There will not be a dollar without a hundred of small seemingly worthless cents that we commonly disregard. The same goes with electricity. What seems to be a harmless habit of appliance misuse can actually lead to hundreds of dollars wasted on electrical bills.

Sometimes we know it, sometimes we don’t, but these bad habits unnecessarily take away a chunk of our money that’s supposed to go somewhere more important and definitely more enjoyable.

Here, we are going to unveil those practices that we should start avoiding from now on. They may seem harmless, but leaving them behind can actually save you around 20%-40% of your electric bill. In fact, the Energy Center of Wisconsin’s study in 2010 shows that the appliances, computers, and gadgets alone account for 20%-30% of total electricity usage of a household. So what are these bad habits?

Leaving the TV on when Sleeping

This is a usual scenario with teenagers and fathers who are just so in love with their television that they have this, “’Til sleep do us part,” vow with their favorite home appliance. You better divorce that television or at least press the off button before you shut your eyes at night. Why? That’s around $200 of wasted money on electrical bill a year.

Uncleaned AC Air Filters

“What’s the matter with uncleaned air filters?” “I don’t have time to clean it.” You may be busy as a bee, we understand that. But if you want to reduce your AC consumption expense by at least 5% a month, you better make time for uncleaned filters. More dust on your filters means a great block to the air passage and more effort for your AC to cool your home down.

Opening the Fridge Door Indefinitely

As if we never grow old, most of us have the practice of staring inside of the fridge for minutes as if you have all the time in the world to decide what to eat inside this home appliance. Kids do this. Adults continue to do this too. We better grow up and stop increasing our refrigerator’s energy consumption by 7% every time we leave its door open.

Leaving Fans and Lights On

You may think it’s worth only a few cents to leave your lights and fans on unnecessarily. But what’s so hard in turning these appliances off when you can save the world from around 20kWh a month of electric consumption or around $20 a year from your own electric bill?

Using AC Unnecessarily

When the temperature is tolerable and you won’t do any physically tiring activity inside the house, please save the world and yourself from unnecessary energy consumption and turn your centralized AC unit to a minimum or turn it off altogether. At night, you might also want to program your AC to function for less hours. You can also let it turn off one to two hours before you wake up.

Leaving your Laptops and Mobile Devices Plugged In

Most people would just leave their smartphones and laptops plugged into electrical sockets as they use them at home. Battery is drained faster when you don’t leave your devices on sleep mode. The tendency is you’ll have to charge these gadgets constantly. Although these people would think no harm is being done, the opposite happens. More electricity is being consumed and you are not even noticing it. Plus, you are placing yourself in danger because overcharging mobile devices can damage its batteries to the point of combustion and explosion.

Using Incandescent Light Bulbs

When nighttime falls, homeowners turn to their lighting fixtures to provide illumination. The problem here is when you utilize incandescent bulbs for your home. These bulbs are outdated and are well-known to eat a lot of power. Furthermore, they also release warmth inside your house whenever you use them. To prevent any waste of electricity, better have those incandescent bulbs replaced with LED lights. Hire a capable electrician Singapore has if you need a total replacement for your whole lighting system. There are a lot of other amazing ways that a professional can help you out.

Using Water Heaters Unnecessarily

Water heaters are a big help for anyone, especially when a cooler climate is around. It’s a different story when summer hits and the temperature goes warmer. In this case, taking a bath using your water heater will be of no use. You’ll just end up wasting a lot of power in heating up your bathroom water. Do yourself a favor and leave your water heater off when summer is here.

Using the Microwave for Mundane Tasks

In order to fulfill its purpose, a microwave has to use a lot of electricity to effectively heat food or water. That’s okay but there are times when we can adjust to save power. One example of this is to heat water up, with the help of a gas stove, rather than spend electricity in using a microwave. If you practice self-restraint with the use of a microwave, you’ll find your electricity bill getting lower soon.