Do you know how to turn off the water to the house? It is best to know and locate the valve during nicer weather, but it needs to be done if you haven’t already done it.
A frozen pipe can burst and you can have water leaks in the house. Not only is the water bill going to rise drastically with a leak, water can cause a lot of damage fast. It is a problem any time it happens, but in the winter, nothing will dry out fast and mildew will start to grow right away. A burst pipe outside may not be noticeable until the weather warms. That can be in the afternoon in southern states or months in the northern states.
To avoid burst pipes, do the unthinkable…allow your faucet to drip. Moving water is less likely to freeze. Yes it will affect the water bill, but it is less expensive than burst pipes. Some pipes freeze, but never burst. No water for a shower in the morning while waiting for pipes to unfreeze can be bothersome and may be worth the cost of a dripping faucet.
If you can’t find the water turn off ask a neighbor or research online. It is usually on a main pipe into the home and also at the water meter. Each room that has water should have its own indvidual turn off. Know where these are in case of plumbing problems in just the bathroom or kitchen.
Knowing where you water turn off is should be something everyone in the house knows.
Especially people with long hair, the shower must run longer to wash, condition, and rinse hair. This time and energy use can be reduced by alternative ways to condition hair.
- Use leave in conditioners-they don’t need to be rinsed out.
- Use oil treatments outside of the shower-wet hair, apply hot oil, and do household chores while the treatment does its job. Wash hair in shower as usual, but a conditioner may not be needed.
- Make your own conditioner treatment to use outside the shower-mix some conditioner with hot water and apply to dry hair. Follow the procedure as with the hot oil treatment.
Use only enough shampoo and conditioner that is needed for hair length and thickness. Excessive shampoo and conditioner in the hair don’t only cause you to purchase those items sooner, but will take longer to rinse out. That means more water and more water to heat.
You can have beautiful hair and still keep utility bills reduced.
If you have kids or live alone, you may find your stove (and kitchen) are getting heated up for small items. There are two ways to deal with the electricity or gas that is used by the oven for pre-heating and cooking.
- Buy a toaster oven
- Cook several things at one time
Using a toaster oven reduces energy costs the following ways:
- Less time needed to pre-heat a toaster oven
- Smaller area to heat
- Doesn’t heat up kitchen
The toaster oven can be used for single slices of pizza, small portions of frozen items (french fries, fish, chicken nuggets), frozen meals, and single servings of deserts.
Toaster ovens are affordable due to the popularity of microwaves. Find a permanent place on the counter for the toaster oven, it will be used more often if it doesn’t have to be pulled out.
When using the oven for larger items like a full size pizza, baking cakes, cassaroles, and other items that don’t fit into the toaster oven, fill the oven up. You can even cook a second set of items right afterwards since the oven is already hot and you won’t have to use the electricity or gas to pre-heat the oven. Freeze the extra food to be warmed up in the toaster oven or microwave at a later date.
The cost of a toaster oven and well planned use of the oven will help reduce utility bills.