Maintaining a home is expensive – but are you spending extra money unnecessarily? Here are 10 of the most expensive mistakes you could be making:
- Using traditional light bulbs. If you are still using incandescent light bulbs, consider switching them out for fluorescent or even better LED bulbs. The savings can be up to $150 in electricity over the life of the bulb, well worth the extra cost.
- Ignoring a leaky faucet. One drip per second from a leaky faucet can waste more than 10,000 liters per year, enough water to take more than 180 showers. Fixing that leak can plug a large hole in your annual water bill.
- Changing the furnace filter too infrequently. Leaving a dirty air filter too long can increase the electricity bill and also cause expensive problems for your furnace down the road. Set a reminder to replace the filter within the recommended time; the small extra cost will be well worth it.
- Leaving the thermostat at a constant temperature. Invest in a programmable thermostat, and program the temperature to shift down while you are at work and heat back up shortly before you get home. Heating an empty home wastes a lot of money in energy bills.
- Not adjusting the heat vents seasonally. During the winter, for example you want the vents on the upper levels closed since heat rises; otherwise the lower levels will be cooler and you will waste money on energy heating the main floor while the bedrooms are too hot. During the winter, you should do the reverse: close down the lower level vents, since cold air is heavier than warm air and is hard to push up from the basement to the upper levels.
- Overwatering the lawn & garden. Many homeowners have sprinkler systems set to come on automatically in the early morning hours. This is certainly the best time for most efficient use of water, but it can become a problem if you are never around to see the sprinklers in operation. For example, if a sprinkler head is broken and is gushing water over a small area you could be wasting a lot of water. Run the sprinklers during the day from time to time to make sure all is well.
- Setting hot water temperature too high. Unless you have a tankless water heater, your hot water tank is keeping your water hot 24/7. The higher the temperature setting on the hot water tank, the more energy you waste in heat radiated from the tank.
- Leaky windows and doors. Just watch the dollar bills fly out of your house through the drafty windows and doors. Caulk around the windows and add rubber seals around the doors. Your wallet will thank you.
- Hiring a handyman. Don’t pay a handyman to do simply jobs that you can easily do yourself. If you’re in doubt, there are lots of You Tube videos to show you how it’s done.
- Ignoring curling shingles. Pay attention to the signs that the roof is getting old, and get it replaced or at least repaired before it leaks and does some damage that will be very expensive to repair.
