Budget Mondays

Monday – 4/7/2014

It’s Monday – a painful day for most people, yours truly included. Sometimes it is made even more painful as we remember just how much money we ended up spending over the weekend.

Budget

It’s one word that can make people cringe, angry and sad all at the same time, a rare occurrence indeed. There are plenty of reasons for this — people are told at work that their budgets are being cut, their ideas cannot be funded because they are not in the budget, and in our personal life, our budgets don’t usually quite match up to our desires.

The last thing that many people want to think about as we move from the unusually bitter winter to the much-anticipated spring is how to keep your home cool and comfortable. Heating and cooling costs, however, do not only manifest themselves during the winter season — air conditioning and other cooling costs often rear their ugly head during the warmer summer months. Just as during the polar vortex people were commenting on the cost of heating oil and electric heaters, it is only a matter of time before the hum of air conditioners fills the summer air.

Let’s take at a few ways, that can be done now, to keep those summer (and future winter) costs in check:

1) Look into upgrading to ENERGYSTAR appliances — these can be between 10-30% more effective than older models.

2) Have routine maintenance conducted, early, to make sure that all of your HVAC equipment is in working order.

3) Upgrading to new LED light bulbs can reduce energy usage by as much as 25%.

These little changes, upgrades, and adjustments can quickly add up to big savings!

Happy Reading!

https://www.bgesmartenergy.com/residential/heating-cooling/tips

http://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/tips-lighting