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With the costs of fossil fuels rising and the unstable economy, it's time to take a proactive stance in controlling your energy spending. With the economy in such a downturn, everyone is reevaluating their spending, and while certain things are easily identified to cut costs such as eating out or entertainment spending, others that are considered necessities are a little trickier like energy costs. It is easy to say you're going to cut down restaurant meals to once a month or you're not going to buy that item that you can certainly live without like the newest electronic gadget, but that may not be enough. While it may seem that spending on energy is a necessary expense, the amount that you no doubt spend on providing energy to your home is probably one of your biggest budget items. You don't have to just accept it. You don't have to resign yourself that it costs what it costs because you have more control than you may believe.  Ask yourself if you'd rather make recurring sacrifices week after week and month after month to save money or if you'd rather implement some simple strategies to cut recurring costs month after month automatically. I know I'd rather set up a system to save me money every month than to think of giving something up every week. If you're still reading, then you must to... so... here's the how: Think of using energy a little differently now than you're used to. First the little things even just doing a few small, painless things can reduce your power bill: 1. If you don't need to use your clothes dryer to dry clothes, then you're much better off not using it. But if you do have to, throwing in a dry towel with your wet clothes will cut your drying time (and energy use and money) by allowing the moisture to be absorbed into the towel.  2. If you use a desktop computer at home, purchase a "smart power strip", and it won't take long until this device is a money saver for you. Use it as you would any power strip by plugging in your computer and all the accessories (monitor, speakers, printer, etc.). When you power on your computer, the other devices power on; when you power off your computer, the others power off. Not only will you save money by ensuring that all of your electronics are powered off but you will also save money because this device will eliminate the phantom charge of electricity. The same philosophy can be applied to your TV, DVD player, surround sound, etc. components by ensuring that everything is completely powered off and not drawing phantom power. Even items that aren't on but are still plugged in "leak" electricity. Eliminating this leak throughout your entire home will result in a sizable savings.  My favorite small and painless adjustment is to add a timer to the hot water heater. Think about it, your hot water heats 140 to 150 gallons of water constantly 24 hours a day, seven days a
week nonstop. That's a huge consumption of energy. Simply turning off the hot water heater when you won't be needing hot water is a simple way to save hundreds of dollars a year. You'll see the difference on your first electric bill with this change. Just be sure to have the timer turn your hot water heater off before bed and on again in time to heat up for morning showers. Then if you can off again during the day will save even more.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marie_LaSor
==== ==== Don't Buy Solar Panels, Make Your Own Like I Did: http://www.robert-recommends.com/home-made-energy ==== ====