Your light bulbs
If you’re still using incandescent light bulbs in your home, you’re probably wasting money on higher electric bills. Over its life span an incandescent bulb can use $180 of electricity. A CFL will only use $41 over the same period. Even better is LED, which only uses $30 per bulb. Imagine if you replaced every bulb in your home – how much would that save you?
Your leaky faucet
A leaky faucet that drips a drop per second – that’s over 3,000 gallons a year aka 48,000 glasses of water or 180 showers. Especially in the current drought this could be costing you a fortune. Replacing that leaky faucet will save you tons.
Your air filter
Changing out the air filter on your HVAC may not seem like a big deal, but it is. If you use a dirty or wrong-sized filter, you’re power bill will go up and you’ll probably face expensive furnace issues later. Using the correct filters and remembering to change them after the recommended amount of time are key.
Your thermostat
Invest in a customizable thermostat. If you’re at the office all day you can set your heat lower while you’re gone and then back up when you return. Heating an empty house waste energy and money.
Your air vents
If one room in your home is hot and others are cold, this probably applies to you. Adjust the air vents to direct the flow of air more evenly throughout your entire home. Professionals will come regulate this to ensure that your entire home is receiving the same amount of heat or AC.
Your sprinklers
A lot of people run their sprinklers in the early am to keep their lawns healthy and green. But if you’re sleeping when they’re running, you never actually see where the water is going. If you have a broken sprinkler head the water may not be going where it should. The trajectory could be off or it could be bubbling up instead of spraying. Routinely run your sprinklers during the day to ensure they’re doing their job.
Your water heater
Unless you have a tankless water heater, your water heater is keeping the water in its tank hot. Keep an eye o it as the seasons change because you might be paying too much to heat your water. Lower the temperature in the summer and then put it back up when winter comes.
Your leaky windows and doors
Kind of a no-brainer but important nonetheless. Caulk the leaky window and put rubber seal around the doors to keep the heat in and winter chill out.
Your handyman
While there are certainly many situations where a handyman is necessary, many simple tasks can be solved by googling or watching a video tutorial. Why pay someone to do something you can do yourself?
Your roof
Ignoring roof issues (especially curled shingles) will cause bigger problems later on. If you see any possible issues with your roof fix them ASAP – you’ll be happy you did later.