Household Items That Are Stealing Your Money

Getting your monthly electricity bill can surely be a “shocking” experience if you have unknown costs racking up. Some of your biggest electric offenders are obvious; heating and air conditioning are the biggest energy vampires, sucking the money right out of your wallet. Others sneak up on you like the five pounds of unwanted weight you all of a sudden gained on your backside; after eating grandma’s dangerously delicious pound cake that you could’ve done without.

It’s easy to point fingers at the big appliances, like a refrigerator that is constantly running, when in reality it could be consuming fewer watts than smaller items. Toasters, hairdryers, coffee makers, vacuum cleaners, and curling irons all use more power than you think. But that’s no excuse to throw out the hairdryer and coffee maker—the goal here is not to scare all your co-workers when you walk into the building on Monday morning.

The good news is that there are steps you can take to ensure that no unnecessary costs are going into your monthly bill. There are four tips that Shipley Energy can offer you to cut back these sneaky costs and make the journey to becoming a more energy-efficient member of the community:

1. Unplug devices you are not using often. If you have an old treadmill catching dust in the basement (we can all deny this together) or a game console that was made in the 80s; pull the plug and prevent potential energy from racking up your electric. If you ever decide to work off the midnight ice cream or have a sudden urge to play Sonic the Hedgehog, you can simply plug the device back in and save yourself some cash!
2. Use power strips. We all have a few power strips lying around from the days of living in a college dorm. While super convenient, power strips can end up blowing through money like a college student if they are not turned off while dormant.
3. Back away from the Computer! When you finally turn off Netflix after 14 episodes of Friends, it’s advised to shut down or put your laptop into sleep mode. By doing this you can potentially save close to $100 a year, which is a practically a full-years Netflix subscription anyway.
4. Upgrade it. We are in a technologically advanced society, where we are constantly able to upgrade our dinosaur technology for an environmentally friendly model. Taking advantage of these new additions may hurt your pocket for a week or two, but in the long run you will be financially thankful!

Don’t let the energy vampires suck the life out of your electric bill- switch to Shipley Energy today to avoid any surprises on your next statement!