Are you spending extra money unnecessarily on upkeep?

You could be making these mistakes:

1.  Using Traditional Light Bulbs – If you still have incandescent light bulbs in your home, you could be throwing a lot of money away every month on inflated electric bills.  Over its life span, an incandescent bulb can use $180 worth of electricity.  A CFL will only use $41 worth of electricity over the same time period.  Even better is the warm LED bulb, which only uses $30 per bulb.

2. Ignoring A Leaky Faucet – A leaky faucet that drips one drop per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons per year, which is enough water to take more than 180 showers.  Fix your leaky faucet!

3. Using the Wrong Air Filter Size – Using the wrong filter for your HVAC systems can increase your power bill and cause expensive problems for your furnace down the road.

4. Not Customizing Temperature – Invest in a customizable thermostat.  If you’re away at the office all day, you can program your heater to shift down a few degrees while you’re gone and then shift back up shortly before you return home.  The Nest is an awesome system and you can program your phone simultaneously so it knows when you’re out of the house.

5. Not Adjusting Air Vents Properly – Adjust air vents to direct the flow of air more evenly throughout your entire home to ensure that you’re entire home is receiving the same amount of air conditioning or heating.

6. Over Watering Lawn – Check your sprinklers during the day so you can see how they are performing when you’re not around.  Perhaps they are programmed to come on early in the morning hours– A broken sprinkler head could be causing a fountain, or the trajectory of your sprinkler may be directed at a fence instead of your lawn.

7. Water Heater Temperature Set Too High – Unless you have a tankless heater, your water heater is keeping the water in its tank hot 24/7.  If you don’t keep an eye on the temperature as each season changes, you may be paying too much to heat your water.  Decrease the temp in the summer, and bump it back up in winter.

8. Leaky Windows and Doors – Caulk leaky windows and put rubber seal around doors to keep winter winds out and warmth in.

9. Ignoring Curled Shingles – It may be easy to ignore problems on your roof, but it will only lead to bigger problems later.  If you see any possible issues with your roof, repair them as soon as possible, as this will save you significant costs later.

10. Paying A Handyman – Doing simple tasks yourself can save you a lot of money.  Look up video tutorials on #YouTube!