Christmastime, while a time of joy and love, is also usually a time of high energy bills! Between the electric Christmas decorations and the cold weather, most families find their electricity and heat bills spiking around the holidays. Wouldn’t it be nice to take the money you usually spend on energy to pay for gifts instead? You actually can do this! Just check out these 10 Ways to Save Money on Your Energy Bills this Christmas!
1. Get LED Lights
Want to save money on your energy bills this Christmas? Then you have to get LED Christmas lights! A strand of 100 LED lights will only use 8 watts, while a traditional incandescent strand of the same length uses 40 watts! LED lights do cost more up front, but they will last for many years, saving you a lot over time.
2. Use Timers
Rather than leaving your lights and electric decorations running until you can get around to turning them off, consider setting up timers. The timers will use your manual setting or their automatic dusk to dawn sensors to make sure decorations are only on when they need to be.
3. Turn Decorations Off When Not in the Room
Does your electric Christmas train set really need to keep running in the living room when no one is in there? Save money on your energy bills this Christmas by turning indoor decorations off when no one is around to enjoy them!
4. Use Less Electric Decorations
It can be fun to put up lit decorations, but it’s not as fun when you get your electricity bill! Save money and choose non-electric decorations instead, saving your energy bill budget for things like strands of lights and an animatronic reindeer or two.
5. Buy Fiber Optic Decorations
Fiber optic decorations use lights that spread their illumination along a bigger surface. As a result, they don’t use that many actual light bulbs. Consider saving money and energy and get a fiber optic Christmas tree or wreath this year!
6. Insulate Water Pipes
During the winter, your water heater will have to use extra energy to keep your water warm if it’s trying to counteract the cold of its own pipes. This year, insulate your water heater pipes, especially the 6 feet of pipe that go into and out of the heater itself. It’s a great way to save money on your energy bills this Christmas!
7. Keep the Heat Off When You’re Gone
When no one’s home, there’s no reason to keep the house toasty warm. It doesn’t hurt to spend your first 15 minutes home at a slightly chilly temperature while you wait for the house to warm up.
8. Save the Heat for Nighttime
Try to reserve the majority of your heat expenditures for nighttime. During the day, keep the thermostat low, and just wear a jacket inside. At night, you can set the temperature higher to allow everyone a warm, cozy night’s sleep.
9. Use Heated Blankets
Really want to save money on your energy bills this Christmas? Then keep the heat low at nighttime, too, and use heated blankets on the beds. This way, energy is only being put toward heating a few blankets, rather than warming the whole house!
10. Use Space Heaters
Just like heated blankets, space heaters save you money by taking a little energy to heat a particular space. It’s much more cost effective to just run a space heater or two than to have the house’s heat on, warming rooms no one is in! At Walmart, you can find a variety of space heaters in different sizes. We recently picked one up using Walmart’s free Site to Store Pickup service. I like using the service to save on shipping fees when free shipping isn’t offered. We’re at Walmart quite a bit so it doesn’t hurt to stop by the Pickup department during our shopping trips.
Since we are in the midst of the holiday season, Walmart’s made sure to have plenty of employees on staff to support the influx in orders. When we went to pick up our Retro Heat Fan, there were a few customers ahead of us, but there were three associates on duty quickly fulfilling orders. It took less than five minutes to retrieve our order from the back. In the past it has taken a bit longer. It seems like they are very organized this holiday season, as they should be. So thanks to Walmart’s Site to Store option, I didn’t have to pay $5 to ship my cute yet mighty little heater. And we’ll be nice and toasty on the cheap once the temps finally do drop enough here in the Midwest. Soooo not complaining, though!
How do you save money on energy bills during the holidays?
As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I’ve received samples and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 