You’ve Got This Lowering Costs Is the Ultimate Calm

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Let’s lower our blood pressure while lowering that bill

Sure you could sign up for a barre class, take up knitting or meditate to find your calm place, but you can’t meditate away a high bill. So instead, let’s keep the peace of mind that comes with taking control.

And even if you want to exercise to find your sense of calm, we wouldn’t recommend a barre class. It’s really shared agony disguised as physical activity.

For example, let’s look at something as simple as a push up. With normal, human exercise, you drop to the floor and knock one out. At a barre class, you’re asked to begin a push up, but they stop you at your half push up mark and just have you sit there, muscles trembling, as they play a five-minute-long, new-age, sitar-laden song out of a boombox.

So yeah, finding ways around the house to save money is probably your better option. Let’s get started with tips that cover multiple seasons.

Cover your … self

Did you ever use a magnifying glass to burn a piece of paper? Well, imagine your window is the magnifying glass and the paper is your home. A recent study found that 75% of window coverings remain in the same position daily. Don’t let this happen to you, be the other 25%. That direct sunlight magnified through glass can really heat up a home. Keeping any window covering closed during the summer is a great opportunity to save with things you already have in your home.

Better yet, instead of blocking the sun, you could harness its power through solar panels—an effective way to generate electricity during the sunny summer months and year-round, too. Also, you can score up to a 30% tax credit for installing qualifying solar panels.*

*irs.gov/credits-deductions/residential-clean-energy-credit

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Thermostat? Or energy efficiency secret weapon?

When the leaves turn and the air gets crisp, you can embrace tactics to reduce your energy usage and increase your energy resilience. Managing your thermostat is a simple way to gain an advantage. During the day, set the thermostat as low as your personal comfort will allow—don’t be a hero on this one. Dropping just a few degrees can make a difference so no one needs to be walking around in parkas or anything.

Another timely trick is sealing air leaks in your home. Gaps in your windows, chimney and recessed lights can be your three main culprits. One simple trick is to use a very high-tech leak detection device—tissue paper. Simply hold the tissue paper near potential air leaks. If the tissue moves or flaps, you’ve got a gap to be filled. Once you find one, seal that sneaky airflow with caulk and weatherstripping.

If you want to step up your air loss detection game, you can schedule a Quick Home Energy Check-up. A pro will walk through your home to check for air leaks and much more.

Don’t look now, but your home is leaking

Our friends at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimate that 15% of your heating costs are lost to improper air sealing and insulation. The truth is, if you add up all the leaks in the average home, it would be equal to having a window of your home open every day of the year. Morning, noon and night—spring, summer, winter and fall—you are losing money.

So, when the temps begin to climb, it’s the perfect time to step up your calm-inducing energy-saving game. Let’s start with insulation. Adding insulation will do more than cool your home. It’ll warm your heart. You’d think it was the love of family and friends, but you’d be sadly mistaken. It’s insulation. It’s always insulation.

We can also talk about strategically planting deciduous trees on the south-facing side of your home. A quick trick to determine which side of your home is facing south is to use the map application on your smartphone. Planting trees on that side can provide shade in the summer and let the sun better heat your home in winter. But again, you have an entire (figurative) open window right now. Go fix that first.

It’s your air. Control it.

Spring is nature’s season of rebirth. Green shoots of what will soon be grass begin to pop out of the ground, and we get the return of pollen season.

Spring is the perfect time to manage the air, and more specifically, the airflow in your home. You can turn off ceiling fans when you leave the room—they are there to cool you, not the room.

So, if you’re not in the room, there’s no need for the ceiling fan to be on. Use the bathroom fan when showering or taking a bath to remove excess heat and humidity from your home.

The biggest difference you can make when better managing your air during these months is with your heating, ventilation and air conditioning (or HVAC) system. When it’s working at its best, you can save energy and money. Generally speaking, about 43% of your bill goes to heating and cooling.

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One great way to manage this factor of your energy resilience is to schedule an HVAC Tune-up. The Tune-up can not only make your home more energy efficient, but your air quality can also improve—see pollen season above—and your overall comfort can increase. And, if you were digging the idea of getting your hands on a smart thermostat, booking an HVAC Tune-up through Delmarva Power is another great way to do just that. Oh, and as a Delmarva Power customer, your Tune-up and the smart thermostat are available at no additional cost.

In fact, an HVAC Tune-up can help you identify up to 95% of costly breakdowns before they happen. Talk about improving resiliency. So, you’re catching 95% of potential issues while saving 100% of the cost of finding 95% of those issues.

So to sum it all up, give these and other tips a try. You will be saving energy—and breathing easier—in no time.