It’s that time of the year when everyone is busy hanging decoration lights, buying gifts, and celebrating the holidays with their loved ones. But many people fail to consider is how much of an impact the holiday season has on our budget and the environment. During the holidays, many of us waste too much energy. Even our energy bills skyrocket. If you are not careful, you can end up paying an insane amount of cash just for your energy bill alone.
The good news is, the holiday season doesn’t always have to rob your wallet due to all the festivities you are participating in. Here’s how you can save some cash by saving energy during the holidays.
Decorate With LED Lights and Reflective Ornaments
One good way to lower your energy usage is to decorate the place with reflective ornaments that don’t use any electricity. Think of tinsels, silver bells, candles, and even fiber optic trees and decoration. Reduce your usage of string lights, and you can lower your energy usage in no time.
If you can’t ditch the holiday lights, switch to LED string lights instead. These eye-catching Christmas lighting solutions can last up to 40 seasons, and they shine brighter than our regular incandescent lights. They also use considerably less energy, giving you more savings in return.
You can also swap your regular light bulbs with colored LEDs to enjoy the same energy savings. Don’t have time to dress up the place with cool and colorful string lights? You can always hire the pros to do Christmas light installation for you.
Remember that you should never take the safety aspect of holiday decorating for granted. You can enjoy a customized lighting display for the rest of the holidays with LED bulbs and high-quality decorations. Once the holiday season is over, the team will come back to take everything away, making your life a lot less stressful.
Adapt Energy Saving Habits for Your Holiday Decors
Your simple habits can be the very reason why your holiday energy bill keeps on ballooning. For one, you don’t want to leave your Christmas lights on all night. Keep them on for about six hours or less and turn them off before you head to bed.
Do you always forget to turn off your holiday lights before hitting the sack? Use a timer to remind yourself to turn these off.
Nothing can beat a good old Christmas tree that is full of warm lights. To better show off the tree’s beauty, turn off the room lights and let the Christmas tree light up the room. You will appreciate your hard work by letting it be the focal point of the living room.
Don’t forget to adjust your thermostat whenever you have guests around. The extra bodies meant extra warmth free of charge. Set your thermostat between 50 and 60 degrees, keep your heaters at 120 degrees, and make sure to insulate the hot water storage tank.
Learn How to Save Money in the Kitchen
Chances are, you will be very busy preparing, cooking meals and baking lots of goodies for your guests. By reducing your energy usage in the kitchen, you can also increase your energy savings.
If you are going to do some baking, it would be better to bake dishes simultaneously. Add extra minutes to your timer, so you don’t have to preheat the oven before baking. Also, keep the oven door closed and clean your oven door so it won’t lose all its heat and use more energy just because you need to check on your baked dishes.
Defrost naturally so you won’t have to use the microwave. Use the right cookware and the right size so you won’t waste energy to heat all the excess space. Invest only in energy-efficiency kitchen appliances and when you’re done, turn all appliances off.
Buy Gifts That Are Not Powered by Electricity or Batteries
Did you know that the holiday season only continues to be more high-tech each year? Portable technology is the favorite go-to Christmas presents all over the world. It is also due to this reason why battery sales are the highest during the holiday season.
If you can, skip presents that will require you and your loved one to buy batteries and use electricity to charge your gifts. This way, you don’t need to buy batteries and throw them away now and then. Your loved one can also enjoy their gift sans the electricity.
If buying a gift minus that does not require batteries or electricity is close to impossible, make sure to buy rechargeable batteries instead. For appliances and other electronic gifts, choose those that have the Energy-Star label for better energy savings.
Your budget does not have to be in vain just because of the holiday season. With a bit of planning, you can increase your savings while still enjoying the holidays. Keep the environment in mind this holiday season, and treat yourself and your loved ones with the gift of energy savings.
