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Energy Savings In Our Home

November 2, 2022 We have reached the point of the year where we have one foot firmly planted into heating season and thought we would reflect on what energy saving tips we have used previously and are currently using to help reduce our bills. When we first moved into our house, one of the first projects we did was upgrade the lighting fixtures. We ended up replacing a majority to suit our tastes, ensuring that they were LED fixtures, and the ones we did not replace we swapped out the incandescent bulbs with LEDs. One free resource we take advantage of is Focus On Energy’s free energy saving packs, which provides you with free products including LED bulbs, smart power strips, and efficient showerheads and aerators. Here is the link to order (one free pack per eligible household per year): . Another item we ended up replacing was our thermostat – we had a conventional thermostat that we ended up switching out for a programable thermostat with WIFI capabilities. This allowed us to develop a schedule where we were able to modulate the temperature based on our needs. We ended up skewing the temperature (up in the summer and down in the winter) during the overnight period when we are sleeping, bringing it to optimal temperature when we are getting ready in the morning, skewing it again during the time we are out of the house at work/school, bringing it back to optimal temperature when we get back home, and when we go to bed repeat the cycle all over again. We also have the weekends programed without the middle of the day adjustment, assuming we stay home. What is also nice is our thermostat has a “Vacation Mode” setting – where we can input the date ranges and times during which the temperature can be adjusted to further save energy. The final feature that we use frequently is the WIFI capability – so that if our schedules end up changing, I can adjust the thermostat anywhere (as long as I have internet access). Focus On Energy also offers a $50 incentive for smart thermostats, or you can purchase them directly through their online marketplace at a discount: . We’ve also replaced the window treatments in our house – opting in our bedrooms to go with a cellular shade. These offer a little bit of a thermal improvement over some of the other types of window treatments, as the honeycomb shaped pocket trap air within the cell to provide additional insulating value to the window location. We have also added drapes with a thermal lining to our patio doors, to help dress them us aesthetically while also providing a bit of thermal improvement as well. Lastly, when we are gone for extended periods of time (i.e., more than a day) we will typically make sure all our window treatments are closed or down, not only from a security standpoint, but also from an energy savings perspective (in addition to using the Vacation Mode setting on our thermostat). Lastly, when it came time to replace our appliances – specifically the range and the dryer, we opted for gas (Propane in our case) over electric. Our house was already set up for either option (as our water heater and furnace are propane), but gas-powered appliances are typically less costly to operate than their electric counterparts You might also be interested in As the year comes to a close, so does Season 14 of Project Money. In preparation for writing our final blog post we reflected over what has occurred over the last 6 months and the strides our family has made. Below, in no particular order, are a few of the highlights from our journey: In the last week we had to take Robin’s car, a 2019 VW Atlas, in for a couple of recall notices we had received. Nothing completely out of the ordinary and wouldn’t have any out-of-pocket costs – so it wasn’t something that we had put much thought or effort into – outside of scheduling the appointment. Unfortunately, what we anticipated being a ~1 hour visit ended up being 5+ hours and spurred a larger discussion. One of the topics we had mentioned in our posts from earlier this year was an employee stock purchase plan offered by Robin’s employer. We have never participated in any stock purchase plans before through our employers but being a bit more vigilant as part of Project Money, we decided to give the program further consideration. Being part of Project Money has pushed our family to take a more active role in managing our finances, necessitating weekly conversations that have spurred growth from both educational and fiscal perspectives. One of the topics we had discussed was micro investing, investing small sums of money in fractional shares of stock or ETFs. With Thanksgiving behind us, the countdown to Christmas has “officially” begin. This year, as part of our Project Money journey, we have been planning to approach things a bit differently when it comes to our holiday budgeting. I had been putting this off for a few weeks/months now, optimistic that Fall might stretch on a little bit longer – but this past week’s winter weather brought with it a reality check, it’s time to replace the tires on my vehicle. I’ve just started to research pricing at local tire shops and trying to narrow down which tire choices will be the best value – both in related to cost and performance in wet/winter weather. I’ve also been checking some of the retail stores, Costco in particular. Over the last few weeks, we have been working to refocus, and get back to some of the basics as we start to head into the end of year holiday season. Over the past few weeks and months, I had seen several news reports about I Bonds, usually with a corresponding endorsement of their attractiveness as an investment in today’s market. I’ll be honest, my only experience with bonds was a savings bond that I received as a child – and I can remember waiting for what seemed like an eternity until I (and the bond) were old enough to cash in. After that I haven’t given them much thought until the past couple weeks. We have reached the point of the year where we have one foot firmly planted into heating season and thought we would reflect on what energy saving tips we have used previously and are currently using to help reduce our bills. 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