Reasons to Unplug Appliances

You probably have so many appliances that are regularly plugged in and left there even when not in use. Like many people, you probably don’t know that this still uses a lot of energy and ends up costing you more money. When you add up the price of your bills annually, some experts have suggested that roughly about 5-10% of this is going to electronic devices that are left plugged in. Now most of these appliances don’t tend to use a whole lot of energy, most of them will only use about a watt or two but some devices may use more like the TVs and computers, even when they are completely switched off or in standby mode. Now if you are someone who wants to be a bit more Eco-friendly, trying to save money, or looking for appliances sale deals, you might want to read below on what are some of the things you can do to improve your energy usage and save money.

Before we go over which appliances should be unplugged and why, let us point out one obvious thing – buying energy-efficient appliances in the first place means lower energy bills. It costs more, but in the long run it surely pays off. And since growing number of consumers choose energy-efficient products, more manufacturers are developing appliances that save money. This means greater product market competition, which means lower product price. Hence, chances of finding energy-efficient appliances sale deals are high.

Let’s start by going through a few household items that you should unplug when you are not home to save money and energy. Desktop computers waste a lot of energy, same goes for laptops, televisions, modems, toasters, lamps, coffee makers, stereos, radios, house phones, DVD players, VCR players, and any iPod or mobile phone charger. Now obviously you can’t unplug and replug all of these items all the time, it’s a lot of effort to try and remember them all, but you can try unplugging what you see on the way out of the house. Obviously you shouldn’t unplug your alarm clock all the time, you might end up late for work!

You may encounter some problems when you want to start unplugging your appliances. For example, your cable box might be a bit of a hassle to unplug and replug all the time as most cable boxes need a few minutes to start up, or your washer and dryer, for example, you can’t exactly be pushing and pulling these huge, heavy machines around all the time just to save some money, so we’ve come up with some alternative ways you can solve some of these problems. You could invest in a power strip, and then instead of unplugging everything one by one you can just switch the strip off and unplug the whole thing. This will save you so much time. You should also start choosing appliances or devices with built-in power saving feature like a telephone charger that stops charging when a phone isn’t connected to it. Some retailers even sell power strips that use power for a certain amount of time before automatically turning themselves off so you don’t have to. Don’t be fooled by things you can’t see either, wi-fi connections also eat a lot of energy so turn them off when not being used.

Let’s go over a few more tips that you can use to save energy and money. Most of us go overboard in the summer and winter using power like crazy so here are some ways you can save energy and money. Lowering the temperature on your heater just by 1 degree can end up saving you about 10% of your bill; take shorter showers to save water and cut down on both your water and heating bill. Low-flow shower heads are great, inexpensive, and you will end up saving so much more money. Install a faucet aerator on every faucet in the house these are also inexpensive but will conserve heat and water all while giving you that water pressure you love. Fluorescent light bulbs are also a way to save money as they use way less wattage than the standard light bulb. Also, spruce up your windows by getting them tightened to keep any draughts out of the room and you can also apply a thin layer of insulation on the windows. It looks like a clear film but keeps you cool in summer and warmer in winter. You can find many new appliances sale online or at local retailers near you.