[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It's around the house. We've been talking here about top 10 things you can do to save money on your utility bills. And this next one here is something that could be free. Yes. F R E E. Many utility companies are giving these away. If you sign up to their, their systems or their programs. Now let's talk about that a little bit in detail, because there are some caveats to this that's important.

[00:00:28] Eric Goranson: I thermostats. If your system can take it, not all can. But if you're It gives you a lot of flexibility and it can help you understand what's going on in your house and manage those temperatures much better. So much better than just that old analog style system. But, here is one thing I want you to understand and this is when you sign up for these things.

[00:00:51] Eric Goranson: Some areas, like California, West Coast, other areas When it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to [00:01:00] know. But, we've got you covered. This is Around the House. Welcome to the round the house show. The next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining me today. I am Eric G the hour two of the radio show and podcast.

[00:01:14] Eric Goranson: Thanks for tuning in. It's just so amazing that we are late in July already and the summer is blasting by and I hope everybody's staying safe out there with all the different weather events and things that are happening across the country. Keep it safe out there. If you want to find out more about us, head over to around the house online.

[00:01:31] Eric Goranson: com 24 seven. You can give a call here in the studio at 8 9 41 44. That number again is 8 3 3 2 3 9 4 1 4 4. Make sure you catch out all our videos. We've got almost 500 of those now from the around the house, Northwest television show. And you can catch those all over at around the house online. com. You can see so many different things that we've got over there.

[00:01:54] Eric Goranson: And I just did a new update over there to show some new stuff. So you can check it out. Over there. We've got some brand [00:02:00] new videos up there. If you haven't done the deep dive, I've got more up there for you so you can take a look today. I wanted to talk about the top 10 things you can do to save money on your utility bills around your house.

[00:02:11] Eric Goranson: These are things that you can do that'll help you save money. That'll really help you keep things dialed in and save a little money in the bills because those utility bills, I tell you what, they are not getting cheaper out there. And it's been pretty tough for many people out there. Now, the first one is really important right here that I've got.

[00:02:29] Eric Goranson: And I think it's super important because it is a home energy monitor. And that is from sense. Now, since I have been a fan of for probably six or seven years, it's been a while and. When I was back in Boston, I went over to their Cambridge studios, probably closer to five years ago and took a look at what they were doing.

[00:02:54] Eric Goranson: And it was absolutely stunning. So here's what this, here's what this is. [00:03:00] This is a home energy monitor that basically helps you figure out what are those energy hogs for electricity in your home. So you can really take control of it. It uses AI and listening to your electrical system to figure out what is going on so you know where your dollars are going.

[00:03:18] Eric Goranson: So it really helps you understand how much energy your home is using and really tells you where you can save it. So basically with this, on average from their users, They save about 8 percent on their electricity bills. And the cool thing with this is what's going on. And these guys are over at sense.

[00:03:35] Eric Goranson: com S C N S E. com. And you can tech, you can take a look and see what things are costing you. And it'll also help you avoid disasters as well. So you can see, you can set it up so it figures out where your sump pump is. And wow, my sump pump is just. Running all the time. What's going on? It'll tell you, you can literally go on there and say, what's on right now.

[00:03:57] Eric Goranson: And you're like, Hey, why is my oven on? You can literally [00:04:00] walk in the kitchen, go, who forgot to turn the oven off. It's that accurate. So that's one of the things that I really like. And they do have stuff that like sense solar. So it'll work with your solar system. If you do have a solar system set up for your house, it's really useful.

[00:04:17] Eric Goranson: It's really thoughtful. And it real time tells you what's going on, which I like. And so it's really good at one saving you money and to figuring out where the things are. And you can compare, like if you have a garage or basement beer fridge versus the one inside, you can see, and you look at it and go, wow, my new refrigerator inside the house is using.

[00:04:40] Eric Goranson: A third of the electricity as that old one out in the garage. I wonder how long it would take for me to pay for another newer fridge, whether it's new or used to help save some money. So this is where you can really figure out what it is. And the other thing is, is it'll really to tell you how much it's actually using.

[00:04:59] Eric Goranson: So you can look at it and [00:05:00] go wow. Okay. That's really cool. So it detects all those devices and there's all these new things that you can do with it. So I think it's really intelligent. This is how intelligent it was. I was in their studio. So this was a number of years ago. This is probably 5 or 6 years ago.

[00:05:16] Eric Goranson: I was in there and I gave him my password and code to log into my system. They can't just do that automatically. So we log in. And the CEO sits there and goes, Hey, Eric, I had no idea that you had a GE washer and dryer stack set or a front load system. And I'm like, yeah, how do you know? He goes, I can just tell how the electronics and the motor operate, but that's that style.

[00:05:35] Eric Goranson: That's a GE style motor. And so they're just basically when everything is running in your house, it's using electricity. It's giving off some kind of a little dirty signal within the line. This listens to it. It knows, and it'll go through and tell you where that energy is being used. And I think it's a great thing.

[00:05:52] Eric Goranson: You can jump on there. They've got a really good system as far as pricing. They're pretty good over there on that. If you [00:06:00] look at just there, I like the sense flex. They have the sense. Then they have the sense flex that has an extra monitor on it. So if you have an HVAC system or a heat pump, you can go over to that.

[00:06:12] Eric Goranson: Which is cool. The regular sense. Um, let's take a look on prime. They had a prime day sale this week, but let's go on to Amazon and see what Amazon is doing. And this will be a little bit of a, uh, a little bit of an issue here. Cause I'm doing this during this, the, the prime day, which that tends to go through.

[00:06:30] Eric Goranson: But yeah, so basically, wow, that's a great deal. So their list. It was 2. 99 this last week. They had it for 1. 99. And so you just pay for it once and there's no monthly fees. And so that's really cool. So just look at Cents Energy Monitor and that's where you'll find that. So impressive. That's a heck of a deal.

[00:06:49] Eric Goranson: And you can save some serious money with that. So I do like that. So that's something to think about right there. And it'll save you some money because you're going to figure out what's costing you money and what's [00:07:00] not. Now, the next one here, I think is really important when it comes to saving energy in your house is smart lighting controls, smart lighting controls, save me so much energy.

[00:07:12] Eric Goranson: And add some security to my house because I am horrible when I'm exhausted and I'm tired and I've been working a long day. I do not remember that I need to go turn off all the lights. If I fall asleep, it just happens that way. So I went through, set up a, put smart outlets and smart switches in my house and I can hit on my home system.

[00:07:35] Eric Goranson: Good night. It turns on the lights I want on, it turns off the lights that I don't need, and it really does save me energy. Even though I've changed things over to LED, it controls all of these and shuts them down and just leaves the lights on that I want. Which I really like because it really makes it so I don't have any unnecessary lights on for 6 or 8 hours at night while I'm [00:08:00] sleeping.

[00:08:00] Eric Goranson: So, that's one of those things that I think is really important. And it costs you a little bit more as you do it, but overall it saves you money in the long run because you're saving some dollars, which I do. And that's super important to be able to save you some money like that. So think about smart lighting solutions.

[00:08:15] Eric Goranson: So you can do it on your exterior lights only. You can do it on the certain lights in the house that you want offer on, or you can do like me where I've done a lot of testing. And something I've gone through and change that most of them. I have a few more switches I need to do. There's one company that I was testing out that was brand new and they did not make it through their economy.

[00:08:34] Eric Goranson: So they're shut down. They closed up about, Oh, 12, 18 months ago. And so I need to check out and swap those out. I'll probably just put some Lutron Casita in there. Cause those are just easy to deal with. And put in the system, it works well, but there's a lot of great systems out there that are tried and true.

[00:08:51] Eric Goranson: It's not like it was eight years ago where there was stuff that kind of worked and didn't. There's a lot of systems out there that, that I really like, whether it's [00:09:00] Lutron or you're just a lot of different people out there. So brilliance is another one. They're more expensive, but boy, those things are slick.

[00:09:07] Eric Goranson: So there's a lot of different companies out there making switches that work really, really well. All right, guys, we come back. I've got. Eight more things here to help you save money on your utility bills. Now that really aren't too expensive. There might be one or two that are a little bit more money here, but most of these are little things like what we just talked about, that you can nickel and dime to save you some serious money on that energy bill.

[00:09:30] Eric Goranson: We'll do that just as soon as around the house returns. Don't go anywhere.[00:10:00]

[00:10:09] Eric Goranson: What's up, this is Dixie Dania and Satchel from Steel Panther. And you are listening to. with Eric G. Yeah, we love Eric G. And you should too.

[00:10:30] Eric Goranson: To round the house, show the next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining me today. I'm Eric G. If you're catching us on the national radio show, I do appreciate you. And we do have our. Around the house insider exclusive content. So if you're a podcast listener or you're someone in the radio, you can head over to around the house, online.

[00:10:48] Eric Goranson: com. We have extended podcasts over there where we go into things a little bit deeper than the radio show here, or the typical standard podcast. And if you want to hear the show a couple of days [00:11:00] early, you'll catch it over there on Thursday. In its form instead of on Saturday. So there's a lot of little perks right there, including access to me directly.

[00:11:10] Eric Goranson: Now we've been talking today about the top 10 things you can do to save money on your utility bills. And these are things that really I think you can do around the house that could save you a little bit of money and just help you keep those bills down. And I know for many people in the summertime right now, they've got ACs running, whether it's a window air conditioner or fans or whatever, and it can be For most people, really tough to manage those electricity bills, just like many people in the winter time.

[00:11:38] Eric Goranson: And we get those big cold spells that people really don't like their heating bills as well. Whether that's electricity, gas, or oil, or whatever they're using, that can be a pretty expensive. So. Yeah. Yeah. My list here is just stuff that I recommend that can help you maybe save a dollar here, a dollar there.

[00:11:55] Eric Goranson: And that starts to add up for everybody. Another one here is change out to led [00:12:00] lighting. And I'm talking about good led lights. Now, here's the thing. They came out and said, led lights are going to last you for 20 plus years. No, they don't always work that way. And I have had more struggles. With the durability of led lights lasting a year or two versus 20.

[00:12:18] Eric Goranson: I think in a lab they probably did, but they didn't take into account variable dimmers and turning them off and on. And that's really where the hard part is, is that cycling of them. Yeah, you plug them in and they're just running. They just keep going. It's that starting circuit that tends to have some problems.

[00:12:34] Eric Goranson: And that's the one where when it's dimmed or whatever else you have some issues with it. So the cheaper the bulb, the less they'll last. So be very careful with that. So that's a key right there. But when you're changing out to LED lighting, get good bulbs, get stuff, and then keep the, keep the receipt on it.

[00:12:51] Eric Goranson: Keep the warranty. Make sure that if you've got a warranty claim, send it in, get your money back on it, take it back to the store or whatever. Get your money back [00:13:00] because here's the thing. We are not holding these companies responsible if we don't do these warranty things. And that's what they're, they're banking on.

[00:13:07] Eric Goranson: They're banking on you going. I don't know what that was. Save the boxes, save it, put in a box up in your attic space and say, Hey, do it by room and send it back. If it's under warranty, make sure that you get another one. It saves you some money right there. Okay. Next one here is a big one. And this one saves me in my house, a couple hundred bucks a year.

[00:13:26] Eric Goranson: So I had a gas, a natural gas water heater, 40 gallon on my house. And I did the calculations on what that was costing me for the first 18 months in the house. Then I switched it out to a Bradford white brand. Aerotherm heat pump, water heater. And instead of sitting there burning gas to heat your water, this is like your heat pump at a house where it's got a compressor and a coil.

[00:13:52] Eric Goranson: And it lets it swaps the water out. Basically that takes the heat out of the air that's in the room, puts it into the water [00:14:00] heater. And instead of using lots of electricity, 30 amps of power, I'm using 500 Watts of power when I'm on heat pump only mode. And that saves me about a couple hundred bucks a year.

[00:14:13] Eric Goranson: And so I went plus from a 40 gallon gas to an 80 gallon heat pump water heater. That thing is awesome. And what I like about the Bradford White units specifically is that they are repairable. So you can have an HVAC person come out under warranty, swap that out, and they can fix it. The other brands out there are not repairable.

[00:14:33] Eric Goranson: So what happens is Is they've got to sit there and basically toss the unit and put a whole new one in this one. They make parts It's made in usa I love what they're doing and they've got new stuff now where they've got a coating on the inside that is antimicrobial So you don't have to worry about any growth Of anything on the inside of it.

[00:14:52] Eric Goranson: So it's something that keeps it healthier. So another one of those things. It's really smart So take a look at a heat pump water heater and the cool thing [00:15:00] is yeah, they're expensive You They can be two or three times or more the price of a regular water heater, but a couple hundred bucks a year pays off pretty quickly in my situation.

[00:15:10] Eric Goranson: Now your electric company could have a ton of rebates. It'll help do that. I've seen thousand dollars, 1, 200 rebates that starts to really reduce the cost of that. So take a look at heat pump water heaters for your place. It's not a fix all for everybody, but I tell you what, if you want to save some money, that is a big one right there.

[00:15:30] Eric Goranson: And I like the Bradford White Aerotherm just because of the repairability and that you can get parts. I had a power surge at one point here and they sent me out a new control panel and it was a two minute fix. Very easy. Popped it in and out and plugged it right back in and that was just something that was storm related, not something that was water heater related.

[00:15:50] Eric Goranson: But I didn't have to put a whole brand new water heater in which I like. So if you had some kind of a leak in the system that is repairable, which I think is really cool. So check out Bradford white [00:16:00] arrow, therm water heaters, serious savings. Basically that 80 gallon. If I look at the energy guide on this one here, Says that annual to cost to run hot water on that on average, using their averages on that energy guide, 171 a year, which is pretty solid.

[00:16:17] Eric Goranson: That's it for 80 gallons. That's a lot of water. Now that's the cool thing with it as well. If you guys go on 500 Watts, it takes forever. You're right. It does take a while to heat up. But if I put it on the hybrid mode, if I have lots of showers going on, so holidays, I'm, I'm using a faucet out front to wash the car with warm water, where I'm using more of it or something like that, it will go into, it does have two regular elements that I can use.

[00:16:40] Eric Goranson: To recover quicker. If I need that quick recovery, but I'll tell you what, it's not too often that happens because with the 80 gallons, it's pretty darn efficient. So I like that. So the next one here is a little bit more of an investment, and we're going to talk about this a little bit more, but changing out those window air [00:17:00] conditioners to a heat pump.

[00:17:02] Eric Goranson: Or a mini split for instance, or one of the different HVAC options can save you some serious money. I was saving when I went from my window type air conditioners, add two portables that ran in my house. I instantly saved 200 bucks a month. Going to an efficient air conditioner in my house, period, bam, that quick.

[00:17:25] Eric Goranson: So it was much more efficient for that. Now, the good news is, is there are new air conditioners that are out there. There are more of a heat pump style that you could put in the window units for that portable ones that are more efficient, that use less power. So they're inverter technology. So the compressors use a lot less energy.

[00:17:44] Eric Goranson: So that is something that's worth looking into if you're buying a new one. But I tell you what, you can really, really spend some money with window or portable air conditioners for three or four summer months for many in the United States or longer and save some [00:18:00] serious money. Now the problem though, is.

[00:18:02] Eric Goranson: Is yes, putting in HVAC is a solid investment, but that is something you'll also get back in the house. And there are a fair amount of energy rebates out there that go state to state that you'll need to figure out around you. But there are a lot of rebates and more coming for putting in more efficient systems.

[00:18:21] Eric Goranson: Will it pay for the system? Not even close. Will it pay a portion of it? Absolutely. Will it pay half of it? Probably not. Unless you're very low income and you're having some of the news things that are coming out here in the next year, probably won't help you there as much as you'd like it to. I would sure take a look at it now.

[00:18:40] Eric Goranson: Cause it's not going to get any less expensive out there. And I hate to be the bearer of bad news around the house. We'll be right back after these important messages. Don't change that.[00:19:00]

[00:19:01] Eric Goranson: Hey, this is Ron Keel, the metal cowboy from Keel, the Ron Keel band and Steeler, we are rocking around the house with Eric G welcome back to the around the house show, the next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining me today. I'm Eric G. If you want to find out more about us, head over to aroundthehouseonline.

[00:19:20] Eric Goranson: com and make sure you follow us on social media and check out all of our videos out there. We've been talking here about top 10 things you can do to save money on your utility bills. And this next one here is something that could be free. Yes. F R E E. Many utility companies are giving these away. If you sign up to their, their systems.

[00:19:41] Eric Goranson: Or their programs. Now let's talk about that a little bit in detail because there are some caveats to this that's important. I am a fan of smart thermostats. If your system can take it, not all can, but if your system can take it, it gives you a lot of flexibility and it can help you understand what's going on in your house and manage those [00:20:00] temperatures much better.

[00:20:01] Eric Goranson: So much better than just that old analog style system. But here is one thing I want you to understand, and this is when you sign up for these things. Some areas like California, West Coast, other areas in the country, your utility, if they give you a certain thermostat in that program, you might be giving them control to change your thermostat.

[00:20:26] Eric Goranson: Under peak conditions. Now read your fine print, understand what they want to do. Here's what can happen. You sign up for this program. They're like, cool, here's your new one shows up in the mail. And the next week you're ready to rock. You install it. All of a sudden you have a heat wave. There's an energy shortage and you're like, Hey, who turned my thermostat up?

[00:20:47] Eric Goranson: There is a chance that they could click on and send messages out to these things and say, Hey, you can have your house at 75, but not 70 for the next few hours. Cause we need to chill it out a little bit here and take some load [00:21:00] off the, off the network. So you might be giving up control. And if you're okay with that, and you want to be part of the community that does that sweet.

[00:21:09] Eric Goranson: If that's something that's going to bother you personally, then you Read the fine print and understand if you could opt out of those or not, you might be able to opt out, but they might not give you the thermostat for free. So take a look and see what you can do with that and what the rules and regulations are.

[00:21:23] Eric Goranson: So you understand it is that can be a big deal. And that's one of those things that could get you frustrated, could get you pretty upset. And I don't want to see that happening. So understand if they're giving it to you, why are they giving it to you? They giving it to you for that? Are they giving it to you so they can control Your thermostat in those peak conditions.

[00:21:42] Eric Goranson: Now there are companies out there in the utility world out there. They're given rebates when they do that. So it could save you money. It could say, Hey, we're going to kick it back, but we're going to give you a 5 credit or something like that. These are things that could give you some money and they could be savings.

[00:21:57] Eric Goranson: So see what they're offering, see what they're [00:22:00] giving you and understand what that is. And, and like I said, read the fine print. So you understand what's going on because that is a super important one, but in a nutshell, having a good working smart thermostat. Let's, you know, what the humidity is. It lets you know, you can really control things, especially with your phone.

[00:22:17] Eric Goranson: If you're gone on vacation, you can have it. So you turn the temperature where you want it. By the time you get home, if you want to change it when you're on the road and say, Hey, it doesn't have to be 70 degrees in here while I'm cruising around gone all day, I can let it be a little warmer and catch up when I get back home.

[00:22:33] Eric Goranson: So there's things you can do with that that might help you out. So take a look at that option. Contact your local electricity provider. So that's one there. Now, another one that gives you a ton of value. To put back in your home is insulation. This is something that for the dollars you spend in the value it provides.

[00:22:53] Eric Goranson: Yes, that is a positive many places in the country. If you add insulation, you'll get [00:23:00] 110, 120 percent of that back per the cost versus remodeling report. So cost versus value index that they put out by remodeling magazine. That is one that in the last few years has said, Hey, this is something that has really added.

[00:23:12] Eric Goranson: So the value, which I like, that's something super cool. So think about that a little bit. That is something added value wise. You could be solid with that. And I want to make sure that you're good. But to that is one that a little bit of insulation. Now, the thing guys, you can get up there and get too crazy and cause more issues by putting in insulation than you think.

[00:23:34] Eric Goranson: Think about ventilation. Do not get up there. Do not run down to your home center, blowing more insulation and cover up all of these soffit vents and, and cause other issues. So make sure that you're doing this smart. Make sure that you're paying attention. That you've got the proper airflow in that attic that you're not blocking off any of those areas when in doubt, keep it back.

[00:23:57] Eric Goranson: If you need to extend out those baffles and [00:24:00] staple new ones up there to make sure that you've got soffit ventilation coming in, make sure that you have the proper ventilation, because if you don't, that can basically negate the insulating value up there. Cause you have an attic that's too hot and then it could reduce the life of those shingles.

[00:24:15] Eric Goranson: Make sure that you've got that under control. So spend some time up there. If you're going to do it, consult a home energy management company. One thing you can do, As a side note that could save you a ton of money, have a home energy audit done. That could be tax deductible. That could be a rebate for that from your local energy company.

[00:24:34] Eric Goranson: It's a side note with the insulation thing. You can take a look, they'll do a blower door test. They'll see how much air is leaking it out of your home. They'll tell you where the insulation is, where you could spend your money smartly because maybe windows, aren't the smart option. Maybe installation is maybe sealing up that house.

[00:24:52] Eric Goranson: That's super leaky. And causing some other stopping that. But here's one thing that I, and I just have to say this building science is an important deal. [00:25:00] So take any home energy audit with building science in mind, because sometimes a house that breezes not bad. I'd much rather have you have a leaky house and pay a little bit more for your HVAC than to close it up, not have any fresh air coming in and make that house sick.

[00:25:21] Eric Goranson: Where you've got a health hazard with that. So sometimes taking old houses, sealing them up really tight is not the best option if you haven't addressed the whole structure. So I want to make sure I put a really big asterisk here of doing those, doing a energy report on your home. Making sure that you look at this house in a scientific way and not just start throwing stuff at it.

[00:25:45] Eric Goranson: Cause I've seen people cause some serious problems when they're like, Hey, doing siding and windows spending 40, 000 and they wrap that house up, seal it up tight, but they didn't deal with the ventilation issues that need to come with that. And that can cause other problems. So [00:26:00] really take a look at it.

[00:26:00] Eric Goranson: This is where HVAC engineers come in. You can get people to come in and they can help you design out a system for your house. It's going to work. And make sure that you've got the right people working on the project. So be very careful. You can cause bigger problems. You can tighten up a house and all of a sudden you've got a, a 48 inch Viking range in there with a vent fan.

[00:26:20] Eric Goranson: And all of a sudden, where are you pulling the air out of for that 1200 CFM hood? Now it's not coming out through the cracks in the house. Now it's coming out other places, which could be a big issue. So be very careful, plan ahead for these things and make sure that you don't cause a bigger mistake by trying to fix one thing.

[00:26:38] Eric Goranson: So you need to look at that whole house as a system to make sure that you got that dialed in. And one of the things here too, that's saving some money on your utility bills is to keep in mind that We've talked about this in previous episodes, but I just want to give it a, an honor on honorable mention here.

[00:26:54] Eric Goranson: Controlling humidity in your home is great because your body feels humidity, the same as temperature. [00:27:00] So that's why when you walk in someone's home and smart sermon that thermostat says it's 70, but you got 60 percent humidity, you go, man, it feels stuffy in here. You walk in and it's 32 relative humidity and it's 70 degrees.

[00:27:12] Eric Goranson: And then you go, man, it feels cold in here. That's all about the humidity at that point. So controlling humidity in your house can be a very inexpensive way outside of controlling the temperature. To make your house feel more comfortable because it takes you less energy to put a dehumidifier in there than it is to be running that AC on full blast.

[00:27:32] Eric Goranson: So, that's just something to consider right there could save you some money in the long run. So, another 1 to think about. So, take a look at attic installation, take a look at cross base floor installation, that kind of stuff. And if you're doing any remodeling, of course. It's great. If you've got a wall opened up to go ahead and fix that installation while you're at it and put the best you can in there, it'll save you some money in the long run, and it's probably tax deductible, or you can get some energy rebates on it.

[00:27:56] Eric Goranson: So take a look at that. So, all right, here's one here that [00:28:00] people never talk about and it's a big one. And we're going to talk about this here. In this segment and the next segment here in our last one, but I wanted to talk about it here. If you have a hot tub or if you're replacing a hot tub or you're placing a hot tub cover, make sure that you've got a very good high quality hot tub cover on it.

[00:28:19] Eric Goranson: You can order from a lot of the custom hot tub cover companies out there. These aren't going to be the name brand ones out there, but they are. Universal companies that make custom covers for certain brands of hot tubs, right? So make sure that when you do this order a tub cover that is thicker. We'll be right back Don't change that dial.

[00:28:38] Eric Goranson: We got two good ones for you to help save you some money[00:29:00]

[00:29:03] Eric Goranson: It's the end of the show drinking down people. It's time to go Welcome back to the round the house show the next generation of home improvement Thanks for joining me today. If you're catching us on the radio And if you're catching us on the podcast, thanks for listening this far through the show we're ending up into the final today.

[00:29:20] Eric Goranson: If you want to find out more about us, head over to around the house, online. com 24 seven. You can give a call here in the studio at 8 9 41 44. That number again is 8 3 3 2 3 9 4 1 4 4. Make sure you catch out all our videos. We've got almost 500 of those now from the around the house Northwest television show and you can catch those all over it around the house, online.

[00:29:44] Eric Goranson: com. And we're really been talking about the top 10 things you can do to save money on your utility bills. And the next one here is pretty important. And this is one that might take some soul searching. This could be one of those things where you're like, ah, I'm going to take a look at my habits. It'll [00:30:00] take a, take a peek at how I operate things.

[00:30:03] Eric Goranson: And here's the question I have for you, and this will relate to some people and many others that won't. But do you really need two refrigerators and two freezers, or do you need two complete refrigerators and freezers as in what you'd see in your kitchen and maybe the one in the garage and the two chest freezers out there, do you really need to be running all of those compressors?

[00:30:26] Eric Goranson: Cause that sure adds up. Now the question is, is what's that costing you to run day in and day out? And that can be interesting because sometimes the food that you put in there that you're storing, you might not be getting that savings. Now if you're a, a rancher or you go out and buy that half a cow and you store it all winter or something like that, totally get it.

[00:30:49] Eric Goranson: But if you just have leftovers, maybe some Costco pizzas or whatever in there, you're saving money. So here's how the math works out. Let's talk about this for a minute. For [00:31:00] instance, if you've got a 10 year old chest freezer. When that thing's operating, which is when it's plugged in, that could be using 500 Watts of energy per year.

[00:31:10] Eric Goranson: So that means you could be costing you two, three, 400 a year, depending on what your energy rates are. And so if you think about that, that adds up pretty darn quickly. And so that can have an impact on your bills. Now, if you've got two of those, that could be a lot. So that's where that stuff really starts to make sense where you're like, wait a minute, and if you're running it in a warm location, like a garage or something like that, that can add up pretty, pretty crazy.

[00:31:40] Eric Goranson: So. Watch your electricity use. If it's running 500 Watts, that's a lot. So that starts to add up pretty quickly. So make sure that you get a newer one might only be using a hundred to 200 Watts, but this is where stuff starts to really add up. So if they're using [00:32:00] again, energy star stuff is only going to be costing you 30, 40, 50 bucks a year, but really that could add a hundred bucks a month on something old, old, old.

[00:32:11] Eric Goranson: So be careful with that guys. And the same thing with refrigerators too. If you've got an old 19 seventies refrigerator out in the garage, cause it was the old one, it was your grandmother's that might pay for itself to replace it, or maybe you don't need another one. Maybe you just need a smaller fridge.

[00:32:28] Eric Goranson: So think about two things. One, it's location. If you're, if you haven't a garage or in a place where it's always super hot, it might be better in a basement or someplace like that, where it's more temperate. Cause the hotter it gets on the outside, the more you have to use it. So that's the thing. It's not just an, an average number.

[00:32:43] Eric Goranson: If it's out where it's 90 degrees all the time in a garage for months on end, you're paying a lot to keep that stuff going. And with food prices these days, you might be better off just not storing as much frozen food. So think about what those costs are. It could be costing you some serious money, especially if it's [00:33:00] something you don't really use.

[00:33:01] Eric Goranson: I know some people, and I've got family members and their chest freezers, or they're standup freezers. They probably haven't been in there in four months. Why are you paying for that? That's just wasting money and you might as well burn through the food or see if it's any good at all. That's one thing that we do have an issue with here in the United States is sometimes we free stuff way longer than we're supposed to.

[00:33:21] Eric Goranson: So something to consider that could save you money. Now here's another one too. If you pay for water, there are things that can save you some serious money. If you are sitting there. Pan for water. Now, if you're in a well, just got electricity cost, not that big a deal. But for many of us, especially in my area, for instance, my water is very expensive.

[00:33:40] Eric Goranson: Water bill is two to three hundred bucks a month without talking about watering my yard. So that gets really expensive really quick. So one of the things we need to pay attention to is what are some of the biggest uses of our water. One of those could be that old three and a half gallon 1970s flush toilet that you got sitting in the [00:34:00] house.

[00:34:00] Eric Goranson: And when we came out with the 1. 6 gallon flush, geez, 20 something years ago in the nineties, 30 something years ago, geez, goes away quick. Doesn't it? So you think about that. We had toilets that weren't working well. And we swapped those out. The 1. 6 gallon stuff when it first came out was garbage and literally your old toilet worked so much better than your new ones do.

[00:34:20] Eric Goranson: So now you start thinking about that going, okay, now you can get down to a one gallon flush that in most situations, unless you've got an older house, you With a basement with old plumbing, that's another issue. But if you really think about it, and if you've got that issue there, where you go, okay, wait a minute, we've got to deal with water usage.

[00:34:40] Eric Goranson: I can save gallons a day in toilet flushes. That's their setup pretty quickly. And so I've seen people out there change out those old toilets and go to a one gallon flush, and you can save a couple hundred bucks a year on water. If you have high water rates now, it could be 50 a year. If you've got lower water rates.

[00:34:58] Eric Goranson: But it sure adds up [00:35:00] pretty quickly. So take a look and don't just go down to your home center and buy the a hundred dollar toilet down there. That'll be the biggest mistake. Cause you're gonna have to flush it twice, which negates the water savings, but take a look at something nice. Like a Toto DXV. I'm a Toto fan myself.

[00:35:14] Eric Goranson: I think they make great toilets. DXV is another great brand from American standard. That's their high end line. Toto is the number one manufacturer of toilets out there for making great stuff. So they are the king out there and you're not going to go find them at your typical home center. But that's something that you can spend three or 400 bucks and get something basic and get something that's going to last you forever.

[00:35:34] Eric Goranson: And it's funny. I talked to people that are like, Hey, I'm going to start doing apartments. I'm going to start investing in real estate. And that's one of the biggest things I tell people when you're doing that, if you're going to create some kind of a rental, whether it's a short term, long term, first thing I do that'll save you some serious money is go put in a total.

[00:35:52] Eric Goranson: Get rid of that 150 one that you picked up from the home center. The last time you replaced it, put it in there. You're going to save so many clogged [00:36:00] toilets and toilet related issues. The first time your management company has to go call a plumber to come out there. You are now ahead. So that's the secret right there to make sure that you're using less water.

[00:36:11] Eric Goranson: And when a toilet like that, if you get a good one, like data, a total, you don't have to worry about it. And they don't pay me. Toto's never paid me a dime to say this, but it's just something that I've used and I've specified in clients homes for 20 plus years. And I've never had a single complaint going on.

[00:36:25] Eric Goranson: I wish I wouldn't have got that. And everybody will go, wow, that thing's amazing. And it's so easier to clean. You can even get stuff. Now, if you want to spend some big money to get something, that's completely self cleaning, you'll never have to clean the toilet again. Cause the toilet will do it for you.

[00:36:37] Eric Goranson: Now it's a little bit more money, but it's not a bad option when you look at it. So these are things to think about. These are things that can save you money on a basic toilet. And if you can save, let's say you've got five people in your household and you can save a few hundred bucks a year, pretty easily.

[00:36:53] Eric Goranson: But how much we use toilets, especially if people are home during the day. I hope these things can help you think about ways to [00:37:00] save money around your house and to dial in those utility bills. Because as we know, those are not getting any cheaper. And quite frankly, they've been getting pretty expensive.

[00:37:09] Eric Goranson: I know our rates went up here in my area. They went up electricity wise, went up 18%. And I think they're going to do that again here in a couple of years as well. So. Those electricity rates are not going to get any cheaper. And of course, people go out and do solar and that's not for me. If it works for you, great.

[00:37:26] Eric Goranson: I literally cannot. I've got protected trees, half a dozen of them here that are no way I could get moved. There's a few other ones, but long story short, there's no way I could put solar here. That would make any sense because I don't have full sun except for a couple of tiny places in the property for a couple of hours.

[00:37:42] Eric Goranson: So of course it wouldn't make any sense. But for some people they like to do that. If you want to go where you're pulling stuff pretty much off the grid and going solar with battery pack backups, that can be great. Now it's a significant investment. You can spend a lot of money on that stuff, but maybe you'll get some of that [00:38:00] back and maybe long term if you start looking at how that comes back in 10 years, that will work, but that's not one of those things that we have here.

[00:38:08] Eric Goranson: And our top 10 things you can do to save money on your utility bills that are really cost effective, that don't cost you a significant. All right, guys, thanks for tuning in today. I really appreciate it. Hope you guys have a great rest of your weekend or early week, depending on when you're listening to this.

[00:38:22] Eric Goranson: People listen to this. All week long on the home improvement to DIY channel that we've got out there that we stream on all week long from people on the podcast. And of course the talk media network where we are broadcasting every single weekend on that for two hours each and every Saturday. So I appreciate all you listen to the radio, all of you catching us on the podcast and the streaming out there and make sure you check over around the house online, take a look at our playlist.

[00:38:48] Eric Goranson: We have she's 500 videos up there now, just about. From the show around the house, Northwest of our last, what, 75 episodes. So we've got a lot of content there. If you're tackling a project. Something [00:39:00] for you to consider. All right, everybody. Have a great rest of the weekend Enjoy your summer weekend or your week depending on what you're doing.

[00:39:06] Eric Goranson: Thanks for tuning in to around the house. We'll see you on wednesday