• It’s more important than ever to save money at every opportunity in life, and when you rent your own apartment, a big opportunity for savings can come by way of your energy bill, believe it or not. There are numerous great ways to keep more of your money in your pocket; here are a handful of them regarding your apartment’s electric bill:

Don’t keep lights on when no one is in the room. It sounds simple, but you’d be surprised at how many people leave lights on constantly all over the place. It’s something that requires a little bit of effort in order to form the habit of flipping the switch each time you go past it. The amount of money you’ll save each month will most likely surprise you! Use energy efficient bulbs. Nowadays, these come in all kinds of wattages, sizes, shapes, and applications, so there’s really no excuse not to be using them. If you were to replace your regular bulbs with CFLs or even better – LED bulbs, you could save hundreds of dollars. A 13-watt CFL bulb puts out as much light as a 60-watt incandescent bulb at a fraction of the energy used. Other than lighting, another big energy consumer in your apartment is your HVAC unit, also known as your air conditioner and/or furnace. Turn the temperature up or down a bit during the day while you are at work, but don’t turn it off – turning it off will make it work harder to catch up to a comfortable temperature when you return home. The same holds true for your water heater: Feel free to turn the temperature down for the day while no one is home and back up at night. You can also use a water heater jacket to help reduce heating costs. Use timer power strips. These will not only protect your electronics from surges, but they will also turn off completely after a set period of time passes. This means that everything connected to them that normally stay on standby will also switch off, saving you money. (Electronics on standby mode consume more energy than you may think!) The kitchen is a room that can actually make a big difference in the amount of energy your apartment uses each month. Use the microwave instead of the stove to heat liquids and reheat leftovers. If you have to bake, try to bake at night when it’s cooler outside because it’s more expensive to run when you’re running your air conditioning. The same holds true for your dishwasher; in addition, turn off the heated drying option on it. Instead, leave the dishwasher door propped open to air dry the dishes.