As modern parents, most of us are always on the lookout for ways to save money. We can do this by curbing our spending on frivolous items, or by being more economical with our grocery shopping. But all that seems slightly pointless when you get your household bills at the end of the month and they are much higher than you thought they would be. Of course, certain bills are set in stone – such as your rent, or any local tax you have to pay. No one wants to spend money that they have saved on yet more bills – you should be able to use that money to treat you and your kids, or to put towards a large expenditure such as a vacation. So with that in mind, every penny you could save on other bills – such as electricity, water and heating – is a penny worth saving. Here’s how you can cut the costs of some of these bills so that you and your family are all a little bit better off.
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Water
We don’t often think about having running water in the home as a luxury, but when you think about it, it really is. There are plenty of places in the world that don’t have regular access to fresh, clean water, so we really are lucky to have it. However, it can sometimes come at quite a big cost to us – and for the ordinary family it’s not something many can afford to splash out on. Saving money on your water is mainly about using common sense and being economical. For example, if you have a leaky faucet, fix it! Just one leak can waste more water than you think, and more money too. Use your dishwasher as it’s better than hand washing and consider installing a low flow shower head.
Heating
Keeping your house and its inhabitants warm is something at the forefront of every mother’s mind. Most of us find we use our heating nearly all year round, unless we live in somewhere tropical! If you find, however, that you are heating your home almost constantly and it takes a while to get warm, you might want to ask yourself if you are getting the most out of your heating. Make sure your house doesn’t have any droughts coming in. If you have single-glazed windows you are likely to lose a lot of heat even if you have the system on full blast, so consider investing in some replacement windows.
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Electricity
Without electricity, we would probably be completely lost. Whether you are lighting your house or playing video games, we all use it every day of our lives. But cutting down on your household consumption is good for the planet, as well as saving you money. Teach your children to turn out the lights when they leave a room, and also switch all appliances off at the wall after using them. Even leaving them on standby can use power, so make sure there’s no little red light to be seen at all.
