[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It's around the house. This is something that can cost you a ton of money if you're not paying attention to it. In our next hour, we're going to talk a little bit more about this type of stuff, but check your sump pump. And this is where that home energy monitor. I have had more people that I've had sump pumps in basements or crawl spaces and they aren't correctly drained.

[00:00:27] Eric Goranson: So maybe they go outside the house three or four feet and drop right in. Well, the problem is, is. That water loves to find its way back down. And if you have a foundation league, I have seen people that there's some pump is running 15 hours a day. And as soon as we extend it

[00:00:55] Eric Goranson: out, welcome to the round the house show. This is where I help you get the most out of your home through [00:01:00] information and education. Thanks for joining me today. Well, Hey, if you. And find out more about this show, head over to around the house online com, and you can find out all about the show here, including our videos and our TV show that you might be catching out there on, uh, Hulu, YouTube, and, uh, of course on Amazon.

[00:01:18] Eric Goranson: So round the House Northwest you can find out there as well. Well, today we are talking everything about your home and we're gonna talk about the. Top 10 ways to save you money around your house. Now, there's a lot of different things, you know, and, and we're coming into the winter time. So it's a good time to start talking about stuff that's costing you money right now.

[00:01:37] Eric Goranson: And of course, things are not getting any cheaper out there, even though I am seeing some building materials start to drop down on price in some areas. So that is good. Uh, lumber prices, depending on where you're at, have not been one of those. So, uh, when I start looking at some of the prices on sheet goods and stuff out there, it's still expensive.

[00:01:56] Eric Goranson: So we'll keep working on that. Well, today, the first one I wanted to talk [00:02:00] about and our top 10 things to save money around your house is the first one on the list is using your dishwasher correctly. Now, this is always a controversial subject, but it is an important one because that dishwasher, if used correctly, is more efficient.

[00:02:17] Eric Goranson: And waste a lot less water and energy than doing it by hand. So by using it correctly, I mean, go ahead and get a good dishwasher detergent that's recommended by the manufacturer. So if they say, Hey, use a powder, use the powder. If they say, use a liquid, use the liquid. Or if they say, use the pods, use the pods, whatever, whatever they recommend is always best because they've designed the system around that.

[00:02:42] Eric Goranson: And the other thing is, is make sure that you're not rinsing those dishes before you put them in because you've heard me probably say this before. But the important part of this is making sure that you have food on your dishes when it starts to activate the enzymes in the, uh, in the cleaner [00:03:00] itself. So those cleaners.

[00:03:01] Eric Goranson: Need to have food present for them to work because they feed off of that. So for that to actually work correctly, you got to leave some food on there. So if you're pre rinsing them, you're actually creating dirtier dishes and wasting water. And hot water. So those are both two big ones right there. So, uh, little scrape go in there.

[00:03:19] Eric Goranson: Now, if you have a very cheap dishwasher, something that was probably under 400 in its day, or if you've got one that's not working correctly, and you say, well, that's the only way I have to do it. Well, you're just wasting a lot of money. So I'd either get it repaired or get one that is of, uh, Good working order that does a good job of that.

[00:03:36] Eric Goranson: And, uh, you know, when you're looking at dishwashers, dishwashers are one of those things that you get what you pay for with them. Uh, if you buy the expensive model, yeah, you can get a really nice one, but a lot of those features, uh, are really good and you get that durability with the nicer brands. So. Uh, even though there's loud and noisy single ones with a dial that are, you know, a few hundred bucks, but really what we're talking about is, [00:04:00] uh, is getting something that's working well because you can waste a lot of water with that and that adds up pretty quickly.

[00:04:06] Eric Goranson: You know, if you think about it, dishwashers use anywhere from about 4 gallons per wash. And so hand washing uses five times as much water as an efficient dishwasher. And so that, um, you know, that really tells you where you're spending your money on it. And so that's really important to take a look at. So you don't want to be wasting that water because you're paying for it.

[00:04:33] Eric Goranson: So if you're paying for water. Then you're paying for the hot to heat it. It adds up pretty quickly. So just something to consider, get that dishwasher dialed in, working well, and make sure you're not overly cleaning those before you start. Now, speaking of hot water. This is something that I made the switch to and I am a believer because it saves me a ton of money.

[00:04:58] Eric Goranson: That is a heat pump [00:05:00] water heater. That is, I replaced my 40 gallon gas with an electric heat pump water heater that is 80 gallons. Now I wanted to put in a bigger unit, uh, just because I did have the space and I wanted to make sure that we never ran out of water with our, our nice steam shower and everything else going.

[00:05:20] Eric Goranson: I wanted to make sure that we were always good and I've never run out of water. I could be doing, um, showers in there all week long and, uh, it goes really well in that changed how I heat my water in that my water bill is, you know, I, I don't spend a hundred dollars in a year heating water. And that's pretty impressive.

[00:05:42] Eric Goranson: And what I like about the heat pump water heaters, I've got a Bradford white, which I really like that model is solid. And what I like about it, it's the only repairable one out there. So if something, it was to ever break, I don't have to get rid of the whole unit. Um, I can actually get parts for it. Um, and it's not just a throwaway now, [00:06:00] second of all, with the heat pump water heater is it, uh, it really does a great job of heating water and there is a backup.

[00:06:09] Eric Goranson: Elements in there, like a traditional 50 gallon water heater that if you have that backup, guess what? That works out pretty well. Because if you get into a high use situation, you know, being a heat pump, it recovers slower. But if it goes, hey, we're not catching up, we're, we're losing ground here. It will go into hybrid mode and turn on those other ones for you.

[00:06:29] Eric Goranson: If you need them mine, I don't have to, I have mine set on heat pump only. And, uh, only when I need to really have it where I know that we're going to be using a lot of it, you know, do I change over into that hybrid mode? And so, um, great example, when I was filling up my hot tub, I used it because it was going to be more efficient than using the heaters in the, uh, In the tub itself.

[00:06:53] Eric Goranson: So what I did was I just as I was filling it up, I used hot water, let it recover. [00:07:00] I put some more in and, uh, you know, I was using the energy efficiency of it. So, uh, works out pretty well. So take a look at a heat pump water heater. They are more expensive. And there's a lot of great rebates out there. So before you do yours, check around and see if your electric utility is giving any rebates on these.

[00:07:18] Eric Goranson: This can be a huge deal. And if you've got electric water heater and you got a little bit of space, or if it's in a basement or your garage or something like that, they work really well. Now, a couple of things that you will need when you're talking heat pump water heaters, so you need a little space. It needs to be at a, uh, a room that has enough air, cubic feet of air, depending on the size.

[00:07:38] Eric Goranson: You don't want it to be in this little tight closet because it's going to use the air around you to pull the heat from that's where the heat comes from for the water. So it will reduce in a small room 5 to 7 degrees. Um, you know, how that works as far as taking the ambient air and dropping it. It also takes the humidity out of that air too, because it says, um, it does have water that it [00:08:00] does create because it's like an air conditioner.

[00:08:02] Eric Goranson: It does have condensing, so it will condense a little bit of heat right there with that heat. It, uh, you know, gives off a little bit of that, but, uh, that's okay. And that's the thing with these. They work really well, so it gives off water like your air conditioner would if it's humid. But, uh, super important, and it saves you a ton of money.

[00:08:20] Eric Goranson: So take a look at a heat pump water heater. Uh, it could save you boatloads of money. Next up on the list here is a big one. This is your heating and cooling system. Tune up and filter change. So a couple of things before we go out to break here, I want to make sure that you are getting your annual maintenance on your heating system and your annual maintenance on your cooling system.

[00:08:41] Eric Goranson: If it's a heat pump, I'd have them out once or twice a year, depending on what they recommend and set up yourself for a, uh, you know, especially if you've got a gas furnace, I want them to be testing the gas pressure. I want somebody to be testing all of those things. So the big part here is making sure that it's tuned up, that it's working at a hundred percent.[00:09:00]

[00:09:00] Eric Goranson: Two, they're looking to make sure that you don't have any cracked or broken pieces and that it's working in its optimal efficiency. And then of course, filter change, that filter change. If you haven't changed that recently, great time to go take a peek at it. If you're putting it through a dirty filter, you are going to waste a ton of money because you are now reducing that airflow so badly.

[00:09:20] Eric Goranson: You want to make sure that you've got that working great. So. HVAC tune up. You should be doing that every year, at least once, if not twice a year, and make sure that filter is getting changed. I change those a little early because I just want mine to work at its best efficiency. And of course, the thicker they get with junk, the more stuff, uh, Limits air flow so you have less heat or cooling coming through it.

[00:09:42] Eric Goranson: So change that filter and stay on top. But Around the House will be right back with more tips to[00:10:00]

[00:10:08] Eric Goranson: save you money. Welcome back to the Around the House show. This is where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education. Thanks for joining me today. What we've been talking about here are my top 10 ways to save money around your house. And if you're just joining us on the radio or last segment, we were talking about using your dishwasher correctly.

[00:10:25] Eric Goranson: And, uh, you know, thinking about a heat pump water heater to save on some money. And, uh, as we were going out to break, we were talking about that HVAC tune up and filter change and making sure that those are working at a hundred percent for you. Now, the next one here is a big one because, uh, this is something this time of year that we always forget about, but it's something where the drafts come in and this can be a big issue.

[00:10:48] Eric Goranson: Like you had a window open and that is sealing up those doors and windows, making sure my old front door, I could see daylight underneath it. There wasn't enough adjustment in it. It [00:11:00] was pretty well hammered. Not much we could do about it. And, uh, I didn't want to restore it. I did save it, but it was just something that had just been abused way too long from renters and owned the house before and everything else.

[00:11:14] Eric Goranson: And it was time for a new door. But I tell you what, that door leaked. And when it leaked, it let a ton of air underneath there. So you walk across the floor and you could feel. The draft coming through there. And so that was a really big deal. So this is again one of those things that making sure that you've got it all clocked up around your doors, windows, everything in the exterior, making sure you have no air leaks coming in.

[00:11:36] Eric Goranson: So that's one that, uh, pretty easy to do. Take a look, get things adjusted. Can always go buy some weather stripping from your local home improvement store and get on that so getting that sealed up And there is some really good spray foam If you've got things that you need to spray foam like a new door put in stuff take a look at the stuff that has The low expansion that's meant for doors and windows works pretty well without bringing things out of level or breaking it up So make sure that you're using the right [00:12:00] foam in the right condition And if you've got foam you're gonna use to keep things from coming outside in like around Pipes or anything like that, make sure that you get the stuff that's rodent rated because they make stuff.

[00:12:11] Eric Goranson: Now that the, the rodents don't like to eat. I think they put pepper or something in it, so they don't eat it. And so that's an important when you might as well use something that's going to keep the rodents from going through that regular spray foam doesn't work well for that because they can dig through that.

[00:12:25] Eric Goranson: But the new stuff works pretty darn good. I've never had him eat through that before trying to get in. So something to think there. Now the next one is a big one. And I want to talk about this for a minute using a home energy monitor. Now, these are things and that, that really save you money. Now I have one called sense.

[00:12:45] Eric Goranson: And sense goes through and it reads what is being used at my house by the electrical signals that each appliance or each thing that's plugged in gives. So it knows the difference between a dishwasher and a range it or a water [00:13:00] heater and it goes through and uses AI smart technology to see what kind of noise your units give and it actually goes through and self identifies what's going on.

[00:13:11] Eric Goranson: And so the cool thing with a home energy monitor is that you get to see what's costing you money and what's not. You know, when I was a kid, it was always, keep the lights turned off, that costed us money. Well, now with LED lights, that's such a small part of your electric bill anymore, that really the LED lights aren't the big issue anymore.

[00:13:29] Eric Goranson: Keep, turn the lights off, just doesn't make a dent like it used to, because we're so much more efficient, and so that's a good thing. But now we can start taking a look and monitoring. Hey, is that old beer fridge in the garage? Is that using four times as much, you know, energy as my refrigerator inside the house?

[00:13:49] Eric Goranson: So, sometimes you can take a look at it and go, wow, I need to upgrade that fridge because that's costing me a ton of money. Because it's either leaking or it's inefficient or it's just a big energy hog. [00:14:00] So those are things that you can start to take a look at to see what's costing you money. And that's a big one right there.

[00:14:07] Eric Goranson: What's costing you money? What's the cost going to be? And so then you can start to assign things and go, okay, what's our biggest energy bill? Like at my house, my biggest energy bill is my AC unit. That's cranking my hot tub when that's cranking. These are all big things that, you know, I need to make sure on.

[00:14:26] Eric Goranson: So my goal really is to track those and make sure that I'm watching to see what the energy usage is so I can identify it and upgrade things that go. So take a look at sense. It's a great product that basically hooks into your power box. And there's a couple of leads that go around the incoming lines that come in on the two legs.

[00:14:43] Eric Goranson: A power coming in and then it steals off power off another breaker, then it hooks into your internet and goes from there. So it's a really smart system. It's a really great way to go and it'll help you identify things. You can even get them now where they're built into the power box itself. [00:15:00] So you can have it already built into the panel and that's a great technology.

[00:15:04] Eric Goranson: So something to take a look at. It's really helpful on trying to see where you're spending the money and what it's going to cost you. So a really good idea to do this. Next up on the list, we've got a good one here. Adding insulation. This is something that pays off really quickly, and it's amazing how much it does.

[00:15:22] Eric Goranson: And here's one rule that I've learned with my experience, uh, and this is an important one. I've gone through and, and in my research, when I've quoted things, I have actually found that I can have insulation, um, installed cheaper than if I went down and bought it myself from the home center. And so there's enough markup in it that the home centers are hitting you hard enough.

[00:15:44] Eric Goranson: I could actually get it installed for nearly the same price, if not a little bit less. So why would I will go do that? But like for instance, on my house here, as I've been doing remodeling, like when I had the front of my house off to do the, I took it down to the studs to do [00:16:00] that, uh, front cladding project.

[00:16:03] Eric Goranson: I actually took the T 111 siding off of my house and ripped out the R 11 insulation that was in there. Now that R11 was a foam backed, it was a foam, but it was a foil backed insulation. So it didn't really work that well. It wasn't that great of insulation and that foil was awesome. Let me tell you what, with, uh, getting cell phone signals and all that stuff, that metal was not my friend with wifi either.

[00:16:31] Eric Goranson: And so I swapped that out with rockwool and I've been going around as I do it and swapping it out with an R19 and getting much better insulation in there. Uh, than that are 11. So I've been going through and insulating my house and really increasing that. So this is 1 of those things. And of course, that's fireproof and, uh, I have to worry about mold or anything else like that.

[00:16:53] Eric Goranson: But I tell you what, by doing that. That's a huge energy savings. And so take a look as well. See if there's [00:17:00] any rebates from your local state federal, always take a look at rebates on that, as well as if there's any tax rebates for you as well for that. So take a look here in the U S you might be surprised some of the stuff that you can get money for, for improvements like that when it comes to energy efficiency.

[00:17:17] Eric Goranson: So I would do your research around what those are and what it can, what you can do to get, you know, take advantage of those free money is free money. And when you're doing something like this, it's going to add value and it's going to save you on your, uh, electricity or gas or oil or whatever you're heating your home with.

[00:17:35] Eric Goranson: That's super smart. So take a look at it. Now, some of the mistakes that happen with this, and let's talk about that for a minute, making sure that you don't put too much insulation in the attic and, uh, block up your vents. Cause I see that happen a lot where people will go in and. Blow an insulation and then they blow over the top of the air intake vents of the soffits and now you've got Decreased insulation up there in that you've got [00:18:00] a really hot space with no airflow So then you can be you know, have a hotter attic in the summertime.

[00:18:05] Eric Goranson: You can end up having where You get mold and mildew and things like that and cause other issues So making sure that you're understanding what you're doing when you're insulating and making sure that you're not causing other issues. So insulation Can be a lot harder when it comes to building science and something you really need to understand before you do it.

[00:18:25] Eric Goranson: We'll keep saving you money just as soon as around the house returns after these important messages. Don't go anywhere.[00:19:00]

[00:19:06] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the round the house show. This is where I help you get the most out of your home through information and education. We've been talking about my top 10 ways to save money around your house. And I've got a little one here. That's not on the list. I want to talk about here. But a slide of Dan, and this is one thing that you can do with your subscriptions.

[00:19:25] Eric Goranson: Now it could be your cable company. It could be your internet company. It could be your satellite radio subscription. But it's any one of these things that are trying to retain their customers right now. And every year I go through when I, I actually set this on my calendar so I can make sure and stay on top of it.

[00:19:47] Eric Goranson: But for instance, with my satellite radio, if I'm listening to that, well, that can cost me 35, 40 bucks a month if I stay on their plan, which is their standard [00:20:00] rate. But if I call up and say, hey, guys, this is too much money. And I'm not doing it anymore because I've, I've been a customer forever. I just, um, I'm going to cut back on my expenses and all of a sudden I'm paying seven or 8 a month.

[00:20:17] Eric Goranson: So make sure that when your contracts are up, you're having a honest conversation with the provider and see if you're get the best rate. See if you're getting the best rate. You probably aren't if you have not gone through and done this. And, um, when I'm looked at internet and stuff, I've done that as well.

[00:20:37] Eric Goranson: Go, Hey guys, um, this is crazy expensive. What do you have? And sometimes you're going to have, Hey, I'm in the best price. Great. But what you want to do is to get through and talk to that customer retention specialist. So if you can get out of customer service and get transferred to their customer retention people.

[00:20:57] Eric Goranson: Many times they will, they will lower that [00:21:00] price for the next year, or even for three to six months to keep you there. So, before you switch, make sure you call and, uh, do it as long as, if they're going to give you six months, great, call back in six months. And set that on your calendar like it was an appointment so you understand what's going on.

[00:21:17] Eric Goranson: So that's a really good way to do that. So take some time, go through in any one of those subscriptions that, uh, you know, you're not going to probably do that with your Netflix subscription, but a lot of these other things, absolutely. They're trying to keep you there and might as well get the best use of your dollars.

[00:21:34] Eric Goranson: And that's means not giving it to somebody else that's going to take it unless there's a better rate. So save yourself a little bit of money there. All right. Well, last segment we were talking about. Um, well, we were in the middle of right now talking through my top 10 ways to save money around your house.

[00:21:49] Eric Goranson: So 1st, when we talked about was using your dishwasher correctly. 2nd, 1 was thinking about a heat pump water heater. Third one was HVAC tune up and filter change. Fourth [00:22:00] one was going around and making sure your doors and windows are sealed up and in good working order. Number five of this list halfway through is using a home energy monitor.

[00:22:10] Eric Goranson: And we were just talking about adding insulation and making sure that you do that correctly. Now that's a big one right there. The next one here is an important one and sometimes you can get rebates on this or it's just good to spend the money to do it, but that is having a home energy audit done finding out what you need to do for your specific house and what they'll do is they'll come out and set up a blower door test.

[00:22:37] Eric Goranson: Now, a blower door test is where they sit there with the, um, with a fan. In a doorway that's open and they create a vacuum inside the house and they see how much air is getting pulled in. And so they can measure how much air is being lost within the home. And that's a really big deal because that's telling you how much fresh air is coming in.

[00:22:59] Eric Goranson: But how much. [00:23:00] Unconditioned fresh air is coming in. So it's going to tell you how much your heat loss is. And then you can go around with a thermal imaging camera and start taking a look at where things are. Now, I'm a big fan of the thermal image camera for a couple of reasons, because it will show if you've got, um, like a roof leak and wet installation, it will show up.

[00:23:19] Eric Goranson: And so those are pretty handy to go around with and see where things are wet, where they're not, where the rod is. And, uh, you can really start to get an idea because wet insulation when it's fiberglass does not insulate as well if it was dry, so you can really see those energy losses. So those are good things to do.

[00:23:38] Eric Goranson: But, uh, having that home energy audit is good because then you can create your plan to make sure you got that dialed in correctly. So having that done and, uh, that's a key right there. Make sure you got that. Just beautifully set up and you're going to save some money or at least you'll know where you can save money Maybe you've got a great house.

[00:23:57] Eric Goranson: Maybe you go look at it. Go. Wow, there's nothing here that we [00:24:00] can do We're as good as we're gonna get this for now, and then maybe maybe you move on to other things So that's a that's a good one right there to really give yourself a report card on how much Energy you're spending on your house. So there's 1 right there.

[00:24:15] Eric Goranson: Now, the next 1 here is if, um, you know, if you don't pay for water, it's a little bit different, but if you're paying for water at your house, if you're on a well, this might not be as big a deal. Uh, but really making sure that you have a good quality toilet. So if you've got the old, um, you know, 1980s, three and a half gallon flush, that is wasting a ton of water each and every time you use that toilet.

[00:24:43] Eric Goranson: So when you think about toilets, for instance, if you go through and replace one of the, like with the, uh, water sense toilets, you know, something that's using like 1. 28. or less gallons per flush. This is a really big deal because this [00:25:00] adds up quickly. So these new toilets can reduce, you know, water used by 20 to 60 percent or more.

[00:25:10] Eric Goranson: That's about 13, 000 gallons of water savings in your home per year. And so that can really save you on average about 140 bucks a year in water costs and then about 2, 900 bucks over the lifetime of the toilets. So really think about that. Um, you know, nationally, if we went through and replaced our old inefficient toilets in the U.

[00:25:33] Eric Goranson: S. Uh, with water since labeled toilets, we'd actually be looking at about a 360 billion gallons of water per year. That's not being wasted. So that's a lot now. It's interesting. A household leak can waste about 180 gallons per week of water and toilets are usually the case in that. So, you know, that's the flapper or any of these other [00:26:00] things that could be happening with with a leak.

[00:26:02] Eric Goranson: But generally the the most there. Those are things that really can add up. So take that time to make sure that they're working good. Now, for all you out there that remind me of the low flow toilets of the 1990s, we're really horrible. And there's still millions of them installed out there. So really once you started seeing toilet companies get on board and start paying attention, like Toto, for instance, they're a great brand.

[00:26:27] Eric Goranson: Uh, if you're looking to replace toilets, that's who I go with is Toto is the most likely culprit to replace with because I tell you what, they are, they make more toilets and American standard and Kohler combined. You just don't see them in your home centers, but go to your plumbing store, get one of these.

[00:26:45] Eric Goranson: And, um, you know, something like the Drake is a great buy or you can get up into very expensive ones if you want the Japanese style, um, bidet toilet seats or toilets, uh, you can spend as much as you want to on those. But really [00:27:00] going with something that's going to be more performance oriented as a toilet will save you a ton of money.

[00:27:05] Eric Goranson: Now, like I said, if you're on a well and, uh, you're not paying for that, well, I guess it doesn't really matter. It's not really something that's costing you and it's cold water. But take a look if you're paying for water. And if you have water rates that are expensive like mine, then, uh, these can really help you out on saving money and, uh, 140 bucks a year is a pretty good place to start for savings.

[00:27:27] Eric Goranson: So take a look at that. That might be a good option for you to get things dialed in and, uh, save some money on water. So, uh, pay attention to those toilets. They are one thing that can be costing you a boatload of money, and uh, it does add up, and if they're not working correctly, it's even worse. And, you know, the new ones, as we've talked about before, can save you a bunch of time as well, because they don't need to be cleaned as often.

[00:27:49] Eric Goranson: Uh, as the, uh, as the older ones, because of the, you know, the finishes on some of the good toilets. So, take a look at the Totos with their coating on it, because that coating will make it so things don't stick. [00:28:00] And, uh, that makes for a cleaner toilet overall. So, uh, take a peek at that and, uh, make sure that you're caring for them correctly.

[00:28:08] Eric Goranson: Don't go pouring bleach down them, those kinds of things, but just, uh, a gentle cleaning does the job. So spend some money, save some money, and, uh, you'll still be ahead down the road because. It's gonna be saving you a bunch on the water belt. All right, we come back. We got so many more little tips that could help save you money.

[00:28:25] Eric Goranson: We'll do that just as soon as around the house returns.[00:29:00]

[00:29:04] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the round the house. So this is where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education. Thanks for joining me today. We've been talking about my top 10 ways to save money around your house. And uh, here's what we've gone through so far using your dishwasher correctly.

[00:29:19] Eric Goranson: A heat pump, water heater, HVAC, tune up and filter change, sealed doors and windows. Get those sealed ups. You're not wasting energy coming in and out, using a home energy monitor to see what is actually going on in your house, where you're spending your money, and then adding insulation and checking for those rebates to see if you can get some free money from others.

[00:29:41] Eric Goranson: Because that could be a savings there having a home energy audit done that way you can address what those issues are around your house. And then we're just talking about a good quality toilet. That is something there that can really save you money. And that was in the last segment and the 1 here, I want to talk about next.

[00:29:58] Eric Goranson: Is 1 that I've caught [00:30:00] really causing problems for people out there. So, this is 1 that I've seen running and I've kind of, um, I've kind of laughed because. This is something that can cost you a ton of money if you're not paying attention to it. In our next hour, we're going to talk a little bit more about this type of stuff.

[00:30:16] Eric Goranson: But check your sump pump. And this is where that home energy monitor. I have had more people that have had sump pumps in basements or crawl spaces, and they aren't correctly drained. So maybe they go outside the house three or four feet and drop right in. Well, the problem is... Is that that water loves to find its way back down.

[00:30:39] Eric Goranson: And if you have a foundation leak, I have seen people that there's some pump is running 15 hours a day. And as soon as we extend it out and take that water drain and get it well away from the foundation, guess what happens. We're good. We don't have as much energy usage because we're not pumping the water [00:31:00] out to a place.

[00:31:00] Eric Goranson: It'll come right back in again So it's really worth taking a little bit of time and making sure that we have that sump pump drained Completely away from the foundation. So if it's just going outside the house outside the foundation like we're good That's not the case. Make sure it goes away because I tell you what I have put Water in the, uh, you know, put dye in the water to see where it goes.

[00:31:26] Eric Goranson: And 20 minutes later, it's back in that back in there. That tells me one thing that tells me that we've got a fountain going and you're paying for that. So there's no reason to be running that, uh, high amp, some pump when it's incorrectly draining. So make sure that that's going out to the right spot. And, uh, that is a really big one right there.

[00:31:47] Eric Goranson: And, uh, that is one that can drain you. Financially, just by having that motor running all the time, you know, you could spend, you know, a fair amount of money on your electricity bill just from that going. And that's just a [00:32:00] complete waste. So take a look at that. Some pump, make sure it's not running too much because the water is not going where it should be.

[00:32:08] Eric Goranson: Now, the last one on our list today is taking a look at laundry. Now, the laundry appliances you have, yeah. Are something that can be using a lot of energy. For instance, your electric dryer, there is a new dryer out there that is saving you tons of money. A heat pump dryer actually uses about 40 to 50 percent less energy than your standard electric dryer.

[00:32:30] Eric Goranson: But what it does is it uses. Lower temperatures, but here's the cool part is that you're not wasting a lot of energy because what it does is it keeps that air inside the dryer and then it removes the humidity out of that air. So it actually doesn't vent outside and so what it's doing is it's capturing the moisture in the air.

[00:32:49] Eric Goranson: So it does take a longer to run, but in doing that, you're not, you're not sending all that heat outside. So it's staying within the machine itself. So it's a lot more efficient. [00:33:00] And so, it's going through, it's heating the air, it's putting it through a compressor that makes it even hotter, and that hot air is pushed back into the dryer.

[00:33:08] Eric Goranson: So what it does is it's in a closed loop. So you don't, one, you don't have a dryer duct, two, you don't have a dryer duct to clean, and three, you're using a ton less energy. You just have to pack a little patience, because it will take a little bit longer to dry, because it's not blasting it with super hot heat.

[00:33:25] Eric Goranson: To get things dried out, but it is a really efficient way of doing it. Now you've heard me talk about front load, front load washing machines. I have been a fan for decades. I've probably had a front load machine for the last 20 plus years and they work really well. You just have to get a decent brand.

[00:33:44] Eric Goranson: Now, here's the thing to take a look at how much water you can save, because there is a ton of money compared to your old top load machine versus the front load machine. And let's talk about that. So a front load washing machine uses a lot less [00:34:00] water than the top. Now a front load washer uses about 45 percent less energy and 50 percent less water than a top load agitator washer.

[00:34:10] Eric Goranson: So that's got the big tower in it with the plastic piece in the middle that agitates. Now, if you look at some of the more efficient top load models that have an impeller washer in their front load washers are still 25 percent more energy and water efficient. So it's just not close. Now, here's the difference here is that that front load machine also uses a lot less energy in that it's not beating your clothes up as much.

[00:34:38] Eric Goranson: So when you have an impeller, for instance, that really takes a toll on your clothing. So you will get more lint And that lint is actually the clothing disintegrating. So, lint is not a good thing. So, that is one of those things that's coming off the clothes, and that is your clothes getting thinner, thinner, and thinner.

[00:34:57] Eric Goranson: So, that's where you want to spend your time. So, I'm [00:35:00] really a big fan of the front load machine. Now, some people will sit there and complain about, oh my gosh. We have all of this mold in our unit. Well, just like anything, you have to take care of it. Your top load machine will get moldy in between the two drums.

[00:35:17] Eric Goranson: It will get all that scum down there. So if you're not running a cleaner through there, you should be make sure that you're cleaning that unit because. You don't see it, but in between the, the drums, it gets really nasty in there. So make sure that you're getting that, but really on a front load machine, if you follow the directions and if you've got a newer one, follow the cleaning cycle on it, it'll be fine.

[00:35:36] Eric Goranson: You won't have to ever have to worry about that. They were, they were original ones that came out in the U S kind of had a, a bad issue with mold getting in there. Cause it was a dark, humid place. So now they've got steam cleaning functions and things like that. So I've got an LG I've never had a problem with it when it's due to put it through it'll tell me hey about the time that I go I can smell that it's getting a little [00:36:00] funky.

[00:36:00] Eric Goranson: It tells me to want run a load through there So I just throw in the tide cleaning powder for a washing machine I always have just a couple packs of those laying around throw one of those in there I run it through and it's And now you've got a clean machine again. And so, uh, that's really hopeful to do that.

[00:36:19] Eric Goranson: But really, I mean, it is crazy how much energy we're wasting on those. You think about it, there's about, um, what is there about 59 million top load clothing washers that are in use today across the U S. If we change those out to front load washers, we'd save about 14. 9 billion kilowatts of energy and 170 billion gallons of water every year.

[00:36:49] Eric Goranson: So that's actually the equivalency of about electricity used by about 1. 3 million homes a year. So you can see why they're pushing to, to not use these as [00:37:00] much. And quite frankly, the front loads do a better job. And, uh, that's why I've been a user for many, many years. I think it's just, it paid off one on the energy savings, two on my clothes lasting longer, not getting beat up in three.

[00:37:14] Eric Goranson: They're just really reliable units. And so. If you buy a good one, they will hold up and, uh, you'll get a lot of use out of them. Now, you can go out and spend a ton of money and get, um, some of the ultra high end brands. But really, if you're getting something like an LG or some of these other more basic brands, you'll get a lot of years out of them.

[00:37:34] Eric Goranson: And if you can get 7 to 10 years out of a washing machine these days, you're doing pretty good. So that are, that is really my top 10 list. Of, uh, things that can save you money around your house that, um, that you should take a look at as you go down the road. These are things that, uh, you know, when you go to replace a toilet or go to replace a washing machine or a dishwasher that you should probably take a peek at.

[00:37:59] Eric Goranson: And see where the [00:38:00] savings are going to help you or not help you. And if you've got some things that you want to share that, uh, maybe you've got some tips on saving money, how did you save money? Head over to AroundTheHouseOnline. com, hit the contact me button over there. And, uh, that will come into my inbox and I would love to see what your tips are.

[00:38:18] Eric Goranson: Maybe we could do a future episode on it. And if there's something that you want to hear as well, if there's a subject we have not covered and you're like, hey, I want to know more about this. Drop me a line as well, and, uh, I can help you there. And then, uh, one last little piece of housekeeping here, make sure if you're a radio listener that you have subscribed to the podcast as well, because we do have a Wednesday episode.

[00:38:40] Eric Goranson: That comes out each and every week and we do have our premium membership where we have my whole backstory. I get into a lot of it. I mean, I didn't give you the whole, the whole thing, but I tell you what, there are some crazy stories that I told over on the premium side. So we do have one premium episode up.

[00:38:56] Eric Goranson: That is, uh, over there. And for four bucks a month, you can [00:39:00] be part of our insider program. And you can find out more about that over and around the house online. com. All right, everybody. We're going to be talking in the next episode here. We are going to be talking all about basements and crawl spaces.

[00:39:12] Eric Goranson: And what you can be doing to have a healthier home as well as one that holds together, uh, whether you've got damage or anything else, it is going to be a basement and crawl space issue. So we'll get into that just as soon as around the house returns.