5 Helpful tips to reduce your utility bills

With the constant increase in cost of living and unemployment rates, it has become quite difficult for people to maintain their lifestyle. However, if we can make certain changes in our daily life, it'll help us in saving quite a large sum of money. For example if we can make some small changes in our daily life to make our home more energy efficient, it'll in turn reduce the utility bills for years to come.

Here are 5 tips that can help you in reducing your utility bills:

1. Upgrade your appliances as and when required: There are a number of utility companies which offer financial incentives to the homeowners so that they can upgrade their appliances to newer and more energy-efficient models. The homeowners, who can provide proof of purchase, will receive these incentives in the form of rebate checks.
2. Save energy at night: Most of us have the habit of leaving the fans, lights or other appliances on at night while we sleep. If we want to save on the utility bills, we have to change this habit. Make sure all your electric devices are turned off before you go to bed.
3. Seal the cracks: Don't neglect the cracks or small leaks that you find in your property. You can use inexpensive expanding foam to seal the cracks around windows and door-frames, around the top of the basement wall (rim joist) or round the holes in walls where pipes enter and exit the home. This will help you avoid cold or warm air to escape from your property.
   
4. Use white paint for your roof: It has been revealed in a study that buildings which have white roofs require up to 40% less energy for cooling than those with black roofs. Keeping in mind the present utility rates, this means that you could save around $120 or more per year in cooling costs.
5. Installation of an irrigation meter: Most of us don't know the fact that we're actually charged twice for the water we use - once to pump it into our house and again to pump it out of the house as sewage. In order to avoid being charged twice, you can use an irrigation meter. If the water is used to irrigate your lawn or garden, it'll never makes into the sewer system. Once you install the irrigation meter, it'll be read every month by your utility company and its reading will be subtracted from your sewage bill.