Increasing Home Energy Efficiency in Summer Months

A home comes with a variety of different maintenance costs, including paying for utilities. Most people spend more than $150 a month, just on their utilities, and many Florida residents actually find that their bills are much higher. If you want to reduce how much you have to pay to keep your home cool in the summer and have access to the water you need, here are a few tips:

Install a low flow toilet and showerhead. Installing one of these low flow toilets or showerheads in your home makes saving water simple. They reduce the amount of water that you use each time you flush and during your shower, cutting down your water usage by a factor of five.
Find the leaks. Is your toilet constantly running? You might be losing gallons of water a day just through a leak in your toilet. You can tell that your toilet is leaking by putting a little bit of food coloring into the tank. If, after a half hour (and not flushing your toilet), the color appears in the bowl, you’ve got a leak.
Insulate your windows and doors. A little extra insulation around your windows and doors can prevent all that expensive, air conditioned air from leaking out. This means you’ll have to spend less money cooling your home.
Get better appliances. An appliance is an investment and the right one could mean that you pay far less over time in power and/or gas bills. Look for appliances with energy-efficient seals. These appliances have been designed to use less power in order to do the exact same things that your older appliances will. Again, you’ll be saving power and you won’t even have to think twice about it.