5 Strategies to Reduce Energy Consumption

The way to reduce your electricity bill is to reduce energy consumption in your apartment. You can cut down your next bill by at least 25% if you implement these 5 strategies to reduce your use of electricity. Here’s what you do:

1. Shut Off Your Lights

Many people know that you should shut off the lights when you’re not using them. However, they don’t actually do it all the time because it takes hard work to monitor and shut off all the lights not being used. A simple way to reduce energy consumption is to make it a habit to shut off all the lights in your apartment that you’re not using. No matter how inconvenient it is, or whether it interrupts your work, study or entertainment, if you implement this one strategy you’ll see your electricity bill go down a bit.

2. Use Window Plastic Seal

As a tenant, you don’t have control over the water boiler and you can’t add more insulation to your apartment building. You can, however, seal any windows in the apartment using plastic. There are kits that you can buy from any supermarket or hardware store that carry enough plastic sheets for you to cover your windows. You’ll need a blow dryer because the heat acts as an adhesive. This works to keep cold air out so that your source of electricity, such as baseboard or central heat, doesn’t have to work harder to combat the extra cold air coming through your windows.

3. Unplug Appliances

Unplug all appliances that you’re not using. It’s not enough to turn the appliances off because small amounts of electricity are still being used when you leave it plugged in. It’s also not enough to turn off the switch on surge protectors. Come up with a time every day where you go around your apartment and unplug everything you’re not using. You can schedule this just before you go to bed. Throughout the day you can work on unplugging appliances after you use them. This simple tip will help you to reduce energy consumption from unsuspecting sources.

4. Cook and Freeze

This strategy will help you with your electric bill and food bill at the same time. Select one or two days a week to cook all of your meals for the week or month. Freeze meal-sized portions, and microwave each one when you’re ready to eat. There are many free menus and recipes online that you can use for ideas to make meals from scratch, as well as tips on what to freeze. 

5. Change How You Dry

A dryer is a great appliance to have in your apartment. However, you have to be wise about how you use your dryer if you want to reduce your electricity bill. Two things you can do is to make sure that you only dry full loads and clear the lint trap after every use. You should also use a clothing line if possible, or buy a wooden rack to hang towels, underwear and other clothing to air dry.

The extra work it takes to reduce energy consumption is worth the savings you’ll see in your electricity bill. Let this be your motivation as you labor to implement these five strategies.