 
Bal Tashchis And The Utility Bills
|
By Ben Nathan
Published on Thursday, November 29, 2007 -
COMMENTS (0)
|
|
There is a mandate in the Torah not to waste things. Although, Biblically speaking, it applies only to fruit trees, the rabbis extended it to many other areas. One area in which we should look to avoid waste is in our utility bills.
We may be wasting a significant amount of money in excess heating and electricity bills. Below, we find a number of ideas for saving money—possibly several thousand dollars each year.
Thirty Ways To Reduce Utility Bills
1. Call a family meeting, and get everyone involved. Review last year’s bills, and make it a challenge to see how much you can improve. Reward yourselves when you have made a significant cut in costs.
2. Make sure everyone shuts off the lights and any appliances in their room when not in use.
3. Buy a door insulator that goes in front of the crack in your front and or back door. This could save significant money. (Make sure to put it back every time someone comes in.)
4. Buy some sealant and a caulking gun from a hardware store and redo any place with leaks or cracking sealant.
5. Close and fasten shut all your windows. Fastened windows save money.
6. Prune some tree branches to take more advantage of sunlight.
7. Think of putting plastic film over an old window.
8. Dust around the radiator vents and make sure that no furniture block the vents.
9. If you don’t have central air conditioning, cover up the air-conditioning units for the winter with a cover designed for that purpose.
10. Consider where to put additional insulation in the home.
11. Open the shades and curtains early in the morning to take advantage of sunlight.
12. Make sure you set the plug-in Shabbos clock for the electric lights on erev Shabbos. Don’t just leave them on all week.
13. Switch to energy-efficient (compact fluorescent) bulbs.
14. See if you can get a programmable thermostat, and set it to automatically lower the heating temperature at night or at times that no one is home.
15. If you have oil heat, negotiate the fuel contract in the late summer. Be ro’eh es ha’nolad (envision the future)—prices are cheapest then.
16. Don’t overdo the heat by turning it up to 80 degrees whenever you feel cold. It does not heat the house faster and you just end up wasting money.
17. Consider buying a thermal utility blanket for your water heater.
18. Don’t open the oven door so often.
19. Keep your fridge door sealed tightly.
20. Do full washing machine and dishwasher loads instead of half loads.
21. Get rid of the old air conditioner and fridge and buy one with an Energy Star seal.
22. Shut off the computer when not in use.
23. Get a plumber to fix those leaky toilets and faucets.
24. Think of motion detectors for outside lights and assign someone to shut it off for Shabbos and yom tov.
25. Clean out the dryer lint trap each time you use it. Train others to do this, too.
26. Learn about where your furnace filter is and change it; keep some extra ones on hand.
27. Unplug standby appliances (a.k.a. “vampires”) that are not in use.
28. Use the microwave instead of the oven to rewarm things. It is much cheaper. This works best with smaller portions.
29. Research electric providers other than Con Ed. There is one in Boro Park that can save you 13 percent compared to your Con Ed bill. It is the same Con Ed electricity; they are just in charge of selling it to you.
30. Look into a Vonage phone or other alternatives to the phone company. Check your regular telephone plan to make sure that you are not being taken advantage of.
Send comments or additional ideas to vze37jka@verizon.net.
♦
No Comments
|
| |
|
Click Here To Download
this
week's paper as a PDF
Click Here For Newspaper Archive.
|
SUBSCRIBE
Get 5TJT Delivered to your door
every thursday morning.
|
Poll
5TJT Visitors
255648
|
