With travel restrictions and outdoor activities being limited this summer, there isn’t a better time to live up to the promise you made yourself at the beginning of the year – You want to save money.

One of the most expensive things a homeowner pays for is their electricity bill. Now that you’ve been quarantined in your home for months now, you might notice your electricity bills have been higher than ever.

Running Netflix all day long keeps your television on for long periods, and turning the AC on every hot afternoon is getting costly. That’s why we’ve compiled a few ways you can start saving money starting right now.

Identify What Uses The Most Electricity In Your Home

Most people get their electricity bill in the mail or via email and are shocked at the amount that they owe. Before you can start making money-saving changes, you have to first identify the things that are using the most electricity in your home. From the TV to the washing machine, some things seem so easy to use in an unlimited capacity that results in you having to pay a high price.

Once you’ve established the home appliances that take up most of your electricity bill, consider switching those products to healthy habits that help you reduce the amount of energy and electricity you use, and in turn, reduce how much you’ll owe on your bill.

For example, if you know your kids are watching TV all day long, try to limit the time they spend looking at screens in a day. If you find yourself doing your laundry more than once a week, ask yourself if that’s truly necessary, and if not, try to dedicate only one day a week for laundry to reduce the use of water and energy.

Instead of using a blow dryer to style your hair, consider air drying several days a week to cut back on electricity usage. There are countless ways you can reduce the amount of energy in your home, and they are mostly everyday things you wouldn’t think twice about doing. Maybe it’s time you did.

Unplug Things That Aren’t Being Used

A lot of people don’t know about “ghost-energy.” It’s energy and electricity that’s being used when appliances that are plugged in aren’t being used. If you have an entire power strip full of Apple chargers that aren’t currently charging any Apple products at the moment, that strip is still consuming energy and electricity, but it’s not going towards anything.

Even simply turning off the button on the power strip will help conserve energy, but if you want to take things a step further and ultimately save more electricity, unplug it when it’s not in use.

Similarly, lights being left on in rooms that no one is even in is another common thing that people do where energy and electricity both go to waste. Turning off lights in empty rooms will not only help you to save money, but it’s better for the environment when more and more households burn only the energy they truly need to use.

Utilize Cool Night Air and Broad Daylight

If adjusting the indoor temperature of your home is a constant struggle for you and your family, utilizing the air conditioner or heater can become a costly thing, but there are ways around it.

To keep cool, leave a few windows cracked at night. This allows cool night air to enter your home. One of the first things you should do the following morning is to shut the windows as soon as its daylight. This minimizes the amount of sunlight that gets into your home, and the lesser sunlight you have in your home, the cooler it will be.

Strangely, however, sunlight can be used in another way – It can replace your lightbulbs, especially during the day. If you live in a constantly sunny place and the outside light is enough for you to get around your home, you don’t need to turn on your lights during the day. Being conscious of using daylight to the best of your ability will also reduce your need for turning on light switches and paying for that electricity.

Make Long-Term Energy Saving Switches

If you’re looking to save money on your electricity bill for longer than just the summer season, you can always take on a few energy-efficient home renovation projects but in order to even benefit from that,  looking into a third-party energy supplier would be even more helpful.

These energy suppliers usually always charge less for their services than big-name utility brands do, and they will help you save money on your electricity bill long-term. Find out if your state allows homeowners to purchase energy from third-part suppliers and compare prices to keep yourself mindful of how much you’ll be spending.

One other major way you can save money on electricity is by switching completely to solar power. Doing so will allow your household to get the energy it needs from the sun. It will collect enough light during the day to help your home stay powered all night long, and then it will repeat its energy conservation the next morning when light breaks. Similar to refraining from turning on the lights during the day, this will help you save money and save the environment.

You don’t have to feel pressured to make big homeowners’ decisions about electricity just yet, though. There are countless small, everyday things you can do to reduce the amount of electricity the people in your home use. Start implementing these energy-saving habits today, and you’ll save money in no time.