Reduce Utility Bills

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.

1. Buy a toaster oven
2. 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.

There are a few super simple ways to save on your utility bills that will have a bonus savings in other areas.

1. Reduce amount of shampoo and conditioner. Using the right amount of shampoo and conditioner will reduce the amount of water and the amount of energy used to heat the water in the shower. Excess shampoo and conditioner will take longer to rinse, especially if you have long or thick hair. Higher priced brands are usually less concentrated so you can use less per shower.
2. Minimize hand washing. Using hand disinfectants (especially the ones with lotion that don’t dry) will be less expensive than running and heating water. Regular towels and paper towels are not needed for drying either so that reduces laundry and paper waste (bad for the environment).
3. Know your employee benefits and any discounts that come with it. (Wal-Mart employees get discounts on selected cell phone service each month). If your company matches any contributions, participate and take that free money to use for paying utility bills.
4. Diet. If you need to loose weight, less weight in the car will save money on gas and wear and tear on the vehicle. Changing your diet to include a fresh food night that requires no cooking and no driving to fast food will benefit your health, your environment, and reduce the utility bill (and your gas bill).

How can grooming your dog reduce utility bills? Cleaning up dog hair can consume electricity and gas in the following ways:

• Vacuuming  hair from carpets
• Vacuuming hair from furniture
• Using the dryer on dry clothes to remove hair
• Washing clothes that are hairy or dirty from dog
• Using a dryer on wet clothes because hanging them up doesn’t remove dog hair
• Do-it-yourself carpet cleaning

Grooming your dog yourself will save on grooming fees. This is what you will need:

• Brush
• Comb (a glove or curry brush for short hair and a durable pin brush for longer hair)
• Dog grooming hair scissors or dog clippers
• Thinning scissors (thin out very heavy coats or to blend dog’s hair)
• Dog toe nail clippers (Guillotine style for medium and large dogs and plier style for smaller dogs).

Using dog grooming supplies:

• Choosing a comfortable outdoor environment to groom your dog.
• Have dog stand on a mat so that he will not slip
• Have plenty of treats ready
• Run your hands through your dog’s coat to look for any matting, knots, fleas or ticks (you can do this as you brush your dog thoroughly)
• To work through a mat you will want to use a combination of a de-matting comb and some children’s’ de-tangling spray.

If your dog has an odor, a bath will be needed. During warm weather this can be done outside. During cold weather, it should be done inside. Be sure there is a no slip mat on the bottom of the tub or shower. Brush the dog thoroughly to reduce amount of hair that could cause a clog. Dry the dog off as soon as possible with towels and use a blow dryer for thick haired dogs.

If you choose to have your dog professionally groomed, here are some  hints:

• Take A Tour Of The Groomer’s Shop-go look at the grooming facility that you believe will fit your needs before ever even scheduling a grooming session for your pet.  You will want to make sure that the place looks and smells clean.  Of course, you should expect to smell “wet dog” but this should not deter you.  Another thing to look at is where your pet will be kept to ensure that dogs and cats are caged in separate areas and that their cages are adequately sized.  Make sure that the place is also well lit and that you observe a pet being groomed.  In some states the groomer has to be licensed while in other states the shop has to be licensed.  Now is also a good time to check to make sure that this groomer has the appropriate licenses.
• Observe How The Staff Handles The Animals-the groomer’s staff should appear knowledgeable.  They should never leave the animal that they are grooming completely unattended on the grooming table or be overly rough while handling a pet.  You also do not want to hire a groomer who says they dislike working with a specific breed of dog because of the dog’s temperament because it could actually be the groomer’s temperament, not the dog’s.
• Check Out The Groomer’s Experience-it only makes sense that those groomers who have the most experience are going to do the best job with your pet.  Another thing that you should do is make sure that you check out the groomer’s references.  The groomer should be more than willing to provide you with a list of references for you to speak with or you could even go online to look for various consumer reviews about this groomer.  This is important because it takes at least 3 years of experience to be able to deal with the various textures of coats, different dogs’ temperaments.

Taking the time to groom your dog or paying someone to do it for you will result in a lower utility bill.