Saving Money on Energy Usage Pt. 2

One of the main ways we waste energy is our use of hot water.  The hot water heater is a highly inefficient appliance.  There are some easy ways to limit how much your hot  water heater has to work and I promise not to criticize your one hour hot showers.

• If your hot water heater is exposed to the out doors (garage, crawl space, outside) you will want to get a water heater blanket.  This is an  extra layer of insulation and helps hold the temperature longer.  They are also fairly inexpensive.  I just bought a hot water blanket on Amazon.comfor $27.89 after shipping.  Of course I used gift cards that I earned on SwagBucks.com and paid nothing.
• Check the temperature setting on your water heater.  If you have a dishwasher then water needs to be heated to 120°.  If you use your children to wash the dishes you can cut that temperature down.
• Whenever possible wash your clothes in cold water.
• O.K. I lied.  You should not be taking one hour showers.  If you can cut your shower time in half, you can save as much as 33% on the cost of heating your water.

We will pick this topic back up on Tuesday and will have two more posts in the series.  The last one is a Saving Freak special on how to get free heat!