If, like us, you are lucky enough to live in a rural home, you will know that while the lifestyle is fantastic, the cost that comes with it is not. We love our new home, however doing it up has been expensive.
We don’t regret a single moment of living here, but it would have been nice to have a little more money to play with. Thinking back to those first few months, revamping our new house came with lots of challenges.
These included repairs and redesigns, not to mention juggling our budget to ensure that we had enough to cover everything. After speaking to another homeowner, I realised that we aren’t the only ones who would have liked more money for our project.
This got me thinking about how new homeowners could cut the cost of their bills, to give them more money for updating their home. Here are the three things that I came up with – hopefully, you will find these useful.
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Look around for the best deals
To find good deals, the key is shopping around on comparison sites. Have a look at websites like gocompare.com, to find companies that offer the best rates.
If you have only just moved into your new home, you may not have chosen your suppliers yet. This is a good thing, as often when you switch from one provider to another; you may incur a financial penalty.
Search for online utility companies, that don’t use paper. Often, because paper isn’t used, this makes the tariffs of these providers a little cheaper, so it’s worth looking into. Sites like, clickenergy.com.au/electricity-providers-nsw-sydney/, have cheaper rates because they don’t use paper.
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Pay via the cheapest option
Not many people realise this, but there are certain methods of payment that make your bills more expensive. For instance, if you choose to pay via debit or credit card, a handling fee will be added. Whereas, if you opt to pay by direct debit, you won’t be charged any extra.
By choosing to pay via the cheapest option, you might only save a few pounds (or dollars), but it all adds up. If you save three pounds on each of your bills, you could end up saving around 30 pounds per month, which adds up to over 300 pounds per year. That’s a huge saving, so it is definitely worth asking about.
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Don’t waste energy
For most of us, our biggest bills tend to be for energy, so the key to reducing your monthly spending is cutting your energy usage. Obviously, that’s easier said than done when you are in the middle of doing up your house. However, it is doable, it just takes a little bit of creativity, that’s all.
Turn down your hot water and heating. One of the main causes of energy usage is having your thermostat too high. Just by turning it down by a couple of degrees, you can save a lot of energy and won’t even notice the temperature difference.
If you make use of air conditioners for cooling the home, then make sure that you get them serviced regularly. Faulty or damaged ACs can eat up more energy, and you may not even notice it. Simply because an air conditioner seems to be cooling the house as needed does not mean that it is in perfect shape. Experts from companies like ‘Abraham AC and Heating Services, Inc: New AC installation in Wilton Manors‘ or someone more local to you could help with either repairing your current cooling system for maximum energy efficiency or installing a new system that might help reduce your energy bill significantly.
Don’t leave your electronics on standby. Whether that’s your drill charger or your television, leaving things on standby, uses extra energy. Once you finish using something, be it a drill or smartphone charger, switch it off. Otherwise, it can cause greater damage in the future.
Moreover, a regular check for any electric repairs could also save you from losing more money. In that case, don’t hesitate to contact any trained electrician similar to Dr. Watts Electric (drwattselectric.com/killeen-electrical-services/) for immediate help and get it ready. And remember it is better to be safe than sorry!
By conducting daily inspections and by making a couple of these simple changes, you will be amazed at how much money you can save on your bills.