How to Save Money While Maintaining Your Home

Interested in saving some money while keeping your house up to par? RISMedia has a great list of the top 10 “most expensive mistakes you could be making in your home.” For a quick, abridged version of RISMedia’s list, read below:

Mistake number 1 is using traditional light bulbs. An “incandescent light bulb can use $180 worth of electricity” over its lifespan. LED bulbs use just $30 of electricity over the same amount of time.

Mistake 2 is ignoring that leaky faucet. Save money on your water bill by fixing that faucet, because “a leaky faucet that drips one drop per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons per year, which is enough water to take more than 180 showers.”

The third mistake home owners make is using the wrong size air filter. A dirty filter or using the wrong size filter “can increase your power bill and cause expensive problems for your furnace down the road.” And nobody has time for that.

The fourth mistake which costs home owners money is not upgrading to a customizable thermostat. Save money by programming your thermostat to turn on and off while you’re away from home.

Mistake 5 is when people “crank up the air conditioning in the whole house to combat hot temperatures in one area.” Simplify things by readjusting vents so air flows more regularly throughout your entire home.

Mistake 6: Here in Texas, watering lawns can become tricky with our periodic droughts. However, it is smart to run your sprinkler system during the day to make sure there are no broken sprinkler heads, and that no sprinkler heads are watering a wall instead of your lawn.

The seventh mistake people commonly make is setting their water heater temperature too high. You should be changing the temperature with each season; “decrease the temperature in the summer, and bump it back up when winter comes.”

The eighth mistake people make is ignoring leaky windows and doors. These tiny cracks let in cold air, forcing you to turn up your heater. “Caulk leaky windows and put a rubber seal around doors to keep winter winds out and warmth in.”

Number nine may surprise you. A money mistake home owners make is paying a handyman when the project is actually managable on your own. For simple tasks, watch a few online tutorials and accomplish the project yourself.

Last but not least, ignoring curled shingles is a huge money mistake. Any potential problems, like curled shingles, can turn into something serious quite quickly. “If you see any possible issues with your roof, repair them as soon as possible, as this will save you significant costs later.”

Follow these simple 10 steps and you will save yourself a great deal of money over the long run.