Large families tend to waste a lot of energy around the home without even realising it. This can be from electricity being wasted because the wrong lights have been fitted or water being wasted through leaky pipes.
In this blog, we will take a look at the 3 small changes you can make in your home to become more eco-friendly and save your pocket some money. This blog post will focus on the bathroom because it’s one of the most used rooms in the home and has the potential to save you the most amount of money.
You can take the tips in this post and then apply them to other rooms (where applicable) within your home to make further savings, let’s begin.
1) Adding low flow fixtures to your bathroom.
If you will be in the process of buying a new bathroom suite in the next year or two you should pick one that has low flow fixtures installed, or if you have recently updated your bathroom you could simply update the taps to their low flow equivalent. This may seem like an additional expense but low flow fixtures in your bathroom will save you a tonne of money over the next few years.
But what exactly are low flow fixtures? The simple explanation is that low flow fixtures are things like urinals, taps, showerheads and toilet bowls that let less water flow out of them when in use. You may think that it seems silly to limit the water output as you could end up flushing twice, but you won’t need to, I’ve had a low flow fixture installed on all of my bathroom fixtures and I haven’t noticed the difference, except for the showerhead which is a little slower than before.
A low flow fixture saves up to 20% of water on every single use, over the course of the year that’s thousands of gallons of water.
2) Find and fix any leaks.
Small leaks in your home can cause damage if they’re not found quickly which can cost you thousands in repair bills, but even if we ignore the cost to fix the water damage you could still be losing a lot of money on utility bills through a leaking tap, especially if you are on a water meter.
You may think that a small leak doesn’t do much damage or waste energy but one small leak dripping at one leak a second can accumulate to 3000 gallons of water in a single year.
Detecting a leak can be hard, the best way I have found to see if you have a leak, first of all, is to knock all of your appliances off and tell your family members not to use the water for a few hours. You can then take a water reading before and after to see if there is a difference in values. If there is, you have a leak somewhere in your home.
To find the leak you are better off calling a local plumber to come out and fix the problem. It may be an initial cost upfront, but over the course of the year, it will save you on your utility bill and any damage caused by the water to repair.
3) Change lighting to more energy-efficient.
Energy-saving bulbs are one of the best ways to save money on your electricity whether they are being used in the bathroom or anywhere else in the home.
A typical bulb wastes 80% of its energy by losing it through heat energy. An energy-efficient bulb, on the other hand, converts around 80% of the electricity into light. Energy-efficient bulbs cost slightly more to buy but last up to 25 times as long.
If you switched every bulb in your home to an energy-efficient bulb you would save hundreds on your electricity bills per year.
Conclusion
Becoming eco-friendly at home is a great way to teach your family how to be energy responsible and save more of the earth’s resources. You also get the added benefit of being able to save on your utility bills, allowing you to spend more on other events like Christmas, birthdays and holidays.
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