Homes are obviously a high-maintenance investment. Here are the top 10 most expensive mistakes you could be making in your home: places you could be spending unnecessary extra money.
1. Using Traditional Light Bulbs
Incandescent light bulbs have a way of sneakily draining a lot of money away every month in the form of inflated electric bills. Over its life span, an incandescent bulb can use $180 worth of electricity. Alternatively, a CFL will only use $41 worth of electricity over the same amount of time. LED bulb only uses $30 per bulb, and are the best for the environment. Replacing all the light bulbs in your home could make a world of difference.
2. Ignoring a Leaky Faucet
A leaky faucet that drips one drop per second can waste over 3,000 gallons per year, which is enough water to take more than 180 showers. Especially in areas experiencing drought, this could cost a fortune in unnecessary spending. Getting the faucet fixed or replaced is far more economical.
3. Using the Wrong Size Air Filter
Although a common mistake, using the wrong filter or a dirty filter on your HVAC system can increase your power bill and cause expensive problems for your furnace in the long run. Using the correct filters for your system, and setting a reminder to change them after the recommended amount of time is a great way to avoid unnecessary costs.
4. Not Controlling Temperature
Heating or cooling an empty home wastes a lot of money in energy costs. Investing in a customizable thermostat, which you can program to shift up or down a few degrees when you’re out of the house, can save big bucks in your final bill.
5. Not Adjusting Air Vents
Simply adjusting air vents to direct the flow of air more evenly throughout your entire home eliminates the need to crank up the air conditioning in the whole house to combat hot temperatures in one area.
6. Over-Watering Your Lawn
Over-watering lawns is both a waste of water and damaging to the plants themselves. While programmed sprinklers are convenient, it is important to check up on them, to make sure there is no leak, that the water isn’t running over onto the pavement or a fence, or etc. Periodically running sprinklers during the day so you can see how they’re performing is a good way to catch a problem early.
7. Setting Water Heater Temperature Too High
Water heaters typically keep the water in the tank hot around the clock, with the exception of tankless heaters. Turning down the temperature in the summer, and only bumping it back up in the winter, saves money and natural resources.
8. Not Fixing Leaky Windows and Doors
Leaky windows and doors are great places for cold, winter winds to sneak into your home. Fixing the leaks in windows with caulk and putting rubber seals around doors will keep winter winds out and warmth in, and save you on heating.
9. Paying a Handyman
Don't pay a handyman for a job that is simple enough to do yourself. If you're unsure of how to do something, look up video tutorials online. Doing simple tasks yourself can save you a lot of money.
10. Ignoring Curled Shingles
While it may be difficult to spot problems on your roof, and easy to ignore them when you do, the damage and problems they cause down the line increase exponentially with time.
Repairing roof issues as soon as possible will save you significant costs later.