Turn That Down (Off)!!

Have you ever been told (forcefully) by a parent to "TURN THAT DOWN!!" or "TURN THAT OFF!!"? You know, maybe our parents were on to something. As a young adult, there were times that I would leave a television on when I left a room, or, when it was "hot" or "cold" in the house would go and play with the thermostat to attempt to make the room more comfortable. That would drive my parents insane.

But, perhaps they were a bit wiser than I gave them credit for.

When saving money in order to eliminate your credit card debt, any way that you can save money is always a good thing. A few years ago we purchased a programmable thermostat. Previously, we would fiddle with the thermostat manually in the morning, change the temperature when we left for work (if we remembered), and then adjust it when we got home or went to bed. We were never quite consistent. For about $40 we purchased a programmable thermostat. For example, we can have the temperature (in the warm months) set to not turn the air conditioner on until the interior of the house reaches 80 degrees during the day. (WHAT?) About 30 minutes before my wife gets home, it is set to cool it down to around 74. Now you might think that is crazy, but why cool a house to 69 degrees when you aren't here during the day to enjoy it? It is money down the drain.

We know that it works because our electric company provided us with an analysis to take our annual costs for electricity and split it up into twelve equal payments. This is a popular way to even out the cost of utilities through the year. On thing that we noticed though is that our electricity usage (and cost) went down each year. It was because we weren't unnecessarily heating or cooling our home. We also don't keep it as cool in the summer or as warm in the winter, we dress appropriately.

Even a couple of degrees can make a big difference in the bottom line. After all, it is your money, why not keep more of it?

Have a great day!