Tips to Reduce Usage & Consumption in Your Home

To reduce the amount of water and electricity consumption in your home, try the following tips.  Given the tough economic climate right now and concerns for the environment, here are some ways to save money and reduce your impact to the environment. 

I collected these from a few sources but have added a few of my own as well that talk to a larger outlook on how we live.

Energy and Water Usage Savings Tips 

• Recycle everything that you can.  Luckily, cities across the Phoenix area have helped you to do this by provided large bins for your recyclable materials.  This includes newspapers, plastics, cans, cardboard, and glass.  Make sure you are separating what can be recycled versus what has to be thrown away. 
• If you take a lunch to work or school, consider using reusable containers and lunch bags.  Try to avoid using baggies as much as possible as these don’t get reused. 
• Try riding a bicycle to work.  However, given the sprawling nature of the Phoenix area where bicycling is impossible, try bicycling to the store instead to reduce gas consumption. 
• Turn off appliances when you are not using them – this includes computers and computer monitors, televisions, game systems, stereos, DVD players and the like. 
• Turn off lights in rooms when you leave. 
• Use ceiling fans as much as possible rather than the air conditioner. 
• Take shorter, cooler showers and turn off the faucet when you are brushing or shaving.  Turn on the water only when you need it. 
• Install drip systems in your yard in order to more effectively manage water usage for plants and trees. 
• Consider using an electric lawn mower and lawn tools over gas-powered equipment.  Use hand saws when possible to trim trees rather than gas-powered saws.  Sweep leaves rather than blow them when possible. 

Even More Impactful Tips

• Simply reduce your level of consumption in everything you do.
• Purchase quality, long-lasting products and plan to use them for the long-term rather than buying ‘disposable’ consumer goods.  Demand quality from product manufacturers again. 
• Buy a more fuel efficient vehicle. 
• Borrow and share with your neighbor.  Back in the old days, neighbors used to share.  Why not try that again?

We see a lot of hard choices being made today in what we buy and use.  Though the economy has been hard on everyone, many of the decisions to pull back on spending and what we consume do have a silver lining.  We consume a lot and we often consume the same things over and over because the product quality is not there – i.e. the ‘disposable society.’ 

As the old saying goes, you can’t avoid the mistakes of the future if you don’t look at the learnings of the past.  The past saw less consumption and personal debt, greater interaction with our neighbors, and a stronger willingess to share and work together.  Emphasis on what’s important can drive us to better decisions going forward and outcomes that would be surprising and beneficial for everyone.

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Tagged as: energy usage savings tips, tips to save electricity, tips to save on water