to go into sleep mode or standby after five minutes of non-use is much more cost effective than turning off your entire system. Additionally, if you use the printer, fax, or scanner only rarely, put them in standby when they are not in use.

During the winter, consider setting your thermostat at 65 degrees and purchase a ceramic heater. These energy saving devices require minimal wattage to operate. In fact, you probably won’t notice even a slight increase in your electrical bill. Your heating bill, however, will decrease by several dollars each month.

The most effective way to save electricity, however, is to determine what appliances or devices in your home are using the most electricity. The easiest way to do this is to purchase a small meter or to borrow one from a friend. These meters are very simple to use. Just place the meter against the cord of the appliance being tested. The meter will display a readout of the watts being consumed by that device. If a piece of equipment is using excessive energy or creating a surge, the meter will indicate this. You can then have the equipment repaired or replaced to decrease your energy usage.

Don’t waste dollars by using outdated equipment. Repair or replace damaged power cords. Following these simple steps allows you to save money and energy. Enjoy the savings while you protect the environment!

This article provided courtesy of http://coasters.pebbleZ.com home of the absorbent stone drink coaster.

Photo Credit: Just-Us-3

One of the main reasons for moving is to gain more room. If this is your situation, you may want to make your home appear larger, both for your own use and so it will be easier to get it sold. Here are a few things you can do to make your home seem larger. This can be an advantage when you are selling a small house.

1. Using Light to Your Advantage — Bright lighting makes any space seem larger. To make a room look larger than it actually is, there should be plenty of light to suggest a feeling of being open and unenclosed. Shine lights on walls so they will appear to be brighter. You might want to have lighting controls to adjust the intensity in each room as you wish.

2. Colors — Use only light shades of colors that have a warm feeling such as orange and browns. These colors can make a room look bigger, and more inviting. To give a room a sense of added depth, you might want to try the technique of using light shades on three walls of the room and a coordinated darker color on the remaining wall.

3. Minimize the Furniture — Rooms that have too much furniture look smaller. The more objects there are crowded into the space, the less space is available for people to visualize themselves being comfortable there. It’s all about idealizing the usage of space to accommodate living. Be sure not to crowd your furniture together when you want to make the room look larger. Avoid placing big armchairs and overstuffed sofas in cramped spaces. To maximize the utilization of space, try to use furniture that can serve more than one purpose. An example would be an end table with a built in magazine stand takes up less room than two pieces.

4. Your Choices in Decorator Items Too — The accessories you use in your decorating can have an impact on the appearance of overall size. Use curtains in a light color to allow plenty of light during the daytime. Select light colored furniture, or as an expedient you can use light colored covers and accent pieces for the furniture, because light colors will give a feeling of extra space.

5. Mirrors — Use large mirrors in strategic places to add depth to a room. There is hardly any improvement you can make that will be more cost-effective in making a room seem larger. Mirrors can be attractive art elements in and of themselves, and they serve a secondary purpose of making small rooms appear larger.

6. Reduce Unattractive Clutter — Efficient storage is an important consideration, especially in limited spaces. The more clutter there is in your home, the smaller it will seem. Use storage systems that fit your family’s needs. By reducing clutter, your home will seem more appealing to guests and prospective buyers — and you will be more comfortable there too.

You can use these secrets to improve your home with very little expense. In fact, these suggestions are among the best ways to improve your home, not to mention making it look great.

Information presented by the ultimate Colorado real estate experts, Automated Homefinder.